Temagami + Cross lake Advice

[jharoutu]

Hey OFC,

Going Houseboating on Temagami and Cross lake over the long weekend. We will also be towing an aluminum fishing boat. We have a fishfinder and hopefully an electric motor. The goal of the trip is to catch a good specimen of each of Temagami's finest. Atlease 1 small mouth bass, 1 Pike, 1 Walleye and 1 Lake trout. I am traditionally a Bass and Pike fisherman, and my equipment reflects this. Have never gone for walleye or Lake trout before. I own a 6'6 MH St.Croix premier with a Shimano Stradic 2500fi, I spooled it up with 8lb black fireline and a 5 ft fluorocarbon leader attached with a double-uni knot. I also have a M action rod with a shimano sahara 2500 with 8lb Trilene xl monofilament. My research suggests big pike and lake trout are deep the time of year. Can anyone vouch for the three-way swivel technique?

 

Thanks for any help.

 

Cheers!

 

J

[smally21]

smallmouth - everywhere any rocky point or shoal - don't be afraid to go 20' + (crayfish, minnows)

pike - troll the narrows and dropoffs - small ones on the shorelines

wallies - troll worm harness or jig the dropoffs -points and between islands - they'll be in deep holes 30'+

lakers - deeeeeep, almost need to downrig this time of year, could try jigging spoons or bucktails but 60'+

your equipment is fine - though the walleye are really sensitive to line visibility

don't bother fishing after 9pm

cross lake is a good place to go from temagami - my favorite part of the lake for fishing

 

have a good one!

Edited August 31, 2011 by smally21

[Thrasher]

You have a PM

[NBR]

Never fished there at this time of year but here is my take. Smallmouth: My guess is the forage is more bait fish than crawdads in the fall. Rocky points, crank baits, jigs and trailers, soft plastics. Try surface early mornings later evenings deeper as the sun comes up and while it's still high. Offshore humps. Walleye: Both are very clear lakes unless you have low light conditions (clouds, rain, good chop, early morningor late evening expect them to be 25 or more feet deep. Lake trout: with out down riggers you are pretty well restricted to deep jigging with spoons or heavy jigs/sinkers with soft plastics.

 

Threeway swivels should be effective but I don't think you can get them deep enough to troll for lakes.

 

Smallie 21 pretty much right on.

[Fang]

Hopefully you've been into cross before. If not pay very special attention as Temagami has some nasty shoals down that end of the lake. In cross pay special attention to areas were you find weeds. I've been fishing Temagami for 25 years now and this was the first year I didn't make the trip up in the summer (work sucks!!!). Smallies love the small senkos. I look for deeper sloping shorelines with wood and rock. This water will hold the numbers. Like smally says if you find some rock structure or bluff cliffs that get into deeper water 20+ fish it with jigs tipped with worms or minnows. There's tons of good water in there. I like to work defined points and have success trolling worm harnesses on bottom bouncer rigs around these for walleyes. 20ft +/- 5 ft is best to start and let the fish tell you if they are shallow or deeper.

 

Smallies- chug bugs, pop r's, bomber cranks, senkos 3/4", x raps are good

Walleyeye - troll worm harnesses to find them, then gulp leaches tipped with a worm

Pike - will hit anything up there

Lakers - 60+ feet of water and look for some structure, jig 3/4 - 1 oz crippled herring, swedish pimples or the like

 

have a great time

[irishfield]

Fang beat me to it.. if you have one of Leisure Islands houseboats with the 9.9 the motor is mounted higher than the pontoon bottoms, but if you have one of Lakelands big houseboats with the I/B's you'd better know exactly where you are going getting into Cross Lake.

 

If the wind is light... nice heavy jig/spoon/tube and pretend you're ice fishing. Lakers will love you...

[Joeytier]

I've seen multiple 15-20 lb pike get caught down 80+ FOW in May while lake trout fishing. Smallies are everywhere, but I'd suggest a bottom bouncer/3-way rig in 20+ fow with either stick baits or harnesses for walleye/pike.

 

It's a beautiul lake. You'll enjoy your trip regardless.

[smally21]

fishing for lakers over 80 feet in may?????on temagami????

[irishfield]

I fish about the top 8 feet of the water column that time of year, but they are down deep as well.

[jharoutu]

Thanks for all the tips gentlemen.

We rented from Tamar Vacations. Did the same trip before so I know going into Cross lake can be iffy if the prop is very low but we have not had issues with Tamar's boats getting through before. We will also be towing a 9.9 hp aluminum boat.

 

I scoped out cross lake with Google earth, and the shoals are very obvious and I marked them all off. That being said, nothing beats a good point in the right direction from people who have fished cross lake before. Any specific tips on good spots to camp and good spots to fish would be very welcome.

 

 

This is the plan so far:

Bass: Topwaters, X-raps and soft plastics (Senkos + Tubes). Crawfish and Shad patterns?

Trout: I will buy 1oz jig heads and jig a grub or a tube?. Colours?

Walleye: Jigs and Crank baits. Colours?

BIG pike: Fish where the walleye and trout roam.

 

Thanks again! I promise you all a report w/ pics!

[johnnyb]

fishing for lakers over 80 feet in may?????on temagami????

 

I was surprised as well when I met a guy who drags the steel line out there....no matter what time of year, he is right on bottom, and get results. I ended up having to go pretty deep to get any kind of action this past May, even though the surface temp was a cool 52. Who knew?!

Edited September 1, 2011 by johnnyb

[smally21]

lakers fill the bays in may (the years that the ice is out) along with pike and whitefish. i have no doubt there are lakers deep but why would you, when they are presenting and feeding in ten feet of water. by all means drop your steel line for the rest of the year. or in may for that matter!

 

any way this guy is fishing off a houseboat and a 9.9 in cross lake and won't be fishing for pike or lakers in 80'+

 

your host at tamar will show you the way.....

[colin519]

lakers fill the bays in may (the years that the ice is out) along with pike and whitefish. i have no doubt there are lakers deep but why would you, when they are presenting and feeding in ten feet of water. by all means drop your steel line for the rest of the year. or in may for that matter!

 

any way this guy is fishing off a houseboat and a 9.9 in cross lake and won't be fishing for pike or lakers in 80'+

 

your host at tamar will show you the way.....

 

Just came back from camping a week on Cross Lake, rented from Tamar vacations. If you want to know the specific spots, I can show you on a map sometime. Contact me privately if you want to do that. Can't say enough about Tamar, great people running it. As for using them to direct you to fishing spots, they will get you close, but you will have to think for yourself down there.

 

Lakers you are going to need sonar, and potentially downriggers, I wouldn't bother myself frankly but a laker this time of year would be nice.

 

Smallies, you can pretty much catch any where with some rocky cover or a fallen tree. Don't waste your time fishing too near the shore or in some of the back bays on the way into cross, some are 4 foot deep and tree covered which can get nasty fast. I had a few shore lunches over the week, crayfish dead inside every one of them so it might be worth bringing something like that. There were some 4 or 5" yum 'dingers' we were slaying them on as well.

 

Walleye were few and far between (I only got one on a 3" gulp) but of course are really nice if you can hit a school. The one I got was at about 9:00PM so it was quite dark which is quite dangerous especially in Cross lake. Keep in mind the slot limit on there. A few other buddies were staying on Tamar and fished Austins bay and Outlet bay pretty effectively as well.

 

I got (and lost at the boat) a decent pike on a spoon tailed with a medium sized yum (salt and pepper). Smaller pike in the weed lines in the bays, bass there of course too. Bigger pike will be harder to come by, but they are out there.

 

Contact me if you do want to talk more specifics.