Crotch Lake Fishing/Camping weekend PIC heavy!!!

Post by **clown worship** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 6:20 pm

Second try at this report as the large sting of expletives deleted computer crashed just as I was trying to post version 1.

This weekend Badger Shark, his cousin Jeff and I camped on the crown land up at crotch lake. Badger and I headed up on Thursday and Jeff met us on Friday evening.

Thursday afternoon we got our permits, loaded up the boat and launched at Tumblehome, (thank-you again Ward!)

We found a nice site at the point before the narrows and set up our stuff. By the time we got back on the water, it was already pretty late. Badger managed a small walleye on his first cast. We had some hits but were only able to eventually boat this guy just before we packed it in for the evening.

On Friday we motored over to Fawn Lake and had limited success...

And this little cannibalistic glutton

We hit a few more but nothing pic worthy before we headed to the main lake to pick Jeff and his gear up at the launch. Once Jeff was on board we did some trolling, we had a few hits and 3 lost at the boat, disappointing but it was a beautiful night to be on the water.

We went back to the campsite for a late dinner and some 'beverages.'

After Breakfast on Saturday we went back to Fawn Lake for some slop fishing and a bit of trolling.

We had a few more bass and a couple of small pike. Most notably Jeff's little toothy guy which is the first real fish he's caught in a LONG time. No pic of that one due to a miscommunication that caused a premature release, (pretty diplomatic eh Badger

)

As evening hit we trolled the main lake and had quite a few hits, and misses but were only able to boat this guy.

His name is Wally and he was delicious with Sunday's Breakfast!

We even erected a flag in his honour...

Silly but fun

We packed up the site on Sunday and headed back to the launch. Jeff had plans so after we packed up the vehicles he took off. Badger and I headed back out for a little more fishing.

We tried to entice some LM or pike out of some very promising looking driftwood and debris with no real luck so we started trolling.

We could hear thunder in the distance and there were some pretty ominous storms all around us...

We debated leaving then Badger caught this nice one...

We decided to keep trolling and see what the weather brought. WOW are we ever glad we did

Over the next 1.5 hours we caught 8 walleye, 6 pike, 5 LMB and a smallie.

The first double header, Badger's is the bigger one.

Second double header, this time mine is the bigger 'eye'

We ended up in some pretty insane weather but how could we leave?
After a while I said we should only take pics of trophy fish because the camera was getting wet and we were wasting valuable catching time. We would have caught more if we could've got our lines back in the water faster. We had uncountable hits and lost a few at the boat. We could've used 2 more people 1 to drive and 1 to man the camera!

After the storm the bite slowed but we got to see this.

What's at the end of the rainbow?

Apparently the best fishing we've ever experienced.

We stuck around trolling for a bit longer, caught a few including this guy.

Late Sunday we pulled the boat out and headed home.
Overall a spectacular weekend at crotch!

Eric
AKA clown worship

Post by **Grimace** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 6:34 pm

Awesome report and really cool scenery pics.

I once named a walleye " Pickeral Pete"

Post by **Badger Shark** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 6:37 pm

This was by far the most spectacular fishing we have had on Crotch Lake. Sunday was hit after hit after hit. We couldnt keep up and all of this was on about 100yrds of a stretch of water. Everything was there. We have fished this particular spot and never have been let down. But this is the first time the majority have been walley.

The weather was crazy as it seems to always be when we are there but it obvioudly was the reason the fish turned on. We apparently were the only people out on the lake during this time, probably not the smartest thing but we just couldnt leave with strike after strike. Eventually the bite slowed and we headed back towards the lodge trolling and we go one more walleye in the boat and lost one. So I think it was actually 9 eyes in the boat. And what Clown was refering to with the first pike my cousin caught, they were holding it up to take a picture and I was driving the boat , I heard the camera and the pike fell on the floor so I thought they had finished taking the pic and he fell, so I picked it up and tossed it back. WOOPS!!!!!!! They hadnt got the picture he fell before they could get the shot. And Ididnt hear the end of it for a while as they laughed at my stupidity. I'm sorry Jeffery, we will just have to get another one in two weeks when we are there for the whole week, cant wait. Hope everyone enjoys the pics, we just couldnt believe we were actually in the end of the rainbow and there is gold in the form of lots of fish.

