Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Fishing Forum :: Where did I go wrong?
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Thwarted |
I once spent a week on Kawnipi without catching a walleye. That is hard to do but I pulled it off. This year we caught fish as much as we wanted. I am not a great fisherman like many others so I have no magic ideas. I just roll with it until next time because it's all good but... there did seem to be a excessive number of crayfish this year. |
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timatkn |
When all else fails troll deep cranks while checking out pictos, camps, sight seeing ya never know what you find either way. There are also times when fish are just not feeding and the bite is tough. T |
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missmolly |
carmike: "A few thoughts.... I second the rocks. I was fishing a lake in June 2017 that seemed mostly barren. Then, by luck (just the right light), I happened to paddle over a field of basketball-sized rocks. That's where they were and I didn't bother with the rest of the fruitless lake after that. |
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avs11054 |
We just got back from a 4 day/3 night trip to Quetico. I fished a ton, and only was able to catch 3 fish (2 medium sized smallies and a 20 inch northern). I didn't catch the first fish until the evening on day three, so needless to say, I was extremely frustrated. I threw everything in my tackle box trying to catch all four types of fish (smallmouth, pike, walleye, and lake trout). I fished morning, day, and evening. One of the most frustrating parts about it was I was in Quetico four years ago during the same week. The fishing was insane. I used many of the same methods for smallmouth and northerns and had no problem catching anything. We caught fish the entire trip. Here are the methods I used this trip. Smallmouth - I tried buzzbaits, spinners, and crankbaits. I threw buzzbaits into the weeds, by rocky shores with steep drop-offs, and around fallen trees. I threw spinners and shallow and medium diving crankbaits in the same locations. One smallmouth I caught came on a shallow diving crankbait on the edges of some weeds where a small creek was coming into the lake. The other smallmouth came on a buzzbait by a rocky shore. Northerns - In the past, I have caught northerns using the same techniques as smallmouth. In addition to this, I threw spinners, spoons, and shallow, medium, and deep diving crankbaits on the outskirts of bays and around narrows. I also trolled those lures through bays, at the entrances to bays, and around narrows. Walleye - I will admit I have never caught a walleye, so I may have no idea what I am doing. I did not put too much effort into this either. That being said, a guy paddled past our campsite about twenty feet off shore, tossed a jig in, and pulled out a great eating sized walleye and left. I threw probably a total of twenty casts with a jig after that in the same location with no luck. I tried two different colors. Lake Trout - I have also never caught a lake trout and did not put too much effort into lake trout fishing either. I tried "vertically" jigging with white tube jigs for lake trout. I was unsure if I was doing it right though. I tried fishing for lake trout on a calm morning. I dropped my line into the water, and even with it being calm, my canoe continued to drift. My line was pulled behind the canoe, and was at an angle almost similar to when I was trolling. It looked like anything but vertical. I am wondering if my biggest issue for this was that I did not get the lure down far enough since my canoe was drifting. Thanks in advance for the responses. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. |
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Savage Voyageur |
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avs11054 |
Savage Voyageur: "First of all you need to be on a lake that has a good population of fish. I know this sounds obvious but many time I read that a person is fishing a lake for trout when there is none in the Lake. Second is to use a leech or crawler on a plain hook under a slip bobber one foot off the bottom. You will catch a Walleye bass or pike this way. Also troll a Rapala in about 8-16 feet of water. These two measures will put fish on the stringer. " We were on Beaverhouse and Quetico. From what I have heard, both of those lakes contain all four species. Also, in Quetico fishing with live bait is prohibited, so unfortunately leeches were not an option. |
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AmarilloJim |
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yogi59weedr |
Sorry couldn't resist |
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smoke11 |
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Mad_Angler |
avs11054: "I was just wondering if I could get some input on what I could have done differently to catch more fish. A little background first... I'm sorry that you had tough luck (and also sorry that you haven't received many helpful responses). One idea is when did you fish and how long? If you only fished for an hour around mid-day, that might be part of the reason. One nearly foolproof method is to cast topwater baits near shore around dusk. Just paddle slowly and work the shoreline with poppers. You'll certainly catch a few smallies (at least until a pike steals your lure). Another good technique is to use a zulu lure. Use the search function at the top of this screen and search for zulu. You'll learn all that you need to learn. As a previous poster noted, leeches are great. In the Q, you can have nearly as good of results with Gulp Alive leeches. Try them on a single hook and a small split shot. Use the search tool to look for "TGO method" As for lake trout, they are harder to find but not impossible. Here are the steps: 1. Find a lake with trout in it, 2: Find water 50 to 150 feet deep in that lake. 3. Tie on a purplescence deep taildancer. 4. Troll the taildancer for a few hours over the deep water. You'll eventually get some trout. I find the tough trips even more motivating than the good trips. I am motivated to find out what went wrong and to take another swing at it. Keep swinging and you'll get some hits... |
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missmolly |
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PikeChase |
One tip is to troll the shorelines at different depths with cranks to find where the fish are. This works for us sometimes but I'm not as confident as some on this forum with the technique. In the past I've also "search" areas that looked like they had good structure with a bottom bouncer with a leech or artificial leech and spinner rig. We're able to cover more ground than just a jig. Once we catch a fish or two we'll stay on the spot and start using jigs. The downside here is the bottom bouncers tend to get hung up plus they're kind of heavy to bring in. As mentioned zulus are great lures for smallies. They've been our top producer on all but one trip. Next time give those a try in some moving water. |
