Got out for a 4 day boat camp on crown land in the Temagami region with a friend this past week from Monday to Thursday. I was familiar with the lake we launched from but had only fished the connecting lake a handful of times in the winter. I knew the lake had potential based on the MNRF broad-scale monitoring data and limited shoreline development/surrounding crown land.
Our first day was spent scouting for potential camp sites. With a photocopy of an old hand-drawn map in hand, we scanned the shoreline for any break in the trees that may reveal a hidden site. Eventually, we settled on a site beside a creek mouth feeding into another back lake. It had a sandy beach ideal for beaching the boat and several trees that we could tie off on.
After unloading our gear, we quickly got back in the boat and fished with the little remaining light we had in the day. A short evening session yielded several aggressive smallmouth bass and 2 walleye.
The next morning, we set our sights on finding structure that may hold whitefish and lake trout. High winds proved challenging, at times dictating the locations we fished. Ducking behind islands and protected shorelines, we searched for active fish with little luck. Finally nearing the end of the day, the wind died down and we were able to mark some fish.
Not long after marking a school of cisco passing below us, we got into a whitefish/lake trout double header.
The following day, the weather ended up being the best of the trip for us and with the knowledge gained from the day prior, we were on fish quickly.
Decent sized cisco:
Whitefish caught on a high hook rigged with a 1" soft plastic minnow:
My friend's 4th whitefish of the day, taken on a 4g vibrato:
Early afternoon, we were back positioned over a location that had been productive for us in the morning around 8:30am. A sloped ledge in 45' between a trio of shoals above and a steep drop into 75' below. I switched over to a larger presentation in hopes of attracting a lake trout. I had just dropped my lipless crankbait down to bottom and my friend alerted me of a large mark that had appeared. I watched my sonar intently waiting for the mark to appear on my graph and as I went to lift my line on my next jig, I felt weight. At first, I thought it was a smaller lake trout but once the fish had realized it was hooked, it began peeling drag. Over the next ten minutes the lake trout went on 4 separate runs before I was finally able to bring it up.
Measured and released, 70.5cm. A personal best for me:
That night we cooked a smaller lake trout caught earlier in the day as an appetizer before dinner and recounted a truly memorable day of fishing.
The next morning we got out for a short two hour fish from 6:30am-8:30am. At this point we had found a few reliable locations and tried a spot closest to our campsite. We missed 3 fish (likely whitefish) and landed 2 more to bring home.
We headed back to camp and had the boat loaded by 9:30am, a great trip on a beautiful lake that we will surely return to in the future.
Backcountry Boat Camping June 24th-27th, Exploring crown land in Temagami
