Key Harbour Lodge Key River Georgian Bay Ontario, Canada

When Fritts & I first started going to Georgian Bay years ago we would always go to The Key Harbour Lodge to buy gasoline, cigarettes, bread, live bait & anything we would run out of.

Back in those days if you went up in May when the yellow pickerel were running there would be at least 500 fishing parties camped out on the islands & all the lodges were booked years ahead.

This area & The Moon River area of Georgian Bay were the hottest big yellow pickerel fishing in all of Canada for many years.

Fifteen to seventeen pound yellow pickerel were common & very few would run under six pounds when they came out of the big lake & started up the rivers to spawn.

Fishermen would be trolling all over the area & any lure would do but most used the floating black & silver floating Rapalas.

You could easily get your limit in an hour or two or catch & release large numbers in a days time.

When a fishermen got a hook up they would yell out “Fish On”.

We carried on that tradition & always yell out fish on when we get a hookup.

One year one of the guys that went with us tied on a small yellow Rooster Tail & he hooked one pickerel after another & out-fished all of us with six pound line & ultra light rod.

He used the same lure all week & had it when he left minus a few tail feathers.

When we first started going up to the Key River Mrs. Lyttle owner of Key Harbour Lodge was very nice to us & took us under her wing.

She knew we were young & inexperienced & worried about us just like any mother would her own children.

We always enjoyed going to the lodge to see the big fish pictures & chat with the experienced fishermen that were staying there.

We would go in the evening when they came in from a days fishing & that way we could see what they got & find out where.

They had an Indian Guide named Ivan & he told us to get there early in the morning & we could follow him when he took out fishing parties & he would lead us to all the hot spots in the area.

No one knew more about the area than Ivan & probably never will.

Ivan told us to always use twenty pound line in Georgian Bay & he only used one lure A red & white Daredevil the medium or next size down from the standard size model & he always had a wire leader.

Mrs. Lyttle’s son Al grew up at the lodge & trapped the area for many years & he had a cabin out on the islands where he & his family lived.

He also showed us where to go & he would help us fix our boat motors when we had a problem.

Mr. Lyttle had a stroke & lived at the lodge until he passed away at which time she put the lodge up for sale & retired.

Mrs. Lyttle always treated us special even though we never stayed at the lodge & went out of her way to teach us things & caution us about weather & cold water & the dangers of small boats in Georgian Bay storms & bears & rattlesnakes.

She told us to leave some bacon & grease out overnight in a skillet if we wanted to see a big black bear in our camp & warned us about not cooking or leaving anything in our tents that had an odor including soap & things like that.

She told us black bears in Georgian Bay can get real nasty when cornered so we should always give them a quick way out if we got one cornered by accident walking around the islands.

One time we told her the pike were not hitting.

She laughed & told us to catch a few live perch & put them in a minnow bucket & put one out set four foot deep on a bobber & then come back & tell her what happened.

Boy did we.

One ten to fifteen pound pike after another right off the bank at our campsite.

 

From that time on when we told her we got a big pike trolling or casting lures she would always smirk & say “Sure You Were Not Using A Live Perch?”.

The Lyttles ran the lodge for many years & all of them were top notch people that helped us every way they could.

They went out of their way to teach us everything they knew.

They always had a big smile when we returned each year.

They also had a pay telephone if we needed to call home for anything.

If you are not the wilderness camping type The Key Harbour Lodge is a great place to stay & learn the area.

You can catch big pickerel in the bay at night when they are running & also really big pike over twenty pounds.

They also have guides & tackle & gasoline.

Yo can fish the areas we fish from Key Harbour Lodge & even run out to The French & Bad River Areas or Bustard Islands when the weather is right if you have a deep boat & 25 HP motor.

We always camped out there when we went because of our small motors.

If you are after largemouth this area is better than The French or Bad River area if you know where to go.

The smallmouth fishing is good out there but the water is to cold for largemouth & they are hard to locate out in the big water areas & bays.

For largemouth go back in & find the warm water bays & swamps with lilly pads with six to ten feet of water nearby.

Low Water Conditions: Mrs. Lyttle told us years ago that Georgian Bay has a 35 year water cycle where it goes up for 35 years & then down for 35 years.

If her theory is correct & I believe it is the water levels in Georgian Bay should start going back up again in the next few years as the water started to go down slowly when we first started going up so the down cycle should be about over.

The water has really been low over the last few years & that hurts a lot of the really good bass holes many of which may be high & dry.

The bass are still around somewhere so you just have to find them.

When we were young & full of vigor we would fish from sun up to sun down.

One year one of the local Indians stopped by our boat & simply said:

If the fish ain’t biting boys “Why Don’t You Leave Them Alone?”

He said he drops his worm down & if he gets one right away he keeps fishing & if not he pulls up his line & goes home & drinks a couple of beers.

He knew no one could make a fish bite.

We found that out the hard way but it was sure fun trying.

Big Black Crappie (Pomoxis Nigromaculatus) Key River Area Georgian Bay Ontario, Canada

Many serious crappie fishermen consider The Key River area to be some of the best big crappie fishing in North America & many of them fish for nothing but crappie on their annual trips up north.

Maribou Jigs set three feet deep on weighted small round bobbers work best in weed beds.

Small Mr. Twister Grubs & special crappie tube jigs work well also.

Live bait fishermen use minnows & bobber & they can get their limit in a hurry on a good crappie hole.

We use light outfits with six pound test Stren line.

One to three pound Black Crappie are common & when they are hitting you can catch all you want.

Check with local stores or lodges for information on the best places & time.

The Georgian Bay Bass Hole is full of them in Spring & summer & fall.

