Not your 'Piney' Fishing Hole

Rooftree

Explorer
Mar 24, 2017
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Haddon Township
During the last week of June, I met up with a group of 6 from Minnesota to drive up to Canada to go fishing for 5 days. We crossed the border at International Falls and drove additional 200 miles northwest to Whitedog, Ontario. We stayed at a fishing camp located on an island in the Winnipeg River System, This is my 4th time in the past 4 years. The closest inhabitants is the Fist Nation Wabaseemoong right across the bay from camp. The numbers and size of the fish were down compare of previous trips due to cold and low water levels, but we still caught plenty of fish. The species found in this body of water consist of northern pike, walleye, smallmouth bass, perch, and muskie (but not many).

All may find this post interesting, especially for the fisherman. The Winnipeg River System was formed by the Canadian Shield. This is a vast body of water made up of many bays and islands formed by large rocks with thin coating of soil, and large rocky cliffs and pine trees surrounding the shoreline. At normal water levels, one must watch for submerge rocks when using a boat. It was more of an issue this year with low water levels. For one who doesn't know the area well, a GPS unit can come real handy since you can get real confused on direction.


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Fishing camp on an island

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Split Rock. Looks like is happened fairly recently.

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Island: Good place to fish. Water depth drops off real quick.

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Each morning, fish scraps from previous day are placed on a rock. The pelicans are always waiting nearby. But this day, three eagles came hovering over. In addition to the eagle (many spotted), the Group saw bears (2), otters, beavers, loons, mink, deer, one wolverine (first time), but no moose yet.

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That's me holding a 17 1/2" smallmouth bass. Inch for inch, this is the best fighting fish, and they are caught between the rocks in 1 to 2 feet of water. I caught 20 inchers in previous years.

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Cleaning walleye for shore lunch, and the pelicans waiting for their lunch.

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Walleye in the frying pan. They are one of the best eating fish on earth.

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One of the bigger northern pike caught during the week. The same guy caught a bigger one at 43 inches.

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This is me again holding a decent size walleye. The Group caught others bigger, up to 24 inches.

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This is a picture how most of the shoreline appears.
 
Last edited:
T

Toothy Critter

Guest
Nice catch. Rooftree. Did that years ago. drove up to Canada, we got on a float plane that took us over the Canadian Shield, landed on a lake , got out and spent a week by ourselves catching "alligators" aka "toothy critters" But places out in the pines are just as nice, and just as rewarding, (just not as big) :)
Nothing as good as pit cooked pike in beer batter
 

Rooftree

Explorer
Mar 24, 2017
330
580
78
Haddon Township
Critter: Fly-ins are the ultimate. Fly in to a small lake that doesn't get a lot of fishing pressure. And rough it for a week. Where we go, it's a boat-in to the island camp. Our cabins have indoor plumbing and full kitchen. It's the only outfitter on a large a body of water, so overall, there's not a lot of fishing pressure. I also fish the Jersey pines in the old bog systems. In the Fall I head to IBSP.
 

Rooftree

Explorer
Mar 24, 2017
330
580
78
Haddon Township
46er; that article looks promising for those three species mentioned. It as a good read. Thanks for posting. I notice that Cooper River Lake (southern Jersey) is to get surplus only muskies in 2017. That's great for me, I just live a block from the lake.
 

Rooftree

Explorer
Mar 24, 2017
330
580
78
Haddon Township
I didn't know about the stocking of muskies in Cooper, but I was aware of tiger muskies. I hear of tiger muskies being caught from time to time. I recently heard from a reliable source that a walleye was caught on the river side that forms the lake. The river flows through Camden out to the Delaware R. right across from Phila. Stripers are being caught in the river section too.
 
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