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My educational background is in fisheries Biology. I did my undergraduate work at Virginia Tech and my graduate work at Ohio State University. I began my career as a biologist, guide, and guide staff coordinator at fishing and hunting lodges in the US and Canada. In doing so I was able to apply classroom biological principles to better understand the motivations, locations, moods, and movements of different species and populations of fish. I've published several articles over the years. The following are less technical than most, but do offer a different perspective to "shopping" for a fishing vacation destination and how to apply simple and efficient techniques to maximize your early season walleye success. The Lac Seul Difference "Big Fish Don't Live in Small Ponds!" Fishing Pressure Low Tech Walleyes on the Canadian Shield Make Your Own Luck Lac Seul Walleyes from a Guide's Perspective The Lac Seul Difference The Lac Seul Difference
"Big Fish Don't Live in Small Ponds!"
Fishing Pressure Thankfully, a new generation of anglers, provincial fisheries resource managers, and camp operators evolved who understood that the future health of Trophy Fisheries and angling tourism were intrinsically tied to conservation and careful catch and release of the biggest fish. Today, the informed fisherman looking for a chance to catch a trophy, won't even consider a trip to a Canadian camp unless they strongly promote catch and release. Lac Seul is one of the most studied fisheries in Northwest Ontario and was one of the first to have progressive Trophy Fishery Management policies implemented. I view these policies as essential tools to make sure that other anglers on Lac Seul operate under the same conservation policies that I have preached and supported for years.
Low Tech Walleyes on the Canadian Shield An important point to make is that these 'low tech,' high volume techniques are specifically geared toward those days in the North when conditions are good. Times get lean, even on the Canadian Shield. The day after a severe cold front can decrease the surface temperature of a bay by more than 10 degrees and when that happens, don't expect the action to be anything like it was before the front. What used to be walleye heaven will suddenly appear to be the dead sea. Fortunately, not all walleyes do the same thing at the same time. Especially on large bodies of water, a resourceful angler can focus on a different population of fish. Even during the peak of the active bite in the warm shallow bays, some fish will have taken up residence on deeper, main lake structure. These fish are catchable, but far from active. A severe cold front that results in virtual lock jaw for the shallow water population, has virtually no effect on the fish cruising the deeper reefs, bars, and sunken islands of the main lake. They still won't be aggressive, but heavier jigs tipped with live bait or live bait rigs will save the day and often yield a larger fish. After a few sunny days, the shallows will warm again and the fish will turn back on. Walleye anglers across North America must be observant and flexible to be consistently successful and the same holds true even on the Shield. As productive as today's super tech methods can be, there are still occasions when it pays to keep it simple. Walleye anglers who have never experienced the awesome fishing Canada has to offer may be skeptical of dragging meatless jigs or backtrolling spinners the way their Grandfathers did, but these 'low tech' methods are quick and efficient and can't be beat when the dinner bell rings.
Make Your Own Luck We all know one of those guys; the fisherman who routinely outfishes the rest of the group. Is it just good fortune or is there something else involved? I can't speak to all fishing situations, but there are several similarities shared by our consistently successful guests. Sure, Fortune plays a role, but consistent success occurs when chance happens to those that are prepared for it. The odds of being a successful trophy angler improve exponentially with increased preparation and effort. The first step is to choose a body of water that supports a trophy fishery. If you have read this far into our website, then you know that Lac Seul definitely fills this square. Preparation & Effort Confidence Equipment Lucky Anglers
Successful trophy angling is contagious. Catch one giant and you'll be looking harder for another. Eventually, you may just become another one of our guests who "Catches the fish of a lifetime ...Again!"
