I just got back from 3 days of fishing in Canada on the very North reaches of Lake of the Woods. I’m not an expert on Lake Trout by any means, but thankfully I have a friend Jeff "Gussy" Gustafson, who lives in Ontario and is definetly an expert. We were fishing an area near Sioux Narrows, known to produce giant Lake Trout and it did not dissapoint.
Pictured here is my biggest of the trip. Do to the delicate nature of the fish, the cold temperatures we did not weigh or measure any of the fish. A quick picture and back down to the depths they went. As Gussy put it, some of these fish are older than us.
It is hard to explain how hard a lake trout fights through the ice. We were fishing in 90ft of water and targeted the area between 20-60 ft down. The speed at which these fish chase your bait is unbelievable. They would generally show up about 60ft down and in 2 seconds they were inhaling your Slender Spoon at 20ft. The anticipation of that giant mark on your MarCum screaming after your spoon is one I will never forget.
After the hook up, the battle is on. I have never fought a fish though the ice before that makes your wrist, arm, shoulder and back all ache at the same time. Add in the 70-100ft drag screaming runs these fish can make and you have a battle on your hands. As James put it, "the fight lasts 1 minute per pound of fish" Meaning, the 20 pounders we were catching would fight for 20 minutes, just incredible. Here is James with his first of many fish on the trip. James was using the 5/16 oz Slender Spoon from Custom Jigs and Spins in Silver/Blue and had the first 4 Lakers on the ice before everyone else made the switch. That spoon ended up being the go to bait for us all week.
In addition to the unbelievable Trout fishing we had, we decided to try to chase down a crappie bite. Gussy, our host for the trip knows the area well and gave us a guided tour of many different lakes and bays and fortuately for us, the first one we actually fished yeilded GIANT slab crappies. As much as I enjoyed the lake trout fishing, I really like catching 14-16 inch crappies!!
Each day of the trip we spent the last couple hours of the day targeting walleye. I mean, who doesn’t enjoy catching 20-30 walleye in a night. The walleye bite was terrific for the most part. Although we spent most of our time chasing lakers and crappies we still like to fish for walleyes and reserved to last two hours for a little more fun. Walleye in the 16-20 inch range were abundant, and occasionally you could coax one of these nice ones into biting.
In all it was one of the best trips I have ever been on. Gussy has been after me for years to come to Ontario and fish with him and I am glad I finally to the opportunity to do so. I am sure James would agree, it is one of the most beautiful places I have seen and the fact that we did not see another fisherman the entire trip makes it a very special place. Thanks again Gussy!
A few more pictures from day one.
Crappie Fishing on Day 2
My favorite
I have lots more pictures to post, but I still need to unpack yet
All I can say is wow
Scott that was a great report 
It deffinately looks like you guys had a blast 
I was wondering if we can look forward to any of this HOT action on an upcoming IDO T.V. Episode 
Thanks
We are working on that, it would be a great bite to film no doubt
I did a little personal filming of the lake trout fishing but the fight lasts so long you get tired of holding the camera 
Last week was a complete blur for me. Monday – wednesday I’m down in St. Louis, MO on a biz trip. Wednesday night I’m in the truck driving all night to get to canada to get in on a couple days of laker fishing with Scott and Gussy. About half way there I’m thinking to myself… “this drive is CRAZY, what am I thinking?!”
After the first laker it was all worth it! I just wish we would have had more time to stay and catch a few more and maybe even get into one of those 25 – 30 lb. fish that show up from time to time.
Next winter I’m setting aside a week to chase lakers 24 / 7.
Both Scott and I said a countless number of times… “I sure wish we would have had the camera guys along.”
But that just means we need to go back and do it again to get the footage.
I have never had so much fun ice fishing in my life. Conservatively figure 1 minute of fight time per pound of fish on 8 – 12 pound mono and a HEAVY power ice rod.
The first time you get a big laker up to the hole you can count on a 75 – 150 foot drag burning run that makes walleye, pike and anything else I’ve ever caught through the ice look whimpy.
On the first day I stuck 3 between 15 and 20 pounds in a little over an hour and my wrist and hands were completely shot for the rest of the day and by the end of the fight with the last fish my body was shaking from my shoulders to my finger tips.
I would recommend this trip to anyone that likes to ice fish and is looking for a challenge. You don’t get big numbers of fish but when each fish takes 20+ minutes to land you just can’t handle many fish in a day anyway.
I think the way we fished for these lakers added a lot of fun to the experience.
Unlike most ice presentations which tend to be very passive, it took a very aggressive approach to get these lakers to commit to the chase. If you tried to dance a spoon in front of a laker to intice a fish to bite like you would with a walleye, perch or crappie you would get denied over and over and the lakers would swim off in a short amount of time.
The Slender Spoons from Custom Jigs and Spins outfished everything else our group threw at these lakers and I think that particular bait worked so well due to the shape and thin profile that gave off a lot of flash and fluttered erratically on the fall giving the appearance of a wounded baitfish.
