SaugeenDrifter

I agree with this totally, signed sealed and delivered, added the link to a few other forums.

I have fished Nipissing for 20 some odd years.

Years ago the ministry asked the commercial fleet to no longer net during the spawning period on the north end of the lake, so the commercial fleet crossed the lake and asked for permission to net the French River. It was allowed to occur and for the next 5 years after this agreement it was all you could do to find fish in the river.

Luckily after the LACK of walleye was noticed the southern netting permissions were revoked and now the fishery is NOT WHERE IT USED TO BE but is recovering. No reason to net commercially in Nipissing, the commercial fleet have no regs no oversight and can do as they please, greed is the foremost runner for them and if Nipissing becomes a desolate fishery, not to worry, our GOV't will just subsidize them.

Why net Canadian fish, only to sell them to the south? Why are these ghost nets allowed to occur? Why do the individuals who loose the nets not have a financial responsibility or human decency to collect or pay a diver to recover the nets?

If I were to drive my car and park in in a parking lot and leave it there, would it not be towed and at my expense? Why is their garbage allowed to remain?

Sad part about ghost nets are as follows; they float to the surface, fill with live fish, the weight of the dead waste fish sinks them to the bottom, the fish rot, the net floats to the surface and so on and so on, hundreds if not thousands of wasted fish. Does it not state in the regulations that "if a fish is harvested and the meat spoils or is wasted that this is illegal?" So if my net sunk and killed a single (as in 1) fish and it went to waste, am I not allowing the flesh to spoil? Am I not breaking the law? Can I not be fined?

We are all equals here, quit with the "special privileges"  or the "blind eye" tactics and lets start working together to maintain one of our most prized resources

Secondly on the ghost nets, years ago in a local derby a family of boaters/derby anglers where down-rigging. They unknowingly came over a ghost net, the riggers became caught in the net. The boat was moving forward and started to slow (the riggers were lifting the ghost net off the bottom due to the forward momentum of the boat). The boat stopped advancing and the back end of the boat was pulled under the water (the ghost net had been taken as far off the bottom until it had an anchor point the boats momentum had stopped, the net overtook the power of the boat and sunk the aft end), the boat was lost, the gear was lost, LIVES WERE ALMOST LOST. All because a blind one sided commercial fisherman decided to leave the nets and shrug it off as a loss. Yes the loss of desired game fish is a disgust. Does someone need to loose their life before the severity of this issue is seen?

For those of you who don't know about down-rigging it involves a large reel with a boom arm, the cable is 250 lb braided steel line that you attach a lead weight to (cannon ball).

Ok so some of these spots I have fished in the past from my Kayak, it has been years since I resided in the area and may require a boat or kayak, which can be picked up rather inexpensively and toted anywhere on the smallest of cars or pulled behind a bike. A kayak can be an awesome way to fish very shallow water and get to areas missed by other anglers.

In the Cambridge area - Bannister lake = pike / crappie; Deans lake = largemouth / perch; Elliots lake = crappie / pike; Pusclinch lake = perch / smallmouth / crappie / pike / wallye / largemouth; Little Lake = Pike / Crappie

Fake worms will  work but only on a reaction bite and the best way to increase your chances is put a piece of worm on the hook. Worms are easy to catch, a flashlight at night time and some grass in your back yard after dark and you will find them, don't shine the light directly on them (id recommend an LED), grab them with your fingers and slowly pull them out of the ground (golf courses are the bomb!!! lots of water and short grass, but ask permission first ).

If fishing the river and the river looks like chocolate milk (always happens after a rainstorm) then I would call it a day, if you can see the bottom in 3 feet of water you are good to go, just remember, that this is also the visual distance the fish can also see under the water, if the water is muck than they can only see your bait if you hit them in the face with it. River fish are usually ambush attackers and hide until prey swims by to swim out to hit it.

Top water baits will work best as long as you use them at the right time (1) at low light levels (evening/morning) right in to the dark on days that are not overly windy. Topwaters cause surface commotion which attract fish, if the waters surface is wavy or distrubed than targeting your bait will be difficult for the fish (not impossible, and yes it can be done, but less likely to occur). (2) Fish become very active surface feeders during 2 situations (a) when there is a bug hatch or bugs are landing on the surface to lay eggs ( once the invertabrates become sizeable and start to appear along the shore lines (by invertabrates I mean frogs/toads/salamaders). Once the frogs are around the fish readily eat them, that is when your jitterbugs and frogs will work.

What Kit (above) mentioned is true, every overpass/bridge will be fished heavily, you need to become a more flexible fisherperson and get to those hard to reach "desireable" spots that lazy fisherpeople miss.

