I know whitefish are present in large numbers in many of the deeper canoe country lakes. I'm wondering if anyone fishes for them, or has caught any, even if accidental? I'm wondering what kinds of lures you used, how deep they were, time of year, any other factors that you can share.

This seems to be an under-used resource, and they are great eating, surpassing waldos in some opinions.

Thanks 8-)

OS -

I've only caught a couple of them in Quetico that I can recall... both on the same trip.  It happened in southern Pickerel Lake, as you begin to approach the portage that leads into the "B Chain" of lakes.  It was about 5 years ago or so.  I believe I was fishing for walleye at the time, running around 15 feet deep with some sort of deeper-diving minnow lure.  The fish were pretty good sized (2-3 pounds, maybe?).  I only recognized them because whitefish were the mainstay of a trip I took down the Allagash Waterway in Maine... back in the dawn of time.  We caught LOTS of them, there.

You're right; whitefish are good eating.  However, these particular fish were tossed back.

FYI

Jimbo   8-)

Thanks Jimbo, this is the kind of information I'm looking for. Do you happen to remember the time of year? I'm guessing those fish were in deeper water and chased your lure? We'll have a conversation at Copia.

Anyone else? 8-)

I caught one and on the same trip my son caught one.  We were on Saganagons and fishing for walleye with deep diving plugs. I was in early June.

Old Salt wrote on Feb 13^th, 2016 at 12:23am:

Thanks Jimbo, this is the kind of information I'm looking for. Do you happen to remember the time of year? I'm guessing those fish were in deeper water and chased your lure? We'll have a conversation at Copia. Anyone else? 8-)

OS,

Late July, early August, as I recall.

Jimbo   8-)

Years ago in the trout lakes I was just trying to put fish in the pan. I would make my own downrigger by attaching at least 4 ounces of weight about 8 feet up the line from my dardevel. WhenI got moving I kept letting out more and more line so the lure would be way down there. This would put some Lake Trout in the pan and the occasional Whitefish. This was mid-summer.

I've never caught whitefish in Quetico that I recall, but have in Ontario lakes further east. I used small jigging Rapalas, typically used for ice fishing, usually with some live bait. I also remember one year catching a few trolling medium sized original floating Rapalas. I thought it unusual to catch them near the surface.

never caught one but now i really want to  - Thanks OS
the best fish dinner i can recall outside of quetico was
Pesce Bianco alla Spinaci
Lake Superior whitefish sautéed with baby capers
and shallots in a lemon butter sauce with a side of
fire roasted spinach
Loc: Zaza's Trattoria in St Charles, IL

zski wrote on Feb 15^th, 2016 at 3:08pm:

never caught one but now i really want to  - Thanks OS the best fish dinner i can recall outside of quetico was Pesce Bianco alla Spinaci Lake Superior whitefish sautéed with baby capers and shallots in a lemon butter sauce with a side of fire roasted spinach Loc: Zaza's Trattoria in St Charles, IL

;) ;)

Me too! My wife and I have been enjoying whitefish dinners the past several years prepared in various North Shore restaurants. ;) 8-)
I'm thinking I could duplicate in camp. ;)

I thought I would revive this thread in my efforts to gather more information about this overlooked gem of Quetico. In addition to the information requested earlier, I am searching for lists of Quetico lakes that are known to contain whitefish. Some of you are more gifted with searching out this information than I am. I have done some searching, but have not found any such lists of fish species in Quetico. I am planning a trip to lakes that, I believe, probably have whitefish, but not sure. Anyway, thanks in advance for any guidance that you can provide. As stated in earlier posts, they are outstanding table fare, and would rival waldos and lakers for quality. Thanks! 8-)

OS,

Did you look here?

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Zoom into Quetico and click on the name of lake.
On the left side, it will show fish species in that lake.

It doesn't specify when the last known sighting was but at least you know they were there at one time.

Beaverhouse/Quetico/Cirrus/Jean/Walter had them at some point.

Last Observation Date = not available.  I can only assume that means the lake has been fished out and the species no longer exists there.  ;D

There used to be a publication the ministry put out entitled "Quetico Fishes" which had lake survey(1967-1973) information in it.  It's likely this survey information is used in the above website.  A quick google search turned up a text version of the publication.
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Years ago I caught a few white fish in Jean Lake.  It was late May or early June.

I'm guessing that any lake that can hold Lake Trout depth wise could support Lake Whitefish?

This article says they run in schools so I guess that would be one-way to look for them if the water is deep enough.

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What ST said. They tend to hang in lake trout waters.

Delicious.

I agree that they hang with lakers. I tried the links provided and the information is limited, but about what I expected. I’m planning to be in some prime laker waters so I’m going to take some small jigs, spoons, and powerbait to see if they are home.

I’m still interested in seeing any reports, experiences of those that have found them. I think they are the most overlooked sportfish in Q. 8-)

Have caught several in crooked lake usually around curtain falls. Mostly on small white spinners. We are always there the first week full week of June.

Crooked Lake! Interesting! I know it’s deep above Curtain Falls. Where else is it deep enough? :-/

I'll mark you a map. There are another place we found them on the north side up were the short cut past Green island.They are fighters.

