tonyb Posted July 22, 2009 Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 (edited) Just got back from a great relaxing week on the beautiful manitoulin island. It has been too long since I was last there, and what a flashback of a trip as I used to spend summers there as a kid, and surprisingly not a lot has changed in the past 20 or so years! We spent the week at Manitoulin Resort camping and after this experience I don't think I will be camping at Prov. Parks anymore. There is just no comparison to the quality of the sites, facilities and the family atmosphere you get at a private campground. One of the owners Myia remembered we had the big boat from when we booked and set us up with one of the larger docking areas which was greatly appreciated. I was worried about leaving all of my gear on the boat but she assured me there wasn't a worry at all and I had no problems. I was really blown away at the service. She asked if we wanted firewood and we said yeah we'll start with a few bundles and go from there...much to my surprise they pulled up to our campsite with a Quad and a trailer full of wood...and a good mix of hardwood with some pine saw-offs from a mill probablym, and it was bone dry! completely opposite experience from the provincial parks. The other thing that impressed us was the cost of things like ice, it was about $1.50 cheaper there than in town at the beer store! just great to see them being fair and not gouging which they could easily do as you are about 20 mins from little current. Unfortunately, the docking and launch area was pretty shallow for my boat and it was very windy pretty much the whole week which made it difficult to manouvre out of the marina area. However, I did manage a couple of quick outings and can report the Lake Trout fishing on Lake Manitou is silly...you could easily catch 100 + in a day if you wanted...I kid you not! Here's some pics of the week Some hiking and scenery shots... Anyone know if this was edible? What kind of flower this is? After reeling in a dozen or so fish on my heavier salmon gear, I switched it up to light spinning gear. 9' Avid ML with 6lb test A 'small' group of trout...there were times when they were so many it looked like a bait ball but they were all trout! This was one of the bigger Lakers...funny thing happened actually. I was getting a lot of 1-3lb fish on the salmon tackle and then after switching to the lighter outfit I hook this fish and it is peeling drag and I couldn't budge it from bottom at first! I was thinking bad timing to hook a real monster, but it wasn't as big as it fought at first Need to get a proper tri-pod for solo pics...lots of shaker lakers around though. Great eating size This was the view most days...not exactly the best winds to be fishing in Highlight of the trip was getting my grandpa out who lives on the island in Kagawong, he was blown away with all the gadgets and what not...he asked me if I was able to get the address and phone number of the fish that showed up on sonar. I think he had his best day trout fishing on the lake in all his years with me, that made my week! Amanda with one on the light gear as well Here's a couple of the smaller ones we kept for a fish fry, and a picture I am hoping to frame and send to grandpa for xmas this year Now back to the grind and to flip the Salmon switch on...fishing the GOSD and upcoming tightlines shootout The hot lure, that I first put down and didn't take off was a Michigan Stinger NBK spoon kept at 2-2.2mph at the rigger Until next time! I am already thinking about going back after Labour Day Tony Edited July 22, 2009 by tonyb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irishfield Posted July 22, 2009 Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 Glad you enjoyed your stay there Tony ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gdelongchamp Posted July 22, 2009 Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 We fished Lake Manitou a couple years ago using downriggers and a wireline. For some reason the wireline produced most of the fish. We fished out of a trailer park in Sandfield. Where is Manitoulin Island Resort located at? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyb Posted July 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 Pretty close to Manitouwaning just off Hwy 6/Bidwell Rd. We were fishing about halfway between Sandfield and Manitoulin Resort in the deeper water. 110 fow was the ticket for us although we did pick up fish at each of the sharp drop-offs like the one shown in the sonar picture, but it is too much work tracking bottom with the riggers on those steep drops Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJQ Posted July 22, 2009 Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 Awesome report!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cambo Posted July 22, 2009 Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 The flower is a tiger Lily they would grow all over our farm on the Island as for the mushroom, the best bet is not to eat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cambo Posted July 22, 2009 Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 doing a little research i think it might be orange mycena but i could be wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeXXington Posted July 22, 2009 Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 great report wish all places were that good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogu392 Posted July 22, 2009 Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 (edited) I have been there few years ago. Nice scenery. Clear water. I did not have a boat at that time neither now. But I have seen lakers caught from the shore. A worm in a small hook, a big slip float, cast and forget. Let the float drif the worm far away into the lake. When the float is gone, not visible anymore, reel in. The lakers will give you a nice fight. Best time: early morning and evening. Edited July 22, 2009 by Gogu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cudz Posted July 22, 2009 Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 cup and saucer. Nice. I have the same pics from 23 years ago. We used to cottage on Manitou. Nice lake. Good smallies as well as lakers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leecher Posted July 22, 2009 Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 Great report and pics tonyb Looks like you guys had a good time..... Great job Thanks for sharing Leechman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyb Posted July 22, 2009 Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 Great report! Definitely got me thinking about giving that place a visit...is that Lake Manitou?? I didn't realize it was so big...thanks for sharing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solopaddler Posted July 22, 2009 Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 Great stuff Tony! