Hey Outfitter Any Ice Report on Manitou

[cedarnarrowsguy]

Any recent fishing and ice reports for the stretch and lower manitou? Can you run a sled, without melting your hyfax?

[superbee]

There is plenty of snow on the lakes and portages for snowmachines. I have heard mixed reports on the fishing for the Manitou. Some have been doing really well and others are struggling. The guys that I know that fish up there have been doing pretty good overall. Fishing in 40-60 fow and jigging down around 25-30 ft below the ice. I haven't heard of anything bigger than 12# being caught. Mostly on white tubes. The guys using live bait and set lines have not been doing as well. When are you headed up? It is pretty cold here today and I have heard that the main lake is froze over good now.

[cedarnarrowsguy]

I'm thinking about a trip sometime in Feb. I would like to scout as much as possible; around the stretch and even the lower lake. I'm sure the current areas are open yet. I had a lot of luck using a jigging shad rap on Crow, can't wait to try it again on Manitou.

[superbee]

It's always fun trying new lakes & spots. Have you ever fished James? There are walleye and trout in it. I have never fished it, but would like to get in there this year.

[Outfitter17]

We have 16+ inches around camp manitou and in most of the stretch area. I guess the main lake froze over last week. With the coooooold temps we are building ice fast.

[Outfitter17]

We just got back from camp around 3:00pm today, went up saturday morning. Ice is 20-23 inches everywhere we checked. Fishing was pretty good saturday afternoon, we cut wood and worked around camp most sunday and then we did alittle fishing this morning. Tried the main lake, but most of the action took place within site of the camp. Snow depth on the lake was only 4-5 deep, perfect for riding.

[slotfish]

matt -

let's get our game plan set for thurs a.m. call me at work -u.n.b. thanks can't wait!

[slotfish]

matt-

wanted to say we made it out of the bush on sunday morning no porblem. only we exited on dogfly and came out by the 20 km marker on cedar narrows vs. the 18 km marker. shorter route but perhapps not easier. rolled a wheeler and got stuck on the sled. brutally cut rustic trail. my sled is not happy with me! nothing major though. we did have a great time at your camp. telling stories and talking about the fishing has been a blast already. not to mention landing around 30 trout and 4 big smallies in 2 days. the 14 pounder 50 steps from the cabin was my personal favorite! that was the one i was after. john has already forwarded the pics to everyone and it's cool to see the spreadout patterns we fished among the rock gorges and pristine wilderness. also cool to basically have the entire lake to yourself, other than that canadian trapper we met. besides all that, not too many resort owners provide service to the extent of cooking frozen beers on the woodstove for their guests! can't think of a more fun journey than we had up there. later. db.

[cedarnarrowsguy]

Were you able to venture around the lake? How about an extesion? With these cold temps, I might need one 2/16-2/19?

[slotfish]

c.n.g.-

traveling conditions couldn't be any better. we were able to safely and smoothly go wherever we wanted, both on a 4 wheeler and snocat. we found about 5" of snow to be the average. my guess on the ice is 24" as of right now. if anything, an extension will help prevent from breking your back for the final 10" of ice you go thru.

[Outfitter17]

Hey Slotfish,

You guys must have went straight into southbay and exited into alonghill lake instead of swinging left in the bay by the cabin on the small island and going into dogfly. The alonghill portage is shorter, but alittle rough and as you found out it comes out around 20km.

I fished for about 2 hrs between noon and 2pm right next to your hole of the headstone and I caught 5 trout, with a couple small ones, but I did manage to catch a 10lb. and a 13lb. (both released) I caught 2 on a white bucktail jig, and the other 3 on a glow tube.

Can't wait to get back up there tomorrow, it looks like it's gonna be cold again this weekend.

[slotfish]

10 and 13? nice going matt! i think that ended up being my favorite spot of the weekend. aside from the dandys we pulled out of there, tom lost an estimated 8-10 pounder at the hole, and i missed (on friday) about 6 attempted assaults on my setup. 68 f.o.w.

funny about the way out sun a.m. something seemed a wee bit goofy, but we ended up on the road none the less. not surprised though being we left in the dark. i can't picture how going a mile further south-west into dogfly would have landed us 2 k.m. east of where we did come out? i'll have to look at the map. looked like alot of wheeler and sled tracks on the lake we did cross. how's the fishing there?

[Outfitter17]

Dave,

You didn't go across dogfly at all when you left, you went straight into the back of south bay and then crossed into alonghill.

We had a bunch of guys up this weekend, the trip was sponsored by the local pure fishing rep. there was a great prize for the largest trout of the weekend. (couple spools of line, couple reels, hat, shirt, and gulp baits) Needless to say everyone was fired up for some great trout fishing and bonous prize for the largest.

Friday about 2/3 of the group ventured out to fish up the lake (-17 temp, -31 windchill), fishing was a little slow with only 5-6 lakers the main lake - biggest being caught by Marty Olson (9lbs.), but the guys at camp did manage 4 directly of the flagpole within site of cabin #1. Even with a slow day and cold temps, the spirits we good and the drinks were flowing.

Saturday morning (-33 temp, -59 windchill), needless to say with these temps and a forecast of the same for this area sunday, we made the decision to packup and head in because these temps are a little to dangerous to be out in this remote setting.

As we were packing up, 2 fish were caught off the one tipup setup in front of the flag pole. Erik Peterson pulled in a 10lber. minutes before we left and snagged the prize bag.

[Outfitter17]

Currently we have 28 inches of ice and about 10-15 inches of snow depending on where you are on the lake. The bite was a little slow this past weekend with only about 9 trout caught between 2 guys in a 1.5 days fishing.