Lac Seul Walleyes from a Guides's Perspective
The Lac Seul Difference The Unexpected Shallow Water Bite The Turbid Water Connection Mega-Sand Structure The Tip of the Iceberg |
As you sort through the piles of camp brochures, all with the same claims of "Trophy Walleye" and "Big Pike", it is difficult to decide which claims were more accurate 10 years ago, which are completely false, and which are just slightly exaggerated. Fortunately, there are ways to evaluate the true Trophy Potential of a body of water before you fish it. To reach trophy proportions on the Canadian Shield, fish need to do only two things; live long and eat well! Though that statement seems obvious and simplistic, most visiting anglers don't realize how difficult that task can be in most lakes and rivers. The two most important factors that separate marginal water from trophy water are the Size of that body of water and Fishing Pressure. With a minimal amount of information about an unfamiliar body of water, you can quickly make an informed opinion as to its' Trophy Potential. 
walleyes on the Canadian shield is the Ciscoe. This high fat content bait fish is the "Bacon Double Cheeseburger and Strawberry Shake" of the walleye diet. Without them, walleyes have a difficult time exceeding the 5 LB mark, regardless of how long they live. Ciscoes like it cool. When water temperatures exceed 70 degrees F for any length of time, they die. Unless, unless they have a cool deep water basin to hang out in. Once again, were back to talking about large, deep lakes. There are occasional exceptions to the rule, but when you are looking for consistent catches of big walleyes, big water is the answer! Pike are less dependent on a single species to attain maximum size, but big Northerns do have a specific problem in Summer. Like ciscoes, big pike can't take the heat. Big females have a low surface area to volume ratio and have a difficult time getting rid of excess body heat. When the Summer sun heats up the shallow bays, the big pike seek refuge in the cooler main lake basin for most of the day. Without deep water or an abundant forage base near deep water, it is difficult for the bigger fish to survive let alone thrive. With a surface area of 560 sq. miles ( 358,290 acres) and nearly 3,000 miles of shoreline, Lac Seul is the 2nd largest inland lake in Ontario, and definitely satisfies all of the structural requirements of a Trophy Canadian Shield Fishery. 
Even the most stable and prolific Trophy Fishery is no match for man. An ecosystem that evolved for thousands of years can be devastated in the blink of an eye by thoughtless or careless fisherman. After the biggest fish have been systematically removed from the ecosystem, it is a monumental task to repair the damage. When possible, it takes a minimum of several generations of careful management. Compounding the problem is the fact that as you travel further and further North, the growing season becomes shorter, it takes longer for a fish to grow to trophy size, and the ecosystems become increasingly fragile. A North country fishing resort boasting a Trophy fishery will certainly not have one for long unless they aggressively conserve all of the big fish that they catch. This information is not new. Unfortunately, the nature of the business caused hundreds of excellent fisheries to be seriously depleted, especially those that were closer to civilization. Historically, if a conscientious camp operator decided to enforce camp rules restricting the size and number of big fish that could be taken to preserve the fishery, he would effectively cut the throat of his business. His customers would turn to his competitor across the lake who allowed uneducated fisherman to catch and kill as they pleased, and the competition would then reap the financial windfall of increased volume. The irony is that the practice of unrestricted catch and kill policies of the biggest fish in the system resulted in the demise of the fishery and the eventual failure of the camp. A vicious "slash and burn" cycle then perpetuated itself to make the business profitable. The "successful" operator set up camp on a body of water, fished it hard, depleted the fishery, and moved on to the next one, pushing further and further North. 
How do you know if a resort actually has a trophy fishery? 
