EYES IN THESE REMOTE LAKES???????

[lenray]

A good friend of mine a younger fella mid 30's and myself have gone into some very remote Ontario lakes--quad in go down river systems in a canoe lake to river to lake etc. then we go overland thru the thick brush of the bush with an inflatable and put in to some lakes without names--some do have names. These are lakes where there isn't any sign of camps cut trees etc. We are always looking for the new lake maybe to small for a plane where we can hit the EYE jackpot--we really like the adventure of getting to lakes where others don't appear to be getting to at least for the past few years.
Anyway we find many and huge pike and some lakes have trout in abundance but have never found the eyes.
Are all of the lakes with eyes already been discovered???
Thankyou len

[aprowl]

can i come along???

[Peanut]

Your idea sounds like a blast. If northern Ont. is anything like northern Sask. I would guess no, there are probably hundreds of lakes with walleye in them that have not been fished. To narrow your search, do the following:

1. Find a major river system and/or lake system that you know has walleyes in it.

2. Get detailed maps of the areas along that system you plan to "explore". These are not your basic roadmaps - here we get them from either SERM (Sask. Environment and Resource Management) or a local mapping company. They're about $20 each.

3. Within that area, highlight all lakes that are connected to that system. These are at least lakes that you know are connected to a body of water with walleye in it.

4. From there, identify those lakes that fit your criteria - unnamed, small, not accessible by road, plane, whatever, and try those.

While a particular lake may not have walleye (for whatever reason), you know there are walleye in the same waters that you are in. There are many river/lake chains that simply do not have walleye in them, and those generally far outnumber the systems that do.

It probably goes without saying that the farther north you go, the better your odds of finding what you're looking for.

Hope this helps, good luck.

derrek.

"It's the weaseling out of things that sets us apart from the animals.... Except the weasel."
- H.J. Simpson

[Trailerguy]

I like to do the same kind of thing.The ministry of mines has a site http://www.mndm.gov.on.ca/MNDM/default_e.asp ( I hope that works), It has a feature called claims maps that you can use to zero in on an area or a lake with topo features. You need to remember that pike will
go upsream over an obstuction to spawn, but walleyes will go to the obstuuction and spawn. Rarely will walleyes go up a creek to the next lake if there is more than 3'rise in any obstuction. So the most remote lakes may have only pike, look at the ones that are upstream from a known walleye lake, or small hole that is on a creek between two walleye lakes.

[River_eye]

I think more often than not, walleyes need substantial water bodies, either big, or deep. There are a lot of unnamed lakes that are so small that they just get too hot in the summer for walleye. And even if there are walleye, they are kept very small and almost uncatchable because there is no refuge for them to keep from getting eaten by pike, so they don't grow big and reproduce in large numbers.

That's my hunch anyway

[Trailerguy]

River eye,
I have to disagree with you about the size and depth thing. I know an Ontario honeyhole that is hardly 100 yds across in any direction, and the deepest spot is 8' in the spring of the year. It has a good flow of water, two creeks coming in and 1 outlet, but it's over a mile either direction to a lake. This little hole has plentiful water weeds and just one open side with a cliff face, which is the deep spot. I always CPR due to the size of the hole, but 12"to 24" walleyes are plentiful. I've boat 20-25 in an hour several times. Stange as it seems I only recall 1 pike of any size. The forage base seems to be predominatly crawdads.

[chrism]

Walleyes will 99% of the time only be found in lakes that have feeder streams or creeks flowing in or out. As mentioned, the obstructions have to be minimal. In NW ontario, you will find lakers and pike in those small lakes that don't have the feeder waterways.
I agree with eric that the lakes must be deep for a succesfull year-round walleye fishery, as walleyes will scoot out of the shallow lakes once they warm up - but in springtime, these shallow lakes are the ticket!
And the way you describe how you get to these lakes regardless of whats in them - sounds great!

[Phoenix]

There'a a very small lake near ur that we have to travel by boat then through the bush to get to. It's maybe a mile long by 200 yrds wide with very dark water. We catch blue walleye there all the time. You have to watch that you don't over fish these small lakes too hard they can't support a large supply like the big ones we fish.

[River_eye]

The only walleye lake that doesn't have much depth to it that I know of is Whitemouth lake, although I havn't looked at a proper depth map. It isn't deep but it is quite large.

[River_eye]

I think I would consider this more of a river system than a lake. Flowing water changes things quite a bit I think.

[Cat Eye Outfitter]

Along the Manitoba Ontario border, as an example, there are countless small un-named lakes that hold walleye. Some of these lakes as has been mentioned are incredibly small and relatively shallow.

As I understand it the only thing that will prohibit existing walleye populations in these lakes is winter kill and a lack of forage - or winter netting and regular angling pressure.

