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I recommend fishing with bourbon, near the shore. You'll never be disappointed. Happy fishing! Melt ice melt!
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Hardcore... wrt your statement earlier on...
"catch and release started to take hold in the 90's."
The numbers from catch surveys since then show there are numbers of LT being taken out, with some C&R going on but often more are being kept than released. The numbers don't show whether it's the large LT being kept but something tells me that a large LT is more likely to be kept and eaten... this sort of thing, fishing down the largest individual in a population, has been going on for a long time and it's a universal, global problem. Check the "kept percent" column in this 2010 survey, often the % kept exceeds 50%.:
Others here have made the case for protection and C&R far better than I can so nuff said from me.
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We leave the Bourbon to after we are done fishing and have it around the fire. The dosage has increased over the years as well, we fish a lake that always has ice at about 4 different places along the shoreline so we always have ice for our drinks and to keep our food cold, My job is to go get the ice while my son was gathering firewood, we have our routine down to a Science once we arrive at our campsite. He sets up the tent and all that gear, I get the fishing stuff ready and off fishing within an hour of being in camp and then back around 5 and then the ice and firewood drill starts
you will find the ice along the south shores as it doesn't get as much sunlight at the north shores doe.
perrythomas wrote:
I recommend fishing with bourbon, near the shore. You'll never be disappointed. Happy fishing! Melt ice melt!
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Man I won't eve say the M word just South Western Ontario. As for those surveys from years ago started out being honest on them and then after a couple of years straight out lied. Its a shame really cuz scientific knowledge is essential to protecting and enhancing the population but because it is the government all that info becomes public knowledge. Want some interesting reading find the government atlas's of fishing streams and lakes. List all rivers, streams and lakes by species. Use it all the time to find locations to fish..
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Kenny, I'd like to vote for your post to be the most helpful post of the year. One time we spent literally 6 hours looking for an apparent ice cave near Lows Lake in the Adirondacks, for the sole purpose of cold whiskey. We never found it and thought it was just a prank by the group before us, but apparently it exists. We will be camping on the South Shores....
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the one year I was carrying ice up to our camp from the canoe and setting on plastic we had sitting out ( campsite at Cradle Lake ) some guys where taking a short cut through our camp and asked what I was doing with all the ice, told them and they all said, why didn't we think of that. 
Funny as we always have our eyes peeled along the shorelines looking for the familar spots that had ice in previous years.
and in the spring there always is a Huge on on the Rocks as the south end of Big Porcupine, I don't think anyone going in on the 11th ( if they get in ) will have any trouble finding Ice.
Kenny, I'd like to vote for your post to be the most helpful post of the year. One time we spent literally 6 hours looking for an apparent ice cave near Lows Lake in the Adirondacks, for the sole purpose of cold whiskey. We never found it and thought it was just a prank by the group before us, but apparently it exists. We will be camping on the South Shores....
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"Its a shame really cuz scientific knowledge is essential to protecting and enhancing the population but because it is the government all that info becomes public knowledge."
True to some extent, but there is info collected by government that's classified and not so easily available. The protected natural areas descriptions and locations, for example, that were previously available online at the NHIC have been made more difficult to access and not online any longer. You can still get at some of it (the less critical info most likely) with a request to staff but I don't think they're going to make all sensitive info available to everybody.
Information security
Much of the information the centre manages is classified by the Ontario government as medium sensitive data. Information protection and system security protocols are in place to ensure the right information gets to the right people for the right reasons.
Last edited by frozentripper (5/02/2018 7:07 am)
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Is it cheating to bring in a small depth sounder? A person who shall remain unarmed used to bring in one of those suction cup jobs run by 8 aa batteries. Helps to find the deep holes and structure if you don’t know the lake. We have been hitting the same lakes for year, I think we can find the holes blind folded now. But it sure helped in the beginning. Does not seem to be as big a deal in May as even I get a few in May, but in August. Helps a ton when they are all hiding.
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Not worth it in May...fish will be within the top 10-15 feet of water. Not worth it in August either, in my opinion...you can read the topography and get a good estimate of deep water near steep hillsides that lead into the lake.
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Is it cheating to bring in a small depth sounder? A person who shall remain unarmed used to bring in one of those suction cup jobs run by 8 aa batteries. Helps to find the deep holes and structure if you don’t know the lake. We have been hitting the same lakes for year, I think we can find the holes blind folded now. But it sure helped in the beginning. Does not seem to be as big a deal in May as even I get a few in May, but in August. Helps a ton when they are all hiding.
No not cheating at all. It's not as important in the spring when fish are shallow, but in the summer when lake trout are stacked in deeper water or when brook trout are cruising around right at the thermocline, you're fishing blind without one.
It makes a huge, huge difference.
I'm using this tiny unit made by Fishtrax that runs on AAA batteries. Incredibly light and compact. The transducer is mounted right in the canoe - stuck to the bottom with a blob of silicone behind the stern seat. The signal shoots through the hull. If you want, you can also simply put the transducer loosely into a baggie with some water in it, and that will work fine too.
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Hah i rigged an old hummingbird to run on 8 aa batteries in the late eighties . Now use a unit similar to the fishtrax that runs on 4 aaa batteries. How i attach the transducer i will keep to myself but it is better than any suction cup setup and requires no drilling etc to the canoe. Whole thing fits in a small dry box , smaller than most guys tackle box(s) .The old system was about 5 lbs this one much lighter .
The sonar hasn't caught me a fish directly but is handy to keep you off shoals etc to avoid snags. Nice to watch when trolling solo
I also have been promoting catch and release fishing here forever. And single hook fishing. Those of us with 30+ yrs experience in the park have seen just too much of a drop in fish numbers .
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I'm sure its been mentioned but the color blue for some odd reason works well than the traditional ... I think it was Ken from this forum that gave me that tip ...
