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Long overdue update here folks, sorry about that. It's hard to believe another season on the water has come to an end. It's snowing in Sioux Lookout today and the mercury is well below freezing. Won't be long till ice fishing season is here! It was a great year on Lac Seul for me and my guests. My muskie obsession only grew bigger with a record setting year for numbers of fish boated. Thanks to everyone who fished with me in 2018. Here's a sample of some of the pics from late summer and fall. Also had the pleasure of hosting famed muskie angler and TV personality Pete Maina back in September. Pete was filming with Sunset Country Tourism and made a stop at Winoga Lodge to fish Lac Seul with myself and Troy. We had a great 'trip' and I'll be sure to share the video once it's released. Here's a snapshot of Pete and I with one of the fish we boated.  It's always cool to see my writing come to life in the pages of Ontario Out of Doors magazine. It's even better when friends are featured on the cover and in the pages of my article. Check out these shots from the Fall 2018 issue.
2019 is already shaping up to be a busy season. Dates are filling up fast, so get in touch with me ASAP if you're interested in a trip. Ice fishing packages are also available for this winter. Check out www.Winoga.com for more info.
What's not to like about fall?? Opening hunting seasons and the biggest Lac Seul muskies. It makes it hard to decide if you should be in the woods or on the water. Such tough decisions! First things first - I drew my first bull moose tag in 9 years so filling that was a priority. Thanks to my partner at Winoga Lodge, Troy Mansfield, we got it done. It's far from a monster bull, but it was an exciting hunt that ended up filling our freezers with the best meat you can get.  Ontario OUT OF DOORS magazine continues to feature my writing. I'm proud to share the Pike & Muskie column with my buddy JP Bushey. Here's a snapshot of my fall column "Casting Big". This is especially cool for me because of the lead picture with 2 of my best buddies, Graham Coulombe and Mike Battistoni.  I've also got into doing my own European Mounts. My moose is whitening right now and earlier I finished a bear and a wolf. Check it out - it's fun to do and I think they look awesome.  Last but not least - muskie fishing! It's been an awesome fall so far and it's not done yet. November 8th is my last day with clients for the fall giant hunt on Lac Seul. A couple weeks ago I set a new personal record for biggest muskie in my boat. Client Dave Fowler hauled in a super tanker FIFTY FIVE inch giant! What a thrill. I'm reasonably certain I was more excited than Dave was. Summer is flying by here in northwestern Ontario. Its been a wild ride weather wise - right now we're in the middle of a heatwave, but just 10 days ago we were battling high wind, rain and cool temps. One day the high didn't even reach 60F. Despite the wild weather, the fishing has remained good. Of course some days are better than others, but that's fishing. Summertime walleye spots like humps, prominent points and deep flats produce steady action. The best depths can range from 15-30 feet, depending on the day. One thing I've noticed is that the stronger the wind, the shallower the big walleye will position themselves on structure.   It's hard to beat jigging with live bait for catching walleye. I use Lindy Jigs and my top colors are glow, chartreuse, pink, orange and red. There's something about feeling the classic 'walleye tap' then setting the hook that I'll never get tired of. Targeting pike is a great way to spend an afternoon on Lac Seul. There's a lot more action than muskie fishing and we run into some great pike out here.   The muskie chase is never easy, but as I say it's a lot of work for a lot of reward.   I caught these 2 muskies on the same night on my new favorite color PDeez bucktail - Italian Stallion. Click the link to visit the website and check out that hot color. This next fish was an awesome boat side top-water strike for my guest Mark. Good times!  Check out the lead page for my latest Ontario OUT OF DOORS feature article. All the photos in this article are by my friend Suzie Hughdie, who did a great job. The article is about jigging for summertime lake trout. It's a great way to catch lakers in the summer without the hassle or cost of downriggers.  Just this past week we put this technique to the test. Here's my guest Mike with a nice summertime laker.  There's still plenty of summer left, but fall - the best time of the year - is within sight. Stay tuned!
Its been a slow transition from winter to spring this year. The lakes are slowly opening up but with opener just around the corner it's going to be close. The current areas around Sioux Lookout and on the southeast end of Lac Seul will be open, but I wouldn't put money on being able to get to Bear Narrows on opening weekend. Stay tuned for more ice updates as opener approaches. Pick up a copy of the May issue of Ontario OUT OF DOORS. I've got an article about early season walleye fishing with jigs and Lindy Rigs. 
Another good one is the 2014 In-Fisherman Pike and Muskie Guide. My buddy Jeff Gustafson from Kenora who is a top guide, tournament angler and writer, has an article in there on Canadian Shield pike fishing. Jeff interviewed me for the article and they ran a big picture on first page. Here's a sneak peak. 
