Any reports from gouin

[giligan]

Just wondering if anybody has any info on water levels or fishing activity on the gouin. Alces and McQ usually have great info. The trips a month away and Im getting antsy.

[Poorboy]

McQ and Alces must be fishing, lucky them!

[wayne h]

I'm going up from June 6 -11. I'll post a report on what is happening up there.

[Andre M]

Fishing just opend last week and weather is unusually cold with a lot of rain. No news yet on the fish bite.
Don't worry with so much water and so many walleyes you're garantee for a lot of fun.

[GouinFishing]

Wayne,
Where do you stay when you go up there?

Kent

[Wayne h]

We are staying at the Air melancon camp, so they are in Baie du Nord in the South central area towards the Western part. I have fished in Quebec 5 times but never there at Gouin. I'll bring back as much information as I can.

[wayne h]

Canadian weather reporting said it was 77 degrees yesterday and only 60 tomorrow, so another front must have dropped in. As long as the camp can give us good information on the spots they are moving into we should be okay. There should be lots of fishermen up there next week.

[Andre M]

MCQ is not far from where you are. Is around Nemio river right now. He should be back beginning of next week. The weather for the last few days was exceptionnaly hot after a cold and wet front. Walleyes will be also on the hot bite. Alses is actually very busy and won't be available for a few weeks.

[Bean]

Anybody back yet from the gouin so far?

[Jim D]

Hi Wayne,

We are flying with Air Melancon also. We are not going to the Gouin however. Have you fished any of their other lakes?

[Baxter]

Jim D. My group have fished 2X before with Air Melancon. Regardless of where you're going, you will not leave disappointed....they are one top notch outfitter, great acomodations, good people. We went both times to Lake Naticum. Plenty of walleye, though nothing too big. Prices are alot higher now with the exchange rate and the price of fuel....we will return to Naticum one day, loved it there. We also fished brookies in one of their ponds you had to hike into...and tied into some decent northerns on the main lake. We've been doing different "Drive To" outfitters for the past few trips....nice, more affordable, but definitely not the same as a fly-in. Good fishin

[Alces]

OK Thank you André, you're right I am very busy but sometimes I have to come down for shopping and today is the day

Fishing report....very, very, very good since the last days of may till today almost everywhere except in the center eastern portion where it is unusually slow due to late spawning, the walleye are there but not where they usually are at this time of the year (I know where they are, but my job is to preserve them,,,sorry guys)

A huge northern was caught last week-end, around 38 pounds, and was released after photo ops. It is still roaming the south center of the Gouin.

Sizewise, walleye are picking up due to the feeding frenzie that follow the spawning duties, (like having a smoke after our duty) and all area should be good till full moon.

Enjot it, might see you sometimes while on patrol

Take care

[poorboy]

I can't believe its the middle of june and theres not a single report from a fisherman who has been to the gouin yet! Must be their fingers are too sore to type after handling hundreds of walleye, yeah that's it.

[Wayne H]

I just got back from the Gouin yesterday, for my first time fishing there.. 6 of us were up for 4 days with Air Melancon. Weather was pretty good and only a few flies and mosquitos around late in the evening to bother you.

The wives were with so this was important. They didn't fish as much as the men but still got quite a few.

Fishing was really good for walleye. We landed over 300 fishing chartruese or white jigs tipped with worms. I had 30-35 per day fishing just a few hours early and late. They were in 7-10 feet between 4:30 AM and 8 AM then backed off to the 15-20 ft. depths and on the sides of drop-offs in the middle of the day if it was sunny. Cloudy and rainy days they were in close all day and also biting in the deeper water. Sometimes you would fish a spot at 5 AM...nothing.... then go back at 6:30 and get 10 fish, so they move in and out alot this time of year. Some guides pulled into one spot on a sunny day between noon and 3 with 8 people and they were catching one after the other in 18-20 feet of water.

We also caught some 18-21" walleyes in the middle of sunny days in 7 feet of water trolling big jointed plugs. I thought it was odd they were on these big open flats between noon and three, but there they were. Also caught some casting the big plugs in those areas Biggest ws 23" but we had times we would catch a 18"-21" on every casy for a little while, they must run together. It seemed that doing this you could get a real trophy.

You needed to fish the good spots though, even in the evening. There were guys in camp at the other cabins coming in with one walleye and complaining about the fishing, and 2 of us would have landed 40 in the last 2 hours of the evening. I would watch them fishing the wrong spot, but pretty close to where they could have caught quite a few.

We also spent time chasing the pike as they were in 1-2 feet of water in the back ends of the wooded bays. Lift the motor and pole in there because they are there. We landed 60 one afternoon that were in a pike school? in 2 hours doing that on Wounded Spook prop baits and a Devil's Horse. It was really exciting to see them leap out of the water and land on the plugs. Biggest we got was close to 40" and many were 24"-28".

If you have any more questions about the fishing I'll try to answer them.
Seems like it should stay really good for awhile.

[giligan]

Thank's for that report Wayne H. How is the water level this year? Could you estimate how far below the permanent upper water level it is. Last year the water was right up to the treeline, hardly any sand beaches for lunch.
Where did you drive to to catch your plane? Thanks

[GouinFishin]

T-minus 43.5 hours til we leave. Does anyone have any info on the water levels? Thanks.

[Alces]

water level= 6 feet below full reservoir

fishing report= above normal number of walleye caught so far this year

seen anglers last week with only 5 walleyes 25 inches and over, ask them how it was "great we released about a hundred of smaller fish last two days.

Hope to see you during your trip, or you might see some of my employees

good luck

[GouinFinshing]

Thanks Alces, maybe we'll see you up there.

[GouinFishin]

Just got back from our trip last fri but haven't had time til now to write a report. Good fishing for the most part. We were a week later than usual so we had to try some new spots as our usual ones were a little slow. Caught fish in anywhere from 4' to 20'. A couple pushing 5 lbs but mostly 15" to 22". Trolled harnesses and stickbaits. We fished out of Hibou. Always a great place to stay. Got stuck out in one decent storm that caused us to beach on an island but nothing to bad. Alces were you over in that part of the Gouin on Tuesday or Wednesday of last week? We were visited by the Park Officers. Checked our licenses, measured our fish(we only had two) and took part of the dorsal fin. Asked what we caught the fish on and how long we had been fishing the area. Also heard that a slot limit will be going into effect in 2007. Had one monster pike caught by one of our group. 44.5" and over 22 lbs. Scary big. All in all a great trip.

[Alces]

I was there but north of your fishing area, I was patrolling the Lac du male section and the team you saw was working the southern part, Adolphe Poisson, Saranna and Mattawa bay.
You're right about the slot size coming in effect in 2007 and this is why we are measuring walleye en taking fin to check the age of the fish.

The walleye situation at the Gouin is not alarming, there is a lot of fishes but at the rate of growth (a 12 inches walleye is 9 years old) we have to start taking care of the genitors. A female walleye is mature at 40 centimeter (15 3/8`) measured at the fork and will lay eggs for at least 8 to 9 years if protected in a slot size up to 55 cm (21 5/8).

Within 5 years, according to our survey, Gouin will yield trophy walleye (over 22 inches) on a regular base. In the meantime, I hope you will still be part of thousands of anglers who enjoy our hospitality here at the reservoir

Hope to see you at your next visit

[GouinFishin]

I knew the growth rate was slow but I didn't realize it was that slow. Thanks for the explanation. We will be there next year.