Lake Trout might be Grandma's best friend

Hello!

It is suuuuuuper hot here today.  And humid.  And sunny.  Did I mention it was hot?

I travel many miles to avoid this type of summer weather.  I thought mother nature and I had a deal.  Looks like it may stick around for a few days too.  Yuck!  I predict it will be miserable for the next few days, then it will be pleasant and perfect for a split second, and then it will move right onto freezing.  I'll be begging for warmth by the end of next week.  Oh Canada.

This is where Travis and my mama would tell you I have a tendency to be a bit dramatic in my predictions, and dramatic in general actually.

But!  The weather has nothing to do with the title of this post.

In last week's post we shared an awesome picture of a lake trout caught and released on Red Lake.  Caught by accident while trolling for northern.  With a GIANT stick bait called a "grandma".  We all found it a bit odd that a grandma lure would bring in a lake trout.  Its definitely not something the guys fishing last week are used to seeing with that method of trolling.  Well, Tate's 33" lake trout was just the first!  We had two more really nice and healthy looking lake trout caught last week on grandma lures after Tate caught his.  Take a look:

Gene's 32" lake trout

Jason's 34" lake trout

 What an awesome fish!

Please remember that lake trout are catch and release only on Red Lake, and if you are specifically fishing for them you must use a single barbless hook with no live bait.   They tend to like deeper water depths and are mostly found on the west end of Red Lake.  I've never even seen one outside of pictures!  They aren't a dime a dozen, but I think we can all agree there are some nice ones in Red Lake.

Side note:  As great as this post title is, wouldn't it have been better if it was MY grandma catching a lake trout using a grandma lure?  Gran and Grandma, we may just have to spend some more time on Red Lake next summer jigging for lakers.  Just for fun here is a picture from well before my Eagle Falls Lodge days of me with my gran and grandma.

 I come from good people, I tell ya!

Tomorrow is Monday, which means.... Fish Fry!   Be jealous.

Northern Pike have been plentiful and plenty BIG!

In last friday's post (which you can read here) I hinted to everyone that there would be some nice fish caught in the coming week.

Ladies and Gents....enjoy!

 Kevin - 35" northern

Kevin - 35" northern

 Austin - 41" northern

 Gene - 41" northern

Jim - 39" northern

Mike - 37" northern

Greg - 41" northern

Jerry - 36" northern

J.J. - 35.5' northern

 Ethan - 42.5" northern

Donnie - 35" northern

 Bill - 34" northern

 Dave - 36" northern

 Joe - 35" northern

Joe - 38" northern

 Mike - 37" northern

 Dan - 35" northern

Dan - 39" northern

Mark - 32" northern

 Mark - 32" northern

 Matt - 38" northern

 Tate - 39.5" northern

 Tate - 40" northern

 Tate - 42" northern

We also had three 44" northern pike caught this week in Red Lake.  What beautiful fish!

 Ethan - 44" northern

Troy - 44" northern

Tate - 44" northern 

We definitely had a camp full of northern pike fishermen, wouldn't you agree?  I think they had a good time.  They saw all types of weather: rain, heat, fog, and finally some cooler temperatures.

Some walleye fishermen arrive tomorrow, so we will see how they do out on Red Lake and Parker Lake in the coming days.

Have a good weekend!

One heck of a Lake Trout!

I believe in the last post I hinted to the fact that the group this week would most likely bring in some very nice fish.  Well, they aren't ones to disappoint.  Most of the group front troll for northern pike during their stay.  Apparently Tate was getting tired of catching northern pike (he caught a 44" northern on the FIRST day!) and decided to mix it up a bit.  

Tate landed a 33" lake trout on Red Lake!

Who knew you could catch a lake trout front trolling a giant Grandma lure designed for northern pike and muskie fishing!  Tate's lake trout was nice and healthy looking too which we like to see.  Lake Trout are catch and release only on Red Lake, so this lunker went right back into the water.  

We don't get any guests that specifically target lake trout during their fishing trip, but as seen above you can definitely find some big lakers in Red Lake!  This is actually the first trout a guest has "accidentally" brought in the boat this season.  

We will have more pictures of BIG fish at the end of the week.  

Two completely unrelated comments:

1.  Who turned the heat back on?  Holy hotness!  It is going to push 90 degrees today, folks.  I will remind you that less than 2 weeks ago I was wearing my long underwear around camp.  Not cool.  Good news is it doesn't look like it will stick around.

2.  We have reached over 30,000 hits on our blog!  I know that is virtually nothing, but we can't help but believe some people are actually checking in on us.  We feel humbled.  Please let us know what you would like to read about or see on the blog in the future!

Record Year for Smallmouth Bass!

This season has been a boom year for smallmouth bass on Parker Lake.  In the past we have only seen a handful caught each season, but over 20 have been released this year!  Historically, smallmouth bass aren't native to this part of the world.  They were actually stocked by the Ontario government in many lakes in northwestern Ontario in the early 20th century.