With more and more informed fishing pressure on the water, today's consistently successful walleye angler is typically a creature of high tech habit. In recent years the world of walleye angling has undergone incredible changes. We now have super lines and super boats, GPS and LCRs, planer boards and snap weights, the options and opportunities are limitless. With all this technology in hand, It is easy to overlook the fact that at times the super-tech approach may not be the most efficient or effective way to catch walleyes. One of those occasions is early season action on the Canadian Shield. Like most walleye anglers, I'm constantly looking for ways to land more and bigger fish. I still find time to experiment with new tackle and techniques, but over the years I've found that early season is a time when a 'low tech' approach consistently puts more walleyes in the boat. As a fishing guide in Northwest Ontario, I encounter all types of characters whose angling skills run the spectrum from novice to expert. Because every group of anglers is different, I try to keep most of my seasonal presentations simple and effective. Two Seasons ago I was hired for a half day in mid June by a well respected outdoor writer from the upper Midwest. I admit that I felt a bit more pressure to produce than usual, but I decided to work the same simple pattern that had been producing well the previous weeks. My plan was to head to the wind blown side of a shallow, fertile bay with newly emergent weed growth, drift and pitch 1/4 ounce jigs tipped with a 3 inch twister tail. The day turned out better than I had hoped and we pounded fish. In four hours, three of us caught and released well over 100 walleyes including 3 between 24"-25" and 2 over 27" long. During the day, my clients commented on several occasions that they were amazed we were doing so well without using any live bait or modern techniques. I took a little bit of pride in the fact that I had shown the "pros" something a little different about fishing the North. Later that day, as we rehashed the day's events over supper, one of my clients said, "Well Mike, that was a good day on the water, but do you think you could catch a walleye in Minnesota?" At first I thought he was kidding me, so I asked him to repeat the question. He said, "I mean you obviously know how to catch Canadian walleyes, but do you really think you could catch Minnesota walleyes?" I couldn't believe it. I was shocked that he not only questioned my skill, but also by his inference that my prized Canadian walleyes were somehow inferior to their southern cousins. I got over the minor personal affront, but as I thought about it, I realized that part of his premise was correct. In most respects a walleye is a walleye, but walleyes on the Canadian Shield often don't act the way a "proper" walleye should. Instead of being the finicky, temperamental, night crawler-sucking southern variety, North country walleyes can at times be more aggressive than European soccer fans. I've had a 3 LB walleye slam into a musky sized crankbait with enough force to nearly wrench the rod from my hands. Before I saw the fish, I would have bet money that I was hooked into a pike of at least 15 pounds. I've caught modest sized walleyes on everything from giant sized 3 OZ spoons, to Mepps Giant Killers, to 10" musky jerk baits. I couldn't count the number of times per week that I "accidentally" catch walleyes on tackle designed for trophy Pike. "So they act a little different sometimes, so what?" The point is, If you can identify when and where these Shield walleyes will become ultra-aggressive eating machines, you can modify your presentation and catch more and bigger fish. To discover the reason for the occasional behavioral difference between the "northern" and "southern" strain, you have to understand the differences between the two environments that each fish inhabits. I believe that the fish are genetically virtually identical, but it is the difference between the ecosystems that results in the change in attitude. 
Put simply, life in the North is hard. The growing season is short, forage can be seasonally scarce, and with minimal fishing pressure, there are often more walleyes around competing for a fixed forage base. Age to Length analysis performed by Ministry of Natural Resources biologists indicated that the average 19-20 inch walleye found in Lac Seul was between 10 and 12 years old. A walleye of similar size would require only 5 or 6 years to reach the same length in Minnesota's famed Mille Lacs. Like most species, when a walleye has faced lean times and someone rings the dinner bell, he is going to gorge himself like there is no tomorrow. The trick is to know when and where the dinner bell is going to ring. From ice out to the time when shallow bays begin to fill with new weed growth, the most important factor influencing walleye location and behavior is temperature. I participated in a recent tagging study which revealed that some post spawn walleyes traveled more than 20 miles less than 2 weeks after they had been tagged in a traditional spawning area. Where did they go? They traveled until they found isolated pockets of water that were nearly 60 degrees compared to the main lake which remained in the upper 40's. Why? Because that was where food could be found. The