1/4 Ounce Blue & Silver Slender Spoons
Here’s how we fished these Slender Spoons. We were fishing in 90+ feet of water and the trick was to drop the spoons down to 60′ and work them back up to 20′ with aggressive jig strokes.
After an aggressive jig stroke or two you would give the reel handle a complete turn or two to raise the spoon up in the water column.
That presentation went some thing like this… Jig hard. Allow the spoon to flutter down on a semi-tight line. Reel up. Repeat.
Once you got to the top then you would let the spoon free fall all the way back down to 60′. Nearly all of our fish would come flying in from nowhere to intercept that dropping spoon.
Here’s where the MarCum’s came into play… as that spoon fell the lakers would suddenly come into the tranducer cone like a bolt of lightning so you had to be on your toes. If you let the spoon continue to drop to the level of the laker or below it… that laker was GONE.
What you needed to do was stop the free-fall about 2 – 3 feet above the position of the laker and start to jig the spoon back up the water column to get the laker to commit. Once the laker wanted your spoon… there was no humanly possible way you could fish the spoon too aggressively or reel the spoon up to the surface too fast to keep it away from that trout!
Once you hooked up these lakes gave you two head shakes followed by a drag screaming run that is unparalled by any other fish species I’ve tangled with through the ice.
I will definitely be going back next year.
Now the crappies were a heck of a lot fussier and we were forced to really slow down our offerings and give the fish time to eye them up. And color made a HUGE difference in catch rates.
For use the 1/8 ounce Demon Spoon in Pink Glow Bright pattern took all but a few of our fish.
Demon Spoons
We found a loose school of crappies milling around in a basin area in 34 – 36 foot of water. A 1/8 ounce Pink Glow Bright spoon tipped with a minnow head or plastic would get you bit if you jigged it very slowly and then held the bait as motionless as possible once one of these SLAB crappies would come up from the bottom for a closer look.
We were definitely spoiled on this day by the quality of the fish we were catching. A “small” crappie was 11″ – 12″ and most of the fish caught were 13″+. I believe Scott took top honors for the day with a true goliath that was just short of 16″.
I ask you… how often has that color combination of white and pink the go-to color for big crappies? For me at least… it has been my confidence color for years regardless of if I’m using a ratso, jig or demon spoon.
great report, very fun to read. hope someday i’ll make it up there. just want to say, new to the site and love it. you guys give great tips and its a very friendly place. also, james, love watching the show. Keep the reports and episodes coming guys!!
Awesome report!!!! For all the hard work you two do to help all of us enjoy a little more success fishing…you more than derserve a trip like this one. Scott…thanks again for the Marcum Camera…I have learned more this ice season with that great tool than I ever would have learned without it. Good Fishing
Also on the trip this week were, Paul, Ray and Duane the three owners of MarCum Technologies. They stuck with Lake Trout angling the entire trip while we ran around on sleds chasing other bites. We did try to meet up in the evening for some walleye action. Here are a few of their pictures as you can see they cracked a couple trout over the 20 pound mark for sure
It was a lot of fun spending the evenings comaparing notes on the day and having a few beverages
They had a couple really good days of fishing and had a couple that hit within 10 ft of the ice. You could actually look down the hole and see them hit.
What a great report !!!
Those are some big fish guys!!! Great pics Scott. Can’t wait to see more
If anyone wants to know “who are the MarCum engineers” that would be pics 2 (Duane), 5 and 6 (Ray). Paul Thorne, in pic #1, is MarCum CEO. These guys are a hoot to fish with and their passion for the sport will ensure that flasher technology continues to advance for the benefit of all ice anglers.
Wow what a trip! This has been tempting me for quite some time. Does “Gussy” run a guide busness? If so can you shoot me a email or website for him?
I will talk to Gussy and see if he has interest in guiding more. He works in the fishing business and keeps pretty busy but does do some guiding I know. Right now he is down in Texas Bass Fishing so it will be a while before he is home again. I will get back to you on that though.
Simply awesome guys!
I’ve been fortunate to battle lakers in the open water and have experienced those long drag screaming runs that James talks about. I can only imagine that it’s ten times more of an adrenalin rush while fishing through the ice!!!
What an awesome trip and this is something that I would love to experience!
Its a ton of fun fishing with Gussy. He really put alot of detail into his work and is a great ambassador to our area.
Awesome, awesome report. I think next years ice fishing trip might just be to Canada. Does anyone know how late the season runs on lakers on LOTW?
Sounds like an awesome trip…I can also attest to catching lakers through the ice and what a battle they can be on Lake Superior.Not near the size though that you guys got into…I can only imagine!
Scott and James,
Very nice report and detail on your presentations.
Sure are some GREAT looking fish. I’d sure like to see a 16″ Crappies some day….
Jack.
Great Report guys! Those Lakers are a blast through the ice. It’s beautiful country up there. Where did you guys stay while you were up there? Was it at a resort? Thanks again guys!
We rented a private cabin owned by a friend that was a short snowmobile ride from the lake. And the scenery is incredible!
