What to Bring Fishing
The weather during the summer season can change several times during the day, so proper planning is necessary to stay comfortable. Temperatures can vary from low 50’s in the morning to high 70’s in the afternoon. It is always important to dress in layers. One of the most important factors is having a good waterproof outer shell. This not only keeps the water out, but acts as a good barrier to also keep the wind out. A good quality Gortex rain suit works very well.
Suggested Clothing and Footwear Items
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Well fitting Gortex rainwear or similar. This includes jackets and pants
(preferably bibs) -
Waterproof shoes, low or high cut rubber boots
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Waterproof gloves with light glove back-up
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Warm insulated jacket
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Next to skin layering, long and short sleeve
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3 shirts, quick dry or cotton/flannel
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2 pairs pants, cargo, zip off/shorts
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Hooded sweatshirt, wool sweater or fleece
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Camp shoes, runners, slippers etc.
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7 pair underwear
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Insulated long underwear
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7 pair socks, 3 wool, 4 cotton/thermal
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Hat brimmed or ball cap
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Waterproof day pack
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Hipwaiters (For Grayling)
Laundry Service Available
We have laundry service at the lodge, so running out of clean clothes is not a problem. We would be happy to launder anything for you.
Dress In Layers
Remember it is always best to dress in layers. This allows you to remove or add clothing when needed as the weather and temperature can drastically change several times during the day in the far north.
Personal Items
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Medical prescriptions
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Spare prescription glasses
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Personal toiletries – toothbrush, toothpaste, razor, deodorant etc.
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Sunscreen and bug repellant – the higher the DEET the more effective it is
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Chap stick and lip balm
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Polarized sunglasses
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Binoculars
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Digital camera with extra batteries
Please Avoid the Use of Hard Sided Suitcases.
Remember it is always best to dress in layers. This allows you to remove or add clothing when needed as the weather and temperature can drastically change several times during the day in the far north.
Best Tackle for Each Species
Don’t bring a ton of lures.
Don’t bring musky-sized lures. They will work, but are too heavy for related casting, but the 2½ to 3 inch spoons noted above will do the job better.
All hooks on your fishing line must have all of the barbs pinched down. Best to pinch down the barbs of all the lures you bring prior to leaving home. Manitoba law says that the lure on your rod has to have pinched barbs, but not the ones in your tackle box. This means, you don’t have to pinch all your lures prior to arrival, in case you plan to take them somewhere else that may allow barbs.
Northern Pike
Lures
Lures for the Pike did not have to be large. In fact, a moderately sized spoon, about 2 ½ to 3 inches long will be perfect. See the photo below for my favourite spoons. Classic Canadian favourites are the Five of Diamonds, Red & White, and Perch colors. Medium sized size 5 Mepps spinners also do well. Slower presentations and variable retrieve rate is the way to go.
Many people like to add a 2-3 inch white rubber twister tail to one of the tines on the treble hook of their spoon for added attraction. The same lures caught Pike and Lakers of substantial size. Over-all it is more favorable to take the treble hooks off and replace it with a single hook, which will make un-hooking all the Pike a lot quicker and more convenient. The single hook does result in a slight reduction in successful hook-ups, but we have found that the big ones take it deep into the gill rakers most times and they still get hooked up nicely with the single hook.
Len Thompson No. 1, ¾ oz, 2.75 in.
Dardevle Devle Dog ¾ oz
Fire Tiger
Johnson’s Silver Minnow, silver,
Dardevle Devle Dog ¾ oz
Five of Diamonds
3 inch curly tail grub, white
Johnson’s Silver Minnow, Five of Diamonds
Rod & Reel
My favorite rod would be a 7 ft medium to medium heavy 2-piece, with a medium size 4000 series reel with 40 lb braided line. I would suggest braided line since it will allow for longer casts. Lots of fellows also use a casting reel, same as for largemouth bass, and that will work fine also.
Lake Trout
Fishing
Over-all Lake trout fishing is a secondary fish since most folks prefer going after the big Pike. Lake trout fishing techniques at Munroe Lake Lodge will depend upon when you go there. If you are going at the beginning of the season, in June/early July the lake trout will almost certainly still be roaming around in the shallows, in 1 to 5 feet of water.
Casting spoons in these areas, just as if fishing for Pike, will catch a lot of lake trout also. Sometimes you never know what you’re going to get. In August, the lake trout are going to be in the deeper parts of the lake, near the deepest parts.
Techniques at this time in the north of Canada will involve jigging in 50-70 feet of water or so. Heavy jigs (1-2 oz) with a white hollow tube are a norther favorite. Heavy metal spoons with a chrome finish that are dropped to the bottom, then jerked and retrieved to the top is also a very good technique. Sometimes the trout will hit that lure on its descent, so you have to pay attention at all times, and watch the depth finder for the action if you can. There may be a few of these heavier spoons that I have left there from a previous trip.
Lures
Lures for the lake did not have to be large either. For spring time casting in June & July, use the same lures as you do for Pike. Isn’t that nice and easy?
