tonyb Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 (edited) I'll save you the suspense of a report filled with fish and smiling anglers and instead sum it up with a single photo. Had a great weekend with the guys, but it's a lot cheaper to stay at home and play cards I'll add some details and scenery photos once they get emailed to me. The weekend started off bad with a 9+hr white-knuckle drive to Temagami. We fished hard in the hut on Friday morning, sonar going and everyone fishing. I caught an 8" Lake trout right off the bat, that would be the last fish caught in the hut over the 2.5 days. (Ok, it wasn't a complete skunk but 2 guys, Brad and Jonny, both got skunked, and you can hardly count fish under 10 inches) Since we were marking 0 fish in the hut, we asked the operator for his gas auger so we could move in tighter to shore and try some different depths. We made swiss cheese off the one side of an island near us. We worked depths from 15' all the way to 100' in a distance of about 150yrds, steep drop off. We took the sonar and again failed to mark any fish in any of the holes there. At sunset, in the 40' depth we managed an 8" ling and a 9" walleye. That would be the last fish caught along that break for the entire weekend. We probed the depths in the vicinity and covered a good area working both sonars when we were far enough apart to avoid interference, and there were just no fish around. Maybe the spot was good early in the year and the operator got complacent and didn't move the bungalows to stay on fish (understandably a large task, but you gotta keep clients on fish) If there was less snow on the ice we could have travelled more as we had hydrographic charts for the lake on the gps unit Aaron had. As it were though we were confined to staying near the ice road. The snow was waste deep with slush when you got too far off the ice road. The worst part was the guy would come visit and tell us how they had a camera down and there were schools of whitefish moving through, I call Bull! we saw nothing on our sonars, and with the colour units we have it's easy to spot fish hugging bottom. Temagami Conservation note 1: When we asked for a regulation book, to have as reference for the slot limit on walleye at the local tackle shop in Temagami, the response was "The MNR can't tell how long the fish is once it is filleted!" Temagami Conservation note 2: When your clients fail to catch fish on the spot you have put them on, bring them slot sized Walleye for dinner on the last night! 19" fish lol (Caught elsewhere of course...where everyone was limiting out!? -- locals only spot!?) There is obviously great fishing in the lake...somewhere, but since it is soo big, we just struck out on being led to a fishless location. I won't be going back there in the winter, unless someone knows someone who knows where the fish are located. It would be much better if there was less snow to explore more, or in the summer with a boat. Temagami is a beautiful place that is for shure. The operators and general mentality up there is much different than further south. I think the competitive business that Simcoe and say Nippissing operators have to deal with forces them to stay on top of fish, and that's what you pay for isn't it? Tony Edited March 5, 2007 by tonyb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lew Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 How was the drive up on Thursday Tony, did you stay ahead of the storm ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccmtcanada Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 Oh man...at least the skunks look happy.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clampet Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 Let me guess...... You daydreamed fer weeks of the fish you would be catching. You and the fellas gave yer hard earned money to some "Outfitter". You sat in a dark Ice shack/shanty/bungalow. You stared hopefully at the hole in the floor, and at one another. After about two hours, it became a little boring. At the end of the day, you knew, it wouldn't get any better. You tried to console yerselves, with oft repeated mantras of the bite isn't always on, it's the weather, maybe if we were here last week.... Fer God sakes you are men, aren't you? Do you know what that means? Do you need someone to hold yer hand like a little boy? Go out there yourself. Bring yer own stuff. Look around a bit. You'll figure it out. Follow the trail. Think of yer ancestors. Are they shaking their heads in disgust? You don't need some one else to settle you in at what..$100-200 per person? Anyway, hope I lent you a new perspective fer next time, if you consider going "Ice" fishing ever again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joey Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 Well that's a total bummer Tony. Sorry to hear about your skunk. But it happens to the best of us. Joey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyb Posted March 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 Let me guess......You daydreamed fer weeks of the fish you would be catching. You and the fellas gave yer hard earned money to some "Outfitter". You sat in a dark Ice shack/shanty/bungalow. You stared hopefully at the hole in the floor, and at one another. After about two hours, it became a little boring. At the end of the day, you knew, it wouldn't get any better. You tried to console yerselves, with oft repeated mantras of the bite isn't always on, it's the weather, maybe if we were here last week.... Fer God sakes you are men, aren't you? Do you know what that means? Do you need someone to hold yer hand like a little boy? Go out there yourself. Bring yer own stuff. Look around a bit. You'll figure it out. Follow the trail. Think of yer ancestors. Are they shaking their heads in disgust? You don't need some one else to settle you in at what..$100-200 per person? Anyway, hope I lent you a new perspective fer next time, if you consider going "Ice" fishing ever again. By no means did we just sit in the bungalow. We popped about 30 holes spanning different depths, but it's easy to determine availability of fish with the sonars we had going. There were none! As I said above, mobility off of the ice road was very limited or we would have tried other potential locations as we did have hydrographic charts in conjunction with the GPS. Can't always catch fish, I just had higher hopes for Temagami. