Lower Manitou Lake Fishing Reports by Camp Manitou

[Hoffer]

Matt-

Thanks for the report!

Similar - please save a few smallies for Bruce and I to catch.

[SimilarIsland]

Thanks Matt. I can hardly stand it at this point. I'm ready to be there!

Hoffer - I promise to only leave a tiny hole or two in their faces.

[Hiddenbay]

Similar:

Remember to throw that "Cotten Candy" grub at the falls. You should clean up. Please let me know how things go.

By the way, these reports from Outfitter are outstanding!

Good luck!!

[SimilarIsland]

Hidden Bay,

Thanks - Got my 5" Cotton Candy w/Darter jigs packed!

Already have one tied on my son's rod

[Outfitter17]

5/29/09

Water temp vary from 49.5 at the dock, esox is around 51, Lower Manitou is around 45 and some of the small lakes that you can boat to off the SW corner of Lower are in the low 50's.

A number of folks left this morning and they were all smallmouth fishing, some were new to the group, but at the end of the trip they were all tearing them up. It didn't matter what part of the system the guys were fishing the bass seem to be hitting like crazy.A 1/8 jig with a watermelon colored tube seemed to be the ticket. The group leader brought up a 20lb box off bulk watermelon tubes and they only had a few left when they departed. I have never seen a group of guys go through so many tubes, especially of the same color. They were hitting every where:

Gussie lake, sawbones bay, mirror bay, canoe bay, rock jug narrows, adams bay falls, gates bay falls, grant falls, all of hidden bay, hidden river, peep bay, hailstone bay, phairs lake, flossie lake, caulder bay, the backside of Barker bay, olson bay, the weasel, holcraft lake(largemouth), and glass bay.

Like I said, the guys fished all over and it didn't seem to matter where they went, they were on fish. The funny thing is the water varied from 42 to 53 degrees on different parts of the lake during the trip and the fish were pretty much going all over.

Now the pike on the other hand seem to be pretty scarce right now, but they should come around once we get a little weed growth.

Most of the trout are still up in the 20-30ft. with even a few a bit shallower. The bass guys picked up a handful this week in the shallows fishing for bass.

[Hoffer]

Matt-

Any recent reports?

Similar is coming up in a few days so be sure to stear him in the wrong direction. Dont want him catching all the fish out of there before we get up next week

[SimilarIsland]

Just gettin' ready to crawl in the truck and head north. Don't worry Mark, I've got the Zebco 202's locked and loaded!

[jhenney22]

Sounds great. Yep, got a few musky hunts planned for Wisconsin & Minnesota over the summer so that should hold me over til the big trip. I saw the limits and lic. info on your HSOforum the other day, all looks great.

I'm ichin' to try the luck at the lakers as well. Seems like a lot of fun and a lot like drop trollin' for eyes, just deeper.

Thanks for the info. Happy Fishin'

[Outfitter17]

6/8/09

With the cool weather we have been having the past 5-6 days or so the fishing has really slowed down. The water temps seem to be stuck at 49-53 and in some areas seem to be getting colder. We have had nights at 33, 34, 37, 34, so that isn't good for warming up the water. We are expecting rain for the next couple of days, but after that hopefully things turn around in the temperature department.

Even being slow guys are still managing to catch a decent amount of fish, they aren't breaking any records, but still putting some fish in the boat. One group staying at the outpost, managed a nice 40" muskie 2 days ago.

[SimilarIsland]

Just got back from Camp Manitou's Outpost cabin. Stayed there from 6/3-6/10. Found water temps from 46-59. The weather was mostly light rain with lows in the 30's - I only know that because I had frost on the boat cover two mornings . Not sure what the highs were. The smallie action was pretty sporadic, but we did manage to catch a decent amount. The northern action was about like the smallie action. They were mostly on wood near warmer spawning areas. It seemed to help if greeen grass was near. Not much vegetation popping out yet. Used grubs, Xraps, and spinnerbaits and all were about the same.

The big story of the trip were the Muskies. We did not target them at all, but while fishing for smallmouth with grubs and rattletraps, they would not leave us alone. OK, I wasn't that bummed out, but I wasn't using large bucktails and Believers either. We hooked five, boated three (I don't use a net, and hand landing I've found is challenging), and had about 15 follows. Most were around the 40" range, but we did see a couple "scary" fellows and our other boat caught one small and lost one about 36". We continually caught smallies during all of this.

I couldn't have asked for a better trip for my 17 year old son's first Canada trip.

Thanks Matt!

PS. Funny how my son remembered to hold the Muskies at a 45% angle and I was the one that forgot. Anyway, all swam away healthy. Also, I had to put the "gator grip thing" on the fish after they were landed for my son to hold them. He dropped the 40" back in the lake before I could get a picture without the gripper. He walks with a limp now, but he'll eventually heal

[Hiddenbay]

Similar:

How did those "Cotten Candy" grubs work for you? I will be on the Manitou in a few weeks and I am hoping that things will warm up. Not a big fan of the cold.

Hiddenbay.

[SimilarIsland]

Similar:

How did those "Cotten Candy" grubs work for you? I will be on the Manitou in a few weeks and I am hoping that things will warm up. Not a big fan of the cold.

Hiddenbay.