For summertime lake trout, when they are deeper, there may be a few heavy lures at the lodge that you can use. However, just to be sure, you may wish to bring 2-5 lures of your own. A small hook file is a great idea since Lake Trout have very hard mouths, and hitting a few rocks with your hook will reduce your chance. Here are a few suggestions…
Marathon Ava Diamond Jig with Tube Tail, 2, 3, or 6 oz. (The heavier ones go down faster!)
SPRO Bucktail Jig, 2, 3, 4 oz in white.
Offshore Angler Baitfish Bucktail Jig, 2, 3 oz or heavier. White or Chartreuse.
Rod & Reel
The same rod and reel combo as for Pike will suffice for lake trout most of the time. However, if you’re going to fish deep water, there is a very real possibility you can get a 40-inch class fish, which is essentially a big salmon… so have a rod that can handle that. A medium heavy spinning rod or casting rod should do the job, and handle the heavier jigs/spoons.
Arctic Grayling
Fly
Some people have wondered about fishing for Grayling with a small #0 or #1 Mepps spinner, and that will also work for the larger Grayling, but you will miss out on the smaller fish which can make up a great day when the big ones are not around. The one down-side to using the #0 or #1 Mepps spinners is that every small Pike in the water will hit that little spinner, including even some larger Pike and Lake trout. Since we fish for Grayling with no wire leader, and tie straight onto the line, any Pike will cut your lure off, taking a nice $6 lure with him. So… we recommend fishing with flies. The Pike will almost never hit a fly.
The best technique for catching the Grayling with a fly is to suspend a nymph (a weighted, or sinking bug-like fly) under a bobber. If you are a fly fisherman, you don’t use bobbers, of course, and you will call your bobber an “indicator”. Spin-fishermen can cast flies with a clear plastic casting bobber, and then be able to use the same flies as the fly fishermen. In fact, the spin-fishermen will have the advantage of being able to make longer casts than the fly folks, and get their flies into more spots, and probably get more fish too. I suggest you take a look at this YouTube video for an example of using this technique… “How to catch grayling - Fishing for arctic grayling - fly fishing and spinning”. At the 3:00 point he shows how he sets up a spinning rod for Grayling. The video “Fly and a Bubble Fishing Technique” by Utah Wildlife Resources shows more in detail how to set up the bobber and fly. Also, “Catch Fish with a Fly on a Bubble” by New Mexico Game & Fish shows how it can be done.
Flies in size 8 or 10 suggested for stonefly patterns (see the table below), and size 12 bead head Prince. These underwater presentations will have the highest catch rate, giving you a chance even on the slow days. Over-all Grayling are not very picky at all, and will hit almost any small lure in the water. They will also take surface flies of a variety of types, including Royal Wulff, mosquito and mayflies, and foam ants & hoppers (although there are no grass hoppers in this northern range!).
Kaufmann’s Stonefly (sinking), size 8, 10, or 12 (maybe get two 8’s and two 12’s)
Prince Nymph (sinking), size
Elk wing caddis (floating).
Royal Humpy (floating), size 12.
Bead Head Golden Stonefly (sinking), size 8 (get two)
Royal Wulff (floating), size of your choice. If you are fishing dry flies, you should know what sizes to pick. Bigger ones would be okay (smaller number of hook means bigger fly).
Indicator Klinkhammer (floating), size 12.
Bobber
If using the casting bobber technique, for the leader section that is tied to the fly, light fluorocarbon or monofilament 6-10 lb test should be fine. The eyelets on the fly hooks can be quite small, and that will dictate the size of line you will use for the fly section of the arrangement.
A casting bobber is hollow, so this will allow you to add a some water to them by loosening the centre peg a little. This way you can have as much casting weight as required to get the distance you wish. For spin fishermen, an ultralight, or light rod matches up against the Grayling optimally. A light spinning reel with 8-10 lb monofilament would be fine. However, using a newer braid of this strength will allow for longer casts and longer drifts (which is advised).
South Bend Slip Cast Spin Float, 2 ½ inch preferred. The larger size float will be more visible in the water at a distance than the 1 ½ inch size.
3-Pack Casting Bubbles 1 ⅛” X 1 ¾”
To use the fly bobbers optimally, make sure the fly is hanging about 12-18 inches below the bobber. Grayling tend to sit on the bottom of a river or stream, and will hide between rocks so the Pike and Lake trout can’t get them. At Munroe Lake the river has rocks that will vary between grapefruit to watermelon size, and the fish will easily slip right between them. Our strategy then, is to have a fly cruise over their heads, and be visible against the surface of the water. A dark fly will be easily visible against the bright sky, and therefore darker patterns are more logical. The black stonefly patterns with a brass bead head have produced the most fish because of this. The trout fishing rule of “match the hatch” where you replicate the typical bug found in the stream at any given moment will only loosely apply to Grayling, if at all. Matching the size and colour would be the only main concerns, but black works almost every time… just like in Musky fishing… so I recommend that.
Be mindful that once you hook onto a Grayling, and you have to pull her in for a longer distance, you are essentially fishing for Pike with a Grayling as a lure. The more that Grayling is thrashing around in the water, the more likely she will get bitten by a predator. So, bring her in as quickly as you can.