I would like to see a map. Thanks! Can you email it to me? 8-)

I finally located the information I was looking for. Sometimes it helps to just uproot everything in the filing system. A few years ago, I picked up a chart that is about 10 pages that shows the species in the Quetico lakes. It is quite detailed. Careful study confirms a couple of observations I have made over years of Quetico fishing regarding lake trout and whitefish. Whitefish are in more Quetico lakes than most people realize. They are quite common in fact, present in over half of the lakes. Whitefish tend to stay deep, preferring the rocky bottoms. Herring tend to rise and fall in the water column. In lakes where there is either or both herring and whitefish, the trout grow much bigger than in lakes that have neither. Thus, the answer to the question about where to find hawg lakers depends on the forage base. Whitefish can grow to 2-3 lbs, or even bigger in some of these waters.

I do not know where to find this information online. I got it from the Park office in Atikokan a few years ago. You might be able to sweet talk them into a copy. Alternately, I am willing to make a few copies to bring to Copia. If you want one, let me know ahead so I can make you one. I find the info very helpful in planning which lakes to visit and fish.

The title is: Quetico Provincial Park Background Information- Fisheries Stewardship Plan Appendix 2. If anyone can find a link and post it, I'm sure it would help many of us, especially the techno misfits...of which I am one. :-?

I don't know if your chart came from this source but all the fish species are listed as well as the lakes.

On right there are download options.
I chose the pdf one.

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Old Salt wrote on Feb 15^th, 2018 at 10:02pm:

Quetico Provincial Park Background Information- Fisheries Stewardship Plan Appendix 2. If anyone can find a link and post it, I'm sure it would help many of us, especially the techno misfits...of which I am one. :-?

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Furtman had a what lakes contain what fish book as well.

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So what changed?

[quote author=solotripper link=1455218408/22#22 date=1518736725] On right there are download options.
I chose the pdf one.

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It didn't look searchable but what if is a bad habit of mine. Very cool ST!

So they stick near the bottom in deep water. To catch them in summer use a bottom bouncer and small hook. I have found lake trout on a detector then fished that area and had luck.  Wonder if Whitefish could be spotted on my detector.

db wrote on Feb 16^th, 2018 at 9:13am:

[quote author=solotripper link=1455218408/22#22 date=1518736725] On right there are download options. I chose the pdf one.   (You need to Login or Register It didn't look searchable but what if is a bad habit of mine. Very cool ST!

  I found both those summaries but they didn't have that 10-page fish "chart" OS was referencing?

I kept looking around and came across that link.
Without a publishing date/author, to start with it was hard to find info on the fish.

That link I provided can be downloaded many different ways, but it's a complete review similar to what you linked us too PLUS the fish info.

It's about 100 pages long, nobody wants to copy the whole thing or at least I didn't.

If you download the PDF file, you can look in the index to see the fish/lake info. Starting with page 54, you have a list of known fish species and what lakes they've been counted in.

Some really cool black and white drawings of the fish too.

The next list is in Alphabetical order by LAKE and the fish types in them. That goes to page 63.

So IF this is what OS has, that would be about 10 pages of good info. The book was published in 1976,
I'm assuming the data is older than that?

I put the PDF file in my Q folder and now can see what type fish has been cataloged at one time in all the lakes. I'm not even a serious fisherman but I'm curious so it's nice to have the info.

When I downloaded the PDF I noticed another one on my drive. Anyway, considering the specificity of other species and lakes listed, I got a kick out of this list. Anything can happen in 40 years I guess.

Micropterus dolomieui—smallmouth bass 61/31 .3/6
Agnes. Ballard, Bart, Basswood, Beaverhouse, Brewer, Burke. Burntside, Carp.
Ceph. Crooked, Cypress, Dahlin, Darky, East, Eva, Fern. French, Gardner Bay
(Crooked), Glacier, Grey, Isabella, stream between Isabella and North Bay
(Basswood), Jean. Jeff. Kahshahpiwi, Knife, Lac la Croix, Lilv Pad. Little Roland.
Lonely, Maligne River, McAree, McEwen, Meadows. Middle Roland,
Minn, Noon, Olifaunt, Pickerel, river from Pickerel to Bisk, Point. Pulling,
Quetico, Ranger Bay (Basswood), Robinson, Rouge. Saganaga, Sarah. Shade,
Silence. Slate, Sturgeon, Sunday, That Man. Walter, Wolseley. Yum Yum, QFP
lake 30 Block 5, Lake 78 Block 8, lake on Irving Island.

Thanks for searching db & st. Now I feel less of a techno misfit. None of those links is the document for which I search. The only clue I have on date is that it is in update from a table dated in 2000, making it this century. I recounted the pages and it is only 9 pages, not 10. I wish I had the info regarding title, author, date, that you seek. It covers 298 lakes in Quetico.

MP, I assume that your fishfinder will locate whitefish. My point in saying that they stay near the bottom was that a few years ago, I read a huge cloud of baitfish about mid-lake over deep water (over 100') and mistakenly thought it might be whitefish. Apparently not, I didn't catch any. According to what I read, they were most likely herring or possibly ciscoes.

