Lower Manitou Lake Fishing Reports by Camp Manitou

[superbee]

Some good tips there to use. I have to believe that any fish over legal size must be released. There would be those that state the fish was going to die anyway. A big problem is the handling of the fish which these tips address. Some fish may swim away lethargic, but still survive. One thing for sure, if you keep it, it has no chance. It will not go to waste, mother nature will make sure of that. A slightly different take would be if a fish was caught out of season and appeared it would die, should it be harvested? It is an unfortunate thing if a fish appears like it will not make it and has to be released.

[Hoffer]

Superbee

Good points.

I only bring this up because a few times on our Fall trip we have handled the fish properly and released them. They looked like they swam away and would be just fine. Then as we might be leaving for the night, we would at times find one of the bigger ones just bellying on the surface and in the last acts of trying to stay alive - but obviously not going to make it.

We then would keep that fish (legal size) but many times I wondered if it wasnt of legal size what we would do? Just let it lay there and drive away? That seems weird.

Like you said, nature will take care of it - but it still seems a waste.

It still seems like an odd rule to me.

Hoffer

[superbee]

I understand your thoughts Hoffer. The hardest part is how to enforce and interpretate "obviously won't make it" from the enforcement side. It would leave a lot of room for arguement. Luckily, I don't believe this happens very often.

[Outfitter17]

Mark,

The reason for the slot is to protect the breeding fish, and as lucas mentioned there have been many that don't really look like they will make it, but they do - however if you kept the fish it definitely didn't make it.

The MNR can't have a grey area in their regs that says (even if its in the slot, but looks like it is not going to make it - you might as well keep it)? Some anglers would have limits of slot fish and then just tell the warden - well the regs say its ok to keep it if it is going to die anyways.

The regulations are to help the fishery.

Regarding Trout, 95% of our business is made up of Bass and Northern fisherman from down south. Basically all of our trout fisherman come in the early spring or the late fall. The people that fish them in late July and August are told about bringing them up slowly to make sure they make it back down. I don't really hear many stories about trout that didn't make it, they seem to be very hardy fish.

[Outfitter17]

7/19/12

A few nice pictures.

[Hoffer]

Matt

Hey, I agree and understand with the issues surrounding that rule. I just wish there was a better answer than to waste a fish that for sure wont make it - yet is outside the length limit. Its good to know that you also feel the trout are pretty hardy. My brother and I have been up there and have released many trout and we always expect to see some trout not able to make it - from us or from other parties trout fishing. But I have to say I cant think of a single time I have seen a dead trout floating on the surface. Maybe they dont surface once they dont make it? But in any case I agree they sure do seem pretty hardy. Hope all of you guys up on the Manitou have great late Summer and Fall fishing. I will be up in the Fall on my Jackfish trip and will post some reports on the Canada thread. looking forward to seeing your reports as

well.

[Outfitter17]

Some nice fish that were caught the past 2 days.

[MNdreaMN]

Matt,

Some good looking pics. But where are the 'skies???

[Outfitter17]

There are a couple "ski's" coming, but here are a few nice bass in the meantime.

[Outfitter17]

8/18/12

The fishing has been excellent, we have had very stable weather the past week - with the exception of about 4hrs of rain the other night. The bigger bass have been caught in 18-22 fow with the smaller ones caught along any rocky bank. The Lake Trout have been really hot jigging with siebel jigging spoons in 95 fow. Here are a few pictures we just got in.

[Outfitter17]

Here are a couple of Bear Pictures from some successful Hunters along with a nice trout that was caught right behind the camp. The bears are crushing the baits, Trail Mix and Mcdonalds grease seems to be the hot ticket this year. The trout fishing has been on fire the past 10 days or so and it should continue right through September, just like it did last fall. Can't wait it will be fun.

