My 11lb 8 oz Lake Trout

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Mike the 'Tender
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My 11lb 8 oz Lake Trout

Post by Mike the 'Tender »

Hey Y'all,

It's been a while since I've been on here, mainly because I've been laying tracks all over the province. For the first week of August, I was able to go fishing at my Dad's friend Tony's hunt camp, which has a lake loaded with Rainbows and the odd Laker. On Tuesday morning, the 2st of August, my dad landed an 8 lb lake trout, and could not stop talking about it. It was the largest laker caught since 1979, when a 15 lb 9 oz behemoth was pulled out. My dad was adament that no fish caught this year would come close to his Laker.

My Dad's Laker
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That night, I took Tony's friend Tim out, and he brings his line in, just as the motor runs out of gas. I decide to leave my line in the water and as I'm filling the gas tank, a rainbow hits! I yell at Tim to grab my rod, and he brings in the first rainbowhe ever caught, coming in at just under 2 lbs.

Tim (with his sons, Ryan and Sammy) and his Rainbow
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After cleaning Tim's rainbow, my dad is boasting about how big his fish is. I told him that I'd catch a bigger one tomorrow. I didn't know that I was going to be right. Tim and I made plans to go out the next morning. The lodge was stinkin' hot that night, so I stayed up all night, and woke Tim at about quarter to five. We get out, and after a good couple hits and Tim losing a fish, I hook into something at about 6:30 am. Tim thought I was snagged, because I was pulling the boat, but I was convinced I had a fish on. All of the sudden, a big run down to the bottom of the lake. I just about shat myself and loosened the drag right off because I was only using 6 lb test. When the run was done, I tightened it again and gained up my line. According to Tim, there was three more runs, and three more times of me regaining line. The third time, I see bubbles come up to the surface. At that time I knew it was a laker. I keep reeling and see the one of the biggest fish in my life. At this point I started to hyperventilate. After another few minutes or wrangling, I'm able to get the fish close enough to the boat for Tim to net it.

My Laker
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Tim and I race back to the lodge and put the fish in the fish room. We measure it, and it came in at 28" (72 cm) and we had to use the bathroom scale to weigh it. The scientific scale only went up to 8 lbs. Tim and I both went on the scale three times, took down our weights, then went back on with the fish three times each, and the average weight came out to 11 lbs. 8 oz. I'm betting the people who come in from Sir Sanford Fleming to record the record book for their biology class will have a field day over it.

We decide to head back out, but the adrenaline rush has me so wiped out I could barely keep the boat straight.

The total fish for the week were 14 kept rainbow and lakers and a boatload of released smallmouth bass.
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Gord
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Post by Gord »

That's a beauty laker Mike!! Congrats dude! :D :)
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Braeside
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Big Laker

Post by Braeside »

Obviously these folks were not fishing at Round Lake! :x
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Mike the 'Tender
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Post by Mike the 'Tender »

Braeside, It's a private lake near Huntsville. It's stocked every year by Sir Sanford Fleming College with Rainbows, and it has natural Rainbows, Speckles, Lakers, and the very, very elusive Brown.
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Post by JimmyBuffett »

A dandy Chunk for sure :wink: Good ol' kwikfish eh? :)

Cheers,

Rich
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Mike the 'Tender
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Post by Mike the 'Tender »

Rich,

The Kwikfish is good, but I find the Flatfish is better. The Flatfish using gang hooks (a spreader bar [wire] holding two smaller hooks away from the body of the lure instead of a larger single front hook) gives the Flatfish a wider wobble, and becomes more enticing. The spreader bar also gives better hooksets if the hit is in the middle of the lure as the hooks are away from the body. It's the only thing that differentiates a Flatfish from a Kwikfish. They're (both Flatfish and Kwikfish) all we use there, but the big fish seem to prefer the Flatfish. I used the 3 1/4" (U20) Frog coloured Flatfish and I swear I wouldn't have caught that fish without the spreader bar. If you click on the pic of me, you can sort of see the other hook on the gill plate. If you want to look into buying a couple, it'd probably be easier to just buy them from the Yakima Bait Co. online. I have a real time trying to find any sizes I use here in Ottawa, and same goes for my Dad in T.O.

Good fishing Rich

-Mike
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Post by Dartee »

Nice fish..sounds like you guys had a good time..

Flatfish ....mmmm! I've got a pair in my box that haven't seen water in a few years...May have to give them a try next time I'm out for Lakers.
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Post by wolfe »

Mike, that is a fantastic laker. I'll bet it wasn't your usual insomnia keeping you up later that night, but residual adrenaline. :lol:

W.
Thanks, Dad, for taking me fishing when I was a kid.
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baz fish
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Post by baz fish »

Nice laker Mike congratualtion.
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Post by Bear »

And I'll bet your Dads jaw hit the floor when you showed him up :?: :?: :lol: :lol: nice fish Mike :wink:
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Post by joco »

what a good reports...... :o

that a great fishing storys............and what a size lakers....... :shock: .

CONG MIKE.way to go......


you call me anytime to go for lakers,,,,,,,,,, :wink: :lol:


joco... :D
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Mike the 'Tender
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Post by Mike the 'Tender »

Thanks guys,

Wolfe, the insomnia seems to be gone. I'm just checking in before I go to bed, there's no stress to keep me up, lol. Hence the late time I'm on. If I'm on late again, it's because I'm too damn hot.

Bear, I've never seen him get up so fast when I ran into his and my mom's room that morning looking for that digital camera and telling him I had a fish that made his look like a minnow, haha. :lol:

Dartee, Trolling, Casting, letting the run in the current of a river. I've never had a time when a flatfish hasn't produced something for me.

Joco, I caught that laker in the same place my dad did, oddly enough, with a 20 - 30 foot bottom. I wasn't using weights, steel line or nuthin'. The fishin' gods came through for me that day, lol (I'm grinin' like an idiot in that pic ain't I :lol: :lol:)

-Mike
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Kpin
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Post by Kpin »

Way to go Mike! Would have loved to see the old mans face when he saw your prize! :lol:
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Pints
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Post by Pints »

Congratulations, thats a beauty for sure.
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nywalleye2
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Post by nywalleye2 »

Congrats nice laker
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