The past year has gone buy in a flash.
Between working on the Pipeline and a full schedule guiding, I haven’t had much
time to spend on the blog, before you
give up on My World Outdoors I’m going to try to draw you back in. Spring was
about a month late this year , therefore shed hunting was pretty much impossible.
The short window I had to get out there and walk around the
Fishing season in Northwestern Ontario
starts as soon as the ice goes in late April/early May .
This year the ice stuck around on some of
the lakes, until the 20th of May.
The cool weather also had its effect on the fishing. Walleyes were
spotty at the start, as spring progressed
into summer the bite became stable.
Northern fishing was probably the most constant fish to target (as
usual) and Whitefish Bay proved once again, the place to be, in our neck of the
woods -to crack the big ones. This year I believe there was not a day ,where at
least one person fishing in the boat, didn’t boat a northern over 30 inches on
Whitefish Bay. Additionally, we had 3 or
4 people nail pike over 40 inches on WFB. Attributed to the late spring and cold
weather, lake trout fishing this year was by far the best I can remember. One
of our guests boated a 22 pounder and I had two days on the water where we
boated close to sixty Lakers. Bass were a little spotty early in the spring,
as the water warmed up fishing became more consistent. In my opinion,
Loonhaunt remains to be the best lake to
crack the big smallies. My best day of bass’n, this year was largie fishing on
Ashagama (this was my first year fishing Ashagama and was one of the most impressive lakes for
both quality and quantity in a long time) . Musky season kicked off with a bang and quite
a few were caught that stretched over 40 inches. However, there was a two week
stretch in July where the musky bite got a little tough, the big bites were
hard to come by. As fishermen we
experience slow periods no matter what species we’re targeting.
With fall arriving, I’d encourage you to
not stash away you’re fishing gear – hang’n it up for the year. Fall can be one of the
best times of the year to catch massive fish, in great numbers. Fall is, by far - my favorite time to hit the
water. This time of the season can be an obesity epidemic under the water. The
fish put on the feed bag, in order to
help them make it through the long winter and are generally more aggressive.
The general rule of thumb for this time of year, big bates equal big fish. The
biggest fighting factor is the weather. I would recommend dressing as warm as
you possibly can. Being out on the lake this time of year can be brutally cold.
Some of my best days have been spent fishing in the snow and if you’re not
dressed warm you could end up cutting the best fishing day of your life, short
due to cold fingers.
For those of you who have already exchanged
the rod for bows and guns, good luck this fall! For the boys around home, get
ready for the geese. Right now I’m about 150 miles south of Hudson Bay, there
are massive flocks flying your way. Anyway, this fall DREAM BIG, stay warm, and
most of all be safe.
I’ll
write shortly (really I will).
