Club Trout Lake 16-22 Aug 14 trip report

[Jay Thomas]

Four of us departed Ottawa in two vehicles at 0930 hours on Friday 15 Aug. We stopped for lunch at the Rock River Cafe in Deep River. It is located at the back of the Petro Canada gas station on Hwy 17. We all had a great lunch and we will be returning. After supper at the Fuzion restaurant in Lorrainville, we arrived at the main lodge at Club Trout Lake shortly after 2000 hours. After a great breakfast Saturday morning, we settled our bills with Noel and loaded our boats for our week of fishing on Lac Winawiash. We enjoyed great service from Noel's staff to get us into Lac Winawiash. We were the only fishermen on the lake for the week.

Lac Winawiash was new water for all of us. Consequently, my fishing partner Rick and I burnt almost 20 gallons of gas exploring the lake and searching for walleye. Running the lake required constant attention to our sonar unit because you could end up in shallow water in no time. Surface water temperature was 67 degrees F. Lac Winawiash is a pretty lake with numerous deep basins holding lake trout. Unfortunately, the two members of our group who fished Lake Trout only boated one Lake Trout during the week. We enjoyed better success fishing walleye. Quality outweighed quantity in our first experience on this lake. Our largest walleye caught was 27 inches. We enjoyed two walleye meals during our stay. One of the walleyes we caught had obviously broken away from someone else's stringer this summer.


While I do not target northerns, I caught 10 during the week. While bottom bouncing a worm harness with a leech in 20 FOW for walleye, I landed this nice 43 inch northern. The 12 or so minutes required to revive the northern approximately equaled the length of our battle.

Jay


Here's a picture of the 27 inch walleye Rick caught and a picture of three nice walleye caught after supper

[Dog]

Jay
Thanks for sharing and great pics! I'll add it to the trip index for easy reference.
Nate

[RHYBAK]

Very Nice Pike Jay.

I like your pocket keychain float.

[SgtCrabby]

Jay,
Thanks for sharing. 
That walleye had a stringer hook attached?  It must have been hard for it to feed with that attached.
Nice pike.  I also like your toy float.

[rambler]

Wow, Jay, way to go on that hugh Northern! The look on your face tells the story.
Thanks for the report.
What depth did you find the walleyes?

[john c]

Hi Jay

Thanks for sharing your trip, sounds like a very interesting adventure.  That is a very nice and healthy pike.

John

[wvmedic]

Very good report, thanks.

Did you guy's stay in a cabin or camp?

[Jay Thomas]

What depth did you find the walleyes?

Hi Rich:

We usually found the walleye on the bottom around 20 feet. Sometimes the walleye were stacked one behind the other. Other times, we found walleye stacked on top of one another through out the water column - in one location as deep as 33 feet.

Jay

[Jay Thomas]

Did you guy's stay in a cabin or camp?

Hi wvmedic:

While our trip this year was our eighth consecutive trip to Club Trout Lake, this was our first time fishing Lac Winawiash. We stayed in one of the 5 cabins located on an island close to where you enter the lake. While the cabins are quite rustic (no running water, propane frig, stove and lights, outhouse), they afford protection from the elements. Club Trout Lake is an outfitter with exclusive rights.

Jay

[Jay Thomas]

That walleye had a stringer hook attached?  It must have been hard for it to feed with that attached.

Hi SgtCrabby:

Yup - a closed stainless steel stringer hook on the bottom jaw. Difficult to say how long that fish had been swimming around encumbered with that stringer hook. However, the walleye looked in fine shape and was caught (not snagged) while bottom bouncing with a crawler.

Jay

[johnny walleye]

great report Jay and a very nice pike.

[CaptainCrappie]

Jay, you are more adventurous than I am at this stage of my life. I've done rustic before but now I gotta have inside plumbing and hot water!   Would you plan a return trip to that same area or continue your adventures elsewhere? I always look forward to your reports.  Thanks for posting.

C.C.

[NortonJoe]

We're talking up near Belleterre correct?  We used to pass a Lac a la Truite when we would travel to Lac Watson from the north through Belleterre.

[Jay Thomas]

Jay, you are more adventurous than I am at this stage of my life. I've done rustic before but now I gotta have inside plumbing and hot water!   Would you plan a return trip to that same area or continue your adventures elsewhere?

Hi Bob:

While I too prefer accommodations with modern conveniences, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to afford yourself the opportunity for great fishing. This years trip to Club Trout Lake was our eighth consecutive year there. Whether at Lac Bay (7 trips) or Lac Winawiash (1 trip), cabins are of the rustic variety. Finding drive to or boat to quality fishing locations isn't that easy. Consequently, I would certainly consider a return trip and I'm hopeful that my fishing partners would too.

Jay

[Jay Thomas]

We're talking up near Belleterre correct?  We used to pass a Lac a la Truite when we would travel to Lac Watson from the north through Belleterre.

Hi NortonJoe:

You're absolutely correct. We take 101 out of Témiscaming and turn right on 391 to go to Lorrainville where we always have dinner at Le Fuzion restaurant. After dinner, we continue on 391 until the junction with 382 where we turn right and drive to Belleterre. If you stay on the main penetration road, you might not be able to see the Club Trout Lake main lodge when you pass by the end of Trout Lake. The main lodge is beautiful, can accommodate 27 guests and has all the modern conveniences.

Jay