Recently my brother and I took what we called a “scouting trip” to the French River, in preparation for two other trips we have planned to the area: our annual August “couples trip”, followed by my annual “Father / Sons / Friends” trip in September. Our scouting trip would be our first time fishing this water, which you may know is vast.
We arranged to stay at Totem Point Lodge, which is located on Wolseley Bay right on the French River. We came across this outfitter at the Toronto Sportsman Show. (As a side note, these types of shows are a great way to see a lot of different outfitters, and also to talk to the people who operate them.) Our scouting trip was to be a run and gun visit, with us arriving after dark on the Friday night, and then being on the road again the following day before dinner. To make the most use of our time, we hired a local guide and asked him to focus on Walleye locations, which he was all too happy to do!
Our guide (Roger) was waiting for us at the dock at 8:30a.m. sharp. I’d already spoken to him the week before, to ensure we had the right gear and tackle ready to go. We were using my boat so that I could use my electronics to mark as many way points as possible for later use. While the fish could well be in a different pattern by the time we come up next, these spots would give us good starting locations and a general understanding of how the fish behave in the area. The weather the night before had been heavy rain and thunderstorms, and our day on the water looked to be similar, minus the thunder. The winds had calmed somewhat, but the heavy cloud and rain stayed with us the entire day. Thankfully, I have no issue fishing in the rain, particularly if it’s a warm day.
As we drove from spot to spot, the one thing that struck me was the beauty of the area. The sharp rock drop-offs, the lush forests, the myriad of islands and shoals. Everywhere you looked there was an abundance of scenery, and fishing habitat. As we moved from location to location, we slowly added to our live well. We were counting on having a traditional shore lunch, and had no pre-stocked fish to rely on. We were a bit worried to begin with as our early catches were small mouth bass and pan fish. Eventually we started to hook into some small Walleye, and the size eventually increased to eater size. There is a very tight slot size on the French, so we were looking for smaller walleye to keep. While we were hoping to mix in some big fish, almost everything we caught was under the slot and permissible to keep.
At our first break in the weather we made for our shore lunch destination. Our guide had a cache of dry tinder stocked on a nearby island, and after picking it up we headed to a location he knew of that was also under the protection of a large maple tree. You know it’s an experienced guide not only by their ability to put you on fish, but also the crafty way to keep their wood supply and shore lunch areas stocked. In short order the fire was burning and Chris and I were fishing from shore while lunch our lunch was prepared for us.
I’m always fascinated by both the equipment used for shore lunches, and the recipes which are unique to each angler. Roger’s secret ingredient was sausage! After the french fries were almost cooked, he added both onion, and cut-up European sausage to the oil. A few minutes later he removed the cooked medley, and sprinkled it with lemon pepper spice, which soaked in while the fish cooked. The fillets too he had rubbed with lemon pepper before coating in flour and adding to the sizzling pan. The fish we were eating were not caught on any fancy lures or crazy technique, there were all caught vertically jigging with just a good ole night crawler. Simple is sometimes best!
After an enormous lunch, we waiting out a sudden squall and headed out for a couple more hours of fishing. The pattern we worked on was that the fish were not as deep as we expected. The deep holes either were not holding fish, or those fish were not in the mood to bite. The vast majority of our fish were caught in 10-15ft of water, and more on flats than on the sharp drops. I have no doubt that when we return in August we will find those holes become productive, even more so because of the unusually warm summer we have been having.
Having accomplished our mission of getting a feel for the area, and marking about a dozen spots to return to, we headed in, our day complete. 7 hours in the boat is not really that long, but 7 hours of steady rain takes it’s toll on anyone and I confess it was nice to head in, and get into some dry clothes for the drive to my next fishing destination. I’m looking forward to seeing how we do on the French River later in the season, and sharing those reports. Stay tuned and I’ll update this post, and please consider signing up for updates on future posts!