[Outfitter17]

8/29/12

Yesterday was a pretty good Day. My Dad and little brother came up to camp for a day of fishing. It was my Dad's 60th Birthday and the fish cooperated. We caught pike just about everywhere we stopped, mainly we were looking for cabbage in 12'-15' FOW adjacent to a deep drop off. Lures that produced well were Mepps #5 in silver and 3/4oz. Chrome/Blue Rattle traps.

The bass were all over and ranged from 13" up to 19". They were also caught on Mepps #5 in silver, but the really hot lure was a little 2" crawfish made by Rebel. The bigger bass were all caught in current areas in Esox.

The bottom picture is a Giant Muskie clamped onto a small northern pike. The Muskie hit the northern about a split second after the pike hit the lure. The fight lasted about 2 minutes and then just before getting netted the Muskie just let go of the northern. The northern was tore to shreds and measured 19". With an accurate measurement on the northern, I would guess the Muskie was in the High 50's give or take a couple inches. It was exciting while it lasted.

[Outfitter17]

The trout fishing has been great this week. The trout have been very active and the key Lure has been the River2sea Diver vibe 65 and 80 in perch and natural colors. The most popular depth of water has been 100' with the fish being caught from 60' down to 100'. Esox lake has been good, but the best areas have been within site of our camp, so we haven't been going very far. An average day fishing trout all day is 30 trout with good days ranging in the 60+ area. The average size approx. 6lbs. With the way the past 3 falls have been, we can expect the trout fishing to get even better as we further into the fall.

If anyone has any questions regarding jigging for Lake Trout, just let me know.

Here are a couple pictures from Mike Ramsey and his dad Bud.

[Outfitter17]

We wrapped up our deer season and broke camp 12 days ago. It was a pretty successful season, here are a few pictures of the nice deer taken during the hunt.

As you can see in the bottom pictures, we had to break ice to get out. This is the earliest I have ever seem ice on our lake. Last year we had open water in the same area until the middle of December.

With the cold temps we are experiencing right now with lows of -5,1,0,4 and highs only in the mid teens we should have a great trout fishing season ahead of us.

If anyone is looking for a great trout fishing location, contact us through the links below. We are taking reservations right now.

[Outfitter17]

Is anyone getting the winter trout fishing itch yet? Opener will be here in just a few short weeks. Here are a few old pictures to wet your appetite and get you thinking about the Hardwater season ahead of us. We are making very good ice every night, last night it was -15, tonight (11:30pm) it is already -10, and for the next 10 days the predicted high is only 22 and the lows are in the single digits. As of right now we are anticipating our best ice in years. Right now we have approx. 5-7" of ice near our resort with no snow cover. Last year we had open water in front of us until Dec. 24, so we are approx. a month ahead of schedule.

If you are looking for a great trout fishing destination, just let us know. Bookings for January are starting to fill, but we have plenty of Feb./Mar. dates open.

[Outfitter17]

It looks like it's going to be a hot start with the winter trout fishing season starting on Jan. 1! The temps have been below 0 since 4pm yesterday and they will not be above 0 until sometime on Thursday according to the forecast and we won't be above 10 for a full 10 days. We are making really good ice right now. When trout season starts on our lakes, we will have the best ice we have had in the past 10 years. Can't wait to get started - are you?

[MattFromDuluth]

Any updates on ice conditions on LM yet? Curious if the Stretch and Esox have started to open up at all?

Thanks in advance.

[Robin]

Matt...there is open water from the landing to just past the bridge, then black ice as far as we could see. Barker Bay still has ice, but getting better every day. Very windy today which will help.

[Outfitter17]

The Tennessee boys are tearing it up so far this week!

They have been hot on the trail of smallies, only stopping for the occasional trout caught by accident. From what we can tell, the fish are not safe on the main lake nor the portage lakes. Many of the portages are being explored this week and some are paying big dividends with not just good numbers, but also some really nice fish. Here are some samples of the fish caught so far this week. I will post more are the end of their trip.

[MattFromDuluth]

How much snow is still on the LM ice? Really would like to troll for lakers before June!!!