Help: Splake fishing in Haliburton

[wgomes]

Hi All:

So here's the scoop. Been out of fishing for a while but my wife and I just bought a cottage in haliburton. Its on Buller lake near miners bay. Lake is small but crystal clear and 185 feet deep. Local bait shop told me lake is stocked with splake. Unfortunately for me I haven't any idea how to fish splake.... I know you likely have to fish deep and so I spent the weekend dragging a dipsy diver with christmas tree and small cleo around the lake. Got skunked!

Really not sure where to go from here. Also I haven't seen a single person out there fishing the lake. Lots of skiing and swimming but sadly no fellow chumps to go fishing with? Anyone know what I need to do to get at the splake? better still anyone know anything about this lake?

thanks in advance

W

 

[openfire]

I can't even find Buller Lake near Miners Bay. Maybe you could pinpoint it on this map of the Miners Bay area: Miners Bay Area

 

[Rapala Boy]

Not sure if this ull help, but: I've never fished a lake that deep and I've never caught splake, but I can tell you splake are a hybrid of brook and lake trout. I've had my best luck catching lakers on small plugs like the k-7 kwikfish and the rapala taildancer in hotchub. Trolled above the depth the fish are. Something that shows the depth like a fish finder is crucial.

Good Luck

By the way I've only ever caught lake trout trolling in a canoe up north.

 

[openfire]

I checked a fish stocking chart for the area in question, and beside Buller, it has "Clear" in brackets as though they are the same body of water:
http://home.cogeco.ca/~sparkysfishin/Stock Lists/Minden Haliburton2008.pdf. But I then saw another stocking list that lists both Buller and Clear Lake that shows Buller Lake as stocked with Splake, but Clear Lake as having no Splake: http://www.haliburtoncounty.ca/fishingchart.pdf

To clear up the confusion, I checked google maps, and alas, Clear Lake is there, but no Buller Lake. So, now I'm thinking maybe Clear Lake is Buller Lake (Name Change?) in which case I'm not even sure if the lake even has Splake, which may be why you didn't see a single person fishing on the lake! 8)

Wgomes, check the map I linked to in my last post and let me know which Lake on the map your cottage is on just to help clear the confusion... might be easier to help you if we know exactly what body of water we're talking about.

 

[wgomes]

Hi Guys:

Thanks for all the replies. This is board is awesome... openfire... you are bang on. The lake was originally named buller lake but later the township renamed it to clear lake (and it fits because I tell ya I have never seen water this clear in ontario). Anyway the interesting thing is that as far as MNR is concerned it still is Buller lake. Just for clarity this is the lake here that I am talking about.

I also have a depth map of the lake and I while it is a small lake the vast majority of the lake is 80 to 120 feet deep with two holes that reach 185 and 165 respectively. Because of the water clarity I have done some snorkeling and the clarity is insane. I dove the barrier reef in Australia a few years ago and I kid you not this lake competes for visibility.

Anyway.. some digression I guess.... the stocking list says they dumped 2800 splake in here in 2008. Not sure what to think of that... would that have been fished out over 2 years or is it that the lake just doesn't see much outside traffic and the cottagers (all but me) prefer jet skiing to fishing?

Either way if there are splake in there I intend to take a good crack at it so would love to hear from anyone with advise on splake fishing in general and definately anyone who knows the lake/area.

W

 

[Rapala Boy]

Wait a tic! If they dumped them in 2008 then they're probably little guys don't you think?

 

[wgomes]

Hey RB:

Thanks for the tips. When you have caught laker generally what depth are you trolling at. I also am using a canoe and heading out early in the mornings. But I don't have a down rigger so I am trying to improvise a bit with dipsy divers but again I am not sure how deep I have to actually get?

Also what time of year were you fishing (and catching) lakers? As in.... is fishing for splake in sept a futile venture? Is it a case of all the splake veteran don't show up till there's ice on the lake?

I can already feel it... this splake hunting is going to be a loong drawn affair.

Openfire... forgot to mention... when you are looking at the stocking lists or the fishing chart the lake I marked on the map earlier is in lutterworth township.

WG

 

[wgomes]

I don't know ... not sure how big they are when they stock them. Are they fry at time of stocking? Even so my understanding is that they've been stocking the lake for quite some time and that the stocking happens every other year. Not sure how far back the stocking program goes.

