Well, had the annual trip up north to west side Quebec. Having missed it the last two years, I was very much looking forward to this trip. We are usually there second last, or last week of June, when all the fish are sitting at 7ft… this year we were up the first week of July. Weather is generally 30 every day with humidity and thunderstorms, this year we had highs of 21-23, wind, only one rain day, and “cold” nights down to 8c. Had to have the jackets handy for the cold boat rides.
Launched Saturday July 2 and the camp was about 30min boat ride from the launch, up a very large lake. Only a handful of cottages up here, most signs of civilization are local outfitters and other camps. A little rough on the way in, we had steady SW wind for two days leading up to this. Made it camp, set up the rods, unpacked the kitchen and gear, then hit the water.
The schedule: wake up 5:30-6am, coffee, maybe a snack, then on the water by 7am and fish til 11-12. Return to camp for brunch. Go back out around 1-2pm until 5pm… return for dinner, back on the water from 7-10pm. Return to camp, clean fish, have a snack, bedtime around 11-11:30pm. Wake up at 5:30-6am and repeat.
Main species target was Walleye. There were four of us, by the end of the week, by culling our catch and sharing the smaller ones with others at camp who weren’t as lucky as us, we maxed out our limit of 24 walleye at the top of the slot around 20”. Anything bigger than 20-3/4 must be released. We all released our share of over the slot fish. Most notable was my Godfathers 29” 10lbs walleye….he can share his photo if he sees this. Beginning of week we were getting walleye in 10fow, by the end of the week we were fishing 18-25fow on mid lake shoals. Leaches were the ticket… by slip float or jig. When they were shying away from the leaches and live bait, I tossed down a vibrato and pulled out one after the other one night.
Bass: there are many bass in this lake, population exploded in this lake over the last 20 years. 20 years ago it was almost all walleye, now we get 2-3 extra large smallies every shift. The bass are unreal in this lake, average size is 3lbs. They also taste great and we keep them for the freezer.
Pike: generally go into some back lakes near the camp for pike, called the Pike Lakes. This year we opted out… I managed to lose a nice pike off the dock one morning, and got a hammer handle the next day. Didn’t try too hard for them this year.
Lake Trout: got out for lakers twice, mid afternoon after lunch, only for about an hour each time. Each time we got 3 lakers, totalling 6. Slot in this lake requires lakers be over 65cm to keep. We got 4 that were 64cm… some were clearly bigger than others, but the fish in this lake are stout… breaching the 65cm was difficult… I managed one at 65.25cm… just. Some fish were bigger, but shorter. What an amazing fishery, lakers slamming the vibratos and swammers. Fished over 75-100fow suspended in the top half of the column. Putt around until you find the stacks of herring, spot lock and jig… and hold on. Next year I want to max out on walleye early in the week then concentrate on these lakers. Surprisingly lean fish, very little belly fat.
Whitefish: couldn’t find any… apparently they were plentiful while trolling shallow over deep water about two weeks ago… couldn’t find them this week.
Catfish: yeah catfish… brown bullheads I think, some were yellow, got them while fishing walleye in the evening. In 20 years fishing there we’ve never seen one, this year we got 5 and they were all pretty beefy.
Fallfish: I love catching these, got a couple this year, previous years we would get a lot more, they range from 10-15”. Haven’t eaten one yet… they don’t smell appetizing, but would probably smoke well.
I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.
Keep on fishing on….
The Quebec Trip, Week of July 1-8 2022
