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Posts: 574
Location: Germantown, WI | Anyone ever fish this river? From what i heard a good multi-specieis trip? Any reccomendations on where to stay. Breyer Lodge was recommended to me by someone, anyone familiar with it?
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Posts: 311
Location: Ontario | Breyer is drive-to and one of the last camps as you exit Wolseley Bay. I fish that part of the river (Lower section) about fifteen days a year. Excellent muskie fishing for numbers of muskies and fish over thirty pounds are common. I've seen them a lot biggger than that. Tons of classic-looking spots, wind is never a factor. If you're used to fishing big/open fisheries the French is a little shooting gallery. Rising and falling water can change things fast, and levels can swing fast. Fished it all seasons but that July-Sept window is pretty much 'can't miss.' Lots of fish 36-42in and certain areas will only show you a fish if its 48+. No GPS chip or paper map, so feel your way around. Your resort owner will almost certainly send you to three or four safe areas that are fairly close to camp (and they have fish) and you can work out from there. It fishes like a lake, not a river for the most part. Noticabley moving water only exists in a handful of areas but the whole system is affected by the water the release into Georgian Bay. Forty pound fish have been documented right in Wolseley Bay. The big-fish areas are not hard to pick out and your camp owner will point you in the right direction. Get someone to take you out the first couple sessions. The hazard areas are really pretty obvious if you've done any ammount of Shield navigating. I can run from the ramp at Wolseley up into Chaudiere Rapids in the dead of night (and usually do a couple times a trip) and there's really only one tricky rock. The rest is wid-open running thru the main channels over 60-120fow. One of the best places I've ever seen for muskie fishing, love it up there. I'm sure you will too. Lots easier to get around on than the river is down to The Bay, I can tell you that! | |
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Posts: 574
Location: Germantown, WI | Thanks jbush. A lot of what I wanted to hear.
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Posts: 311
Location: Ontario | The best surface fishing I've found anywhere. I could fish up there all summer with a small tray of head spinners, tail spinners, wtds (lots of misses), creeper/walkers and bulger bucktails and spinnerbaits. Throw in a favorite Suick or two and you're all set. I and others use weighted rubber baits up there with success also, especially around moving water. Caught fish on tandem no5s and tandem no13s. We get lots of fish trolling also, ten inch jntd Believers, Outkasts, Frankies, spinnerbaits. Jointed Believers are a great surface bait up there also. Water will range from stained to quite dark depending on flow. Because the water moves and cycles so much temps are almost always 67-72 on main channel spots from like June thru Oct. That range stays pretty consistent. I use lots of painted blades in hot colours and like jerkbaits and surface baits with some colour on the head/tail or belly. Blk/org or firetiger works as good as anything up there for me. Spots that look good are almost always worth stopping at and you will find lots of similar-looking areas to check too. Lots more coontail every year, but cabbage too. The recipe is always the same during the peak of summer: prominent rock, some weeds and right near deep water. If the spot has some exposure to the main flow areas so much the better. Once you get moving around and seeing what's available the top areas are not hard to identify. Keep it simple with lures, work areas where you have lots of options jammed into small areas and you will catch fish. Last hour of daylight and first hour of darkness can be really good up there too. The river is full of sm/lm bass, some nice pike and lots of walleye also. Walleye is normally just a matter of marking some and dropping a jig on them. We've caught them over eight pounds by accident on muskie lures too. | |
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French River Fishing