Fishing 2006
Don Charbonneau has worked has a wilderness and fishing guide for many years. He has taken people fishing on a number of lakes and rivers in the Wawa area.
Michipicoten Bay on Lake Superior had a wonderful population of salmon that lasted for a number of years. Don operated his North Water salmon charters on Lake Superior - until the salmon finally ate up all the smelt and moved on...so did Don. You will find him fishing on inland lakes and he will be returning to the Whitefish and Manitowick Lake systems for the summer of 2006 where he will once again ply these waters in search of fish and perhaps new inspiration for his songs.
"... I fished Lake Superior on a 1965 22 foot Starcraft . I loved this boat, it was perfect for salmon and laketrout fishing - lots of room and excellent on the big waves. Unfortunately this old boat broke down more often than not and actually caught fire a couple of times! Marina owner Brad Buck came out to tow me in on many an occasion!..." You can listen to the song "Three Sisters/Water coming in" by clicking >> on the music player. This song is on Don's first CD "Songs From The Coastline / Safe Harbour"- it tells the story about this old fishing boat.
February 18 2007 ` Hi everyone and thanks for visiting my website. I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be doing another fishing page for the upcoming season.
I will probably start posting sometime in early May 2007 and will start with mid spring Rainbow, Northern pike and Lake Trout fishing .
At that time I will put this photo story diary of 2006 as a sub page and will have a link to it on this page.
Wishing everyone a great season - keep your line in the water , stay safe and bring a kid fishing!
Fantastic October Walleye and Pike Fishing!
I had the opportunity this year to fish late into September right on through to the middle of October ...with excellent results.
Bigger walleyes were feeding on leeches and minnows ...a simple natural presentation on a slip bobber tricked a lot of nice size walleyes.
The Wawa area has a lot of great walleye lakes and rivers and with a little patience (warm clothing and lots of hot coffee) the results are just fantastic! Try having shore lunch on a crisp October day!...a great experience!
End of August to September 20th
Wow! what a season this has been - one of the best fishing season's I've had in over twenty years!
I had the opportunity to meet many new guests here at Totomenai and a chance to visit with old friends.
The leaves are changing colours and the temparature is getting a little cooler and another season is ending.
Thanks to everyone who came up here this summer - have a good fall and winter and perhaps when the loons return so will you. I had a great time.
July 27th to August 20th / 06
I finally had my keyboard fixed on my computer and now can update my fishing report on Whitefish and Manitowick Lake!
The fishing was great and a fair number of bigger walleyes , bass and Laketrout were caught and released!
Bass fishing continues to be strong and many of these fighters are being caught in the traditional walleye feeding areas with live bait rigged out on bobbers.
The big Lakers are being caught jigging in about 75' feet of water . My favourite lure is still the Northern King C-5 silver, silver/orange/chartreuse and the Heydon weight forward jigs are also working well.
One of the biggest northerns this year was caught trolling on my boat by Matt. This 12lb fish hit a hammered gold go-ghetter tipped with a leech while trolling for walleyes at the north end in Big Stoney Creek.
Temperatures are falling and fall is just around the corner. The walleyes will be going just a little deeper to feed. Trolling is now going to be very important. Chartreuse and red crawler harnesses will work well as well a hot and tots . It's important to slow down the trolling speed at this time of year.
The fishing this week was excellent - including the river. The smallmouth bass fishing in the river is the best I have seen in weeks. Many good size smallies have been caught and released !
This weeks fishing tip: Trolling worked really well out on the lake this week. I used crawler harnesses and my favourite live bait trolling rig " the go-ghetter" - this single blade spinner rig only has one hook and works well with a leach. I let out about sixty feet of line when I'm trolling with the gas motor and I use a shorter lead when trolling with the electric motor.
I used a small snap swivel ( this prevents line twist) and fasten a # 2 split shot just above it. Make sure you put the motor in neutral once in a while as this will allow your rig to get to the bottom where the walleyes are feeding. Good Luck!
July 15 to 19th
Stormy weather fishing at Totomenai!
This week saw some unsettled weather here on Whitefish Lake. We had thunderstorms roll in with some heavy rain. This type of weather normally slows down the fishing but not so this week.