I'm a novice with whitefish, but would suggest smaller lure sizes (small mouths) with lots of flash. Deep jigging on or near the bottom of deep holes would probably be productive. As has been pointed out, they are excellent eating. 8-)

I spent an hour on this GovDocs portal and couldn't find anything even close to what you have?

Now I'm REALLY curious where this comes from?

Maybe others will have better luck.  :-/

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This 2012 document covers all of zone 5, which includes Quetico:
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Page 122 details Lake Whitefish distribution.

The sixth post of this thread(by oldgreygoose) refers to what may be the same information you have:
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Quetico Provincial Park Fisheries Stewardship Plan data from Brian Jackson, an MNR Biologist, and Lisa Solomon, Quetico Park biologist.
Alas, the link no longer works.  The post was from 2011, so perhaps we need to look around that time frame for park fisheries data.

Arnesr, I enjoyed meeting you last year at our Copia dinner. Any chance you’re coming back? I checked the link that ogg posted & unfortunately, it is now a dead one.

The other document has much useful information and may be worth further exploration. I might have to check it out when we have our March blizzard. Thanks! 8-)

I need a teenager! ;D

I ran into all those sources too but nothing even close to what OS has.

The link to the old info was the closest I could come.

Maybe we should post this so the Q Park Supt can see it. If anyone would know you'd think it would be them?

 

I plan on coming to the Friday night pizza extravaganza this year.  I will probably show up later though, as I want to attend some presentations at Copia.  I would love to get a copy of the information you have OS, printed or scanned.

I don't know if the Q Park Supt will be at Copia this year, he's not listed as a presenter.  Perhaps he will still be at the parks booth.  I did chat with him last year, and he was really helpful in providing information. 

I will bring copies for those who request them. Looking forward to seeing you on Friday and hopefully on Saturday.  8-)

Quote:

I would love to get a copy of the information you have OS, printed or scanned.

IF you can scan that info, you could put it on your computer as a PDF and then send it via E-mail to anyone that wanted it, if OS is okay with that.

solotripper wrote on Feb 19^th, 2018 at 5:55pm:

Quote: I would love to get a copy of the information you have OS, printed or scanned. IF you can scan that info, you could put it on your computer as a PDF and then send it via E-mail to anyone that wanted it, if OS is okay with that.

Not a question of whether or not I’m ok with that. I don’t know how to scan. I need a teenager. :o

Old Salt wrote on Feb 19^th, 2018 at 6:10pm:

solotripper wrote on Feb 19th, 2018 at 5:55pm: Quote: I would love to get a copy of the information you have OS, printed or scanned. IF you can scan that info, you could put it on your computer as a PDF and then send it via E-mail to anyone that wanted it, if OS is okay with that. Not a question of whether or not I’m ok with that. I don’t know how to scan. I need a teenager. :o

  Anyone with a Smart Phone should be able to scan those documents if you bring them to Canoecopia.

Some printers if you have one allow you to scan documents and put them in PDF file on your computer too.

Back to Whitefish... 8-)

I will bring copies of the document for portage dog and arnesr and anyone else who requests one. If there’s a way to scan with a smartphone, perhaps someone there can teach this old dog a new trick.

Turning the page from document discussion, I want to get back to a discussion of whitefish fishing. I was watching a fishing show recently about an arctic Grayling trip. I was struck by the close resemblance Grayling have with whitefish. Both have big eyes and small mouths. Fishing tactics and tackle is pretty identical for both. Small spinners and spoons and jigging raps with a piece of Gulp or similar all seem to work well. They had an underwater camera on some whitefish footage that shows they truly hang on the bottom and deep water jigging can be quite effective. Ice fishing lures work well.

On the Grayling show, I saw a sequence that I wouldn’t have believed if I hadn’t seen it. The host caught a Grayling and while he was playing it, a laker about 6-7 lbs ate the Grayling. So he is excited and playing the laker when another laker in the 30+ class takes the small laker. Amazingly, he is able to catch the big laker on his ultralight tackle. ;)

So, if you or I can hook a whitefish, who knows what size laker might take it!   ;) 8-) I’m gonna give it a try this year. :o

Found them on curtain falls also. One of the guys had a small white spinner casting waiting for the rest of us and caught two from the top of the falls. Funny we found them on the north side behind Green Island also. There was a huge school off one of the north points. We didn’t know they were white fish dropped a small spoon on them and caught some.

Coincidentally, I caught my first whitefish on MP and my recent trip 5/27-6/9.  First day, west end of Saganaga, deep water.  It was about 18-20 inches and we ate it pan fried in a bit of butter....quite tasty!  I'll have to get a pic posted.

pd

portage dog wrote on Jun 16^th, 2023 at 10:27pm:

Coincidentally, I caught my first whitefish on MP and my recent trip 5/27-6/9.  First day, west end of Saganaga, deep water.  It was about 18-20 inches and we ate it pan fried in a bit of butter....quite tasty!  I'll have to get a pic posted. pd

  I feel a trip report with pics coming on  ;) ;D ;D