Getting ready for a trip to WCPP. Not looking to do any serious fishing but I'll definitely do some while I'm there for fun and for a few meals. Wondering what I should be taking up there for lures. What are the typical bait fish for the area? What colors am I looking at?

Will mainly be targeting walleye and I prefer a simple hair/plastic jig to Rapala type lures with multiple treble hooks but I guess I'll take whatever you guys say I need. I'd like to just carry a small handful of lures though.

Alan

If I had to put one lure in my kit to fish walleye in WCPP, it would be Cabela's Walleye Runner in one of the blue colors (e.g., Blue Streak) or Silver/Black. I'd get the 4 3/4" version which is rated to a diving depth of 28 feet (25 is more realistic). Unfortunately, its a double-treble model. I've caught both walleye and lakers on this lure in WCPP.

dd

Your lure choice brings up another question I should be asking. Where should I be expecting to catch my fish? I was hoping to be able to catch them in fairly shallow water (less than 10-15 feet). From the little I read it sounded like walleye were pretty abundant in shallow water, or at least shallow moving water.

Alan

Depth will be a function of water temperature (in warmer months they will be deeper) and amount of sunshine (the brighter the sky the deeper). The best days tend to be those what are overcast (less light) and a bit windy (more light diffusion). That being the case, early and late in the day are better fishing times (lower light levels).

Then look for points or structure (depth change). And you are correct in that moving water can hold walleye ... but they are smart enough not to expend too much energy, so look for them just out of the current, where food might be swept by for easy picking.

And yes, given the right conditions they can be shallow. My best single day of walleye fishing in WCPP was in less than 10 feet of water, in a channel where a sand bar stretched from one side to the other.

dd

Will you be using an outfitter in WCPP? We just returned from our trip just a couple days ago. We had a lot of luck just trolling behind the canoe with a deep diving rapala, usually orange, red, and green with stripes. Caught both northerns and walleyes. We caught fish in every lake we fished and boy it was delicious. We used Red Lake Outfitters and Harlan also suggested some lures to buy too! Good luck! What lakes are you fishing?

We also caught fish in fairly shallow water, one spot was less than 10 feet in moving current at the entry of a stream.

Got back from my 10 day trip today. Didn't fish very hard but when I did it was good. Stopped by to see Harlan and he said Walleye should generally be about 20' deep. A deep diving crank bait would have been nice to troll behind the boat (I did have a couple shallower ones that worked for pike and night walleye) but I got along fine using mainly jigs (hair and power bait). 1/4 oz. was the heaviest I had and I wish I'd brought along some 3/8 and 1/2 to fish a little faster in the deeper water.

Alan

Alan,

If you don't mind sharing, were they mostly walleyes or a mix? I'm gathering intel for my trip and have no idea what to expect out there fishing.


Andrea

If I fished deeper water, around 20', it was almost exclusively walleye with the occasional pike. If I fished shallower water it was almost all pike.

Alan

Thanks!

You'll find pike in almost all locations. Walleye and lakers are very much dependent on which drainage system you are in. By Quetico standards, comparatively few lakes have both. Smallmouth fishing is pretty much limited to a portion of the Bloodvein River flowage.

dd

p.s. I'll see if I can find the link to lakes and fish species for WCPP.

Here is the link to the lakes with species

http://www.woodlandcaribouprovincialpark.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Lakes-and-Fins.pdf