Why are there walleye in these small out of the way lakes? I believe there is a lot more "drainage and inter-connectivity" than we realize to other bodies of waters that normally hold walleye (eg. the Bloodvein and Berens rivers, and their connected lakes) When the waters are high fish of all sorts - including walleye will run up small sloughs, creeks, bogs etc until they find these "seemingly" isolated waters. If the body of water has other forms of forage the walleye will stay and eke out their existence. I've personally found that big fish (over ten pounds) are relatively rare -- but I guess that may even be broken as a rule if the lake is really fertile.

Some of these bodies of water have been isolated for "long" periods of time, but this does not prohibit these fish from having established a balance with the limited environment they inhabit.

Now the flip side.... being so isolated and having such delicate balances established with their environments, even seemingly boundless populations can be effected by angling pressure. I know of two lakes right on the MB/ON border about twenty miles north of the bloodvein river that have been effected by moose hunters fishing them over a period of ten years. What were populations that seemed inumerable are now so-so walleye lakes.

I personally find going into these lakes very rewarding but we always try to practice selective harvest. This is a kind of fishing that all of my high tech equipment and big boat will never see. There's something to be said for going back to the simpler pursuit of wilderness walleye.

Regards,

Dan

[River_eye]

Cat-Eye, do you fly in to those lakes then canoe? Or go to camps. Atitaki park is one of the places I've always wanted to go.

[Cat Eye Outfitter]

I've done it both ways: Firstly canoed in (up stream or down stream after having gone in off a road via a long portage -- the tough way but rewarding and not too often) or Secondly we've flown in and then canoed down -- nice and more often (as an example there's a group of American scouts who we've met the odd year coming down the river and they've flown in every year...). On some occasions while moose hunting we'll just be flown and flown out to this or that no-name lake.

The aerial photographs give an indication of the "interconnectedness" of these lakes. They're about $10.00 ca a sheet and they are invaluable. Laminate them and they'll last a long time.

The air service out of Bissett will take you into Atikaki, although landing with floats on the Bloodvein (I may be wrong here) is no longer allowed as it is a heritage river. They can, however drop you off at a lake further up on the Ontario side.

Nonetheless this is a trip of a lifteime. The sturgeon in this river are red'ish' in colour and the walleye are that typical black gold river colour. If you fish from the lake to the first st of rapids/falls you'll run into some good cats (This is one place where I caught quite a few of what Dan Gapen used to call the "whiskered walleye" on cranks looking for walleye)

Dan

[Jonas]

Many years ago, I went 35 miles east of Sioux Lookout by gravel road and then seven miles down a logging road and ended up at a lake called Upper Pepperbell. Just me and the bears. Camped at the boat landing and didn't see anybody for a whole week. Ate a lot of walleyes, everymeal was the same--------fresh walleye sandwiches. Never get tired of them. Now this wasn't as tough as some of those young guys have done, but I was eighty five at the time. Now I am ninety two and I just day dream about the many great things I did when I was young from courtin' the ladies to fishing in Canada. Not sure which I enjoyed more. No matter cause the old body don't work no more, but I still got my memories. By the way, you young whipper snappers cut out your bickering, you don't know how good you got it.
Grandpa Jones

[Cat Eye Outfitter]

There are a couple of places like that in and around the Flin Flon area. The Pineroot, Mistik, and Grass all offer excellent isolated walleye (where you'll probably not see someone for a week). I've done the Pineroot and Grass rivers and hope one day to spend some time on the Mistik. Very early summer or spring are best for these rivers as walleye like to congregate below water obstructions. Moreover moving on these rivers is easier when water is higher as cuts down on drag overs or portages (running the odd rapid is fun too!). The other place in Manitoba where you can find isloated river walleye is either on the Manigotogan or the Moose in Nopoming Prov. Park. The Manigotogan see a lot of traffic during the summer but it isn't all fishing and the Moose has excellent walleye and bass opportunities (which require work but are weel worth the effort).

[Bobby]

Having just moved 'south' from a couple of years in Little Grand Rapids, on the Berens River system, I understand what you are talking about here. In my opinion, the interconnectivity of rivers, lakes, and small lakes/sloughs has a lot to do with Walleyes suriving in small shallow lakes.

One of our favorite places to ice fish was a small out of the way lake that couldn't be deeper than five or six feet. Yet, there were lots of walleyes there, under a few feet of ice none the less. In the middle of winter, ice fishing was relatively poor on the main/large lakes. It seemed that fish migrated from the large lakes to the sloughs to follow the forage in the winter. Who knows for sure...!

But a small shallow lake with no inlet sounds like a candidate for winter kill.

As for Atikaki, there are a few AMAZING places to fish. But you really need to know someone 'in the know,' as people seem to keep their fishing holes a secret!!

[lodge owner]

The small lakes have no walleyes!Who told you that?Its a waste of time!Your better off sending me all your money!Dont ask people that know either!You must be smart,you know what thousands of locals know.I know a person that does remote lakes,but he is booked for season.