If fishing a stream/river you must always remember fish are NOT overly smart however they have EXCELLENT hearing. Don't clumsily stumble down to the rivers edge expecting to cast right out and catch a fish. Fish have hearing several times better than us and in the water sound travels (for example; when swimming at my local beach I can hear motorboats 1 mile away under the water travelling to the harbour). I'm no fish and I can hear that. If you spook the fish they shut their mouths or swim somewhere else. Always "sneak"down to the river/stream and make as little noise as possible. In the spring start with smaller baits and slower presentations because the food sources are smaller (minnows) in the river and the fishes metabolic rate is slower, as the summer warms the river the minnows are larger and more plentiful so larger baits work and you can retreive them quicker because fish hate seeing food get away and with warmer water the fish digest food quicker and therefore need to eat more.

If I were to fish a stream/river (anyone anywhere) I would do the following; sneak like a burglar to the rivers edge, look for a slow pool off to the size of the faster moving water, put on a small hook and a small piece of worm and catch a few minnows. If I catch a bunch of chubs they become my bait, if I catch a few small bass / perch / trout then I know what colour my baits should be that I am casting, if I see frogs and its evening or morning I cast surface baits, if its mid afternoon and sunny I fish in the shade (under bridges/fallen trees/boulders), when fishing streams/rivers I fish the deeper holes, rapids may hold the odd fish but I would travel the river till I found deeper water. Fish are like people, they want to live in the best real estate, and in river that is a deep hole where there is cover / shade / food and most of all enough water to evade feeding birds and perhaps larger fish.

Sorry for the novel, I spent years on my own figuring out how to fish the Saugeen River and its tribs, I can see you are just starting out and if you research enough it wont take very long to become a very avid and successful angler. Just remember to remain flexible and never get stuck using only one technique. The moon will affect your fishing, cold weather/overcast days/high pressure systems; all of these will affect your success rate. Knowledge is key.

Cheers and Tight lines

Saugeen

Well Kijo, where to start?

Can walleye be taken from a dock, shoreline, pier....answer is yes. Do you need a boat? No. Is a boat handy? Yes. All shore fishing areas are targeted heavier by other shore anglers as there are more of them.

Best thing I can recommend is ask around. On a river near my hometown "Saugeen River" the walleye come in late spring in low numbers and are taken from boats trolling slowly with shallow to medium divers (redfins, rapalas, storms) or drifting worms and leeches from shore off the docks or rock piles and are taken on casting spinners/spinner baits from shore. Now understand that this is one river of thousands and only a few techniques.

In waters polluted with Eyes you can catch them in many ways. Best thing to do is internet search the water body and see if you can find any magazine articles produced for the lake or ask locals.

If fishing a new area perhaps get a guide to take you out and simply mimic his/her techniques for the specific water body you are on.

Remember that each water body differs and what works on one water body may or may not work on another.

Know what you are getting in to before you arrive. Research is key, ask the questions:

- what type of forage do they eat; perch / shinners / cisco's? This will give you an idea of what type of food source to match your lures to, I would not go to a lake and troll with perch coloured baits if the forage species in the lake was smelt.

- what season is it? In the spring walleyes move in to spawn in large schools, but will feed before they start to spawn and after the spawn but are reluctant to feed heavily during the spawn. Following the spawn they go on a feeding spree to make up for the non feeding they just went thru. In the summer they seem to have all kinds of food around and if you can find food you find them. In the fall they feed heavily again and river mouths become heavily active.

- what kind of water are you fishing? Is it a clear lake, or a mud bottom lake, or a turbid lake?

- what is the hatch? if the mayflies are hatching stay home... Walleye will eat them till they cant eat any more, the fish are there but they are full of bugs and hard to convince in to a minnow bite. I have caught Eyes with mouths full of cuts because they have eaten soooo many flies.

Best is to be prepared, I have fished lakes all over Ontario and versatility is key, some lakes will turn Eyes with live bait only (minnows / leeches / worms), some crank baits only, some deep divers only, some spinners only, some will hit anything you throw, some will hit a specific type on monday and then not on tuesday.

- what is the moon dooing? Moon phases affect fish

- what is the weather doing? Cold snaps slow the fishing down, clowdy skies can pick the fishing up, clear sunny days may slow the fishing on some waters and peak them on others.

Furthermore; do your homework and spend time getting to know your waters. Also make sure to know the Regulations you are faced with, not every lake in every fishing zone carries the same limits/slot sizes. You would hate to have a great day of fishing only to find out by the CO that you are fishing illegally. (Regs can be found free online at Ontario Fishing Regs)