Whitefish? Maybe....

fish4fun

fish4fun

Well-Known Member
I have a question for the whitefish experts. I have been going up to Harris Lake which is connected to the Magnetawan river system, north of Perry Sound, for a number of years, and I am stumped by a section of the lake. It is called big deep bay, and as it suggests, the water goes from approx 25' and drops to a depth of 120-140' deep for about a km radius. The graph shows groups of fish suspending anywhere from 40'-70' . My assumption has always been pickerel, but I have tried trolling with lighter tackle and three way swivels , to get deep, I have brought up my Erie trolling tackle, Dipsey, lead core..... not even a bite ever. Would it make sense that they are whitefish? And if so, does anyone have any tips on catching whitefish in the summer, like maybe vertical jigging suspended fish? I'm heading up to the lake again for 9 days this weekend, and would like to try them again. Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks
 
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By no means an expert. The best advice I can give you is from my experiences fishing them in the NWT when I lived there. Live bait wasn't allowed, but since their mouth is smaller and it's fairly easy to rip the hook out of it, especially in deeper water we always drifted using smaller Walleye Jigs tipped with preserved or those "life-like" fake minnows or small spoons with the premise being to try set the hook through the roof of their mouth and out the snout instead of through the lip. We still lost as many as we landed, but they were always fun and gave a good fight.
 
they could also be lake trout.....either way try jigging with a small silver / blue little cleo....I remove the treble hook and add a small hook on a 3-5" lead....I then tip hook with a minnow tail.. I use this set up ice fishing for everything from perch and crappie too walleye and pike (except I use a 3" wire stinger hook when targeting pike
 
@fish4fun... I had the same problem fishing Ahmic Lake which is also part of the Magnetawan River waterway in the Almaguin Highlands region. Those fish your seeing are more than likely walleye as there is tons at the same depth in Ahmic Lake after the hot weather arrives. The problem is that rainbow smelt were introduced years back into Ahmic and went nuts to the point there is far too much bait. That made it extremely difficult to catch the walleye no matter what method I tried, and believe me I tried the whole load. Even the locals say it's ruined the fishing so that may be the exact situation your now facing on Harris Lake. I would ask some of the locals what their thoughts are if rainbow smelt have taken over the lake.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I will try the vertical jigging, and I just can't give up! Lol. I will keep you posted once I return.
 
I misread the original post.....whitefish and lakers are usually on or near bottom, so most likely walleye.....with the exception of erie, I have never had great luck catching walleye when suspended in middle of water collum.......good luck...let us know how you make out
 
Most likely it's a walleye.
Because lakers are constantly moving around. Yes they visit middle depths often but don't stay suspended.
Whities are predominately moving on a bottom or 2-3 feed above it.

Try vibrato lure from sebbile. All 3 (white, laker & walleye ) react to it. Catch one and you'll know who is there.
You need a good fishifinder. Look into simcoe message board for articles how to provoke the strike.
John White published great article about Stages of aggression of lake trout.

suspending anywhere from 40'-70'. I'm trying to guess why fish stays in this area?
Did you see any clouds of bait fish around fish arks?
What month do you normally go? Is any thermocline near that depth?
Usually if I see fish suspended at that depth it means they aren't biting.
But you've mentioned fish always stay at that depth.
 
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