Ben Beattie - Lac Seul Fishing Guide
  • Home
  • Biography
  • Guiding
    • Our Waters
  • Writing
  • Media Gallery
  • Sponsors
  • Contact

Making It Work

1/8/2013

 
The first ice adventure of 2013 is in the books.  My good buddy Graham came up to visit and do some ice fishing.  Graham is no stranger to the area, having lived in Sioux Lookout for a winter in 2009.  We checked out some of our old favourite spots and did some new stuff too.  

We put our time into chasing lake trout, walleye and whitefish.  We fished 4 different lakes and caught fish everywhere we went.  Overall the bite was a bit tough and we had to work for every fish we caught.   Some areas that were excellent this time last  year just weren't holding fish.  

The first thing we did was camp out for an afternoon on a Lac Seul walleye spot that's known for kicking out big fish.  We didn't catch many walleye, but Graham did ice this big fat Lac Seul 'eye.    
Picture
Over the course of the trip it seemed that walleye wanted smaller and simpler presentations.  It was hard to beat a 1/8 oz jig and minnow, but I did manage to catch a handful on a Lindy Rattlin' Flyer Spoon.  
Picture
On a day we decided to target lake trout and whitefish, that same Rattlin' Flyer Spoon was on fire for the whities!  We put a hurting on some big-big whitefish.  They'd hit it sitting still, they'd chase it and hit it while moving - I even had one intercept it on the free-fall.  
Picture
Take a look at these monster 'humpback' whitefish!  
Picture
After having fun with the whitefish we switched gears and targeted lake trout.  When it comes to winter lakers, I love fishing soft plastics.  It wasn't 5-minutes after putting on a white tube jig that this big laker inhaled it only 15-feet under the ice.  

I marked this fish on my Humminbird ICE55 flasher - without that tool I never would have known this big laker was flying high in the water column.  
Picture
What a great fish to break in my new 36" St. Croix Premier ice rod with.    

Another day we made the trek into a backcountry lake trout lake that's about an hour south of Sioux Lookout.  We broke trail into the lake no problem, but getting out was another story.  Big hills, unpacked trails, sugary light snow and heavy sleighs meant everyone was getting stuck.  After 2 hours of sweating, swearing and back-breaking pushing/pulling/lifting we were back at the trucks. 

It's a good thing the fishing was on and everyone took home a nice limit of 3-to 4-pound lakers for the table.   
Picture
Picture
It's a long winter here in northwestern Ontario so look for more ice fishing reports to come soon.  

Mid-Winter Update

2/19/2012

 
It's hard to believe, but we're already at the mid-way point of the 2012 ice fishing season.  Normally mid-winter is the toughest bite of the ice season but we're still going strong with a lot of great days on the ice and big fish being caught.  We've been having a relatively mild winter so maybe that has something to do with it.  I wouldn't mind another deep-freeze though... we need to build more ice so we can fish into early April.    

I'm going to start off this report on a bit of a sidetrack with some news and housekeeping from benbeattieoutdoors.com.  First, you'll notice a new page on bbo.com - Videos.  I really enjoy putting together videos of my adventures, so look for the Videos page to grow with content.  In fact, I just made a new video of an exciting musky catch from 2 seasons ago while fishing with some good friends.  Here it is!   
Some other exciting news to share - I'm presenting a seminar on musky fishing at the Central Canada Outdoor Show in Thunder Bay.  The show is at the Sports Dome and my talk is on Saturday Feb. 25th at 12pm.  If you are in the area come on out to the show and lets talk muskies!

Alright, back to ice fishing.  It's hard to beat the multi-species action we have at our doorstep here in northwestern Ontario.  Who could argue with catching walleye, lake trout, whitefish and pike from the same hole?  

Lake trout are my favourite fish to chase in the winter.  They get big and fight hard, giving the best chance for some serious reel-peel on the ice.  I have the same philosophy with lake trout that I have with muskie - target big fish!  It often means catching less fish, but when you do get one it's well worth the effort.  I'll start off with a few pictures of some really beautiful lakers.  
Picture
Picture

Here's my buddy Mike with a beauty that hammered a jigging spoon and gave him an awesome fight.
Picture
Picture

This next fish crushed a Lindy Darter, 5-minutes after I dropped it down the hole.  
Picture
Another philosophy from muskie fishing that I share with lake trout is the importance of catch-and-release.  I let all my big lake trout go.  There's nothing wrong with keeping a trout for the table, but I much prefer smaller fish for eating.  Three-to-four pounders make great table fare.  
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

