The 401 - Southern Ontario

So this summer Alexis and I decided to plan a lifelisting trip into southern Ontario to track down a few species we had yet to catch. As road trips in southern Ontario tend to go, we essentially planned a road trip down the 401. I didn't take many scenery photos (there isn't much to see), but here's some of the fish we caught!

The first stop was in Guelph where we met up with fellow lifelister Ken to try for some new darter species in a local river. The water was cold and clear, and micros were everywhere. We easily caught Rainbow and Blackbanded Darters, and then spent some time focusing on the more picky Greenside Darters. Eventually we caught all our target lifers :)

Blackbanded Darter

Greenside Darter

Rainbow Darter

Alexis also caught his lifer Fantail Darter, River Chub, and Mottled Sculpin. A productive spot, to say the least!

Next, we hit up a couple random spots and added two more new species, the Western Blacknose Dace and the Striped Shiner. Both were pretty quick to catch once we located them.

Western Blacknose Dace

Striped Shiner

We continued picking our way west as night fell, and settled into some night fishing near the spot we planned on fishing in the morning. There weren't really any lifers available for me, but Alexis managed his first Yellow Bullhead and a cool Stonecat!

The next morning, we made short work of getting ready for the day so we could start fishing as soon as possible. The first target of the day was the White Crappie, a neme-fish of mine. Alexis ended up catching two in short order, but I struggled to catch anything that wasn't a sunfish. I worked my way around the spot and finally, right before we had to leave, I caught my Crappie!

White Crappie

From there, we pretty much zipped as far west as we could without crossing borders, to fish for some rarer species out around Windsor. Quickly, we caught some non-lifer, but always beautiful Lepomids.

Green Sunfish

Northern Sunfish

Tiring with the sunfish bait-stealers, we changed focus to our real target: the Spotted Sucker. It didn't take long before we spotted 3-4 of them rooting around in the weeds. They seemed to zone in on a particular clump of weeds, before losing interest and moving on. Despite our best efforts, making an adequate presentation was difficult and they seemed completely uninterested in our baits. After following them around for a good while, Alexis finally had one up close and feeding! He presented a small redworm perfectly, and the fish took the bait! A very difficult and rewarding lifer for him.

After he released the fish, I noticed it was acting a lot less finicky than the other individuals. It was a bit cheesed, but I was able to present my bait to it quite easily and re-catch his same fish for my lifer!

Spotted Sucker

Both thrilled with our catches, we moved on to our next target in the area: the Orangespotted Sunfish. Unfortunately, this species, and most of our other targets for the day, were not to be. We spent the day bouncing between spots with muddy water an generally catching nothing of interest. In the evening, Alexis spent some more time targeting catfish and caught his lifer Black Bullhead.

We slept on the shores of Lake Erie and woke up early for our third and final day. We met up with another lifelister, Kevin, who is an Ontario fishing specialist. We only had one target: the Grass Pickerel! A species I had failed to catch many times before finally catching it's close cousin the Redfin Pickerel.

We hopped spots along a stream we knew was supposed to be full of the Pickerel, but saw little. Finally, at a particularly nice-looking spot, I hooked up on the Esox using a small panfish jig. Of course, the fish popped off on the bank and flopped back into the water before I could get my hands on it. However, we kept fishing the same stretch of water and eventually Alexis had some luck with a spinner and got his lifer. I continued with the jig and caught one shortly after as well!

Grass Pickerel

Kevin wasn't so lucky, and we soon had to leave to make it back to Montreal at a reasonable hour. We said our goodbyes and wished him best of luck. Turns out, he caught his later that very same day.

That pretty much sums up our short jaunt into southern Ontario, with only a quick stop in Gananoque left on the way home. We were looking for invasive Tubenose Gobies, but could only find tiny juveniles that we dipnetted. No hook & line lifer, yet!