Hiddenbay,

My son wants to thank you himself for your tip, but I can't wait any longer to tell you. He caught several smallies on the that grub, but the best part was that he caught his 39" and 40" Muskies on that grub also - go figure I hooked my three on Rattletraps, so I figure that I must have called them over with the traps and then the more subtle Cotton Candy Grubs got them to bite. The only problem is that he'll probably try to use that grub on Marlin, Carp, Catfish, etc.

I hope it warms up for you, but I'm glad it worked out like it did. I know my son will have those memories for a lifetime. I don't know how I'll ever top this trip............

Thanks again.

Similar Island

PS I made it up through Doyle, Watson's Falls, and Watson's Narrows to just into the Upper Mantiou. Wow, the falls and the scenery up there are incredible.

[MuskyBrian]

Those are some nice muskies, I need to make it up there sometime

[Outfitter17]

Hey Craig,

It seems there are a few other guys in the camp that are using the cotton candy colored grubs. Yesterday Cabin #8 had a 37" and a 40" muskie, and today Cabin #5 had a 41" Muskie and a 42" Northern. The bass seem to be picking up a bit with the warmer weather we are getting. The pike seem to be a little bit slow, except at the various water falls on the lake. They aren't where they should be in the bays, but they are by the flowing water. Water temps are still cool for this time of the year, but with the sun being out the temps should start moving and this will help with the basically none existant weed growth.

Similar,

Shawn didn't see your buddies wallet today and I mentioned it to mark, so maybe he picked it up.

[SimilarIsland]

Gotta give HiddenBay the credit for the Cotton Candy grubs

[Hoffer]

We just got back from the outpost Monday night. Had an awesome time! We had weather the first day around 60 and calm and it just got nicer with each day. The water temp went from 53 to 63 by the time we left. The smallies were hitting but I think they are just starting to really bed down and this next week and week after will be great. We caught one very nice Northern around 12 to 15 pounds and about half dozen trout just trolling plugs in 30 feet of water. Due to the cold weather they were still in the shallows - at least a few of them. We saw a few Muskie and had a good follow as well - just fishing for Northerns in the shallows. Camp Manitou - whether or not its the main camp or the outpost camp is very nice and offers everything you need for a great trip. We had a few minor things we needed taken care of and Matt immediately took care of things for us - and was more than attentive and helpful. We will be going back next June and are already looking forward to it.

[SimilarIsland]

Let's see the pics?

[Hoffer]

Hey similar - I dont know how to post pics here :-(

If you have those that I emailed you - go ahead and post them if you can

[SimilarIsland]

[Outfitter17]

6/17/09

The bass fishing has really started to heat up the past 2 days, In esox we went from seeing a bed here and there to seeing beds every, they have just exploded. A few nice days and a jump in the water temp was all it took. Watermelon, motor oil, and pumkin seed tubes seem to be the ticket on the bottom end. I am guessing up on the big lake things will start to happen in a few days once the water up there warms a bit. There have been a few nice pike boated this past week as well as a couple of muskies. The biggest pike was 39" and the biggest muskie was 44". It looks like the fishing is going to be excellent the next 2 weeks.

[Outfitter17]

6/20/09

The bass fishing on the beds is in full swing right now. The groups in are catching them in 2-7fow with the bigger bass on the deeper beds. 45-65 bass days seem to be the norm right now with 10-15 pike mixed in. Watermelon, motor oil, and pumkin seed tubes still seem to be the ticket.

The trout are still all over the water column with some being caught trolling cranks, while some guys are having luck jigging them with white tubes.

The pike are starting to get pretty active in the little emerging weeds that we have starting to grow, the action should start to turn on when the weeds catch up to where they should be for this time of the year.

The biggest fish boated the past few days were a pair of nice 42" muskies and a 40" northern.

[SimilarIsland]

Matt,

What are the water temps in the main lake a spawning bays?

PS. Did you get my pics?

Thanks

[Outfitter17]

The water temp on the main lake is anywhere from 67 to 71 right now.

No Craig, I didn't get any pictures yet?

We went into Gates today and crushed the smallmouth. For some reason there were a number of them on beds. We didn't have a graph with, but the water seemed very warm when you put your hand in it after releasing a fish. We saw a few beds that were 7' across, I have never seen anything like it. They were huge and of course the huge beds were holding huge fish, the biggest was just a touch over 20" with quite a few in the 17"-19" range. This was my first day really spending some time on the lake and it was fantastic. I can't wait to get alittle time to get back in there. I wish we would have had a camera, they would have looked good on the HSOforum.

[Hoffer]

Matt-

Hey, I dont have my map with me..I am on the road. Where is gates again in relation to some other areas I might recognize?

I was going to mention to you that we saw that up in the area past Sandpiper point - back to the left and way up to the end...its the area i think you just call "back bay" ?

The beds in there were huge. Not 7 feet accross but pretty big around and i couldnt believe how high some of them were - literally like a foot high - like mini volcanos with a foot high of sand around the perimeter and then the bed in the middle. A tube dropped anywhere around the bed and they just scooped it right up!

[Outfitter17]

Mark,

Gates is 1/4 mile south of the camp. The portage is in the first bay on the west side as you go back to the landing. I don't know which bay you are calling back bay? Are you refering to smokey bay?

I was suprised by how large the beds were, I can't ever remember seeing beds that large on any lake I have ever fished. As you mentioned some looked like little volcanos the way the sand was fanned out. I was also suprised to see any beds at all on that lake, it is very stained and the water was very warm in relation to Manitou.

If I see any on the main lake that big, I will mention it to you.