Georgian Triangle

[Canuck]

Irishfield, Krawler and anyone else in the area of Penetang. I would be interested in sharing tips etc. about rigger fishing in the area. I have been fishing that area since we bought a cottage near Lafontaine back in 2001 (when there were lots more salmon). Boats back in the water for the Victoria Day weekend. I hope to track down the lakers if the boat checks out after the long winter nap. My normal haunts are methodist point area over to Beckwith. A I can usually pick up dinner each trip but not too many salmon last few years. Its too far around from Hindson Marina to Christian to make that trip much (especially this year at $1.50/litre which makes it a $150 day easily). I monitor Ch16 and the boat is Watermark (White Campion Victoria with a blue top) if you are out and about.

[irishfield]

Canuck.. good plan.. but I'm heading North in 3 days. I'll be back fishing the bay in October... but for Muskie !

 

$150 a day? I ran all the way out there from Midland Harbour, at about 39 MPH into heavy chop, trolled on the 9.9 from Awenda..Thunder Beach.. Marks Point...Cedar Point..around the corner and then across to Beckwith..up it's South and East shores.. for 7 hours and then ran back in over the tops of 2.5 footers at 51MPH. At best I burned 60 litres MAX.. but I hear yah ! Lol

[Canuck]

Yeah I guess I recall you head up to Temagami for the summer. My boat has a 350 i/o and no kicker. I get about 2mpg at fast cruise and about 4 or 5 trolling so a trip around the west side of Christian, trolling 3 or 4 hrs and running back burns about 35 to 40 gallons or so. But the boat is big enough to feel safe on the big water even if the rollers get 3 or 4 ft, although those days are normally good for the golf game or beer at the beach. I gotta think the marina gas is going to be $1.50 this summer. I guess in the big scheme of things, the gas cost is one of the cheaper parts of owning a boat. (but I do remember the summer of 48cents/litre).

 

Krawler, I recall your posts on the Grey/Bruce forum from a while back. I assume you are the same guy.

[irishfield]

Need to get a kicker on that thing... I had an 8HP Merc on the swim platform of our 26 foot Searay.

[Canuck]

I hear you on the kicker. I have a Bravo2 drive (a big prop) and getting it down to a slow troll is a challenge. I had to set the idle down to 500rpm to get it down to 2.0mph and thats too low an idle speed. Its a good thing the 350 is a smooth running engine or I wouldnt be able to do it. I guess 50hrs trolling at $1.50 a litre might make the breakeven payback on a kicker reasonable. I can talk myself into just about anything.

[irishfield]

Three weeks of daily trolling and you've paid for a new 9.9 Tiller Merc. Double that for a Pro Kicker.

 

Even my 275 Verado trolls for CHEAP in the rhelm of things. At idle it's only burning .4/.5 US gallons per hour... ~1.6 to 2 litres per hour Even at 5.5 to 6MPH for Muskie it's only burning 0.6GPH... ~2.3/2.4 litres per hour. At 35 MPH I burn about 10 US Gal/hr and at 50MPH it's 22.6 Gal Per hour. WOT is about 34.. we just don't go there..

Edited May 8, 2008 by irishfield

[motv8tr]

Hey Canuck, I hope to be out there a few times this year, but I expect I won't go too far away as it's my first year with a boat. I don't have a radio, maybe I should look into one? I will have some OFC decals and will be looking into a flag for the boat. I'll be putting in at Pete Peterson Park and will be sticking to the general area....don't know all the names of the islands and stuff yet

 

Maureen

[Stoty]

"Georgian Triangle"

 

Reminds me of my college days.......(NF), hahaha

[Canuck]

Maureen

 

You should have a VHF radio for sure. If you get in trouble you will want it. The cell phone works in the harbour area but not good outside and you will want to call a boat for help, not someone on land. They are so cheap now that the Canadian $ is strong that there is almost no reason not to have one, even if it is only a handheld.

 

Another tip. There is a guy in Penetang that runs a boat tow service www.ontarioboatingleague.ca that you may want to consider joining if you spend any time out there. We needed a tow from Beckwith a couple years ago and it was $150/hr for 3.5hrs of towing. If you join his OBL service you only pay for his fuel to tow you. And lastly make sure you have the charts and better yet a GPS chartplotter. Severn sound is full of rocks and they come up fast.

[krawler]

So what do you want to know? Typically fishing in early spring around the triangle is tough. At least it is for trout and salmon. Many different tactics can be used to put fish in the boat but the biggest thing working against you is time. Its a large area to fish and its difficult to pinpoint where the fish are. Bows should be shallow, lakers are all over the water column and salmon are still deep or making the transition to late spring habitat patterns. Knowing these things you would think you could pinpoint a few areas and work them for fish. Not the case in the triange, so much structure and area to fish in addition to the fact that fishing is not what it used to be with numbers and sizes way down.

 

I was out on sunday morning and afternoon, started off at cedar point and trolled all the way to methodist point, even trolled the shallow waters inside thunder beach. I got skunked! Trolled shallow, deep, leacore off boards, flatlining, riggers, you name it i tried it. very few fish marked. mayb e just one of those days but looking back ive never had much luck spring trolling in the triangle. typically fish will be found in key areas such as owen sound, collingwood, etc. We have to wait for the fish to follow the bait or wait for temps to warm up before they start showing up in any numbers. I imagine lakers would be easiest to target, fish the usual spots that you would in the summer, slow down your presentation and wait. im up every weekend, ill still be trolling and making attempts to find the fish, persistence will pay off.

 

I think a good indicator of lack of fish is the fact that there are never any boats trolling the area. Stay towards the sound a try for pike or walleye. lakers might be found in the hole and maybe even some salmon. ill be out that way on the weekend.

 

keep in touch

[Canuck]

Krawler. Will do. I have had reasonable luck with lakers off methodist, but not usually till early June. Maybe I'll ry this weekend for walleye nearer Midland. My boats not exactly the best slow trolling walleye rig though. I'll try to be a better OFC'r and post a few pics and reports this summer.

 

Have you ever tried fishing inside the whales back channel or anywhere over that side? I pass thru there a lot cruising up to twelve mile bay and i have marked what look to be large fish (probably lake trout) the few times I have slowed down to see what might be down there in the deep spots. Only problem is that the depths change rapidly so I would hate to try to troll deep with downriggers, even with the GPS chartplotter.