We were out on the water a few hours after a storm blew over and the walleyes were on the "heavy chew". (chew: feeding fish!) These fish were feeding in 10' to 12' feet of water and were caught jigging, trolling and anchored on slip bobbers. Leeches were working the best and green Go-Ghetters seemed to work the best - drifting and trolling.
I had a guided trip that produced a 3lb. small mouth and a number of 18" + walleyes one at 25" - all caught trolling.
Totomenai's newest guide Noel had some successful trips this week - his guests were all wearing the big walleye smiles.
July 8th to July12
lake trout A salmonoid fish (Salvelinus namaycush) of the Great Lakes region of North America, somewhat resembling the brook trout but having red or paled spots on the sides: also called laker, mamaycush, salmon trout, togue, tuladi. (Funk and Wagnalls Dictionary)
July 8th 1917 Canadian Artist and Fishing Guide Tom Thomson is lost on Canoe Lake Algonquin Park
Eighty nine years ago today, well known Canadian wilderness artist drowned on Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park.
Thomson worked as a fishing guide and painted some of his more famous work not far from his favourite fishing holes.
His passion was Laketrout and he was one of the best Laker fisherman in Algonquin. He used wire line spooled up on a "banjo" and made up his own lake trout lures.
He was last scene leaving Mowat's Lodge on Canoe Lake in the early morning of July 8th 1917 - he was letting out line and working his lure as "...he paddled out of sight and into another life..."( words from the song "Ballad of Tom Thomson" on Don Charbonneau's "Wildwood/Through Tom's Eyes CD) you can listen to this song here on this page.
July 1st to July 5th
I did a lot of trolling this week both in our river system and out on the lake - Go-ghetters tipped with a leech and crawler harnesses proved irresistible to our walleye population and up in the river we trolled golden hot and tots (blue and orange also worked well) and both the walleyes and smallies responded to these baits.
I saw moose and bear in the water this week and would like to remind everyone to give these animals plenty of room if seen in the water. Coming too close to them increases their level of stress and can create problems for these wonderful wild creatures.
Hot lures: Golden Hot and Tots and the old standard crawler harnesses and Go-ghetters.
June 24th to June 28th
The smallmouth bass fishing was just excellent and the walleyes seemed to come on strong later in the evening although some of our early risers (5am to 8am) did well on the river.
Some nice Laketrout in the 6lb to 10lb range were caught jigging in 70' to 90' of water. I had Terry and his cousin Darryl on a laketrout trip and both caught fish. Terry released an eight pounder!(this was Terry and Darryl's first time jigging for Laketrout and both enjoyed the type of fishing.)
Highlights this week: Barbara and her husband Don both had walleye smiles after a successfull trip. Hubby Don landed a 24" walleye on a slip bobber - congratulations to this senior fishing team!
Hot Lures: For smallmouth bass Mepps spinners (white and yellow bodies) and tiger body baits worked great.
Silver/Red C-5's jigged over 70' of water proved to be the hot Laketrout lure this week!
Boat safety: I was out on the water on a boat belonging to one of our guests and noticed that he was missing some important safety equipment, such as paddles and proper life jackets. Check your equipment before heading out on the water- make sure you have enough gas.
Try putting on a life jacket in the water - I tried this and it's very difficult!
June 17/06 to June 22/06
Lake Trout season is in full swing
I had my first laketrout charter this week and it proved to be successful - (no pictures available for this trip as I had a problem with my camera!) These are wild native laketrout (not to be confused with the great lakes lake trout - these fish are exciting to catch and taste great!) and are angled in over 50' of water jigging small spoons - they can also be caught trolling with jointed raps and various laker spoons.
"This is better than yelling Bingo"... this comment came from Tootsie after landing her 25 " walleye. Her daughter- in - law Michelle landed a 21 inch walleye a few minutes later - She got so excited I was worried that she might have her baby a little sooner than expected - I'm sure new daughter and grandaughter will enjoy fishing as much as mom and grandma!
Highlight of the week: A 27 inch + walleye was caught and released by returning guest Howard - congratulation Howard for releasing that fish with no picture to prove it!( I estimated this walleye to weigh around 8lbs.)
Largest fish by woman angler: goes to Tootsie with her 25" walleye.
Hot Lures: Laketrout NK-C5 silver - jointed gold rap
June 10th to 14th
I got back on Saturday morning and a cold wind was still blowing out of the North. Cold weather was back (this front stayed with us most of the week) and it was a challenge to stay warm!