I've heard stories from a few guests about smallmouth bass overrunning walleye populations and destroying other lakes in Ontario, Minnesota, & Wisconsin.  Of course walleye are an absolute favorite target of most anglers visiting the lodge so I decided to do some research and see what I could find.

Nate has one of the bigger walleye off Parker Lake this season.  

After reading numerous studies I can't find any that support the notion that smallmouth bass destroy walleye populations.  The fears that smallmouth bass actually consume young walleye in significant numbers or outcompete walleye for the food source in the lake are myths according to my research.

The various studies examined the relationship between walleye and smallmouth bass abundance at lakes in New York, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Manitoba, & Ontario with varied time frames of a few months to 36 years!  No significant evidence was found to show that smallmouth bass limited the walleye populations whether by consuming walleye fry or outcompeting walleye for food.  Walleye population declines and subsequent bass increases were often long-delayed suggesting that over-harvesting, and not bass, was the contributing factor.

The only study I could find that was conducted in a controlled environment (tank instead of lake or reservoir) determined that competition for food between smallmouths and walleye only began when forage fell below 30% of what is required to only maintain a fish's weight.  That number represented starvation and is far below current forage levels of perch, minnows, and crayfish found in Parker Lake and Red Lake.

Yellow perch, a primary forage fish

So, what do they eat?

In Ontario, walleye primarily forage on yellow perch.  Research shows that perch consist of 60% - 90% of their diet and they fill out the rest with a small percentage of crayfish and other minnows.

The smallmouth bass diet primarily consists of crayfish (again 60% - 90%) and is filled out with perch and other minnows.  Their diets vary enough that they don't directly compete for food.  Studies that analyzed stomach contents of both species rarely found one species in the stomach of the other.  It was more frequent to find that larger walleye had actually eaten smaller walleye!

Crayfish are found in Red Lake and Parker Lake

To be clear, introducing a non-native species to a waterbody is extremely risky and not a good idea.  There are many factors to consider and potential negative effects that haven't been realized.  With that being said, the smallmouth bass population in Parker Lake seems to be growing and the walleye population appears as healthy as ever.  Adding the battles that smallmouth bass put up to the traditional walleye and northern pike fishing experience will certainly enhance your trip.

Jim has the 2nd biggest smallmouth of the season - 17"

As long as forage populations remain plentiful, the walleye population should remain healthy and can co-exist peacefully with a healthy smallmouth bass population.  We encourage you to keep releasing smallmouth bass and writing them on our catch and release board (any size) so we can continue tracking the Parker Lake population!

Northern Pike Galore!

Howdy folks!

We just dropped off another group this morning.  I know right?  It feels like I just typed this exact statement like 2 seconds ago.  The weeks continue to fly by and we are now down to just three groups left!  I guess I should feel lucky, though, because it seems like most people back home are starting school this week.  Isn't summer supposed to last until Labor Day (or Labour Day if you are a Canuck)?

As the post title suggests we had A LOT of nice sized northern pike caught on both lakes this week.  Several slot fish and 40+" fish, which is always exciting to see.  They saw plenty of walleye as well, with a couple of particularly stellar days for walleye fishing on Red Lake.  The guys swore by floating jigs this week for walleye - one guy used a purple one and could have made some quick cash if he had been willing to give it up!

Don't just believe what I type, here are some photos to prove it:

 Chris - 35" northern on Red Lake

 Chris - 33" northern on Red Lake

 Denise - 38" northern on Red Lake

 Denise - 40" northern on Red Lake

 check out that tail!  Ouch!

 Bob - 39" northern on Red Lake

 Bob - 42" northern on Red Lake

 Bob and Denise had a nice double on Red Lake as well!

 Pete - 32" northern on Parker Lake

Big Fish of the week! 

 Scott - 44 1/8" northern on Red Lake.  

He caught this just before supper on the LAST day!

 Here is Chris with some nice eater sized northern off of Parker Lake

Pete and Chris with plenty of walleye for the weekly fish fry.

One of many walleye caught and released on Parker Lake

Perhaps the best fish story of the week was this "once in a lifetime" fishing double off of Parker Lake.  These guys were fishing right close to the lodge and brought in a nice 22" walleye - but as they were bringing it to the boat a 40" northern clamped on!  They quickly boated back to the dock where Travis helped them get some pictures of both fish and successfully release them both back into the water.

Way to go Dave!

We have to give a shout out to Dave's fishing partner, Walt, who successfully netted both fish!  

It remains to be seen if someone can top that this coming week.  There will be a lot of fishermen arriving tomorrow that target northern pike, so I'm sure we will have more monster pike pictures to share soon.  

Looks like summer isn't over yet!  The temperatures will creep back up into the 80's this week, so we will see how that affects the fishing.  We have some veterans coming in to camp, though, so I'm sure they will do great!

Have a good weekend!