After seeing articles like these hit the shelves open water can't come soon enough.
We're under a blanket of snow here in Northwestern Ontario, so it's safe to say fall is over and winter is here to stay. The smaller lakes are iced over and it won't be long until the larger lakes are locked up too. The boat is put away for another year and for the most part, my hunting season is over as well. Time to unwrap the snowmachine and get it going for another winter. As always, fall goes by way too quickly. We got the hunting season underway back in early October with our annual moose hunt. We saw some cows and calves but never did find a bull, so our tag went unused this year. That's the nature of the game. Still, it was a great time on Lac Seul with friends and family. We managed some ruffed grouse, although numbers were down this year, and I was able to share part of that experience with my son. 
In late October I shifted focus to muskie fishing on Lac Seul. It's never an easy game and we put in long hours for the fish caught. No monsters this year but some nice fish for the guests in my boat. 
Here's a great shot to wrap up the 2013 open water season. It was taken by my friend Suzie Hughdie of a Lac Seul sunset at the end of a day of trolling. We'll get you a muskie next year, Suzie! 
November is whitetail deer time. I got busy filling up some doe tags while waiting for a buck that I wanted to put my tag on. 
I was hunting on my birthday when this buck came running into a doe bleat. With the excitement of that experience, I didn't hesitate to shoot. 
That's a wrap on another great fall in Northwestern Ontario. Check out the link below (click the picture) to read an article by Ontario OUT OF DOORS travel editor James Smedley about his trip with OOD fishing editor Gord Ellis to Sioux Lookout to fish with me. 
The weather this week couldn't be any more different from a year ago. Last march break we were in T-shirts on the ice while this year it's been 20 below. As I type this the snow continues to fall outside, adding to the foot we've already got in the last 24-hours. It sure doesn't seem like spring is just around the corner. If it wasn't for the longer days, the fish would think it's still mid-winter. Big fish continue to find their way onto the ice. With dedication, patience and effort come rewards. My wife Kelly joined me recently, and of course she caught the big one. Kelly can jig walleye with the best of them, whether it's through the ice or in the boat. Check out this big, beautiful, dark walleye. 
Another one that couldn't resist the Lindy Rattlin' Flyer Spoon My pursuit of big winter lake trout continues. For me, these fish are the best substitute for muskie fishing. The drag peeling, rod bending runs of a wintertime laker fill the adrenaline void created by the closed muskie season. In other words, they're the biggest bang for your buck on the ice. I've been fortunate to catch some really nice lakers lately. 
I also wanted to share a product that has made a huge improvement to my ice fishing program. 
The Digger Auger Carrier by Digger Anchor makes carrying your auger so easy and convenient. It makes me so much more portable and efficient on the ice now that I don't have to load and unload my auger from the sleigh every time I move.
Even though we've still got a few weeks of ice fishing left here in Northwestern Ontario, spring really is just around the corner. Check out the current issue (April 2013) of Ontario OUT OF DOORS for an article I wrote about using strutter decoys as a part of your spring turkey hunting strategy. Also, click HERE for an on-line article I did for Ontario OUT OF DOORS called 'The ABC's of Backtrolling'. Before open water and turkey hunting, however, the year's best ice fishing is still to come. Stay tuned for one more ice report. I've got a couple things to share and I'm really excited about both of them. First, it's a real treat to share the Fall 2012 cover shot from Ontario OUT OF DOORS. This is easily one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time! Thanks to everyone at OOD and especially photographer/writer Tim Allard for snapping this amazing picture. Tim came up to Lac Seul last October to fish with me and we landed one worthy of the cover! Look for this issue to hit newsstands on October 15th. The cover shot accompanies a feature article I wrote about world class fall muskie fishing in northwestern Ontario on Lac Seul, Eagle Lake and Lake of the Woods. 
Also, I'm excited to announce that I've recently become a member of the St. Croix Pro-Staff team. I've been using their rods for a long time and I truly believe in this company and their products. I look forward to working with St. Croix to promote their products and educate anglers about the benefits of using these fishing rods. Click on the logo below to check out the St. Croix website. 
