Last weekend I headed up to LOTW to add a new trout species to my resume — lakers! On Thursday night a few friends and myself left the Cities for Sioux Narrows, Ontario. We arrived in the wee hours of the night, got a couple hours of sleep, then hit the lake as the sun rose over the pine trees.
Day 1 – Friday 2/23
Friday was probably our best day of fishing. Isaac got us started with this laker on a Little Cleo spoon.
Derek soon followed.
Alex got on the board.
Colin with another.
Nolan with a nice one. He was particularly on fire that morning, catching three or four out of one hole.
A couple of these were not fortunate enough to go back in the lake and made for a nice snack on the ice. Karl brought a propane cooker and fried them up — the freshest fish you can get!
We soon saw Moody in the distance fighting a fish. As the fight kept going we realized it must be a nice one. We ran and drove over in snowmobiles to check it out. It ended up being the biggest of the trip, measuring at 28 inches!
I was finally able to hook into one myself. These fish are crazy to watch on the flasher — I was in about 40 feet of water and he shot up to my lure at 15 feet off the bottom, and chased about ten feet higher before eating. Definitely not like coaxing a weary walleye or crappie!
I would guess he was about 25-26 inches. I could then check lake trout off my list of species caught! I caught two more smaller ones later in the day and missed a few more.
Day 2 – Saturday 2/24
The second day started off noticeably slower, as you can see by Garrett’s jigging position here.
He was eventually the first to get on the board on the day, and his first of the trip, with this laker.
With the slower fishing we decided to split up and fish some new spots. On our first move after lunch Alex quickly hooked into one, with Colin soon following.
We made a couple more moves and caught a few more. I marked a bunch of fish later in the day but couldn’t hook into one.
Day 3 – Sunday 2/25
We woke up on our third and final day of fishing to some snow showers.
Our first spot was just off an island near the launch. I missed two fish and broke off on a third within the first ten minutes — it just wasn’t in the cards for me. Karl was able to get his first of the trip here, however. Everyone in the group got in for a photo. That’s the negative of being the group photographer — you can’t get in the pics. I’ll be bringing a tripod on the ice next year!
The weather cleared by mid-morning and after trying a couple spots for walleye, we went back after the lakers. The ‘eyes must have read our minds and started showing up among the lakers! Derek and Karl caught this laker and walleye about two minutes and 20 yards of each other.
Moody got this nice walleye, I believe around 23 inches.
I think Garrett pulled three lakers out of one hole.
Isaac forgot to charge his flasher throughout the trip and it died Sunday morning. No worries — he caught this laker blind jigging!
Karl ripping one more hole at sunset.
Overall it was a great trip with a great group. It’s tough to beat time in the outdoors with good friends! I can’t wait to do it again next year.