rapidly warming water effectively jump started the entire food web resulting in a flurry of activity at all levels. More microscopic algae, meant more microscopic crustaceans, more insects, more prey fish and so on until the area became a Sunday brunch buffet fit for a ravenous, post spawn walleye. Someone rang the dinner bell. Once the dinner bell begins to ring, just about any reasonable lure or technique will catch fish. The key now is to find the most efficient approach to put as many fish in the boat as possible. During the Spring peak, it is not unusual for an angler to bring more than 100 walleyes over the gunwale each day. Unlike patterns found later in the year, early season walleyes are not as likely to school by size, so you have to expect to catch a bunch before you boat a dandy. This is the time to go 'low tech'. Trolling crankbaits with planer boards or following complex trolling routes with a GPS plotter or even finesse live bait rigging techniques are examples of modern techniques successfully used to catch difficult walleyes, but they are technical and time consuming. These methods will certainly produce walleyes on the shield, but the time spent resetting planer boards, meticulously working a piece of structure, or removing several treble hooks could be spent landing another walleye using a simpler presentation. Thirty years ago, every successful walleye angler's tackle box contained some version of the Little Joe Spinner. In the past decade or so, the mighty little Joe has taken a back seat to the more modern techniques of rigging and bottom bouncing. You can fancy it up if you want to, but a 3/8 - 1/2 oz. bead chain sinker and a 2 ft. long pre-snelled spinner harness is a tough combination to beat when the bite is on. Tip the spinner with a minnow, throw the boat into reverse, and troll promising shorelines until you find fish. It worked 30 years ago and it still works today when fish are aggressive. My personal favorite 'low tech' presentation at this time of year is a 1/4-3/8 oz. lead head jig with a brightly colored 3" or 4" twister tail. Keep the jig off the bottom, the line tight, and boat speed under Mach 1 and you will catch fish. The simple jig and twister tail is versatile and efficient. The activity level and density of aggressive fish determines the amount of boat movement required. When I know that I am on fish, I'll use a controlled drift while casting. The jig is then retrieved in a slow swimming fashion. A fast action, high modulus graphite rod will dramatically improve the "feel" you have for the jig and will result in more fish. At times when my clients are having difficulty detecting bites or when the fish are more scattered, I like to back-troll. I slip the outboard into reverse, pitch out about 40 feet of line, and drag the jigs along. This allows me to cover more water and those that had difficulty discerning a subtle walleye nudge have no problem recognizing a bouncing rod tip after a walleye has hooked itself on a back-trolled jig. Another variation on this method is a technique often referred to as snap jigging. Instead of back-trolling, the boat moves forward with a bit more speed, usually between 1 and 2 mph. To keep the jig and twister combo near the bottom, typically requires an increase in jig size to 3/8 or occasionally 1/2 OZ depending on depth. As the boat moves forward, the angler sweeps the rod forward parallel to the water surface and then slowly allows the rod tip to return to its original position perpendicular to the boat. This action causes the jig to snap into the upper portion of the water column and then slowly flutter back down. Almost all bites will occur as the jig falls towards the bottom. A thermometer is the best tool to eliminate water early in the year, but snap jigging is an excellent way to further eliminate water, especially when fishing an unfamiliar system. 
"That guy is so Lucky... He always manages to catch the big ones!" " I don't know how he does it."
I became a fishing lodge owner as a means to an end. I tolerate the hassles and headaches of the business, because I am a Guide at heart. The regulations, annual repairs, paper work, and bills are all an acceptable price to pay for the thrill of guiding on a great fishery every day and the satisfaction of being part of a professional guide staff. Even after hundreds of guiding days, I still consider myself to be one of the profoundly fortunate few who truly loves what they do for a living. Part of the allure is the land itself. Northwest Ontario is one of the few remaining areas on this planet that maintains the feel of a Frontier. I could never imagine taking for granted even the smallest of its charms; the call of a loon, the taste of a freshly caught shore lunch, stunningly silent sunsets, the magical 'tap' of a bite that sends a lightning bolt of electricity through your arm, or just the pleasure of being alive in a beautiful natural world that is still much the same as it was hundreds of years ago. There is no other place on Earth I feel more at home. Fresh air, clean water, the camaraderie of a good guide crew, and moments and memories shared with guests, friends, and family all add to the experience, but the core of my passion for guiding is the puzzle. Every new day the slate is wiped clean and we begin a new hunt. 
