Ontario 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