Depending on what part of the province you're fishing, it is either late spring or early summer, the walleye season is well underway and the fish are biting like crazy. Does life get any better than this?
Not for the folks who are participating in the Rice Lake Fishing Festival
www.ricelakespringfishingfestival.ca/ down in the Kawartha region of southern Ontario. Mike Brown tells me the walleye bite there has been nothing short of amazing so far this season with the fish hitting crankbaits in 8- to 12-feet of water.
But as good as the walleye bite has been on Rice Lake, the buzz has been about the monster bluegills folks are catching. As a matter of fact, two tagged festival fish have been checked in so far and both were caught by female anglers!
And talk about gorilla gills. Check out this over 12 inches bull bluegill that is as big around as a dinner plate. Mike says the best bluegill action is happening in and around the numerous shallow mid-lake flats.
The $10,000 Pioneer gas card prize fish is still swimming around so be sure to get your festival button from one of the Rice Lake Tourist Association members. This will also enter you into the festival's last cast draws for fantastic prizes like a 9.8hp Tohatsu outboard motor.
A little further north and west, hungry walleyes are coming off the spawn in all of the tributaries along the north shore of Lake Huron. Buddy Rob Laframboise is one of the best smallmouth bass anglers on the planet, but when the action gets this good, Rob starts chasing walleyes. He says water temps are hovering in the low to mid 50s and that a 1/2-ounce jig tipped with a minnow is the best bait for numbers of fish, but that snap jigging plastics is nailing the lunkers.
Also, according to Rob, the Spanish River near Espanola, the Mississagi River near Blind River and the St-Marys River in downtown Sault Ste Marie Ontario are the current hotspots. And don't forget to sign up for the Sault Ste Marie Kiwanis Invitational Walleye Tournament
www.kiwt.net/
(Rob Laramboise is a smallmouth ace, but he knows a thing or two about walleyes as well)
Moving further west still, good friend Davis Viehbeck tells me that water temperatures in the 56 F to 60 F range in lakes around Thunder Bay have the walleye on a holy tear right now.
Davis works for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources in the Lakehead and always has his ear close to the ground in terms of what is biting and where.
Davis is catching the majority of his fish casting hot coloured Northland Gumball jigs tipped either with live minnows or 4" Trigger X Minnows.
And when the wind is picking up, he is casting #8 Rapala Flat Raps and #10 Husky Jerks along the windswept shorelines where the fish are hitting in shallow water ranging from only 2 to 5 feet deep.
By the way, Davis is also an avid steelheader and he tells me that the fish are dropping back into the big lake quickly now that their annual spawning mission is over, but that hard core trout anglers are having a blast fishing at the river mouths.
But as good as that all sounds, the most exciting action of all may be the brook trout fishing. The area between Nipigon and Thunder Bay is one of the best speckled trout fisheries on earth - it is where the world record was caught - and giant fish are being hooked in many of the area lakes and rivers. Number 8 X-Raps thrown to shallow visible structure has proven to be the key pattern for brook trout anglers, but Davis reports also catching some big bruisers throwing Big Jim McLaughlin's custom tied bucktails. Big Jim's jigs are legendary in southern Ontario, where walleye anglers use them to pop giant 'eyes out of the weeds. But they're just as deadly for brookies.
In the 300 mile stretch of land between Thunder Bay and Kenora, where I live, there are over 100,000 lakes, and most of them are filled with walleyes. My Minnesota fishing buddies like to brag that they have 10,000 lakes in the state, but I always tell them I feel sorry for them with such a shortage of water.
With more water than land in Northwestern Ontario, it is not surprising that Sunset Country is widely regarded as having the finest walleye fishing on earth. You'll get no argument on that account from Randy Duvell, who operates Slippery Winds Wilderness Resort on Yoke Lake.
A group of anglers from Oklahoma were at Randy's lodge last week and they nailed numerous walleyes in the 25" - 28" size range using slip bobbers and leeches. By the way, we enjoy a spring catch-and-release bass season in Northwestern Ontario, and while most conscientious anglers avoid fishing for smallmouth when they're actually nesting and protecting their young, the pre-spawn fishing can be exciting.
