Canada Walleye/Northern Tackle Suggestions?

[hornadylnl]

New line on all your reels?

I got 10 & 20# power pro braid for the light and medium spinning rods and 30# power pro for the bait caster on a medium heavy rod.

Picked up several spoons, Cordell Big O's, jig heads, crawler harnesses, couple other crankbaits, fish grip, etc.

 

[snapping turtle]

Sounds like you are set. One more idea might be a plastic frog and a hula popper if the smallmouths are feeding heavy. Lake moss areas hold lots of pike and smallmouths and for some reason lately I have been catching catfish on a hula popper.

 

[hornadylnl]

On the Northland Whistler Jigs, there's a clear plastic tube holding the bead and blade into position. Do I leave that on the and run the twister tail over that or do I take it off and use the twister tail to hold the blade in place?

 

[Zoub]

On the Northland Whistler Jigs, there's a clear plastic tube holding the bead and blade into position. Do I leave that on the and run the twister tail over that or do I take it off and use the twister tail to hold the blade in place?

Leave it on. It helps hold the live bait or plastic baits on the hook and holds the lower bead against the blade so it will spin. You will be surprised how far you can jam a body on there and the blade still spins. One really nice thing about that jig is you can switch from bait to plastic and back and have that spinner going for either one. You can bring it across the bottom or swim it in and put everything from perch to pike in the boat. Yesterday I caught Perch, Bluegill, Crappie and Bass on Whistler and Slow Poke jigs just switching back and forth between plastic grubs, worms or gulp 1" minnows. Using two rods, 1 UL and 1 ML.

On the Eagles, after 40 years of fishing around them I can tell you they will see you even if you don't see them. Get to know their favorite trees and perches. When you are near one toss out a fish or two, he will see it if he is around. when you get too close to him, he will launch and circle back to get your fish which are downwind from you. The other day I hit a lake for only the second time on the water, been there a few other times on shore just to scout and watch birds. As I drifted towards a tree I always see one in I had tossed out an injured gill. When I got close he came out, circled and kept circling, even right over my head, then grabbed a fish. We did this a few times during a 4 hour float on that lake. If you do this early in your trip they tend to learn your boat. I always hold my hand high up over my head for a few seconds before I toss the fish. They will learn your "signal" and if you keep a camera ready you can get some great shots. My last two days on the water I kind of wish I had a camera, the two Eagles I see the most are really coming close.

Back to your jigs, think of those as fish locators. When they are not hitting spinner baits up shallow or hammering crank baits the jig sort of becomes a good search lure. When you hook a species you want, you make note of what you were doing with that jig when you caught that fish. You are trying to determine patterns for that day or week.

Up here in Northern WI we have been consistently 10 degrees below normal all summer. Everything is running behind in terms of summer patterns like water temps, grass beds, etc....jigs have been good for finding fish but the real key is stable weather. It can be crappy weather but you want consistent weather from one day to the next. Otherwise, going slow and tight to the bottom or shore has been the answer a lot around here. If you are going in late September it probably wont matter much, but if you are going early in the month you may see some great fishing just because things are so goofed up this year. Water temps have finally moved up and fish are in a summer pattern now.

I should add I fish some waters similar to the one you are going to be on.

 

[hornadylnl]

We fly in to the lake on September 6th. We'll have 2 portable fish finders with us as well so hopefully we won't have too much trouble finding them.

 

[hornadylnl]

Any of you guys have luck with minnows up there? I've read on Walleye Central where guys recommend salt cured minnows. Thinking of getting several dozen and trying it.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

I've never fished the shallower Canadian lakes, but in Lake of the Woods, for Walleye, we mostly use a bare lead-head jig, just big enough to get down to the right depth, but not too big, with a three-inch or so minnow, or maybe a night crawler. If we're drifting, we sometimes use a lindy sinker with a floating jig head and a minnow or worm. I've never used a steel leader for Walleye and usually 6 or 8 lb test mono-filament line. It does pay to have several rods, so you can keep a lindy rig on one and jig heads on the other(s).

For Pike, a steel leader is a must, and a bit heavier line. We use various Mepps spinners, spoons, and Rapalas. Not sure if Rapala still makes the Husky Jerk, but I have several and they really produce (Pike and Musky). I've caught my biggest Pike with a jig and a big minnow, though, on rocky reefs or drop-offs, sometimes fairly deep.

I went up in the middle of May and we didn't miss ice-out by much, boy was that water cold. I've heard that, like the other guy said, everything has been a couple weeks behind all year. We had trouble finding Walleye, because they were still in 40 feet of water and not on the reefs yet, but I did catch my first nice Lake Trout.

September is my favorite time to fish in Canada. I've had some of my best days with both Walleye and Pike in September, and the weather has mostly been very nice then. It's been several years since I've been up in September, and I envy you.

 

[Zoub]

I decided to try Gulp minnows this year. Straight up winner. 1" size on 1/32 or 1/16 oz jigs will catch fish big and small. You might take the next size up, it is either 2" or 2.5". I plan to get some more for the kayak. Real space saver too.

 

[hornadylnl]

Beautiful so far.

 

[2001FZ1]

Looks good up there. I hope you catch so many you get sick of it.

Mark the base camp in your GPS in case you have to walk out.

 

[dswanso1]

When I fished for walleye/pike in Canada a couple of years ago, I bought a bunch of new tackle...it was a waste of money! I caught countless walleye with worm harnesses (yellow worked best) trolled slowly and bounced off the bottom. Basic inline spinners slayed the pike and a few smallmouth. Just the basics that I had in my tacklebox that I use here in Indiana every year! Good luck and have fun!!

 

[Zoub]

Storms are coming as I type

 

[24Carat]

Beautiful so far.

NICE! You are pulling at my heartstrings .

 

[hornadylnl]

Here's my trophy fish of the week.

 

[2001FZ1]

Good job! Ones that small are hard to catch. Lol

 

[hornadylnl]

Good job! Ones that small are hard to catch. Lol

We did ok. You could catch all the pike you wanted if you wanted to sit on the Rees beds. We only got 40-50 walleye between the 4 of us. Biggest was 3#. My biggest was 2# 6oz at 22". The last 2 days, we trolled and drifted a hole north of the cabin. That was the only spot that was consistent on walleye.

 

[Zoub]

Fishing has been crap the past week here and I don't really live that far from where you went so same weather pattern at both places. Even bad weather is good for fishing if you have a stable weather pattern. Too many fronts and changes in weather this past week.

 

[hornadylnl]

Looking back over the last week, I think one o the best experiences was unplugging from the world. I turned my phone off of airplane mode once we got back to the lodge so that I could iMessage everyone to let them know I was back. One of us downloaded a bunch of news headlines and started reding them off. Instantly, I realized how nice it was not to hear that stuff. If for nothing else, that made the trip worth it.

 

[triggerhappy]

I used to go every year to Canada fishing for walleye and northern, the best luck was always with 10lb test mono, a 1/4 or 3/8 oz jig head Depending on how deep, rigged with a currly tail grub body and tipped with a minnow for walleye. cast out over under water humps 15-25 ft deep let sink to bottom and jig it back in. As for Northern pike I prefer 12lb test mono, no leader, that's right I don't use leaders or swivels, but I do re-tie my line often. Cast large spinner baits in and around any weed areas or bank structure just like largemouth bass fishing.