Canada Fly-In Trip

[woodduck17]

My buddies and I are doing a fly-in trip to Moberly Lake in Ontario this August. This lake supposedly has good Walleye fishing. Anyone ever fished this lake? Any suggestions on tackle and techniques?

 

[Gone]

Re: Canada Fly-In Trip

Never been to that lake but I will be at Lac Seul, Ont the first week of Aug.
Our lodge sells an 18" leader, 3/0 hook and spinner in various colors for a buck! I've found nothing that works better with a minnow or night crawler for trolling. I've used deep diving crank baits but the bottom is so rocky that there is a great risk of losing the lure. It wasn't any better than the spinner and I can afford to lose several spinners over crank baits. Jigging holes with pink, white or yellow jig heads with minnows works well too! Your guide should give you tips.

My gang uses 12# Fireline exclusively.

CD

 

[JB]

Re: Canada Fly-In Trip

On LOTW we caught most of our walleye jigging on humps with bare jig heads and minnows or powerbait leeches. Anywhere from 12' to 25'. They all hit within 6-8" of the bottom.

We also picked up some walleye while casting for smallies with small crankbaits and spinners on rocky shores and rock bars. I caught one about 6# on a firetiger #5 Esox Doom homemade musky spinner. Too big for best eating, so I released her to make babies.

 

[woodduck17]

Re: Canada Fly-In Trip

Thanks guys---all advice is appreciated.

 

[roscoe]

Re: Canada Fly-In Trip

In August it can be tough to find the walleyes.
If you are new to the lake, hire a guide for a day, so you can get a feel for the lake tactics.
Maybe hire a guide for a day at the end of the week also, if you are having a tough time filling the limit.

If you want to do some lazy fishing for a while, use one of those single hook spinners, or a floating rapala. Attach an inline trolling weight 2-5 feet ahead of the lure, like the one below. The weight will get the lure down, and the floating rapala will still float up a foot or two above the sinker. This keeps you from getting snagged, most of the time.

 

[aspeck]

Re: Canada Fly-In Trip

When going to Canada, we would usually troll with a rig like roscoe displayed and a floating rapala behind it. Since walleyes are more of a scholling fish, if we hooked a northern, we kept trolling. But if we hooked an eye, we stopped and cast for a while - rapalas, jigs, spinners, spoons. Usually when there was one hungry eye, there would be others. Always did well.

 

[rottenray6402]

Re: Canada Fly-In Trip

I don't have any fishing tips but the trip sounds fun, good luck and post when you get back to let us know how you did.8)

 

[Gone]

Re: Canada Fly-In Trip

Odds and ends.
Minimum 7' rod (to get out away from the boat), med/H action. I use a Shimano Clarus.
The bite is very subtle, so the fireline sensitivity helps greatly. I avoid braid so that I can break the line if I need to.
As Roscoe said, use a weight to get the lure down there. I use a lindy or an inline 1-2 oz weight. Get it down to where it just bumps the weeds and rocks, back trolling. Last year the fish were in 20-25' of water. The lodge reports that they are in 12-15' this year. (cooler air temps?).
At Lac Seuel, I usually catch 10-12 fish/hr (Walleye, Sauger,Northern or Perch). Slot rules are strictly enforced.
The largest walleyes were caught jigging in holes. They show up well on a good fish finder.
I stay at Evergreen Lodge in Ear Falls. Good People!!

CD

 

[Gone]

Re: Canada Fly-In Trip

Just returned from Lac Seul. The fishing was not as good as previous years. Many fronts came through causing the fish to school (can't think of the correct term) at 10' and not feed.
Had best results jigging in 21'. Limited out, of course, but overall didn't catch as many as previous years. Only 3 slots were caught all week.

Caught a 23" snake on a crankbait in 26' of river channel. Caught several more on a Storm swimbait in 15', the largest being 26". Just trying something different. The swimbait vibrated very well and called in the snakes. Caught several small walleyes on it too.

CD

 

[woodduck17]

Re: Canada Fly-In Trip

Just got back from Lake Moberley----had some luck drifting nitecrawlers and trolling crankbaits. This was our frist trip north of the border and it was a great experience. As an amateur astronomer, I was very impressed with the skies at night. The air was so clear you could see a different satellite every 5 minutes. Over all a great trip--Good friends, good food, good fishing,good poker(+7 bucks).

 

[Scoop]

Re: Canada Fly-In Trip

Hey Woodduck, glad you had a great time.

Crusty, there was a guy doing fly ins from Lac Seul. He has a twin engine. He tooks us to Zinzainia. We all limited out on Walleye in 30 minutes. the fishing was great.

I did have one bad experience. I picked up one of those silver waterbeetles because there was one in the boat and I had never saw one up close. Just as I was looking at it, I stung the living *%%%*!! out me. My finger went numb and then the numbness started flowing up my hand. We still had 2 hours to go before pickup and I was hoping I was not allergic. The numbness only got to my wrist so no big deal. I will never pick one of those up again

 

[Gone]

Re: Canada Fly-In Trip

Those day-trip planes fly out of Goose Bay, the SW corner of the north section of Lac Seul. One day the waves were 6-8 feet and the guy I was partnered with that day was in his late 70's and had artificial hips and other maladies that couldn't take the pounding. We found refuge behind some small islands in goose bay where the Walleyes were just stacked up and waiting for us. Lo and behold, we were in the middle of the seaplanes take off/landing area. Holy Cow we had to get out of the way fast! They weren't happy with us. The Walleyes sure know where to go to get refuge from the fishermen! There were 4 planes coming and going and seemed to have about a 30 minute trip time between leaving and returning. Due to the waves that day, the taxiing to and from the dock took another 15-20 minutes where normally it is less than 5. The wind didn't stop their program at all. I would have been too scared to take off and land in that gale (25-30 knots).
I never encountered a silver water beetle just bear and moose swimming out to islands. It's surprising how good of swimmers they are and how far they are willing to go(2-3 miles).

CD

 

[Scoop]

Re: Canada Fly-In Trip

LOL