Walleye fishing has also been excellent this winter with lots of action and some big fish in the mix as well.  Here's a couple nice walleye from recent trips.  Both fish hit a Lindy Rattlin' Flyer Spoon tipped with a minnow.  That spoon has been my hottest bait this winter, catching every species under the ice.    
Picture
Picture

While I don't often target pike during the winter until last ice, it's common to catch them while fishing for other species.  Here's a trophy I landed while jigging for walleye.  
Picture
One of the most underrated species we have here in northwestern Ontario is the whitefish.  They are super fun to catch and when you land on a school of them the action can be non-stop.  We do get incidental catches while chasing walleye and lake trout, but we also target whitefish too.  Here's a few big hump-back monsters from recent trips.  Notice the difference in colours between the first two that were caught on different lakes.  
Picture
Picture
Believe it or not, but these big whitefish are smelt eating machines!  
Picture


I also had the opportunity to fish at Brown's Clearwater West Lodge near Attikokan, Ontario with Ontario OUT OF DOORS travel editor, James Smedley.   We had a great trip, exploring new water on Clearwater Lake, White Otter Lake and Grey Trout Lake.  These waters are known for producing BIG lake trout, including the current ice fishing world record.  James and I landed some really nice trout - no giants - but that's reason enough to go back again.  

Here's a shot that James snapped of me with a nice Clearwater Lake trout.
Picture
James is an award winning photographer and outdoor writer from Wawa, Ontario.  For more information check out his website www.jamessmedleyoutdoors.com 

Here's James with a nice trout that he caught on the first day of our trip.
Picture
Another cool thing we got to check out on this trip was White Otter Castle.  Hand crafted by Jimmy McQuat on White Otter Lake in the early 1900's, the Castle tells a story of one man's triumph and tragedy in the rugged Ontario wilderness.  Read more about it here.  

This is a picture of the Castle today, after restoration.  
Picture


Coming up, there's still a lot more winter to enjoy here in northwestern Ontario.  Believe it or not, the best ice fishing is yet to come!  March offers the best action of the year and usually the nicest conditions too.  Get in touch with me to book an ice fishing trip you'll never forget.  

Until next time, good fishing.

Ben

Fire on Ice!

4/6/2011

 
Fishing has been hot the last few days in Sioux Lookout!  Great multi-species action and some big fish in the mix.  Things are softening up with the sun and warm temps but the conditions are still excellent out on the lakes. 

Went chasing trout and whitefish the other day and did pretty well.  We found our fish in 40-60 FOW.  I was expecting some action shallower ~ 20' but never found any.  I also got some really neat underwater footage of my buddy Colin's lakers under the ice and coming up the hole.  Keep an eye out for that video, and more, later on!   
Picture
Picture
One of Colin's fat, smelt eating, trout.  Small head, big body! 

Also got into some crazy walleye action on Minnitaki!  Big rewards for getting out of bed at 5am - we had hydrolic fishing for the first 2 hours of daylight!  Once again the Lindy Darter dominated everything else, not even live bait could keep up.   We fished from 24-32 feet of water on a nice gradual sand flat.  It's a big funnel from the main lake basin towards a spawning river.  Classic stuff and it didn't disappoint! 

The great thing about Minnitaki is that you always have a chance at trout when you're walleye fishing in the winter.  And wouldn't you know it... Colin and I drilled double header lakers - both on Darters!  Both released after a photo. 
Picture


 

Picture
Picture
A nice limit for the table 

Picture
Surprise chunk smallie - they like Darters too! 

Check back again soon, lots of ice fishing still to be had here in NW Ontario!! 

    Author

    Ben Beattie is a fishing guide and outdoor writer living in Sioux Lookout, in northwestern Ontario.

    Archives

    December 2024
    April 2024
    November 2023
    May 2023
    December 2022
    October 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    July 2021
    March 2021
    December 2020
    September 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    February 2020
    November 2019
    September 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    November 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    January 2017
    October 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011

    Categories

    All
    Bass
    Catfish
    Darter
    Deer
    Fall
    Frabill
    Grouse
    Humminbird
    Ice Fishing
    Ice Out
    Ice-out
    Lac Seul
    Lake Trout
    Lindy
    Minnitaki
    Moose
    Muskie
    Ontario Out Of Doors
    PDEEZ
    Phantom Lures
    Pike
    Splake
    Spring
    St. Croix
    St. Croix
    Steelhead
    Summer
    Thorne Bros
    Trout
    Turkey Hunting
    Video
    Walleye
    Whitefish
    White Otter Castle

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Biography
  • Guiding
    • Our Waters
  • Writing
  • Media Gallery
  • Sponsors
  • Contact