Randy's guests have been catching scores of smallmouth in the 17- to 20-inch range on both Yoke Lake and nearby Straw Lake and one lucky angler even nailed a huge, egg laden 23-inch smallie on a fly. Talk about a great way to start the season.
By the way, if you're visiting Randy's resort,
www.gwnlodges.com be sure to take a day and portage into Bluffpoint Lake, which is known for its great largemouth bass fishing. How good is it, you ask? Well, the first group of the year that fished Bluffpoint on May 25th boated over 100 bass in a single day of fishing. And we're not talking "dinks" either. Most of the bucketmouths were in the 17- 19 inch range.
The action is just as good over at Woman Lake Lodge,
www.womanlakelodgecanada.com northeast of Ear Falls. Tom Sebek says the walleye action has been "crazy good" with the fish still bunched up, relating to river mouths and feeder creeks. A jig tipped with a minnow has been the ticket, but when it gets sunny, leeches are also working well. The biggest walleye so far this season - it only opened a week ago - is a 29 1/4-inch fish, but the number of 23- to 26-inch walleyes Tom's guests have been catching has been insane.
And when they pull themselves away from the walleyes, they're landing bonus northern pike in the 44- to 46-inch range and big lake trout trolling shallow divers along the shorelines.
The action is just as hot over on Lac Seul where Mike Willems operates Silver Water Wheel Lodge
www.sww-lodge.com
"We were fortunate to have five or six days of brilliant warm sunshine to jump start water temperatures before our first guests arrived on May 20th," Mike says, "so the season opener was excellent for both size and number of walleyes and pike. It was a terrific week for big walleyes, with 43 fish over 27 inches, including 13 – 28s, 4 – 29s, and 1 – 30. Our boats have been averaging 30 walleyes a day over 18 inches, with one boat catching 65 walleyes."
Wow, imagine catching 65 big walleyes in a single day! And that is not counting the small ones under 18-inches!
Lac Seul is also world famous for pike (and muskies) and Mike reports the big pike bite has been excellent with 50 fish in the last week alone over 37-inches, including 11 – 40s, 2 – 41s, 3 – 42s and 2 – 43s. Most of these fish were caught in shallow, warm water bays in less than five feet of water. The most productive presentations have been medium sized spoons, 6 inch Jakes and size 14 Husky Jerks.
Closer to home, buddies Jason Gauthier and Jason Hamilton are two river rats who love fishing the Winnipeg River near Kenora. The LUND Pro Staffers have been catching extraordinary numbers of walleyes fishing jigs tipped with minnows and leeches.
These guys are backtrolling wizards and when they get on fish they put on a clinic for everyone to watch. The two Jasons are catching their river fish in current areas in 12- to 25-feet of water. The gusty winds and variable currents have made bottom contact a challenge lately, so the boys have been using 1/4- to 1/2-ounce Lindy X Change Jigs so they quickly adjust to the conditions.
Finally, over on the big pond, Lake of the Woods, buddy Ryan Haines has been guiding for walleyes non-stop since the season opened. Ryan is a fisheries biologist as well one of the top guides on the lake.
www.lakeofthewoodsguide.com A week ago he was finding the walleyes in 8 to 12 feet of water but with the recent arrival of cooler weather, the fish have shifted into depths either side of 20 feet.
(Ryan Haines guided Jack Nethercutt to this beautiful Lake of the Woods walleye last week)
"I would imagine that as the temperatures warm in the coming week," Ryan says, "the fish will move back up into the shallows. The walleye haven't ventured far from their spawning areas and are gorging themselves on mayfly nymphs, so areas with a soft bottom and, in particular, transition areas from rock to soft bottom are where we are having the best luck. The most effective technique has been a 1/4 oz. jig tipped with either a minnow or half a nitro worm with extended pauses, holding the bait six inches to one foot over the bottom in between jigging sequences."
With action this good, from one end of the province to the other, I have only one suggestion to offer. Phone the boss and tell him you're too ill to come to work. Then go fishing in Ontario!