Usually a cold front will slow down the fishing and seems like the walleyes grow "little zippers" on their mouths - not so this week! The walleyes seemed to enjoy the cold and were on the "chew" big time and a number of 18"+ fish were caught and many were released!
Warmer weather rolled in and we were at a balmy 21C by wednesday afternoon. When I returned to camp Steve (one of our dock boys)took advantage of the warm weather and went for a swim off the dock - I decided to test the waters and found it quite refreshing. Some of our guest in cabin # 1 took the plunge and for some it was their first time in swimming in Canadian waters!
Highlights this week: An 11 lb. Northern was caught along with a 25" Walleye. The Northern was caught on a silver spoon and the walleye on a go-ghetter.
Hot lure: single blade and hook "Go-ghetter" (tipped with a leach) any colours seemed to work well drift-trolling and motor trolling.
May 24 to June 8th
The weather turned cold on the weekend and we had snow Sunday morning and evening on Whitefish Lake. The walleyes came on strong in the morning and evening but slowed down when the temperature dropped.
Some of the fishermen that braved the weather and some went into town to buy gloves, winter hats and longjohns. I took a couple of our older guests into one of our portage lakes and we did very well on trout and Northerns. I posted pictures of this trip - my son Noel gave us a hand to portage our gear and helped carry the fish out. Doctor John and friend Bob (82 and 80 years old) made the trip!
There was some nice fish caught this week - a couple of Northerns in the 30 inch range were landed. My brother Rick Charbonneau landed (and released) a 24 inch walleye. Everyone seemed to have a good time and most went home with their limit.
The river fishing proved to be just fantastic. The high water made all those deep holes accessible above the first rapid and the walleyes were on the 'chew'!!!
I noticed that a few smallmouth bass were taken (and released) and looks likes the bass are doing very well and I'm looking forward to a good season for this excellent fighting fish - season opens on June the 15th as well as all the sanctuaries on Whitefish and Manitowick Lake including the river.
It was nice to see so many new guest catching and releasing the bigger walleyes this past week - the saying..."the future of fishing is in our hands"... was quite apparent - congratulations.
The fishing right now is the best I've seen it in years. The Northerns are a little slow but I suspect this will change with all this nice weather we've been having.
Highlights: A five pound Lake Trout was caught at the dam - John junior caught the biggest walleye on my boat 25.5 inches, first shore lunch at the north end in a few years and the river was enjoyed by all who were there..
Best angler (or luckiest) : goes out to Norm - I think this guy could catch fish out of a bathtub! (He's got the the touch!)
Hot lures: Blue 1/4 ounce jig ( with white dot ) tipped with medium minnow or leech .
Catch and release specialist: Howard the vet (his real job - showing horses - thank God his wife has a real job!!!)
GPS guy : You'll never be lost , out of maps or smokes with Bob P. ( likes Canadian Folk Music- how strange!)
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Fantastic October Walleye Fishing!
Julie and Little Stony small mouth!
Randy and Steve - 18lbs of Laketrout
Randy fighting a big Laker!
Fog - Compass - Walleyes!
Waters of Life
By Don Charbonneau
I make my home
in the waters of this land
the waters of life.
My journey is a transformation
Sometimes I swim in these waters
Sometimes I walk on sacred ground
From one life to another
My Spirit to yours.
~ End ~
Earth Rhythms
by Don Charbonneau
Earth you are my mother
Earth, you are my friend
Your fire gives me warmth
and your water quenches my thirst.
In love and reverence I walk
upon your sweet face.
~ End ~
Spirit in Flight (Eagle)
by Don Charbonneau
I've flown over your woodlands
I've flown over your lakes
Your parents and grandparents
have seen me in my travels.
Listen to their songs and stories
as I fly into your dreams.
My flight is the flight of freedom.
~ End ~
Compass of The Heart
by: Don Charbonneau
As I paddle the waters
Of this inland sea
In my fragile craft – to my destiny
I leave no trace of my passage
Through time
Surrounded by the dragon’s breath
I am not afraid to lose my way.
I take refuge in my compass
As it points true to my Creator’s heart.
I find myself again on solid ground.
~ End ~
Nice Bass!
Bass returned to water!
Two Days at the North End of Manitowick
I Love October!
Big October Walleyes!
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