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Atb |
I did Quetico Lake in the fall, and found it tough as well. We really just traveled through their on the way to Jean, but we definitely worked for the fish we got on Q. I often try smaller water when things are slow, on the theory that my odds of finding fish are better. |
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QueticoMike |
I also have an article called Grand Slam Lures - this article covers all of the species you were searching for that might also be helpful. Feel free to request that article as well. If you have any specific questions just ask....either on the message board or via email. Trolling the shorelines with a crankbait or stickbait should produce fish for you if they are around. Work the shorelines that have rocks about the size of your head. Make sure the shorelines aren't dropping off, look for the slowly sloping ones. Points and surrounding flats can be productive. Typically moving water has fish feeding where water dumps into a lake. Downed timber and weed lines can also be productive. |
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Jaywalker |
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lundojam |
For the lakers, a drift sock and/or a heavier jig would have helped you. You are right; vertical needs to be somewhat vertical. |
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carmike |
1) I tend to prefer shorelines that *don't* have sharp dropoffs to deep water. I look for slowly tapering shorelines with smallish (softball/basketball sized) rocks -- the kind of rocks you'd like to hide amongst if you were a crayfish or a lonely minnow. 2) Casting/Trolling shorelines works...if the fish haven't moved to deep water and mid-lake structure like reefs, sunken islands, etc. Mid-summer can be feast or famine...the fish are eating more than they will at any time of the year, but they can either be scattered, on specific offshore structure, quite deep (as in, 25+ ft deep), or randomly scattered throughout the lake chasing baitfish. If they fish have just moved to deeper breaklines, then you'll probably want to troll them -- but you need to work to keep the lure in the strike zone, as trolling at the wrong depth won't do much good. You've gotta be fairly precise, which can be difficult without the right gear. 3) I'm surprised you didn't contact fish in the weeds. Don't be afraid to fish right in them, ripping the lure through as it invariably gets snagged up. 4) Did you head to the east side of the lake to fish the inflow from Quetico Lake? There are always fish there, though there are almost always fishermen there, too. 5) Did you try fishing the windy side of the lake? I know Beaverhouse is big, but it's also clear, so daytime fishing might be tough if there's not a chop. |
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thlipsis29 |
1. I would agree that a depth finder is critical, especially if you're on a lake you don't fish often. One year a canoe in our group found a dropoff from 14' to 17' in the middle of the lake that was stacked with walleye and crappie simply because they saw it on on the depthfinder. Looking at the lake surface, there was nothing to suggest fishing at that spot in the middle of the lake would produce anything, but clearly that was not the case. 2. The one thing I didn't see in all that you used was Berkley Gulp or some other plastic like that. I have a few friends who fish in Canada regularly and because of the live bait ban where they fish, they swear by Gulp. I don't rely much on plastics because I take live bait with me into the BWCA, but I do know that this works. 3. Weather and moon phase can change everything. I know there is some debate about whether or not the phase of the moon really influences the bite, but weather and water temperature do. If for any reason a cool front went through just prior to your arrival, the bite can all but die for a day or two before it picks up. I'm sure the late spring this year has changed the timing of the patterns, and sometimes the best thing you can have in fishing is a short memory. There's no guarantee that what worked yesterday or last year will work today. 4. Some of it is just dumb luck. Why the fish bite my jighead just 12'-15' from my canoe partner's jig (same color and minnow) or vice versa is hard to explain. Does a mono line make the difference compared to a flourocarbon? Is there something on my hands that transfers to the jig and repels the fish? There have been times when I've been outfished 3-to-1 and outfished my friend the same way, and we have no solid explanation. As someone said earlier, that's why it's called fishing and not catching. 5. I've done 18 BWCA trips and I've come to accept that some years will be great fishing and others not so great. While my primary reason to go is to fish, and we fish at least 14 hours a day, I've come to appreciate just being there. So much is beyond my control and getting angry about it doesn't make the trip very enjoyable. What I can control are my attitude and my effort, and if I only get 5 days up there, I'm going to do all I can to make them 5 great days regardless of the circumstances. Pardon, the sermonizing, but I have found that this more than anything else has really made a difference in my approach to my trips. |
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salukiguy |
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QueticoMike |
missmolly: "carmike: "A few thoughts.... Basically the same thing I replied earlier............Work the shorelines that have rocks about the size of your head. Make sure the shorelines aren't dropping off, look for the slowly sloping ones. Points and surrounding flats can be productive. |
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mastertangler |
Having said that your primary problem is your not fishing where the fish are at. Fish want to be close to the grocery store. Find what they are eating, and find the fish. If it got hot then your fishing to shallow. Your starting point should of been 15 ft. and quickly progressing to 20 and 25ft. Even Quetico Mikes Zulus will suck if the fish don't see the lure. Same with everything else your using. Catching fish is usually less about the lure and more about putting it in front of them. A few other questions,,,,,,is your boat ugly? Are you wearing the latest in designer fishing attire? Have you been living right? These will all factor in to your success. All kidding aside......you are smart to question why you did poorly. The big question is "what are you going to do differently next time your not getting bites". |
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Lotw |
just moving away from the shoreline another cast length will sometimes make all the difference. Quetico lake can be tough. trolling deep would be a good bet especially mid day. |