I agreed to a route that will go from Lake 1 to Insula and the surrounding area. I checked lake reports and it seems that smallie fishing doesn't look promising.

Any broad suggestions for lakes or rivers out that way that would be good smallie waters?

I have been to Insula 5 times since 2001 (the last DNR survey of the lake) and each time the smallie fishing has seemed to be improved. This spring was by far the best. And this is not even targeting them. Insula or the Kawish River is probably your best bet imo.

Thanks!

Yes unfortunately smallies have successfully invaded Insula...last time was tempted to throw those invasive bastards on the shore but wanton fish waste is illeagal. You will catch plenty...

T

Wow I just learned something . . . my home waters in Maine are actually not part of the original native range for smallies!

Was Insula originally a trout lake?

Luckee: "Wow I just learned something . . . my home waters in Maine are actually not part of the original native range for smallies!


Was Insula originally a trout lake?"

Walleye and pike are native

You'll catch plenty on that trip. Not as many fish on the numbered chain, but I have a feeling that is because the fishing pressure is much higher there. But once you get into the river after Lake Four the fishing gets much better. My favorite way to catch them on Insula and surrounding lakes is on top water baits. There seems to be a top water bite all day long there. We mainly go there to smallie fish and your average fish will be 16-17". You'll more than likely catch some that are over 20" and are a blast in canoe. They'll pull canoe around and jump higher than your head out of the water.

Here's another smallie that I caught off an island on Insula. Caught it on a Mann's Baby 1 minus shallow running crank bait. Less than 5 minutes later I caught the walleye on same lure. Insula is an awesome lake to fish. Endless amounts of structure to fish. And you've always got a chance at trophy smallmouth, pike and walleye on that lake. One word of caution on Insula if your keeping fish for dinner on a stringer. FYI. There are large snapping turtles that are habituated to checking for fish on stringers attached to your canoe and at your campsite on Insula. Learned the hard way and they stole our dinner and stringer, luckily we got the stringer back as it was about 15' offshore with heads of our fish on it. Then we noticed everyday after that a baseball sized head would be popping out of the water to see if we were there and slowly moving in to check for fish. We'd chase him away and 5 minutes later he'd be back. It was our afternoon entertainment everyday of the trip.

We'll also try and fish the river from Insula to Alice and back. Plenty of smallmouth all through that stretch. There's a couple sets of rapids along that route and we always fish both sides of the rapids from shore before moving along. Get a map and check out google earth before you go. You can see some rock reefs on google earth. Mark them on the map and go and find them. Then fish the up wind side and get ready for some action.

It turns out that there are indeed plenty of smallies in Insula.

Luckee: "Wow I just learned something . . . my home waters in Maine are actually not part of the original native range for smallies!


Was Insula originally a trout lake?"

Lake Trout are actually freshwater char