Part 2 of the fishing trip to Lake Mirond, Saskatchewan. The decent size pike get more numerous, but I am still hunting for one over 40 inches. Everything I throw seems to be working, be it casting or trolling. This blog may also be viewed at http://www.fishexplorer.com/
Day 4, Fishing, July 11
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| Shore lunch with a view. Fresh caught pike and/or walleye, potatoes and Jerry's homemade tartar sauce. |
Went looking for walleye today in the big East Bay behind Trapper’s Cabin and we caught a lot of fish all day. For the five of us we brought in 10 keeper-size walleye and everyone caught pike. The largest walleye was 22 inches and the largest pike was 33 inches. We had a nice shore lunch on a point with clear and level ground.
The regulations have changed from the last visit to Lake Mirond. For the whole week, we can keep 5 pike and 4 walleye each, only one over the max limit for each. The pike have to be less than 29.52 inches and the walleye have to be under 21.5 inches. These northern lakes are managed for trophy fish. For each species only one can be over the size limit and the rest must be under. Planning ahead, we want to keep fish close to the limit without going over so the fillets will be bigger. I am not looking to fill my freezer, but a few fillets would be nice. I would like to find those big fish and beat my largest pike from last year, a 39.5 inch; so I’m looking to get a pike over 40 inches.
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| Numerous pelicans are present at Lake Mirond. |
Today, a swimbait was the best lure for me, casting across weed beds in shallow for pike, and trolling along weed lines and rock points for walleye. I also caught a lot of pike on the Red-Eye spoon. Jerry caught 6 trolling a rattle-trap and Vern caught the 22 inch walleye on a jig with a chartreuse grub and Gulp! minnow attached. Chuck caught the 33 inch pike on a fly rod and chartreuse fly he ties himself. There are a lot of small fry in the lake and anytime I get shallow enough to see the bottom I can see large schools of minnows.
I have a boat to myself this trip because one guy had to back out. We decided it would be better to fish one in a boat than fish three; too many big treble hooks. We all stay together, for the most part fishing within sight of each other, and carry radios to call out to another boat. I carry all the shore lunch equipment in the front of the 18 foot boat. Then there is a bench seat with a clamp-on seat attached and then the fish bucket and my lunch cooler, the net rests alongside these. Then a middle bench seat, my tackle bag, dry bag and my rods. The back bench has my chair clamped to the right side so I can tiller steer the 20 hp Yamaha with my left hand.
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| Shore lunch in 'Little Man' |
While trolling it is easier to see if there are rocks if I stand up, so I would stand behind the rear bench seat in the area that would usually be called a bilge so I could stand up and still reach the tiller. Thankfully this boat does not leak or I would be standing in water. I have not had to bail at all this year, unlike last year when at least once each hour I would have to bail the bilge area. Once I had covered the area and knew where the really shallow rocks were, I could sit back down to troll and parallel the bank without hitting them.
Day 5, Fishing, July 12
Swim bait and Red-Eye spoon caught almost all the fish today, (the Red-Eye spoon says Red-Eye Wiggler on it.) Caught two walleye today, one on a chartreuse grub with a Gulp! 3 inch leech attached the other on the swim bait. Caught many pike on shad and chartreuse swim baits, Red-Eye Wiggler, and at the end of the day had lots of hits and several caught on a BPS spoon in blue/black/silver pattern. Lots of hits because they were hitting it in the middle and it only has the treble hook on the end, but the ones that got hooked were good ones.
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| My first at 30 inches on this trip, but there were more to come. |
The walleye I kept today were 16.5 and 14+ inches; the kept pike were 27, 27, 29, and 30.5 inches. We are almost at our limits and only need 3 walleye and 5 pike to finish that off. Still no real big pike, like last year. The 30.5 I caught today was my biggest this trip and Chuck had a 33 inch pike. He also got a walleye today on a fly rod with a chartreuse fly he ties himself.
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| 30-incher caught on a Hollow Belly swimbait. |
We went to the far north end today, where it turns and runs about 12 miles to the east and Wunehikun Bay. The first stop was the S-curve, and it was slow to start, but the action got better. I got into the smaller ones and one of the 27 inchers near the cut through leaving the S-curve bay. We then went to Little Man where we spent most of the day catching a lot of hammer-handles, the walleye, and a few keeper pike. We ate shore lunch there on a stair-step ledge on the bank, a level spot with ledges to sit on and all rock, so clear of ground cover like weeds. Leaving there we trolled the outside banks of the S-curve bay and got the two better pike there, my 30.5 and Chuck had a 31. Then we motored partway back and fished Little Antlers, where we found a lot of pike up shallow and in the back of the bay. Lots of hits and good sizes, too; I got the 29 there. Then we motored back.
Day 6, Fishing, July 13
Next to last day fishing and raining this morning. Went to Hook Bay for walleye, we only needed two more and they were caught pretty quickly plus a lot of small pike. We spent most of the day in Little Antlers and started catching larger pike and filled out the 5 we needed for them. We now have limited out and the last day we will do some exploring to new places or places that the guys have not been to in a long time hoping to find the big pike.
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| The rest of the crew: Chuck, Jerry, John, and Vern. |
I caught a 30.5, 29, and a 28 today, several in the 25-27 range, and a lot of smaller ones. The bigger ones came on the Hollow-Belly Swimbait and the Johnson Mullet Spin and the fish will still hit the Red-Eye Wiggler. Also had several on the BPS Spoon until the leader snap broke and I lost it. In Little Antlers the fish were on points and in the coves, mostly out in the middle over weeds.
We came in a little earlier as we are all getting weather beaten and a little tired. We get up at 6 each morning, have a hot breakfast and are down to the boats around 8. We fish all day, having shore lunch near noon, and have been coming in about 5. After fish cleaning, some showering, and prepping for the next day, we eat dinner about 7:30 and talk and play cards until bed between 9 and 10:30. Drinking a few Smithwick Ale’s and a new Canadian Blended whiskey that my friend Chet gave me, Pendleton, pretty strong at first, but it grows on you. The others seem to like it, too.
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