My buddy and I are thinking this year's trip will have a destination of Pickerel Lake. Looks like paying for a shuttle to Stanton Bay is the way to go. Will have four nights to base camp and fish. Primary target is lakers, but we do spend time looking for walleyes and pike as well. Sounds like Pickerel lake holds them all and provides some chance for quality fish. The lake is huge however, so any advice for some first timers would be greatly appreciated. Most likely going end of May...

End of May, fish the windy shorelines, humps, points. Why not enter/exit from French lake?

I also advise entering from French Lake. The river connecting French to Pickerel is a fun paddle and there are some big Pike lurking there. Once you enter Pickerel you'll pass between two points, and 200-300 yards beyond there is a big drop off where the Lakers should be hanging out. Drop a spoon to the bottom and start ripping it up. Consider camping on the south shore by the inlet that goes south towards Rawn. The bay between the inlet ant the big island to the north is a good Laker spot. That time of year troll perch colored medium diving Rapalas or spoons with about 60-80 yards of line out. The island maze further south is good for spring Small Mouth. Further south the Rawn narrows is a good spot to jig for Walleyes.

Pickerel is an excellent fishery. Good luck.

My brother and I are also going to Pickerel early June. We use John from Moose Camp lodge, give him a call and he will set you up. His prices are the best around, you will not go wrong. Drop me an email and I will share some spots with you.

get canadian dollars, the exchange rate is good right now, if you go with drop off and need to pay for that service.
i see with 4 days you are hoping to get halfway down the lake right away, but like the others said, fish your way in and out.
the shuttle will take about an hour, then the portage to the water, then about 20 minute paddle out of the bay.

Retired55, I think you mean Moose, aka John at Morris Camp. I have been using him for the past 27 years, and always had excellent service at a great price.
Anthony

quote retired55: " My brother and I are also going to Pickerel early June. We use John from Moose Camp lodge, give him a call and he will set you up. His prices are the best around, you will not go wrong. Drop me an email and I will share some spots with you."

Thanks retired55 - I'm trying to send an email, but am struggling to find your email address...

Thanks for the advice, everyone. With limited time, I had read that entering via Stanton Bay was the quickest/easiest. Basically, we want to be fishing good water as much as possible, with our 4 nights in the park. We have read good things about Pickerel and it had sounded like entering through Stanton Bay would be the quickest way. Sounds like maybe we should enter through French, however. Sounds like a fun paddle and good fishing.

How long does it typically take to go from the French entry point out onto Pickerel? I assume French may be worth dragging a lure through as well?

Another reason we thought Stanton Bay was thought of camping in the central/western portion of Pickerel. That way if wind is an issue we can get into the islands and narrows in the west / southwest part of the lake. I suppose even if that is where we end up camping, we could fish our way there from French…

Thanks again for the comments - I'm getting the itch with this warmer weather!

Less than an hour from French landing to Pickeral. I would basecamp on that end and daytrip as weather, time, ambition permit.

walter Sorry I been sick for awhile. Why don"t you give me a call and we will talk it over. My # is 218 349 5279. Terry.

quote Miami1: "Retired55, I think you mean Moose, aka John at Morris Camp. I have been using him for the past 27 years, and always had excellent service at a great price.
Anthony"

+1. Been using Moose's services since 1978.

If you enter at French and you need to rent canoes or other gear, go here Owner Doug knows the lakes and where to fish Here

Pine Point is neat camping.. Its about ten miles down to Emerald Island

Sometimes the wind does not cooperate. Other times its a pretty quick padddle down Pickerel Lake but usually coming back to French Lake.

It takes 5-6 hours end to end of Pickerel. Usually we do it in one day but not fishing.. Clearly your goals are different. I count the distance from French Lake launch

Q: Is this lake shown on U.S. printed maps as Walleye Lake? ;)

When booking the permit, the person said that you can self permit at Dawson Trail. Is that the case through the whole season? Curious as we ideally would like to get on the water more towards sun up. If we have to wait, no big deal, but thought i'd ask the experts here. Thanks!

Not by my experience at the end of May. The Dawson Station opens at 8:00. If you are coming from the east there is a time change between TB and Dawson so factor that in.

Generally you can self-permit if you plan to travel into the park before their season officially opens (pre-May 20th). I'm going in about 5 days from the south (via PP) and will self-permit at PP.

quote AndySG: "
If you enter at French and you need to rent canoes or other gear, go here Owner Doug knows the lakes and where to fish Here "

+1 and they are just 2.7 miles west of the French Lake park office.

Thanks for the responses. Thats too bad…we will miss the cut off by just a few days. This will probably be us at about 4:30 - 5 am...

Replace "fly" with "Q"

Pickerel Lake is amazing, been fishing there for a long time. You have received some very good advice. If you are looking for lakers as you exit out of the french river area and pass the "pines" beach you will be going into the main lake. Lakers can found off the drop off mentioned in an earlier post. I then troll going by the main islands that have deep water near them. I could catch trout there all day. Weather conditions can help a lot. Get you deep divers deep.
Yes they have size. I tend to throw bigger lures and troll. I only catch what I need for dinner and have great respect for these amazing beings. So much thanks for their energy and strength. You can catch trout anywhere on the lake. Deep water between points, near islands, back water bays, It is amazing. You can also catch many other types of fish too. Last year I connected with a monster pike and had the pleasure of being able to take pictures in Awe. I actually went to shore and had to swim with my rod under water under and over a tree that was down. 8lb test no leader. that's how I roll. Any way I don't think specific spots are going to help you because water depths/temps and sun light/lack there of and bait fish location all factor in. Use your depth finder and Good luck

Sincerely,
Moosehopper

Thanks for the note Moosehopper, gets me excited to get out there! We are mostly catch and release as well. The last couple years we've been in North Bay and didn't eat any trout. Not because we didn't catch them but because they weren't exactly the eater size - not a bad problem to have I suppose...anyway, thanks again for the note - we are excited to see some new water! T-2 weeks!

Thanks for all the pointers. Makes sense that it's been so dry up there that there's a fire ban, but rain is in the forecast almost every day of our trip. All well, no place we would rather be. Hoping for calm waters and hungry fish!

Have a good time. Pickerel is an amazing chunk of water!

Figured I would post back - even though its been months since our return. We did enter at French and ended up having a good trip. Were on the water about 5:30 am as Moose picked up our permit the night before (he was a nice guy - thanks for the recommendation). That whole day we struggled to pick up a couple lakers and a couple smallies - and we used just about all the sunlight there was.

Day two we did not have any action for the first couple hours. We then found our spot…the wind cooperated and we caught lake trout. I will not say more about it publicly, but let me just say that most would not believe the numbers if I were to tell. One quick story: My canoe partner was raving about these zip off pants. Well when we stopped for lunch, he squatted to grab the canoe and…rip…they were ruined. Back at our spot, he then proceeds to rip off a piece of his pants and put it on the jig. He drops it down and boom - first drop, fish on. Only problem was that the pants sank way slower than our plastics.

Day three we explored more of the lake and the fishing was spotty.

Day four was more of the same and due to some rain we exited in the late afternoon.

Overall, it was a great trip and although we enjoy exploring new places, I think we'll be back some day.

Thanks for the follow up Walter, glad you hit the mother lode at least once!

Walter - that's a great story about the pants. Never heard of rain gear doubling as bait ;-)
Glad you were able to use Moose's services. He's a great guy, but getting up there in years. I think he just celebrated turning 80 in September - hope he'll still be around for a long time.
AdamX