Highlights From Fly Fishing In Canada

[Arofishing]

Since I only found crickets in the Canada fishing forum, and since I am highlighting my fly fishing exploits in Canada, I thought I'd give a wordy synopsis of my trip here. My wife's family makes an annual trip to Cat Island Lodge on Trout Lake in Ontario. This was my first attempt to fly fish there. The lake has Lake Trout, Northern Pike, and Walleye in abundance with some other species occasionally caught.

I bought a 10 wt Orvis Clearwater specifically for this trip, and I've been tying flies for the trip for months. I also bought a number of commercial flies, including a bunch of Rainy's tsunamis and some Rainy's baitfish imitations. If I could do it all over again I wouldn't waste my money on the commercial stuff and would have stuck with the stuff I tied. The tsunamis were an incredible pain in the butt to throw, and I never caught anything on them anyway. The baitfish worked well enough, but I didn't have the same success I had with the things I tied.

Flies and Setup

The flies I had most success using were a clouser minnow and a circus peanut imitation using all synthetics. The clouser was a size 1 in yellow. I only had one because I had originally tied it for bass and only put it on since I was seeking something easier to cast. The circus peanut I tied using Brian's videos, size 3/0 and 1 (articulated). I had most success with the chartreuse one pictured below (after catching numerous fish, not in the best of shape). The flies stood up pretty darn well. I only retired the circus peanut after catching nearly 10 fish, and the clouser I was still using at the end.

My initial plan for the leader didn't work out. After doing a fair bit of research I decided I would try 6 feet of straight 20lb monofilament attached to a normal wire leader. However, I lost 3 flies, all due to the hook attachment mechanism failing from repeated casting stress. On my last day of fishing I ditched the wire leader entirely and used 9 feet of the 20lb mono. While I did have to replace it once on account of teeth damage after a few pike, I found it to be more than adequate. As you'll see below, the 20 lb mono was sufficient to bring in a 40 inch Northern (approaching 20 lbs), each fight with the fish taking between 10 and 15 minutes. In the future I think I would do the same thing but use 25 or 30 lb mono as a shock tippet, just for peace of mind if nothing else.

Method

At times I was dropped off on islands or rocks and was free to wade around those areas. Typically I fished from the boat, which required that I stand at the front of it. I am very glad I practiced double hauling prior to the trip, as it turned out to be incredibly helpful. Not all of the lodge's guides were amenable to my fly fishing. Often we didn't get close enough or the boat was positioned in awkward angles. That's fine since the rest of the family doesn't fly fish, and I didn't want to sacrifice their fishing enjoyment for mine.

I mostly targeted Pike and occasionally Walleye, when feasible, as determined by depth. So if the Walleye were less than 10 feet deep I'd fish for them, with split shot when necessary. Pike were sought in rocky areas, bays, and around weeds. Since Trout Lake had such an early spring (the ice receded almost a month prior to last and most years, in mid-April), I think the pike were probably in their post-spawning feeding. I say this because they universally seemed fat and healthy and were less prevalent in the weeded areas than the reefs, the weeds being an ideal spawning habitat for their eggs.

Results

Now for the fun stuff! I caught probably 6 or so walleye on or 4 day trip and over 10 pike on the fly rod. I didn't fly fish exclusively. My first fish of the trip was a 36 inch Northern, which you can see in the picture below (I'll update with a video once my cousin-in-law gets it online). The fish was caught on a chartreuse circus peanut imitation while wading off a rocky point. That fish was great because I caught it our first night fishing, after convincing myself that it was going to be real difficult to catch anything on the fly and setting my goal as catching a Northern bigger than 35 inches. I also kept our boat from getting skunked that evening (though, technically, I wasn't on the boat ).

My next best day of fishing was our last, the afternoon of which we really managed to find the fish. The first video below is of a 35 inch Northern caught on the clouser mentioned above. The second video is of a 36 inch Northern caught on the Chartreuse Circus Peanut. As soon as they get posted I'll include pictures of my 40 in. trophy Northern (any Northern about 40 on that lake is considered a trophy). In my opinion that was the highlight of the trip behind my cousin-in-law's 46 inch Northern caught on a spoon, the biggest caught in the family's 30+ year history of visiting the lake.

35 in. Pike on fly rod Trout Lake, Canada from Arotator on Vimeo.

[Guest]

Looks like a great trip!

I really like some of the tie-able wire leaders that are on the market. I used 15lb tyger leader on my latest trip to northern minnesota and it performed flawlessly. I did have a bite off from a large pike, so you may want to step up to 20lb test.

[Arofishing]

Are you fishing solely for pike up there? I would have gotten a commercial leader if I had any options at all around Springfield. I wasn't impresseed with either fin and feather or bass pro's selection.

[Arofishing]

*Original post updated with video of 36 inch Northern caught. Still waiting on pics of the 40 inch.

[Brian Wise]

Very cool!!

[Arofishing]

Have you guys gone on your musky trip yet? I was definitely thinking about that as I was posting this. And thanks again for the tying videos.

[Brian Wise]

Yeah, we went to Wisconsin and Minnesota last August.....it was a bust for Musky, but we did manage some nice smallmouth and a dink pike.

[Justin Spencer]

very sweet!