It's Finally Here!!!!

[troutchaser]

Our group is leaving friday morning at 4 am, and I am so excited!!! I can't wait to get back and post pictures of all the big one's

[Tonka Boy]

I'm with you there. I leave Friday afternoon. Can't wait!!

[troutchaser]

I hope you have a Great Trip!!

[Hemlock]

Where are you guys going?

[troutchaser]

We are headed to Harmon Lake northeast of Atikokan, ON

[mayflyguy]

My family is leaving Friday AM as well any reports as to a possible mayfly hatch? WE are heading NE of Thunder Bay 150 miles and last year we hit the hatch right on the nose

[Hemlock]

We had a major mayfly hatch right around July 1. Quite late. Kingfisher on the LOTW forum stated that the bellies of walleyes were full of them.

[GoodToGo]

At least you're waiting until Friday to check out. Harmonator has been fishing on Harmon, at least in his mind, since Tuesday. Have fun.

GTG

[Tonka Boy]

Heading to Wabigoon lake out of Dryden. 3rd year there after a long span at the English River (I really miss that place).

Good luck to you as well Troutchaser!! One of the guys in our group used to fish Harmon religiously and loved it. You should be in for a good trip.

[troutchaser]

Well we had a great trip and returned home safely!! Here are a few pics from the trip!

38 1/2" Pike

Biggest walleye at 24 inches. A few were caught like this but over all pretty slow on the big fish.

[mayflyguy]

Just got back as well AWESOME trip mayflies played a small part in trip. Almost lost my 7 yr old son to a 24" walleye thought it was going to pull him in and he wasen't letting go.

Weather was awesome for a family trip and fishing was awesome as well

[Tonka Boy]

Quote:

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Biggest walleye at 24 inches. A few were caught like this but over all pretty slow on the big fish.

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There is so much compitition for food in many Canadian lakes that you hardly ever see eyes much bigger than 24-25". Not to say it doesn't happen, but 1-2 pounders are going to be the norm.

Very nice Pike btw!!!

[troutchaser]

Yeah we always catch a ton around 18 to 20 inches, but someone always pulls in at least one 27+. Not a big deal at all, just nice to see a bigger one come to the boat!! We had such a great trip and the weather was unbelievable. We all had a blast!!

[Hemlock]

Bigguns are there. You just don't catch them the same way you do the little guys. I'm living proof. Rarely catch anything over 24", but a guide I know well and many other guides get some big ones. The guide I know c & r's 30 -33 inchers weekly on LOTW and the Winnipeg River. Doesn't fish them the same as you would for numbers.

[troutchaser]

Tips? Techniques? Anything would be helpful to find a biggun!!

[Hemlock]

Well, I know what the big ones aren't biting on...Again, rarely do I get into them because all I do is throw a jig and a minnow down to the bottom, or a spinner and a minnow down to the bottom. When I do get out, it's tough to pass up 25-100 fish days. However, my goal for the year was to try different things to catch bigger fish. So far, I'm not doing a very good job of that. When you don't have time to experiment, it gets tough.

Some basics to catching big fish are using crank baits and sometimes other plastics. I also know that they aren't at the top of humps or on the points typically in the summer months. Possible shallower reefs towards evening (8') or more towards weedlines (I've seen some nice ones while snorkeling). Again, I don't have many answers or secrets, but I know the piggies take a little different approach to get them into your boat.

[uffdapete]

I agree with Hemlock - big fish take a different approach. I think it starts with what they're feeding on. I know big trout feed on larger forage for the most part and I think the same holds true for walleyes and some other species. Most guys who target big stream trout (over 20") are using minnowbaits, not flies. Now while walleyes will take mayflies, I think you have to look at how many mayflies it takes to produce the same amount of food as a 5-10" forage fish. That in turn dictates a different location than 3" minnows. Plenty of big walleyes are taken on leeches, crawlers and minnows but that's probably because that's what most anglers use. I think if you located big fish and used a larger bait you would consistently catch larger fish. A few years ago I hired a guide for a fall walleye trip and we caught 60 walleyes during that trip using 5-6" stickbaits and 50 of those averaged 26". The walleyes were chasing perch at night and we caught very few small fish.

I still don't have the confidence or knowledge to focus on big fish so "settle" for numbers of smaller fish as well. Being a minimum of 1 hour from any walleye water makes it difficult to keep up with day to day patterns too.