Tubenose Goby

How to Find Wild Brook Trout

Nothing has people asking me for spots as much as posting photos of wild back-lake Brook Trout I search out every spring. Unfortunately, these are some of the only fish I won't share my spots for because I think finding them is half the fun. Having the spot given to you really ruins the adventure and the whole point of this fishing. So instead, here's the method I use for finding these fish, with an example from a random area in QC.

1. Choose the region you'd like to fish.

Basically, you need to start somewhere. I usually choose this based on preferred driving distance, some local knowledge, or most often, simply curiosity. Some good regions that are within a day's trip reach of Montreal include the Outaouais and Laurentians.

2. Find a more specific area.

This could be one of the harder steps, and local knowledge can go a long way to help stop you from "guessing and checking". In general, use satellite imagery such as Google or Bing Maps to find an area with lots of lakes away from main roads and highways. Avoid anywhere with national and provincial parks, ZEC's, etc. Try to find an area with plenty of crown land.

https://www.google.ca/maps

https://www.bing.com/maps/aerial

Generally, the further you get from the city, the better. That being said, I've caught some very respectable fish about an hour away from Montreal. The more you explore, the more ideas you'll get for areas to seek out!

This link takes you to QC's crown land map. It's a bit clunky but gets the job done once you get familiar with it.

https://appli-s.mern.gouv.qc.ca/Rde/Info/CarteInteractive

3. Pick out the "head lakes".

Use a topographical or altitude tool such as the one linked below to choose all the lakes at the highest altitude within your desired search area. The actual altitude value isn't as important as choosing the highest lakes around. These generally have colder water, fewer predators, and are more likely to hold native trout.

https://www.freemaptools.com/elevation-finder.htm

At this point, I'd recommending using Google MyMaps to start marking down all the lakes in question.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/

4. Try to identify deeper, smaller lakes.

Next, you'll want to identify all the lakes that appear deep enough to sustain a trout population. Use satellite imagery to look for lakes with solid dark colour in their centers, and steep drop-offs. It is sometimes helpful to check on both Google and Bing Maps to see which offers a better image resolution in your chosen area. Remove any lakes that appear too shallow, especially if you can see a large amount of weeds.

I also like to remove all the larger lakes, say anything more than a few kilometers across. These lakes can also have very good fishing, but generally take longer to figure out and are not in the scope of most of these trips.

5. Check the shore access, if applicable.

If you won't be portaging in any sort of watercraft, try to select the lakes that appear to have open shoreline, or boulders/cliffs to cast off of. A lake completely surrounded by dense tree makes the shore fishing much harder. Also check if there are any camps on the lake, which you would want to avoid. Delete the waypoints that don't correspond to good lakes.

6. Check for and formulate your access plan.

Find the nearest roads and plan your route for accessing the lake; Google Maps directions won't always be your best friend here! Choose the best-looking road that gets you closest to your lake, and keep an eye out for any smaller trails or creeks that could help you hike in the last bit.

You want to choose a lake that isn't so far into the bush that your life will be hell, but also isn't so accessible that it will be fished out. Assuming we're talking within a 3-hour radius of a big city, I wouldn't choose anywhere that has a road or ATV trail leading directly to the lake shore. a 300-1000m bushwhack seems to be the sweet spot for me.

7. Have a backup plan!

These lakes don't always work out! In fact, I find I have about a 50% success ratio on finding fish for every lake I explore using this method. Between unexpected private land, difficulty of access, wrong species, lakes being fished out, and just plain old tough fishing conditions... you can't expect to hit gold every time. Try to choose a couple lakes with different accesses to have as backup plan so your day isn't shot if your first choice doesn't work out. It's happened that I try for three different lakes in one day.

8. Final Check

Finally, make your plan of attack for the actual fishing, selecting the fishiest parts of the lakes. Don't forget to enjoy your adventures out in the woods, and hopefully you'll be rewarded with some beautiful, wild, native, backwoods fish!