Where did all the fish go?????????

[Hodgey1]

After 10 or so trips to the same area of Lac Kipawa, last week's trip yielded the least number of fish we have ever caught. One of the main things I love about going to Kipawa "besides the beauty"  is jigging for walleye instead of trolling like I do in Lake Erie at home.

I started this thread to gain insight from others as to what they think the probable cause of the lack of walleye was last week. We had six straight days of catching very few fish at all, we were five guys and we're maybe catching five or six fish a day including small mouth. I know we will never 100% why all of a sudden the fish moved, I can tell you this I went to many spots using my high end electronics and could not find fish anywhere that we normally see them. Then the last day like someone turned a switch on, the fish were there again and our numbers became more and what we would expect at that time of year. Thankfully we had that last day, but the first few days were tough especially since our crew included two young children.

@smitty55 offered up a interesting hypothesis based on the molting of crayfish possibly being the culprit. It may be that, i don't know.

I just thought this would be an interesting topic to discuss here because I'm certain that I'm not the only one that has occasionally had a hard time finding walleye while at Kipawa. The poor fishing will not deter me from returning, but it was a tough week.

[smitty55]

I'm sticking with my theory Chris. Crayfish are most often in shallow waters of 6ft or less. So assuming they were molting the Walleye would all be that shallow as well along shorelines which would totally explain why you weren't marking any in your normal spots which are much deeper. Like fishtildark posted, he accidentally made a cast on to a rock one time and after dragging the jig off it he caught a Walleye and then it was the same thing for an hour catching shallow fish almost every cast. Cheers.

[Kill Switch]

@Hodgey1
same thing happened to us when we went early June up at CVL. Going back August 19th for the week.
Came across this fishing time calendar. Wonder if it lines up ?

https://bfaht.com/fishing/calendar/canada/quebec/kipawa/7/2023

[Jay Thomas]

I'm unaware of whether or not molting crayfish might have negatively impacted the walleye bite.

However, to my mind, the fact that Chris didn't mark many fish with his high end electronics says a lot. Hi end electronics, adjusted properly, can mark tight to the bottom walleye particularly if the fisherman knows how to interpret the display. I'm not saying I could have found walleye. All I'm saying is that I would have been moving until I found walleye - different structures, different depths and different transitions (i.e. rock/sand, sand/mud). Thinking out of the box (e.g were the walleye suspended in very deep water (70 to 100 FOW). Nothing to lose in trying.

Jay

[TunaSandwich]

We do Kipiwa every year.  2 years ago, mid/end summer, really hot weather, fish were 2-6' deep.  I was pounding them on almost any shoreline with deep water nearby casting right up into the rocks.  This was abnormal from previous years, or even last year where we caught them in the norm 15-25' range.  I was just trying different things until i figured it out... never thought they were shallow in that lake....  fished Temagami mid june and never seen, marked or caught 1 walleye.

Here in the Bay or Quinte, we will not go near the bay if a cold front rolls through.  Fish disappear for week(s) and none to be found or even marked.  Thats the nature of walleye, MNR here in ontario did a tagging study in the bay/lake ontario and seen walleye reportedly moving 25 miles/day.

[Chazz]

Tuna - any chance you remember whether you were fishing the windward or leeward shoreline
  I was told and also read that it might be more comfortable and calmer fishing the leeward shore but that the windward shoreline will produce more fish due to the fact that more bait fish and insects will be blown to that side as well as the water will tend to be higher on that side washing bait down into the water from the shoreline.

[RickOnt]

I think the crayfish theory is a good possibility

The moon  does effect the fish, but I do not think it will shut the biting
down completely or push them off the usual locations.

[Hodgey1]

Thats the nature of walleye, MNR here in ontario did a tagging study in the bay/lake ontario and seen walleye reportedly moving 25 miles/day.

That is crazy and extremely interesting. As expansive a flooded river system that Kipawa is, they literally could be anywhere.

We definitely looked deeper, not much shallower than 15? and possibly needed to look harder in the Rocky shallows. The 10 or more trips at that time have always had them 20? or deeper. All very interesting and a good learning experience.

[Netman]

I cannot comment on Lake Kipawa, but we also noticed that the Walleye in early June were up shallow compared to what we normally see in early August. Most of the fish we caught on Grassy were in less than 15 feet of water. (some as shallow as 2 feet) We also noted that some of the walley were regurgitating crayfish. The only thing constant in fishing is Change!

[Netman]

Sorry - I had a typo in the last post. Our trip was in early July not June.

[Kill Switch]

Am I the only one talking like Ernie from Sesame Street saying "here fishy, fishy, fishy...here fishy, fishy, fishy"  lol

[NortonJoe]

@Hodgey1 the one day that we hit walleye literally one after another with a few doubles was in a rocky somewhat shallow area of the Kipawa River. We fished all different areas, depths and structures and that was the best.

[T]

It definitely was an off your for numbers of walleye.  We had issues finding good schools of fish.  I had more success fishing with Jigging raps and Shiver minnows than I did jigging worms.  I can not say why the fishing was off.  Maybe it was due to more fishing pressure that the lake has seen in years. Or maybe not.  What I do know is the lake trout and bass bite was the best I have ever seen.  My buddy and I caught 10 lake trout in 2 afternoon of fishing for them.  That is more than I caught in the previous 20 plus years.

[Jow]

Just got back from a week at Alwaki. Might have been the last group to be in the boat house as it sold. I read this thread before I left and was worried about finding fish. We fished all around the well know spots around Alwaki, Sunnyside, Island and points. Everywhere we went the walleye where so close to the bottom you would never see them unless I really studied and watched my mega down. All spots produced fish if the jig pounded the bottom a few times, while vertically jigging. Not sure on numbers but safe to say our boat,3 guys, 50 walleye av./ day. Not huge but enough to keep us entertained. Lotta smallie action too. My son boated a 30in Walleye across from the Makenzie camp 1230pm not a cloud in the sky 22fow.

[Ozzy30]

That's awesome JOW, glad to hear about the 30"er also.  I marked lots of fish tight to bottom last weekend but I also marked a lot of suspended fish in around the 30-35 feet in and around 45-60ftw.  Fishing should really be turning on.  I'm expecting good fishing this weekend as well.