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Posts: 32
Location: antigo wisconsin | Does anyone have any info on canyon lake ontario canada, trip this summer and want to get 10 year old son 1st musky. any helpful info on baits etc will be appreciated. thanks :) | |
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Posts: 32886
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I've never had the opportunity to fish Canyon, but from what I know Canyon is known as "action water", where multiple fish days are very possible. However, its also very clear water, and on days where the sun is shining brightly, fishing can be very very very tough. BUT, there is alot of great fishable water very nearby (Eagle Lake, the Indian Chain, Wabigoon, etc.) if the fishing is tough on Canyon.
Also, I took a second to do some web searching for you, and here is what we came up with.
First, info off the site:
A numbers lake, like Iowamusky said. Some large fish, but few over 50".
Indian is the best fishing lake in the chain, but good fish can be found throughout.
The chain changes as you go down the length...deeper and much more clear water.
At Augite Falls, the water is so clear that you can watch small muskie stalk your
Rapala in 6-8 ft of water. Indian is the best muskie lake in my opinion.
A good deep water trolling lake, too. I'm going today. Start fishing tomorrow
and stay for the week. I have always felt that while the summer action is
consistently hot, the Fall will bring larger fish...pretty much like everywhere else.
Smaller baits work better here than do larger baits.
Canyon turns out some eye-popping numbers of fish every year. I think it is a lake that can be fished regardless of the wind. It is down in a canyon...imagine that, protected.
Something worth some more research.
I think Herbie takes some people there from Andy Meyers Lodge.
Rodney LaCaze
Check out this resort www.heartland.on.ca/mcintosh. I've fish Canyon Lake a couple of times, it's not trophy water, though they exist, and you WILL have lots of action. McIntosh lodge was a great place to stay, for a housekeeping cabin it's like $240 a week a person. The lake is something like 18 miles long, but it's long a skinny with "fingers" where you can escape wind. I fished it out of a 16' semi-V with a 25 hp and out of the 12 days I fished it was never scared off the water. The water is fairly clear and not a whole lot of navigation hazards. Largest muskie was a 45"er by my wife, with days of 6 fish boated and follows into the 10-20 range fishing the last week of July. Caught fish both casting and trolling with the larger fish trolling. Smallies and walleyes are both there though only fished walleyes a couple of hours for some dinner.
and off the web:
http://www.duenorth.net/blythscanyonlakelodge/fishing.html
http://www.muskyhunter.com/directory/listings/northcountrylodge.htm
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Posts: 572
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I have a grandson who will be 9 next summer and I, too, have been thinking about taking him to Canada when he turns 10. Hopefully, he'll get his first muskie this year.
Anyway, I haven't stayed on Canyon lake. However, I think MacIntosh would be my pick. There is one concern. I believe they use the public launch next to them. If so, last year the water was so low that we decided not to try to launch there. The year before we almost got
stuck in the sand. Basically, keep on hard (sand) ground and ask before launching.
As to muskie fishing, I fished two days two years ago. Saw several small (30 to 35 inch) fish.
My partner had an upper 40's fish follow and another one lower 40's. Caught a couple of muskies each day.
Here's my tips. Fish blue baits.....yes, blue.
When heading west toward the canyon, go left and through the tunnel (under railroad track).
Go to the far end and fish the bay on the left. You may want to throw jackpot or something similar for your son. Fish shallow.
The next area is directly at the far west end of the canyon. You probably won't see to many boats here. Mostly small muskies, but I was told 50 inchers are caught her in late September.
So, you may want to try.
If you are interested in Indian lake chain, I'd recommend staying at Indian Lake Lodge. Kevin and Karen bend over backwards to help their customers. He will mark a map and make suggestions were to fish. Forest lake area is where we liked the most. Again, a top water
jackpot or some type of noise top water might work well. Keep in mind, don't be afraid to cast top water into the really shallow bays. Muskie come out to sun in them. At least, that was what we were told. The lake has some tree tops sticking up. This is where some of the muskies are found. As far as, boating...be extremely careful going between Whitney and Bladder. I would go slow, or you may find out why they named it bladder.
Their web site is www.indianlakelodge.com If you stay there, be sure to tell them I recommend their lodge. They're nice people and vary clean cabins.
Hope that helps some.
Muskie Bob | |
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| Qwert01,
If you're trying to introduce someone new to the sport, Canyon is your best option in my opinion. LOTS and lots of followers. My dad and I fished Canyon for 1 week back in 1990. Had 450+ follows for the week (best day was 140 follows, believe it or not!)
However, we only got hooks into 3 fish. (The water is ultra, ultra clear). On a good day, you can see 10 or 15 muskies without even wetting a line. The day we saw 140, they were sunning themselves in a shallow sandy bay on the north side (McKenzie Bay or McIntosh Bay ?? can't remember the name but it started with "M" I think) We were actually sight fishing these muskies, casting between their shadows, and had several occasions where 2 fish followed at the same time. I had 3 muskies follow on 1 cast and motioned for my dad to look, but he was busy with his own follower at the time. The lake is absolutely LOADED with muskies. Probably because there are no northerns feeding on them, so spawning success has to be far above average. Getting hooks into them can be tough though. If you want to set hooks, I would recommend monofilament line and fluorocarbon leaders.
Also go with smaller baits, and I agree with the comment about blue (actually purple was good for us there. Mepps #5 purple with a nickel blade). Cloudy days or low light times also recommended.
We stopped in at Canyon again in 1997 on our way back from LOTW. In 3 hours of screwing around, we managed to have 35 follows. But then my dad fell out of the boat and we decided to call it a day.... True story!
Lodging: We stayed at Johnny Bratland's in 1990 (now known as McIntosh, I believe). Based on what I've heard, I'd probably recommend McIntosh or North Country Lodge, but it's been almost 15 years since we lodged there.
Good luck!
"Jackpot" John Schroeder | |
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Location: Hayward WI | Here's some of the fish you can expect. My info's the last paragraph on sworall's post. I've got a map from McIntosh that's not great, but if your going I can mark the spots that worked for me in late July.
Attachments ---------------- canyon40.jpg (99KB - 314 downloads) amy45canyon.jpg (45KB - 269 downloads) canyon40#2.jpg (99KB - 296 downloads)
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Posts: 32
Location: antigo wisconsin | thanks for the offer, its been dificult to find a map, any info would be helpful, email me and we will see if I can get a copy of your map somehow. thanks mike | |
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Location: Hayward WI | I scanned my map in and I'm working on putting the spots on it, I'll send it to you via e-mail, hopefully this weekend.
Eric | |
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