It has long been a tradition as soon as the ice is out of the trout lakes in northwestern Ontario that there is a large exodus of the male population from Baudette for long weekends. They cross the border and head for their favorite rock on their favorite lake. They don’t even have to be avid fishermen to participate; they just to go along to be part of the program. The comradeship, food, beverages, card games and maybe a “run” that will result in a nice lake trout for supper are all part of that time honored tradition.
I hadn’t fished trout for a few years, but gladly accepted an invitation to go fish Whitefish Bay on Lake of the Woods for a long weekend with some of the “Bosch Boys”. We met early Saturday morning, had breakfast, stopped for beverages and left for the resort in Sioux Narrows. Upon arrival we unpacked, got licenses, loaded up the boats and headed for the islands. It was cold and windy, but we caught four nice lake trout and that was important as two were for supper. Sunday morning there were a few snow flurries, but by afternoon the weather stayed windy, but quite nice. The fishing was good that day as the group caught eleven nice trout and kept the daily limit of six. Monday the weather got better and so did the fishing. The group caught fifteen trout; kept four and released the rest. Jim’s dad, Bill, caught and released six that day. Our license permitted a daily limit of one and a possession of two of which one had to be under 25-1/2″ and one over 25-1/2″. Of the thirty trout that were caught only six were under; most were in the 10-12 lb. range. We also caught about a dozen northern pike and only one could be kept; that was under the bottom of the slot of 27-1/2″. Everything else was in the slot and needed to be released. Tom caught one that we estimated to be near the top end of the slot; maybe 39-40″ and about 18 lbs. Jim also caught two nice smallmouth while casting a spoon for a few minutes each day. We came home a day early with our limit and out of bait. Everybody caught fish; it was a great weekend.
Jim, Tom, Bill & Steve with a catch of nice lake trout
George & Tom with another days catch
Five nice lake trout
A very nice pike
A nice lake trout
Arvid's Fishing Report 