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irishfield Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 Is that Aaron..bottom left? lol It's a tough lake to crack Tony..no doubt about that..yet others this year, that had never been there in their life, simply walked out a few hundred feet from the access road parking lot..popped a couple holes and were on fish all day. Temagami Conservation note 1: When we asked for a regulation book, to have as reference for the slot limit on walleye at the local tackle shop in Temagami, the response was "The MNR can't tell how long the fish is once it is filleted! Was this at Dad's or Gramps...if Dad's you've gotta understand Jim's dry humour for that one. He wouldn't keep a slot 18.1 to 24" pickeral anymore than I would. It's only Lake Temagami that has this slot in the whole area as well....so it's a bit of a sore point for many up there. And BTW...Jim's from Minnisota(sp) not a Temagami bred boy. Holds the record for largest moose with a bow. Next time you're up there...and I'm sure you will be...take sleds and head up towards Rabbit's nose bluffs in the North Arm. Hopefully we'll be successful this weekend and have pics to show you what's in the lake.... to convince you to give it another whirl....but I've saved that picture above for my files just incase ! LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyb Posted March 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 It was frustrating and humbling, the water is BIG up there. We zoomed out a bit on the GPS and the picture of the lake on a normal map doesn't do it any justice. That lake had more structure withing eyesight than many that I have been on, superb scenery, you have a cottage on a piece of heaven up there Wayne. I'll be impatiently awaiting your results this coming weekend. That's the 3rd time someone has mentioned the rabbit shoal, why were the bungalows not located there?! Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clampet Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 ...That's the 3rd time someone has mentioned the rabbit shoal, why were the bungalows not located there?! .. I may be wrong, but I think that some outfitters place their shacks over a likely looking spot, and they are there fer the duration of the season, fish or no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irishfield Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 I'm impatiently waiting our results too Tony! lol Was the snow really waist deep? There was nothing there, 6" max, a few weeks ago. Guessed I'd better call my lake neighbour and see how his ice road is past my dock. We won't be making it up to Rabbit's Nose Bluffs from my place either. Will be a last resort.... as it would be a 20 to 22mile ride from my place. There's so much structure out there with over 3000 miles of shoreline...it's hard to even decide where to fish...let alone pick the right spot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodro Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 bummer to hear about your trip tonyB, i had a feeling it would turn out that way. That operator you went with disapointed me a couple years back and i vowed to myself i would never use him again. Not all operators are like that up there, Bluewater outfitters(i believe) is normally a little better on keeping clients on fish depending on snow/ice conditions they move their bungalows to different locations. The best bet for next time, if there is a next time, is to go with a mode of transportation to get to untouched spots. A sled or atv is essential to stay ontop of fish if they arent around. sorry to hear about your trip, maybe next year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Shirley Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 Hey Irishfield, I am the one on the bottom right.. the one that looks shocked he can't catch a fish lol All in all, it was still a good time.. we made up for the lack of fish other ways I really liked the structure on the lake... just wish we were not confined to such a small area with all the snow... and it was about 3' deep outside the ice road. We walked out a ways and drilled a bunch of holes and fished hard in several depths, but it would be way too much to travel to areas we wanted to fish without a sled. Ya never know till ya try a spot or outfitter. The beer was still cold I think Clampet is right.. those shacks looked like they were there for a while. I don't believe we were on a bad spot, I just think the fish were not using the area while we were there. That's why they call it fishin' and not catchin'. Sleds and mobility with portables are definitely the way to go anywhere. I really got an eye opener fishing with Don McCaw from Ice Guidez with the portability factor on Simcoe. He has the right ingredients for a successful day on the ice. Don spoiled me the past few years I am gonna have to buy a sled now! Looking forward to your report Irishfield... hopefully it is much better than ours. All the best, Aaron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aniceguy Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 Tony what happened???? lef the J9's at home its ok soon soft water season is around and you ll get on some fish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyb Posted March 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 I think if I did the winter thing next time, just get a motel room and take some sleds with a portable shelter. That way we could move and fish where we wanted to. Now the first problem, need to get a truck to put the sled in, and then buy a sled, then a gas auger....oh man see what happens with fishing! Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irishfield Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 LOL Tony...worry about the boat first ! Oh and you could get a skidoo trailer and pull with what you have... Already gave Jim an earful about his "dry humour"...he won't be stating such things to anyone else he doesn't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyb Posted March 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 Good stuff Wayne, us city slickers are such a pain in the ass eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irishfield Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattyk Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 i remember my first time up there. It was pretty tough fishing. We really had to search to find them. But when we did we had some good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greencoachdog Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 It's a tough lake to crack Tony..no doubt about that Hopefully we'll be successful this weekend and have pics to show you what's in the lake I feel a whack of Temagami scenery pics coming on!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjsa Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 I feel a whack of Temagami scenery pics coming on!!! OHHHH..............................BBBUUUURRRNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!! :lol: :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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