CANADA FISHING TRIP – PART 2

On our first day of fishing, I learned the techniques of catching walleyes. I had not fished for them before, so I had a lot to learn.

We used light tackle – 6 lb test line on spinning reels. Ken is demonstrating the terminal tackle used – a lead weight held off the bottom while trolling by a 6” stiff wire, with a similar standoff wire  on one side to which the 3 ft leader to the hook is attached.

At the end of the leader is a floating jig with a no. 1 hook to which a live leech is attached. A leech is better bait than a minnow as it lives in a small bucket for several days and on the hook it lives much longer and can withstand the damage in catching three or four walleyes. It does take a bit of practice to double hook it, though.  The rig was trolled at about 1 mph.

On the first day of fishing, I caught 4 walleyes. Above is  my largest.

Ken and Tim were great teachers, but  mine were the only ones caught  in our boat that day.

I also caught this one.

Ken carefully measures each fish. Our limit per person was 3 walleyes under 18 “ and one over. We found it difficult to fill out on the smaller ones. We caught a lot of large ones only to have to return them to the lake. Can you imagine throwing back a 26” walleye?

The total for our group was 97 fish caught, of which 74 were walleyes. Our group filled out with a total of 18 under 18”, 6 over 18 “ (in the range of 25 – 28”) 12 lake trout, and a few northern pike. Compared to walleyes, northerns are less desirable as they are much thinner and have a bone structure which yields less meat if filleted.

 

One afternoon we walked over to the falls/rapids on the Agimac River. Tim said that he would like to take a kayak down them. Not me!

 

Tim caught a 18.5” smallmouth bass. It was returned to the lake. 

Tim is wearing a wet suit as trolling at 1 mph on a windy day may be quite cold. Tim sat in front and ran the electric rolling motor.

Ken  holds a day’s catch from our boat to take them to the fish cleaning shack. It is nicely equipped with cutting boards and running water. Ken filleted all of he fish caught by our group and I helped for a few filleting sessions.

Ken uses an electric knife to do the filleting. Walleyes are much like  trout for filleting

Regulations require that some skin be left on fish so its species can be identified. Ken stops the cut next to the skin near the end, leaving a little skin still attached, and then cuts off the skin so as to leave a few inches of skin loose but attached to the fillet for identification. Our catch was not inspected by game wardens, but inspections happen frequently.

The electric knife is used even to trim out the ribs.

 

This gentleman is filleting a northern.  A piece of meat is taken off the top of he back and thin slices are taken off each side, leaving the wide bones attached to the spine.