Headed north in a week and a half. Have gotten some great insight from several of you on places to stay/fish on our trip. Thank you!

Nym entry, Batch, Pickerel, Maria, Jesse, Elizabeth, Walter, Lonely, Sturgeon (day trip into Draper/Halliday?) on the expected route.

As I've stated before, like to fish falls areas, outflows...

Looking for experiences in general, or specific to the proposed route, on where/when it makes sense to pull the canoe over and fish from shore or campsites that offer better than average shore fishing or nearby reefs for night fishing opportunities. Haven't fished at night on past trips and weather permitting, would like to give it a shot on this trip. Probably not up for an excursion far from camp at night for a variety of reasons.

Any/all information on your experiences in either or both situations is appreciated.

Thanks, J

I mentioned this before and caught some flak for it being considered by some a non-sporting way to fish, but as far as I know it’s not illegal. I believe it’s illegal to leave the rod unattended say overnight, but

I don’t think you being a few feet away or sitting alongside would be considered “unattended”? So I’ll let you decide how ethical it is.

I've had success with fishing for LT mainly from shore in campsites with deep water access by the following method.

You need a weight heavy enough to cast out and hold the bottom. I like either the Pyramid or disk type, 1 oz. will do fine. You want to use a slip sinker type set-up so the fish can grab the bait and the line will run free. I never used clear line to the hook, but you could if you want.

  (You need to Login or Register

You want a variation of the Sliding sinker bottom rig
I use barb-less circle type hooks.  The smaller the better. You want the bait to float free of the bottom maybe 12-18”.
I use a Gulp minnow or leach.

After you cast out from shore and set the rod upright in your make-shift rod holder, you reel in all the slack and put the reel in free spool mode.
I often will do this first when setting camp especially if the wind is up and I know I won’t be going out in canoe.

Keep an eye on the rod tip as you do your camp chores. Same thing at night, you could put some sort of reflective material/yarn on rod tip to check its action. When rod tip starts bouncing and/or you see the spool free running. You take rod out of holder drop the tip, take reel out of free spool and reel in the slack and set the hook with an upward sweeping motion.

With braid you just flick your wrist and you’ll set the hook. Circle hooks will grab the fish in the corner of the mouth. Worst case scenario the line breaks off and the hook stays in the corner of the mouth where it will either work its way free or rust off.

Not for everyone but it works great as long as you pay attention.
Did that one year on Quetico Lake and instead of a LT, I caught numerous freshwater Ling Cod ,which I cut up an put in Cache Lake Fish Chowder.

Historically there has been a 40+ inch NP on the pickerel side of the rapids bt Batch and Pickerel.  Pretty sure he's a democrat and frequently caught and released.

PhantomJug wrote on Aug 23^rd, 2015 at 7:43pm:

Historically there has been a 40+ inch NP on the pickerel side of the rapids bt Batch and Pickerel.  Pretty sure he's a democrat and frequently caught and released.

Will not get into politics but that's pretty funny...

Will have a rod each ready to go for our paddle across Batch and will make sure we spend a few minutes fishing the outflow. Understand there are several opportunities in that area through the portage to Maria.

I sent you a PM.

(red)where batch narrows down, theres the common camping spot on the point, we have had some really good luck between that point and where the beaver dam used to be.

(yellow) the outflow of batch to maria has yielded some pretty big fish for us also.

(green)the little point across from mosquito point has produced a few nice ones also. its shallow and snaggy so watch for that.

(blue)the grassy really narrow area from pickeral into the bay before maria is shallow, but has some lunkers.

(purple)right before you can see the maria portage, theres a big point. theres a huge cabbage weedbed that extends much farther than you would expect. we have hauled some monsters out of there.

  (You need to Login or Register   (You need to Login or Register

This is a photo of the general area around Mosquito point. I've seen the structure off the points that Jaximus mentioned but never spent a lot of time fishing it. Other spots in that same vicinity have been productive for me. Shore fishing might be a possibility if you did some wading or night fishing.

---

Good stuff Jax, thank you. Looks like we will need to add a couple of hours to our first day's paddle. Typically don't fish until we get to where we are going to set up camp on day one but what better way to get into the flow of the trip than to slow down and get into a few fish from the getgo.

Will need to make sure I have my orange grippers and a couple of lures within easy reach. One week to go...

jimmar wrote on Aug 27^th, 2015 at 12:09pm:

This is a photo of the general area around Mosquito point.

Excitement level just went up, beautiful picture. Don't know that the shore or night fishing will come into play in this area, at least on the way in, but I'm not oppossed to catching them from the canoe either ;)

one of the fish from the area in the photo

---

Jimmar that's a nice fish, but you need a better way to measure your fish.  I tape a yard stick to my canoe on one of the supports so it is easy and quick to measure a fish.

A yard stick would be too short for most of my fish...

Jimmar,

You could tape one of these to the inside of your canoe and cover it with clear waterproof tape.
Since you like to catch NP, you'd need the 60" model. ;)

  (You need to Login or Register

solotripper wrote on Aug 27^th, 2015 at 9:53pm:

Jimmar, You could tape one of these to the inside of your canoe a....

That would be too easy and probably too accurate to allow for the campfire story embellishments.

Good luck JChief! Sounds like fun. I'll be looking for LT this upcoming weekend with the family but will be south of the border in Carp and/or Knife. Tight lines!

Thanks Nanda. Weather forecast has changed a decent amount (very warm Friday, wet over the weekend, then cooling but seasonal the rest of the trip). Will be prepared for everything weather wise. Hope you find a few LT this weekend. Safe travels

It has been 2 years, excited is an understatement.

J

Quote:

It has been 2 years, excited is an understatement.

After a 7 yr absence :'( I know exactly how you feel :D
Absence really does make the heart grow fonder  8-)
Have a great trip!