FINDING OPEN WATER FORAGE FOR TROPHY SUMMERTIME SUCCESS
Every fall, I would head up to Tobin Lake to key in on a late fall run of walleye into the river system. That changed over the years as the bite in the 12 kilometres section of the river from Nipawin slowed considerably. Adapting, we started coming during July, with nicer weather and better fishing! In fact, an incredible bite for the most part. It wasn’t in the river though; it was in the main lake.
THE KEY TO SUCCESS
Not every day was hot and heavy to begin with but with some adjustments it could become spectacular. My friend Boyd Holmen and I had been fishing for about 4 hours one July day with two small walleyes to show for it. About noon we had had enough and put the boat in gear and decided to look around. We came upon a huge flock of birds which included sea gulls, pelicans and mergansers feeding on baitfish.
HUGE CLOUDS OF BAITFISH
The depth finder showed a huge school of bait down 20 feet with some large marks mixed in. Quickly tying on some deep diving crankbaits, we put the boat in gear and started trolling through the school. Not three minutes later I had a monster fish on. Sure enough a trophy Tobin Lake pike came to the surface. Three large pike later we decided to move. Normally we would have stayed but we were fishing a walleye tournament so that wasn’t going to work.
Having found this pattern, we didn’t give up on it. We headed back down the lake where we had spotted another flock of birds doing the same thing. As we pulled up a sea gull lifted off water, a big Cisco dangling out of its mouth!
Boyd and I watched his electronics closely and suddenly we started marking big fish on or near the bottom. This gave us hope that they would be walleye. Dropping bottom bouncers and spinners we soon started catching big walleye one after another.
SUMMERTIME CISCO PATTERN
With the advent of the hot weather, insect hatches have become intense on our lakes, rivers, and streams. This pattern should hold for most of this month and anglers should key in on it if they want to catch trophy fish of all species. Ciscoes exist in many of our lakes across western Canada, growing to a maximum size of 40 centimetres and an age of 10. They are easy to spot when surface feeding with a dorsal fin that becomes very visible when they are up scooping insects. Lake trout, walleye, northern pike, burbot and even channel catfish will feast on these high protein fish when given the opportunity.
While the cisco can be difficult to catch, not so the predators that are after them. One of the best methods is to troll with crankbaits to cover water and contact active fish.
CISCO RIG
Slow trolling with a cisco rig also works well. This is a tandem hook setup with a single hook through the jaw of the cisco and a treble in the lateral line. Add a rubber core sinker above the steel leader that the hooks are rigged on and you are in business. You must move the boat slowly though, so the cisco or other bait you have on slowly rolls in the water.
Ciscoes can be hard to find as bait though, so another great option is trolling or casting large swimbaits, seven inches or bigger. You need to get these big toothy creatures attention and big rubber gets the job done. You just need to adjust the weight of the jig head to the depth you are seeing the fish on the depth finder.
With the advent of live imaging, several anglers are using it with great effect for this particular pattern. If you don’t have it, no problem, with these tips you can still get the job done.
SUMMER CISCOE ON A FLY ROD
If you spot one area with a lot of surface feeding activity, I like to cast out a big streamer fly on my eight-weight fly rod, slowing stripping it back to the boat about a metre below the surface. White is an obvious choice, though a cisco is not a bright silver like a goldeye. It has a greyish, green appearance with some more intense silver colouration toward the tail. The cisco and shortjaw cisco differ from lake whitefish in mouth configuration, with what biologists call a terminal mouth.