Lake Trout

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Lake Trout Opener – 2019

Trout have steadily garnered more of my fishing attention over the last few years.  It started with a couple really successful brook trout trips, and was followed up by some pretty sweet rainbow and brown trout fishing on some stocked back lakes.  What was once a curiosity, has now become a full blown obsession.  So when the opportunity came to join a co-worker on his favorite lake on Lake Trout Opener, it was all I could do to keep from bursting at the seams with excitement.

Our trip began around 4am with a quick 45 minute drive north of Kingston to a quaint little back lake rumoured to contain a viable native population of these bruisers.

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We canoed to a few transitions zones in 40 to 50 FOW next to some deeper drop offs looking for spring time lakers.  In the spring, many of these lakes turn over which creates consistent temperatures throughout the water column.  Lake trout take advantage of this and unlike summer, the trout can be found throughout the water column.  We were trolling spoons at varying depths and connected with two very decent lakers within the first hour.  One estimated to be between 10 – 15 lbs. Tagically, we left the instructions for the net at home, and we were treated to a nice view of their tail fins as they swam away.  Dave, did manage to hook a third fish, and I miraculously remembered how the net worked.  Voila, finally a fish in the boat! 20190525_104001

The Lake Trout species is a perfect candidate to showcase on this blog considering that approximately 25% of the worlds population live in Ontario. they are only native to North America, but successful stocking efforts have established populations in Europe as well as South America.

We took a break from the fishing  and took a stroll in a nicely wooded section on the north side of the lake.  Lake trout are great, but there are many other species in Ontario worthy of attention.  Like this wonderful spotted newt.

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Or this four-toed salamander.20190525_092323

Or this young and fresh looking dryads saddle mushroom.20190525_092449

Spring is magical time in the woods here in Ontario.  Get out there, grab a rod, paddle, or shotgun and see what you can discover.

Cheers from the Wild,

 

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Loughborough Lakers – Dinner time

My recent trip  to Loughborough Lake proved fruitfull with a decent average sized laker which I kept for the table.

Now to be clear, I don’t always keep fish to eat.

In fact I probably keep one or two once every ten or so fishing trips.  This is in the interest of conservation and propagation of the sport.  However, after pulling that beautiful laker from that 95 feet of cold clear water my taste buds took control.  For those of you who don’t eat a lot of fish or who don’t know, its hard to beat freshly caught trout.

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Lake trout can be cooked any number of ways including battered and fried, poached, baked etc. but my favourite by far is pan searing.   So after filleting the fish I dredged in a light flour, salt and pepper mixture and seared with a dab of butter until golden brown.

During searing I drizzled a bit of lemon juice on each piece of the fish for a bit more flavour.

I then placed the trout on a bed of rice with hollandaise sauce topped with a few sprigs of asparagus.

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Cant think of many things that come close to the taste of this.  And although this dish already tastes great, the feeling of preparing something I caught myself makes it taste all the better.

I’m reminded of a quote I heard somewhere:  sometimes the best meals aren’t from a restaurant or grocery store…

Cheers from the Dinner Table…

Albert

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Loughborough Lake Lakers

My Ice fishing season has started slow this year and without any real success.  Hence the lack of posts on the blog.  Thankfully I have had some recent success and am able to post an update on my recent goings on with some actual results and juicy fish pics for all to enjoy.

Verona Lake

The second our corner of Southern Ontario had safe, fishable ice, my work mates and I were out looking for the early season bite.  Our first trip was to Verona Lake, which is, surprise surprise, right near Verona.  We didn’t end up catching much but was it was a good way to brush the rust off our gear and get back into the swing of things on a new lake in the area.

Long Lake

I followed up the first outing of the season with a trip to my friend Dave ‘s Cottage on Long Lake. we managed a few decent perch and marked quite a few decent sized fish on the finders.  Unfortunately we weren’t able to coax any of the lakes elusive walleye into biting.IMG_1311

Despite the lack of eyes, The trip was still very enjoyable as we were treated to an amazing sunset.  Sometimes thats all it takes to make a fishing trip worth while.

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Little Clear Lake

The third trip of the season was to Little Clear lake for some Trout action.  Once again, caught lots of perch but no trout.  There was lots of ice on the lake but a tough slog hiking in due to a thin layer of crust which made walking very tedious and tiring.

Deadman’s bay / Loughborough Lake

Once again, Dave and I found ourselves with some time on our hands so we gathered up the fishing gear and headed out.  Our first stop was at Deadman’s Bay located just south of Fort Henry.   Although we didn’t catch any fish we enjoyed an amazing view through 6 – 8″ of clear black ice through 10 to 20 of crystal clear water.

Pretty awesome.

Since things were dead ain deadmans bay, we made a snap decision and headed up to Loughborough Lake hoping to get lucky with the Lakers.  Upon arrival we headed out to the laker grounds in 80 – 90 FOW and punched a few holes through the ice.  It was a beautiful afternoon with near 0 degree temperatures and very few fisherman on the ice.  Our lure choices included silver jigging shad raps, cleos and wobblers all jigged a varying depths throughout the water column.

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Id estimate the fish to be a solid 2lbs.

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With the first real success of the season achieved I am looking forward to the next outing.

The plan is to hit up the Bay of Quinte in a couple weeks for some monster Walleyes.  Here’s hoping they cooperate!

Cheers from the Wild

Albert