Fall Fishing on Red Lake, Ontario

It's ironic to think that fall fishing is beginning here at Bow Narrows Camp on Red Lake, Ontario right after we've experienced two of the warmest weeks all summer, but the calendar shows August is nearly gone.
Fishermen (and women; there were several couples here this week) will attest the walleye action last week was out of this world. People caught walleyes whether they were trolling crankbaits or back-trolling Little Joes with bait. Walleyes were everywhere from six to 26-feet of water and came in all sizes, from pint-sized to 28-inch lunkers.
Most people used nightcrawlers and Little Joe spinners and fished them behind bottom-bouncer sinkers . They had the very best success in 15-22 feet of water around the edges of the big water bodies. That's the recipe for the rest of the season now, although we are still also catching walleyes in shallow bays as well.
Northern pike are becoming more numerous but we're not seeing as many big jobs as in the past; however, that situation could be changing. We've noticed small white suckers in the stomachs of several of the pike we cleaned this week. Last season, when the pike turned to eating suckers, the fishing was great.
We've no idea where the pike disappeared to for awhile mid-summer but the ones we did catch had crayfish in their stomachs. They`ve been biting better and better every week for a month now.
The trees have started to change colors. It's a process that will take several weeks before all of them are yellow and red. This is about normal for this time of year.
The weather is still very warm, in the mid-70s to 80 F or 24-28 C.
Our very tame wild woodchuck, Gully, has hibernated! She`s the one seen with our chocolate Lab, Sam, and 0ur former cook`s border collie, Cole, on the Photo Gallery page of our website.
Woodchucks at camp hibernate when they get fat enough, not when the weather gets cold. Gully is a master at getting our staff and guests to give her pieces of bread to eat. By mid-August Gully has the shape of a bleach bottle and she settles into her den for a long winter`s nap.
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Gorgeous weather; pike biting again

The weather the last couple of weeks has been spectacular: highs in the mid 70s F (25 C) and dry.
Northern pike are largely back in their old haunts such as weedbeds as well as around rocky shoals. Slightly larger lures than usual seem to be working as well as the smaller lures. Try spoons about 3/4 ounce such as Little Cleo, Dardevle, Doctor, Red Eye, in gold colors and with orange or red stripes.
Be careful not to get too big with the stick baits. Six-to-seven-inch stick baits like Rapala, Rebel, etc. are great, especially for trolling. Huge baits either catch nothing or nothing but little fish.
The Blue Fox #5 spinner in red and orange is a standout. Mepps #5 is also good as well as spinner baits and buzz baits.
Walleyes are mostly in the 20-25-foot range and are still being taken on bottom bouncers and Little Joe spinners with either worms or leeches. Many people are still using the 3-inch Gulp Alive leeches. Minnows are not yet necessary.
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