Big Hook News & Fishing Reports: Fall Approaching

38" Central Lake, boated on a silver bladed bucktail

I say it every year, "Where did the summer go?" It seems just days ago I was just landing the Cessna 185 in May on a half frozen Central Lake and now we are already approaching the end of August. You can sense a change in the seasons as we near September. Fall comes pretty quick here in northwest Ontario, without much transition from summer. The days don't slowly cool, one day is 80 degrees and suddenly you have frost the next night. If you look closely throughout the Opasquia Provincial Park, the birch trees are showing flecks of yellow in their leaves, the best tell tale sign fall is imminent.

Weather

Summer is holding tight as fall looms. We have had numerous calm days in the mid 70's over the past week. Nights are descending into the 50's, perfect sleeping weather in my opinion. As the days grow shorter (we lose approximately 4 minutes of daylight everyday till December 21st), the stars and northern lights grow more and more vibrant in the evening hours. In the past we typically receive an August frost. Water temperatures are holding around 65 degrees on the surface.

Fishing

Nice catch! Central Lake walleye

Walleyes continue their descent into deeper waters. Best techniques for success has been SLOWLY back trolling and vertical jigging 3/8 oz or 1/4 oz (my preference) jigs, in 20 ft + of water, with a white, pink, orange, black or pumpkinseed tails. Blade baits such as Echotails or Zips are also catching fish. Trolling deeper running crankbaits are a great way to locate where the schools are present. Perch colored reef runners handily out fished all others last week, however color preference seems to change daily.

Pike are still favoring the smaller baits. I have thrown and thrown my arsenal of big stuff at them only to be out fished by a jig or small spoon. More and more big fish are being found on reefs and wind blown rocky points vs weed beds. This means pike are chasing walleye and white fish in attempt to bulk up for fall and winter. Big billed crankbaits are a great way to get into the pikes strike zone in deeper waters. Northern however, seem to move back into the weed beds in the late afternoons. Spoons, 3/4 oz johnson silver or gold minnows, buzz baits and bucktails are best to throw when fishing foliage.

Fisher women have been dominating the scene over the past week with some awesome CPR (catch, photo and releases). See photos attached. Just about all the fish were boated on jigs, yes the pike are still favoring jigs. Just a couple nights ago a dandy 41.5" pike was boated on a spoon at Central by Mrs. Rae Nigh, hopefully we will see pics soon.