Big Pine Lake Walleye Fishing:There are lots of lakes and rivers in the Wawa and Chapleau area with good Walleye fishing. Big Pine Lake is one of the best. We never have to worry about how water levels or water temperature will affect the Walleyes fishing, which can be a problem in many other lakes. Our Walleyes fishing stars off fantastic in the spring and keeps going strong all year. The only difference is the Walleyes may go 3 or 4 feet deeper in the heat of July and early August.
The most common size for Walleye in Big Pine Lake is between 2 and 3 pounds, which is around 18 inches. Guests do catch bigger Walleyes in the 4 to 6-pound range and in the last few years, lucky people have caught world-class trophies in the 10 to 15-pound range. A Walleye in that size class is rarely caught because they usually stay hidden in the depths of the lake but people do catch them. The bigger Walleyes are usually female and even in the spring they tend to take off into deeper water during the day.
If you do want a big trophy Walleye, then trolling along the shoreline with a small shallow-running Thunderstick or Rapala in the evening or at night is how you will get them. After dark, the big trophy Walleyes start to come shallow to feel along the shoreline. During the day you will catch plenty of smaller Walleyes on jigs and twistertails.
How many Walleyes you will catch in a day is always a tough question to answer. On an average day you should catch around 20. Walleyes are sensitive to atmospheric pressure so if the pressure starts dropping, it may be very difficult to catch 5 or 10 Walleyes in a day. Then we have had days where you are catching Walleyes every cast all day long. We have had plenty of guests have really good days and report catching close to 100 Walleyes in an afternoon. The Walleyes are there. It's just a matter of when they want to feed and what they want to eat. If you are on Big Pine Lake at the right time in the right place with the right bait, you may experience the best Walleye fishing of your life.
Big Pine Lake Northern Pike Fishing:
Big Pine Lake is one of the top Northern Pike lakes in the Chapleau / Wawa area. There are many reasons for this.
First: The lake is too far from Chapleau or Wawa for the locals to bother fishing the lake thus the lake has very little fishing pressure. We are just a small outfitter and have a limited number of guests per week so essentially our guests most times have the whole lake to themselves.
Second: It's a big lake this perfect structure for Northern Pike thus allowing them to proliferate in great numbers. There are countless weedy bays, shallow plateaus with Muskie cabbage, Islands and shoals as well as feeder streams. These conditions are perfect for Northern Pike.
Third: There is an endless supply of Walleyes to eat in the lake along with other baitfish such as Whitefish, Chub, Sucker, Shad and Lake Herring. This does not only allow Pike to exist in great numbers, it allows our Northern Pike to get big.
Lastly: There is no public ice fishing. Our family jumps on the snowmobiles and does a little ice fishing during the winter but there is no outfitters with ice huts on the lake. Ice fishing can decimate game-fish populations, which is a problem in some areas of Ontario. Big Pine Lake is still stuffed with fish.
Pike are common in the 2 to 5-pound range. Guests who specifically spend a lot of time hunting down big pike will find them. There have been plenty of Monster Pike in the 40 to 45-inch range caught and released. On rare occasions Northern Pike as big as 50 inches get caught and released. This is why we know ask guests to keep a camera in their tackle box. Guests have reported having Pike as big as 60 inches up to the boat. We know they are there because we see them sunning themselves on the surface but they rarely bite.
There are a few other lakes within a short drive from camp where Pike in the 30 to 46-inch range can be taken.
Chapleau Smallmouth Bass Fishing:
There are very few Smallmouth Bass in Big Pine Lake. Guests do come across them once in a while but they are rare.
With exception of Big Pine Lake, Smallmouth Bass are actually quite common in other area lakes. Within a 45-minute drive of camp are several lakes, which have outstanding Smallmouth Bass fishing including other species such as Walleye, Pike and Lake Trout.
Because we are so far north, the growing season is a little shorter thus Smallmouth Bass rarely get over 5 pounds. They are quite common in the 1 to 3 pound range. The lakes in the area are rocky and cool thus Smallmouth Bass taste awesome and fight extra hard. A 1.5-pound Smallmouth Bass tastes just like Walleye, especially if they are deep-fried in English Style Batter or Japaneese Tempura Batter.
Chapleau Area Brook Trout Fishing:
The Brook Trout, also called the Speckled Trout by most Canadians, is the most beautiful trout, the best tasting trout and one of the hardest trout to catch. It's easy to walk along a small stream and catch small trout. Bigger Brookies in the bigger streams and rivers can be elusive as they are very sensitive to weather and water temperature.
There are no Brook Trout in Big Pine Lake. Between Wawa and Chapleau are many streams, rivers and spring-fed lakes with outstanding Brook Trout Fishing.
Small Streams: There are many small streams where you can fill-up your creel with nice little pan-fryers. These streams can be very sensitive and located in marshy areas so it's best to bring hip-boots and walk through the bush and then fish the stream while walking up stream. Small streams have Brook Trout all year because there is no place to go. Usually if you see Water Crest growing, there will be Brookies.
Large Streams & Rivers: There are a few larger streams and rivers in the area that have excellent Brook Trout fishing in the spring and early summer. The Brook Trout will congregate in rapids just below wide areas of the river. They wait for the May Flies to hatch. Once the May Flies hatch, they gorge themselves and then when the hatch is over, they take off up or down stream to find springs and cooler water. This is where they spend the summer. Only a local guide can show you where these summer hot spots are. In the larger streams, Brook Trout can get as big as 4 pounds but 1 to 2-pound Brookies are more common.
Lakes: There are many spring-fed lakes in the Chapleau that have been stocked with Brook Trout. In the spring you fish from shore. In the heat of the summer, you will need to fish deeper using a 3-way swivel rig. The biggest Brook Trout in the area come out of lakes. There have been lots of trout between 4 and 6 pounds caught but they are most common in the 1 to 3-pound range.
Chapleau Area Lake Trout Fishing:
There are no Lake Trout in Big Pine Lake but there are a handful of lakes in the area with really good Lake Trout fishing.
Lake Trout is one of those fish, which has a ton of folklore surrounding them. Many people are not interested in fishing for Lake Trout because the traditional methods of fishing with steel wire are not appealing. If you have a large boat that cannot troll slowly then you will need downriggers or steel wire line. If you have a small fishing boat that can back-troll slowly, then you can use our light tackle techniques to get the trout any time of year.
Lake Trout in the area are common in the 1 to 4 pound range. Lake Trout do get big and it's not uncommon for guests to catch trout as big as 15 pounds. There are bigger trout. Depending on the size of the lake, Lake Trout can reach 25 pounds or more but trout that big are usually rare.