Oh my God
Those lakers had to be something else thought the ice. Congrast on a great trip guys
Great report Scott!
I took that trip a couple years ago from a buddies place in Whitefish Bay; great times I’ll never forget.
That looks like it was an awesome trip guys
The second picture with you holding the northern looks like an auger with a big
extension on it. How thick was the ice?
We actually didn’t need an extension on this trip. We had them along just in case but you could get through the ice without.
Wow, awesome report and the fish are even more impressive!
Those lakers are awesome and so are those monster crappies.
Simply awesome guys!
Boog
As James said, not a lot of ice. They have more snow up there and a nice insulation layer. Probably just over 2ft of ice is what we figured.
That’s funny, cuz we almost need one on the local lakes.
Great report boys, I’m envious as ususal.
Wow
Now that looks like a great trip
Hey Scott!
I’m just curious if the bite on the far north end of LOW is strictly a day bite as well? In other words: Is it just as stained up there as in the south end? Fabulous report men!
dd
The water clarity on the north end of LOTW is clear as gin. Ironically the trout bit best from 11 AM – 3 PM most days. I would assume that has to do with how deep the forage stays in the water column and limited light penetration due to the snow and ice cover.
On Thursday when Scott and I were off chasing crappies the MarCum guys did get into a batch of trout right below the ice (less 10 foot down) over 90 feet of water late in the afternoon right as a storm front moved through. They said you could see the trout smack the bait right below the hole. THAT… would have been unbelievably cool to see!
That would have been Awesome to get on tape
That is the same thing that came to mind. We did drill another hole about 8 ft of way to check out the clarity. We had the MarCum 825C camera down about 5 ft under the ice so you could see if the fish was going to come into the hole or make another run. What I should have done was have it set up to down view and tried to see them hit. Anyhow, lots of good idea for the next trip
Those trout look like a beast under the ice. Even when they are done fighting it is still a lot to weight to lift with a 42″ rod.
I was going through my camera today, here are a picture of a few of the eaters we kept. We ate fish 2 out of the 3 nights we were up there…like I said, Does it get any better, eh?
Here is a picture of the sun behind some clouds. The slabs would not bite unless the sun was out of the clouds, the scenery is pretty incredible.
I have to give James credit he is tougher than he looks
He didn’t complain at all about the frostbite he got around his eyes. Lets just say it was a little colder than we anticipated one morning. If you have never seen frostbite, look at the white skin around James eyes, that is not what you want to see 
This is a shot along the Rainy River from the Fort Frances side. Lots of open water
Hard to believe you have _hit eating grins on your faces.
simply wow….
I spend lots of time at Sioux Narrows every year but have only tried hard water once. Just curious if you guys headed down towards Nestor for the slabs? How bout them eyes did you get them around whitefish or head North?? Nice job-Dennis
Awesome pictures. Nice job guys. Looks like a great trip
I personally don’t know the area but we had a little help from Lakemaster in finding exact spots. We were just North of Whitefish Bay and the slabs were another 15 mile snowmobile ride from there to the North and East I believe.
WOW!! Simply put… WOW!!!
I have yet to ice a laker – I only want one or two like that and I will be content!
Those are some dandy ‘troot’ as the canucks would say! Those are the exact reason I fish with a 10″ auger – to make turning their heads a little easier……
Tim
That was my exact thinking until I caught the first one, then I wanted to catch them all
The anticipation when one shows up on your MarCum is hard to explain. Kind of like a trophy buck closing the distance really fast.
Yes, I brought the 10″ along on this trip Timmy. First time I used it outside a house in years. The safe part is you don’t need to drill many holes.
Welcome to the dark side…
The nice thing up there – is you aren’t fishing crowded spots…..so the “landmine factor” is greatly reduced.
Once again – nice report.
Tim
In two days we never saw another angler on the ice or snowmobile anywhere that wasn’t a part of our group. I know I felt like the lake was all ours for 48 hours!
Go next year on opening weekend……..you’ll get over that feeleing in a hurry. While it is not bad by metro standards – there still are groups on every point – and etiquette dictates you don’t fish the same spot as somebody not in your group. OPener is crowded in that regards. Nice area, beautiful scenery, and nice fish. Just don’t get caught on the ice with beer – bad juju up there.
Tim
Super report Scott. That is a very impressive group of fish. I am very ancious to make the treck up there next winter, now I just have to sell the idea to my wife and of course my fishing partner.
Thanks for the report Richard
Super report Scott. That is a very impressive group of fish. I am very ancious to make the treck up there next winter, now I just have to sell the idea to my wife and of course my fishing partner.
Thanks for the report Richard
WoW That was a Great Report and thoes pics…….. Im Speech Less………..
Those are some great pictures!
Beautiful fish Guys!
It is amazing the weather you can withstand with trophy fish biting huh! Great fishing report! Boy those lakers are pretty fish! Nice slabs! I’m sure it was hard to head back home in the middle of such a hot bite! KUDOS BOYS!
Rainydaze