Thousand Islands Vacation - June 5th

[npetersen]

Well, we are almost half way thru our vacation and time is flying by. Wind and rain have been limiting our time on the water but we have been out for at least a couple of hours each day and have not been skunked yet even with the east wind the last couple of days. In the last few days we have caught quite a few fish but managed only 2 keeper perch at 12" and one nice pike which hubby caught today which was 32". I let him decide if we were to keep it or release it and he said let it go which was a good choice as that size is getting a little old for eating. Maybe some more carp fishing later tonight.

[admin]

Beauty of a Pike.. Clean, healthy and nice colours..
Congrats on the catch.. What did you get it on, lure or live bait?

I need to get my boat out there this summer..

[npetersen]

It was caught on a very beat up bucktail jig with a small (2") minnow. We have had success using twister tail grubs as well. Once we have used a few minnows, we switch over to plastics to stretch out the minnows a bit more. We only brought 5 dozen and have to travel at least 1/2 hour to get more so we are trying to make due with what we have. I'm trying to catch some in a minnow trap but am not having any success. I have tried bread and dog food. Does any one have success using anything else?

[admin]

Your bait is good, actually throw in some fish guts for smell. Minnows are like carp they hunt by smell and sight. The most important thing when it comes to trapping minnows is location. Like fishing you need to put your trap where the fish are. Did you see minnows in the area of the trap. Minnow hotspots are the mouth of small feeder creeks or the first deep bend up from the mouth. There are many others of course, like sand flats and marshy areas.

[npetersen]

I have the trap tied to the dock. It is kind of mucky there from us coming in and out with the boat. It is fairly shallow. Maybe I will move it to the mouth of the creek that goes to the carp pond. Once the thunderstorms move on, I will grab some of the fish guts I just cut up and put them in the channel. Thanks again for the help. Hope it works since we ended up having to go to the minnow place today. $8/dozen. That combined with the price of gas will put me in the poor house. Hopefully we can catch some for free.

[admin]

I guess I should mention, careful over chumming with fish parts. If there are snapping turtles around they can and will rip your minnow trap open to get at the bait. I had a 20lb turtle shred my cage once, I know it was a turtle since it was still sitting on the squashed cage when I went to retrieve it.

[npetersen]

I guess we will see in the morning. I didn't put tons in but there are a lot of turtles around. Not sure if they are snapping ones though.

[admin]

So, did you catch any minnows in that location? Don't tell me the turtles got them.

[npetersen]

No, no minnows and no turtles. just dog food and fish guts. I think the water is too murky because of the catfish and carp stirring up the bottom. Oh well. We will just have to bring more minnows next time as $8/dozen is a little steep for me when I can get them for $6 and usually get extras at the store we go to. I will try to set the trap up on Sturgeon lake when we bring the boat there on Sunday and see what happens but at least I know what to use.