Round Whitefish Rippin'

 Crazy times call for crazy measures? Border closures, curfews, and constantly changing restrictions have really limited the fishing opportunities here, so Alex and I made the crazy decision to drive 12 hours, fish for 8 hours, and then drive all the way back... no sleep! Well, it was worth it.

I hatched the plan when I was at work a couple weeks prior, a way to maximize our fishing time all while beating the Quebec curfew and taking all precautions to avoid contact as we travelled. Driving overnight both ways allowed us to travel a long distance without having to spend a night anywhere. The destination: Lake Superior, the target: Round Whitefish.

We arrived just before sunrise and Alex took a quick nap before we set out to our desired fishing spot, starting the day in about 10ft of water. We fished for a few hours and saw very few fish, and certainly no Whitefish :( The highlights were a big Lake Trout Alex hooked and a monster Rainbow that slurped up my jig... but both popped off.

As the day warmed up, a nearby pressure crack started making lots of noise so we made the call to move shallower in case the ice sheet should decide to separate. We were glad we did, within hours it was wide-open water!

The move also proved fruitful fish-wise. We started seeing more fish come in and pay interest to our lures. Of course, all the big fish threw the hook. I think our ultralight Whitefish setups simply didn't have the backbone to keep them pinned. Then, after disappointingly dropping yet another Lake Trout, a slim shadow of a fish darter across the bottom and picked up my jig. I set the hook and immediately noticed that this was something smaller. In fact, I was freaking out and yelling "this feels small, this feels small"! Luckily, the fish in question was my much-desired Round Whitefish :)

Round Whitefish

That makes it one more QC species checked off my list. For those who don't know, the whole reason I got into lifelisting was to catch every species in my home province; I'm now at 107/111.

The trip wasn't over yet, Alex still had two potential lifers to catch! She kept fishing hard and saw two more Whitefish move in to investigate the lures. Unfortunately, both eventually spooked before shw could hook them properly. As the sun started to near the horizon, it was time to leave and make the long drive back home.