 

[Rapala Boy]

The funny thing about the lakers I caught was that I wasn't using downriggers and it was in the middle of summer! I was generally trolling at 20 feet in 70 feet of water which I got very lucky because the fish went on a feeding binge the day after I arrived at the lodge. I don't know how big the lake your going to be fishing is, but I can tell you the smaller the better for us beginners!LOL. Troutbait Lake was very tiny, but it had giant lakers. Here's some pics.

Summer I went 2/6 for giant lakers.

 

[openfire]

I don't know a great deal about splake, but I know that the fact that this lake is stocked with splake at all, means that the lake is not suitable for Lake trout.

If the lake is stocked every other year, the last being in 2008, I would hazard a guess that there's a good chance many of the fish have been fished out by now, depending on how hard the lake gets hammered by the ice fishermen... The splake fishery is entirely put and take with generally no natural reproduction taking place, so you're basically depending on the MNR to keep stocking the lake - if they get fished out, that's it.

I guess they will be stocking it again this year?

I wish I could help more about splake fishing, and maybe some other members with splake experience will chime in. For what it's worth, I hear that they are most active in fall and spring where they can be caught with spinners etc in shallower water, whereas in the summer they are suspended over deep water.

I get the impression that splake fishing is generally an ice fishing kinda thing...

Do you have a boat with a fish-finder? Maybe you could cruise around and see if you mark anything... it's most likely only splake you'll be marking, so it should give you a rough idea.

 

[wgomes]

RB... those pics of the lakers are awesome!

Openfire ... I totally get the same impression... Splake feels like a winter thing so who knows maybe I will see a bunch of guys out there when it ices up. I have a killer view of the lake from an arm chair in the cottage. I will be watching (from the warmth of the fire place with a cup of spiked hot cocoa). Grew up in the tropics and its going to take alot for me to come around to ice fishing.

I am pretty sure you are right about the splake not reproducing so I wouldn't be surprised if the lake gets emptied out over 2 years. But I am going to do exactly what you said.... I am going to cruise this lake and see what I see on that fish finder.

RB: much like you I only have a canoe so not sure how the "cruise the lake" will work out but we'll see. I did measure up the lake you were on and actually this lake is a bit larger than it but not by much... about a km long and maybe 600m at its widest point. So not much lake to cover. So if these fish are there and suspended then OF is right I should see em. If I see nothing then they are either not suspended or elvis (splake) has left the building (er... lake).

Also had another question for you guys... that chart that covers lakes and type of fish.... this one..... what do you guys think it means when there is no type recorded for a lake? As an example look @ "marigold" in lutterworth or look at Sam's (Sand) lake also in Lutterworth? when I checked out the topo for this area I think I can canoe to an exit point on my lake and then portage to either of these and sam's in particular appears to have no roads, cottages or inhabitants on it. Would it have no fish types attributed to it because... well because there's nothing in it? Anyway... kind of intrigued a bit with those. Maybe they're hidden gems. Then again maybe the only thing I'll catch doing this is a few frogs and maybe a bad cold.

Will update you guys fer sure as I discover/explore more. Got the name of the are MNR biologist so will be calling him to find out more this week.

BTW: Loving the board!!

Cheers

Wayne

 

[reefrunner]

In the spring and fall fish early morning and sunset close to the feeder creeks at the first deep break. I would find out what type of minnows are in the lake and get some swim baits on a weighted hook that closely imitate. Drop shot will also work with gulp minnows would be ok. You can also try trolling/casting deepdiving slim profile cranks (reefrunners, walleye divers, etc.) in the same area.

Follow on the advice to "survey" the lake with you fishfinder. Look for suspended fish and note what depth they are at. Look for balls of baitfish and note thier depth. Look for fish hugging bottom as well. Are they relating to any structure? Particular water temp? This information is key in getting a gameplan going that you can emulate on different spots on the lake.

When trolling, I like to fish the bait approximately 5-10 feet above where you are marking fish. They come up to strike, you can see it on the finder sometimes its pretty cool.

For the bottom huggers, you can try dragging a white tube jig. I've never done it but heard of some success using this method.

Good luck. Although splake are not natural reproducers, there should still be some hanging around.

 

[wgomes]

Hey Reefrunner:

Thanks a tonne for the tips! I still can't get over how helpful this board is. This is awesome. It might take a while but with any luck I'll be posting pictures maps and spots for splake on buller lake!

W

 

[RossLemay]

Caught splake there in the 80's ice fishing , in front of lot 43 west of the dome cottage .