Fishing Crotch Lake

Post by **lester** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 9:25 pm

ANyone fished Crotch Lake this Sept?

Post by **Badger Shark** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 11:13 pm

Clown Worship and I are heading there tomorrow for the 4 day derby. Hope the bite is on for us, its the first time we have entered a derby. I have been told the trolling in the morning and in the evening has been good but the jigging a little slow. We have always done well trolling period for everything.

Iwill post when we get back on how it went.

Post by **ToadhunTer** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 8:36 am

I'll be there on Friday afternoon.

Post by **blackbear** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 10:33 am

Just got back from 8 days fishing Crotch lake, Jigging worked but was a little slow this fall. The trolling with lead core was good in the evenings and mornings, lots of slot fish trolling. Bass were holding deep but caught 1 horse trolling @ 30 fow 21" 6+ lbs

Post by **The Legend** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 2:09 pm

thanks blackbear---I may head up there in 3rd week in October,any spots you can pick out from the map project that I can try for?

where did you stay at the lodge? if so how was it?

Post by **Badger Shark** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 2:33 pm

Well Clown and I are back from Crotch and it was a very poor outing for the both of us considering our past success this year. We didnt weigh in a fish, we caught some but all were to small. Only 3 bass caught the biggest was 1.6 lbs so I tossed it back. The winning bass was 3lbs and a bit, not alot. The biggest walley was 6lbs 9oz, nice fish. The whole 4 day derby only 12 walleye and 6 bass were weighed in out of 69 people to give you an idea how slow the fishing was. Only apparently there were alot of slot fish caught. I caught 5 walleye and 3 bass, 4 of the walleye were only about 13 to 15 inch range so no point in weighing and the 5 was a nice 19.5 slot fish that weighed close to 3 lbs(fat fish). Oh well we still love going to tumblehome and we will keep going back. Oh if it were a pike derby we would have done really well because they were biting all over the place. And the bass were definitely deep. Every other time we are there no prob. catching bass and decent walleye. If we were not in the derby we probably would have caght lots of fish.

Post by **blackbear** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 8:22 pm

Hi Legend, My wife and I stayed at land o lakes lodge , the best spots were up lake for us Gull rock and three sisters then down lake off honeymoon island and the water from Colonel to green islands. most fish were around humps during day light but would suspend in deeper water around cisco schools, trolling around the cisco schools was good in the evenings. We were up at the time of the derby, we did not fish in it, Sat. night was a night mare, every time we netted a walleye 5-6 boats would move in around us. We had boats trolling right across our lines or in front of us , i think they thought we were fishing the derby and didn't want us boating fish and not them. Best spots for now are the humps, let us know how you do Legend.

Post by **Badger Shark** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 3:41 am

Hi blackbear, you definitely are right about some of the poor ettiquette shown by other boaters on the lake this past week, we had boats come as close as 20 feet of us at some points, most of the time this lake is very good with people staying clear of eachother and respecting space. I hate it when you catch something and others move towards you. Automatically I guess if they move within a few feet of you they will catch fish. I dont put up with this and usually will say something. We were forced off our troll several times by boats that just headed straight for us and didnt seem to have the intention of moving. With alot of boats trolling the same areas I try to see a pattern and go away from it so I dont get caught up in the pack and what drives me more insane are the morons who sit out there with little or no lights, the last time I was there I almost ran right over a little aluminum with 4 people in it sitting right in the path of where the boats head back to the lodges, luckily I thought there was something odd in the water and turned at the last second or they would have been toast as I have a much larger boat travelling at 35 mph, and yes I have a very large spot light which helps. It turns out these people were in a rental which are not supposed to be out after dark and I reported them to the lodge owners who then had some stern words for them. Anyway I will still go to Crotch lake often as I love the lake itself and the lodge owners are wonderful people.(Tumblehome)

Post by **blackbear** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 2:15 am

I also had run in's with boats with no lights, I had one up lake near gull rock that was trolling near me well after dark. I stopped fishing when I almost hit him, lucky I was going slow. and the water in front of tumblehome out to the first point always has boats sitting out there after dark with no lights, Its a good thing Tumblehome is so well lit so they stand out or some one could get killed

Post by **barblessbob** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 6:26 am

i spent many a night on crotch lake

did anyone try fishing the narrows??
how about stromy point??

have you hit any jumbo perch??

i got to get their next summer
haven't been their in 6 yrs

beautiful place

nofish

Post by **blackbear** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 9:09 am

Hi no fish --- No narrows fishing was slow this sept. Caught some jumbo perch in deep water weed beds. We had 2 nice big fish frys last week at our lodge ( Walleye and perch) we did pretty good with the gang we fish with. My wife and I had a great time, lead core worked best for us followed by jigging. like I said earlier Bass fishing was of was off, They were down deep. got one nice one trolling for eyes 21". Good luck if you go back, We will be back next May and Sept.

Post by **Badger Shark** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 11:55 am

Blackbear now that I have seen your pics I remember seeing you there, too bad I didnt know who you were before or we could have met up. We will be going back often every year so mabe next time and nice fish by the way.

Post by **barblessbob** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 1:56 pm

crotch lake was a lake trout lake at one time
there are still some trout in the lake
not really catchable but incidentals do occur

did anyone boat one??

with your lead core line you would have been close

we boated all our perch on the weeds
ohhh sooo tasty

nofish

Post by **Badger Shark** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 2:31 pm

I have yet to see ar hear about trout on this lake. How deep would you have been trolling with you leadcore blackbear? And were you trolling deep divers?

Post by **blackbear** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 8:07 pm

Hi guys, I know 1 laker was caught last year ice fishing . I saw the photo on Ontario's awards site, I have never caught one on this lake. We were running our lead core out 5 colores for 25 ft most times . The deepest we fished was 30ft, we used Shallow divers 3-5 ft mostly Rapala's. With 5 colors (150 ft) and the shallow divers they would run around 28 ft, I know because trolling over some humps 29 ft was ok but at 28 we would tap bottom which was good to stir up the eye's and cause fish on, but bad on the lures ( lost a few) they liked the bottom taps. and you are right about Perch they sure taste good. Walleye and perch are the best eating fish in my eye's. Badger Shark I hope to run in to you next year, good fishing till then. My wife and I are getting ready to head out to Lake powell in AZ. UT. for some Oct. striper fishing and I can't wait.