During late August of 1999, we were fishing typical late summer locations for big walleyes around deep water structure in the main lake basin. We located fish using big bottom bouncers and spinner harnesses tipped with crawlers. We trolled until we found fish and then depending on whether they were concentrated or scattered, we either vertical jigged or kept trolling respectively. We were experiencing average volume for medium sized walleyes in 20 - 30 ft. and had pulled a few big ones from 35 - 40 ft. A hot weather system settled in, the wind went flat and over the course of the next few days our production plummeted. On the third hot flat calm day in a row, I could see other guide boats moving from spot to spot in the distance and I knew they were struggling as well. As I thought about what to try next, I remembered a pattern that had worked for me many years before. As the summer comes to an end, the cabbage weeds die off and the baitfish that had been hidden in them are suddenly left exposed and vulnerable to hungry gamefish. I motored onto a nearby sand flat that had been home to thick weed beds that Summer. The area had been a big pike hotspot, as the sand flat was relatively close to the deep water of the main lake basin. As we trolled slowly into the bay on mirror flat water under a blazing sun, I noticed several floating mats of dead and decaying weeds. We began trolling in 12 - 16 ft. of water and immediately caught fish. As we worked shallower we caught more and by the time we focused on the 6 - 8 ft. range we had caught more 2 - 7 lb. walleyes in 3 hours of fishing than we had the previous week combined. The next day, all of the guide boats were capitalizing on dying weed beds and experiencing unbelievable production in very shallow water, despite weather conditions that screamed for a deep, deep water bite. (I gave myself a good pat on the back for "figuring that one out.") The next Summer warmed quickly and many walleyes had moved out toward the main lake basins by mid July. After getting smoked one blistering Hot calm morning, I met up with the rest of our group for shorelunch. Expecting to hear similar grim stories, I was shocked to hear that two of my rookie guides had each managed to put over 50 walleyes aboard, including 2 over 9 lbs. A warm high pressure system had moved in and with the lack of any wind, I had concentrated on the mid to deep water structures of the main lake basin. Standard procedures, right?
Most knowledgeable walleye fisherman are pretty comfortable with the widely recognized structural features associated with the main lake basin. Sunken islands, sand bars, points, and saddles located in or near the deepest water of the main lake are all considered magnets for walleyes during the summer months. It wasn't until I began fishing Lac Seul's big Summer walleyes that I began to understand the importance of what we call "Mega-Sand" structure. The shear size of Lac Seul has led my guide staff to think about walleye structure on a different scale. The prevailing winds and currents of a small lake may result in a "drift" of sand on the lee side of an island that is maybe a 100 yds long and 25 yds wide. Most every walleye angler would recognize this as a sand bar and a potential walleye spot. Increase the scale by 10 times or more and try to envision a version of a bar that is over a mile long, perhaps 200 yds wide, that tops out at 15 feet, and drops off on all sides into 70ft. Is this a bar? Is it a Flat? We call them "Mega-Sand" structures and especially in July and August, big walleyes call them home. If I had come across such a structure 5 years ago, I probably would have scanned it quickly with my graph, searched for a weed bed on top, possibly fished the end of the point with a jig, and then dismissed it as walleye wasteland. During the Summer months on Lac Seul, I now spend at least 50% of my time plying this type of water, especially for big walleyes. Brett McCallum is one of my Senior crew and is the most proficient "Mega-Structure" guide on staff. During the months of July and Aug., he averages one 28 in. walleye every day, and was close to one 29 in. fish every other day this past season. A great deal of his success can be attributed to his natural ability to watch his graph and develop a 3 dimensional image in his mind of the piece of structure he is fishing. What would appear to most anglers as a large featureless flat in the middle of the lake, becomes to him a blown up version of a sand bar. His approach to fishing it is similar to what most anglers would do with smaller structure. He breaks it down into pieces. He looks for the edges, the top, and the breaks and then he covers water quickly with bottom bouncers and spinners usually with crawlers, but sometimes with minnows. The key is to find the preferred depth range for that days weather conditions. With wind and clouds, the search begins shallower or on top of the structure on the windward side looking for active fish. After a front or with less wind, the search goes deeper. Backtrolling at all times to cover water with an eye on the graph, the guides watch for balls of baitfish as well as marked walleyes. Subtle inside corners, changes in grade and termination points can all concentrate fish, especially in the presence of wind and favorable surface currents. On occasion, Brett will work off the structure and look for fish suspended over the main lake basin. The approach requires discipline and faith, but gets much easier when you "know" your water and after you've landed several giants.