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misfish Posted July 22, 2009 Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 (edited) Not sure what flower it is,(Iris of some sort)but just Made My screen saver.Great shot. Great report. TFS Edited July 22, 2009 by misfish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonny Posted July 22, 2009 Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 Great report, especially the part about getting your grandpa out. I've wire-lined Manitou out of Sandfield with good success, But I've never tried downriggers. The flower is a wood lily. Aboriginal people collected the bulbs for food. Nice shots of the Niagara Escarpment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
castgame Posted July 22, 2009 Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 great report! was thinking of going to manitoulin late august... wonder how i'll do on manitou with a canoe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
backbay Posted July 22, 2009 Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 Tony, great report, and some really good pics. You're really lucky to have got out with your gramps, you both will remember it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crankbait Posted July 23, 2009 Report Share Posted July 23, 2009 I was camping at Tobermory earlier this year, looks like I missed out not stopping by there as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CLofchik Posted July 23, 2009 Report Share Posted July 23, 2009 You're right about Manitoulin not changing a whole lot over the years. Probably hard on the locals but it keeps the slow pace of the island. Manitou & Kagawong has some great smallie action that nobody fishes for (including you apparently!), but its known for it's lakers. Manitou serves as a brood stock lake for Blue Jay Creek hatchery, which raises alot of the eggs for inland lake stocking. And is it just me or does everybody else get the banana from Michigan Stinger website? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irishfield Posted July 23, 2009 Report Share Posted July 23, 2009 I got the banana earlier... but now it's the spoon. Hoping for icecream and cherries before midnight... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CLofchik Posted July 23, 2009 Report Share Posted July 23, 2009 Heh he changed the picture to a different site, atleast I'm not going nuts. Oh and Tony did up pick up some Hawberry jam? They sell the stuff everywhere, it's a berry that only grows on the island, tastes like a cross between a cranberry & strawberry. Tasty stuff, every September I go on a motorcycle ride up to Manitoulin to pick up some.....okay I use it as an excuse to on a motorcycle ride, but it's still tasty jam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cambo Posted July 23, 2009 Report Share Posted July 23, 2009 You're right about Manitoulin not changing a whole lot over the years. Probably hard on the locals but it keeps the slow pace of the island. Manitou & Kagawong has some great smallie action that nobody fishes for (including you apparently!), but its known for it's lakers. Manitou serves as a brood stock lake for Blue Jay Creek hatchery, which raises alot of the eggs for inland lake stocking. And is it just me or does everybody else get the banana from Michigan Stinger website? I don't understand your statement "hard on the locals"? and i hope manitoulin never changes, My farm has been in my family for over 150 years and hopefully forever, We Haweaters arn't slow Eh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyb Posted July 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2009 Haweater Weekend is coming up! man I didn't realize how much I missed the island until visiting. I concur cambo, I like that the island isn't rapidly changing. Here in Burlington...every other month there is a huge new high-density subdivision, wal-mart, home depot, etc, etc...unbelievable really. I was glad to see everything where it used to be and not super-sized! Clof, I agree, the smallies are probably as much if not more infested on the island but the trip wasn't planned as a hardcore fishing week...more laid-back and spending time with the wife I only got out on 2 mornings all week if you can believe it, first trip out was to put together a gameplan for gramps who doesn't have great balance anymore in a boat, so trolling fit the bill perfectly. Rod would go off and either me or my wife would hand it to him while seated, it worked out perfect and was safe for him. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cambo Posted July 23, 2009 Report Share Posted July 23, 2009 Haweater Weekend is coming up! man I didn't realize how much I missed the island until visiting. I concur cambo, I like that the island isn't rapidly changing. Here in Burlington...every other month there is a huge new high-density subdivision, wal-mart, home depot, etc, etc...unbelievable really. I was glad to see everything where it used to be and not super-sized! Clof, I agree, the smallies are probably as much if not more infested on the island but the trip wasn't planned as a hardcore fishing week...more laid-back and spending time with the wife I only got out on 2 mornings all week if you can believe it, first trip out was to put together a gameplan for gramps who doesn't have great balance anymore in a boat, so trolling fit the bill perfectly. Rod would go off and either me or my wife would hand it to him while seated, it worked out perfect and was safe for him. Tony Tony are you originally from the Island? Yup Haweater is a great time big dance in littel current. Last time my wife was pretty sick trying to keep up with everyone ended up paying 100 bucks to a taxi get home Hopefully I can make it this year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyb Posted July 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2009 No, I mainly spent summers there with my grandparents when I was a kid on Lake Manitou of all places. Lots of family from the island though and I'm a band member of Wiky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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