Stay tuned... fall time muskie fishing is about to go off on Lac Seul!! #BRINGONTHEGIANTS
One of my favourite things about spring is chasing lake trout once the ice goes off. It's a great time of year for getting lakers in relatively shallow water. Trolling with planer boards, Dipsy Divers and even long-line trolling is all it takes to catch big lakers. Covering water is the name of the game for finding spring lake trout. Minnowbaits, spoons and small in-line spinners all have their place in the spring trout trollers arsenal. Here's a nice one from the weekend on my annual G.bay trip with good pal JP Bushey. This fish hit a jointed Rapala, 110-feet behind a planer board.  In other news, I am happy to share the May cover of Ontario OUT OF DOORS. It's an honour for me to grace the cover of this magazine. Thanks to James Smedley for snapping the photo. Inside this issue I have an article on post-spawn walleye fishing. Check it out.  Coming up next, gobble-gobble, it's turkey time. My favourite hunt of the year. The 2012 ice fishing season is off to an amazing start here in northwestern Ontario. Unlike our friends in more southerly areas, there is lots of ice and snow to play on up here. We’ve had some great days on the lakes with some really big fish caught already. Walleye and Lake Trout get most of my attention during the winter but we get other great species like pike, whitefish, bass, specks and other trout as well. One of the coolest fish I’ve seen hit the ice so far this winter is this Rainbow Trout that my buddy Greg caught.  The MNR stocked these fish a few years ago and needless to say, they’ve grown to an impressive size! We’ve been getting good numbers and sizes of walleye from Lac Seul and Minnitaki Lake. The morning and evening primetimes have had noticeably better action than mid-day. We’re getting fish in classic wintertime spots like prominent points, humps and bottleneck areas in and around the main lake basins. Depths of 25-to-30 feet have been best. Hot baits are Lindy Darters, jigs/minnows, Jigging Rapalas and Rattlin’ Flyer Spoons.   Lake trout are one of my favourite fish and there’s no better time than during ice fishing season to catch big lakers. I have the same philosophy with lakers as I do with muskie – I’d rather catch fewer big fish than a bunch of small ones. Luckily a couple of my buddies feel the same way, so we set off on a hunt for big lakers last week. We landed multiple fish over 30-inches, including 4 over 35-inches. I'll let a few of the pictures do the rest of the talking!   This is my good buddy Mike with one of the biggest lakers I’ve ever seen hit the ice. A beautiful 38-incher. Here’s Mike releasing another big lake trout. Congrats buddy!   Another nice lake trout for Greg. Turns out Mike was on a big fish hunt… check out this FAT 41-inch pike!!  Rounding off the great multi species action from the past couple weeks are small mouth bass, splake and whitefish.    Big hump-back whitie that slurped down a Lindy Slick Jig. In other news, be sure to check out the new Ontario OUT OF DOORS. I’ve got an article in there about a fly-in trip I went on back in September to Richter Lake, north of Nakina, Ontario.  Check out this video I made from the trip too. Keep up-to-date with all my ice fishing reports by visiting the Lindy National Audio Fishing Reports page. Click on the National Audio Fishing Reports logo on the top of the Lindy page, then click on Ontario on the map, and then click my name/picture. An up-to-date audio report that I recorded will play, giving you the details on what's happening on the ice. Be sure to check back soon for more ice fishing action here in NW Ontario. Cheers and good fishing! Ben Winter always comes quick here in NW Ontario. It seems like yesterday I was cranking in muskies on Lac Seul, and now it's -20C and the lakes are frozen over. It's a welcomed change though. One thing I really love about NW Ontario is having 4 distinct seasons - each bringing with it exciting opportunities out of doors. My frist ice fishing trip was November 26th, chasing brook trout. We fished on 4" of solid ice and 2 of us managed limits of 13-to-18 inch brookies. Such pretty fish... and delicious too! 
There's a lot I'm looking forward to this winter on the ice. My number one favourite species to target is lake trout. There's nothing like watching a thick red band on your flasher as it closes in on your bait... the anticipation and the unmistakable thump of a solid hit followed by some serious reel-peel!! January 1st can't come soon enough. In the meantime, there's brook trout, splake, walleye and pike to keep us busy. The auger is gassed up and the snowmobile is ready to go. Check out this video I made highlighting some of the amazing ice fishing we have here. All of the footage and photos were from last season and all within 30-minutes of Sioux Lookout. If that doesn't get you pumped up to hit the ice, I don't know what will!! Also be sure to check out the Novmeber/December issue of Ontario OUT OF DOORS magazine. It's loaded with great content, including a feature article I wrote called 'Size Small' - A downsized approach for icing winter walleye. To view the article, download the .pdf here. 
Keep up-to-date with all my ice fishing reports by visiting the Lindy National Audio Fishing Reports page. Click on the National Audio Fishing Reports logo on the top of the Lindy page, then click on Ontario on the map, and then click my name/picture. An up-to-date audio report that I recorded will play, giving you the details on what's happening on the ice. Be sure to check back soon for more early ice action here in NW Ontario. Cheers and good fishing! Ben |
AuthorBen Beattie is a fishing guide and outdoor writer living in Sioux Lookout, in northwestern Ontario. Archives
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