Post by **eye-tracker** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 7:44 pm

Pre-storm fishing for walleye can be amazing, just be careful out there as no fish or good bite is worth drowning over.

Great report and glad to see all the great pictures.

-sheldon

Post by **clown worship** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 8:25 pm

Pre-storm fishing for walleye can be amazing, just be careful out there as no fish or good bite is worth drowning over.

Absolutely!
The wind never got up on us though and we figured worse case scenario we were 100 feet from shore and could beach the boat and wait it out.

Post by **wolfe** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 8:56 pm

That was a really fun report. The accompanying pictures made it even better. Gotta laugh at the memorial note to "Wally".

Thanks for taking the time to post (and REpost!) the report. It was a great read.

Sounds as though you guys had an exceptional time.

W.

Post by **Badger Shark** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 1:34 am

Hi Sheldon, we aint no dummies. We had a plan in case things got real nasty. I had a spot picked out long before the storm was even there, I always keep an eye on the sky as I do have very good knowledge of weather, its kinda been an obsession of mine since I was a kid, and I am very good at reading storms and weather patterns. Always a good idea to look around and see whats available to ride something out if it does get serious. Two weeks ago I got caught slacking waiting for a storm on shore and my car has nice chips in the clearcoat from the golfball size hail. We still probably should have beached because of the lightning. The wind didnt worry me as much as that. Anyway what a nice catch we ended up with. In two weeks hopefully we will have more of the same.

Thanks for the help.

Post by **ToadhunTer** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 2:01 am

You say you motored back to Fawn Lake? Hard to believe the water is that high. I imagine Ont Hydro will have something to do with that before I head up in Sept.

Post by **Badger Shark** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 2:16 am

Yep the water was 7-8 feet some points were as shallow as 5.5 feet but still enough water to fly through. I had no problems. Hopefully it stays high enough for the next three weeks , so we can try to repeat the success we had.

Post by **Iceman** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 6:22 am

Now that's a post.

Lots of great pics, thanks.

Post by **blackbear** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 6:54 am

Great report, It seems like access to fawn is open longer this year, In june I marked a lot of fish in Fawn but they would not bite. All the action was in the main lake. What were you trolling with ? Harness or cranks.

Post by **Gord** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 11:28 am

Cool report lads!

......only one thing........SMILE!!!!!

Post by **clown worship** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 1:24 pm

blackbear wrote:Great report, It seems like access to fawn is open longer this year, In june I marked a lot of fish in Fawn but they would not bite. All the action was in the main lake. What were you trolling with ? Harness or cranks.

We hit everything trolling on crankbaits. If I remember correctly both the late evening walleye I caught were on a Big 'O' with flashers in front and a sinker 4 feet in front of that to get it down to about 16-18 feet. Those were both on the main lake.

On Sunday (in Fawn Lake,) Badger hit the first couple on an original floating Rap so I switched to something very similar, blue with white bellies seemed to be the colour of the day.

Eric,
AKA clown worship

Post by **nywalleye2** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 1:44 pm

Nice report, some good walleyes there. I hope the walleye are biting next week while im up at big gull.

Post by **Badger Shark** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 2:01 pm

Sorry for the lack of smiling, but we both are even goofyer looking when we do. And another reason we were in just a bit of a hurry to get our lines back in the water so the pics were quick. But I will try to make a more conscious effort next time. Also for 27yrs of my life I had really bad teeth so I would always hide my smile even when laughing, I had extensive reconstructive surgery a few years ago but its hard to change something that was etched into my head for so long. Sorry but the smiling thing is a touchy subject for me. As for Clown , cant speak to that. I will definitely make more of an effort.