There is a pan fish hole on The Key River that is full of Big Crappie & pan-fish & the kids can catch them on small twister grubs one after another.

The Key River is full of crappie & you have to know where to find them in backwater bays out on Georgian Bay & around islands.

Ontario Big Fish Records

Georgian Bay Bass Hole

We have caught black crappies up to 3 1/2 pounds in The Georgian Bay Bass Hole & that one was caught trolling a small deep diving plug & that is how we found out they were there by accident. We turned him loose & had no camera back then. We returned to this same area many times & they were always there & still are.

The Goergian Bay Bass Hole in the top of this blog post with a picture of me fishing it is the best big crappie hole in all of Canada.

You can stand there & catch all the 1 to 1/2 pound Black Crappie you want one right after another & never leave your campsite not to mention largemouth & smallmouth bass that come in there to feed or the large pike & muskie right behind them.

 

 

Big Channel Catfish Key River Area Georgian Bay Ontario, Canada

 

The Georgian Bay is full of really big Blue Channel Catfish & we have caught many over the years.

All you have to do is put out a live fish on a bobber at your campsite & leave it out overnight.

Tie your pole down or it will be gone in the morning.

The best place to catch them is below falls or rapids of any type fishing at night.

They hit night crawlers or minnows or any type of live fish or crawdads, etc.

The catfish Duke caught above was close to 40 pounds & the two at the top were twenty five pounds each & were caught at Dallas Rapids below the falls on night crawlers fishing for walleye.

Channel Catfish

 

 

Dice Device Fishing Lures For Key River Area Of The Georgian Bay

 

Original Dice Device Fishing Lure

Dice Device Fishing Lure Designed For Georgian Bay Fish

Bill Dice Dice Device Inventor

 

Dice Device Snake Spoon For Georgian Bay

This lure is long with six inch skirt & has the side to side kick without rolling over like a Rapala or Daredevil & the tail swims like a snake would on top of the water & always lands on bottom hook up & goes right over tree limbs or snags without a weed guard & is virtually impossible to hang up unless you allow it to sink under submerged rocks or trees. If you paint them green to look like a frog they look like one swimming in the water & big bass really go after them. All black also works well for largemouth & even big pike. The ones I made for muskie are very large & heavy & over 12 inches long & the action is amazing. Pike go after them in a minute & the good thing is they only have one single hook to make it easier to net & release pike & muskie & they are very durable except for the skirts or tails which have to be replaced or re-tied after pike or muskie get done with them.

They are made of heavy .080 solid brass with s.s. steel rivets & they can be plated with gold or silver or nickle plate. The hooks are heavy Mustad. They are very good for anything that swims in Georgian Bay including smallmouth bass & largemouth bass. I have gone up there & used only them quite a few times & caught more or just as many fish on them as others using Rapalas or Daredevils. They are heavy & cast well with 20 lb. line on casting rods & designed to use with wire leaders with snaps. It took me a long time to get the design right & I made hundreds of prototypes & used to test them in my swimming pool. I have many other lure designs but don’t care to disclose them at this time. I love to play around with new lure designs or improvements to existing lures. I used to custom make spinnerbaits for professional fishermen & they won a lot of tournaments with them over the years. I would make custom heads out of wood & set them into Dow Corning RTV Red in a plastic mold & then pour lead & then file or sand off the flashing & have heads no one else had. I made a lure for Lake Erie called the snake jig that you would attach a Mr. Twister Grub to & just let it drift behind the boat with the wind that outfished all the famous Lake Erie spinners every time we went up & it had no spinner blade on it. It was a do nothing lure that really got the walleye including the big ones way down deep. My first jig spoons were deadly in the deep mountain lakes of Kentucky & Tennessee & they were disappointed when I know longer made them because they fish 35 feet & below down there for big smallmouth & largemouth in the summer & most jig spoons do not have good enough action. A rubber skirt mfg. wanted $15,000.00 cash to alter their equipment to make 6 inch long rubber skirts & a minimum order of 500,000 at $.10 each or $50,000.00 so I decided that was to big a risk to mfg & market a snake spoon just for Georgian Bay Fishing & had no desire to hand tie each one so I just shelved them. Many large tackle companies throughout America have received copies of my designs over the years including people like Al Linder who really liked the quality. I used to send them to him to test & play around with. Being an auctioneer & very busy I never had the time necessary to mfg. or market any of my designs myself & after spending over $28,000.00 on patents & protypes & equipment & all that I decided to just let it be a hobby & leave the lure business up to the big boys even though I know they would sell if marketed properly which means you give away ten thousand of them & let fishermen try them to see if they like them. If they do they will ask for more. If not they won’t. Distributors will not buy or stock any lure until fishermen are asking for them & they also do not like new unadvertised or unproven lures that may cut in to their big sellers they have carried for years & that is what they make their money on. They are very reluctant to take on any new lure product for this reason. People still call me to this day trying to get a hold of them but I know longer have any & sold all my equipment & stock years ago. If I decide to mfg. & market them in the future I will sell them on eBay which was not possible back then simply because it did not exist. I have all the drawings & a company in Wisconsin that will make all of them I want. Assemble them with hooks & plate them with gold, silver or nickle plate. I would send you one free if I could but do not have any except for few I kept for personal use but you could make your own if you wanted to & that would give you something fun to do in the winter. You may even come up with improvements in the design on your own but I caution you I have tried about everything you could imagine including different sizes & shapes from very very small to huge. I have used every type of tail material you could imagine including some you have probably never seen or heard of. My lures are every bit as good as a Flatfish in Georgian Bay & there are not to many lures that can boast something like that other than the Rapala & Daredevil but people who know how to fish Flatfish properly can even outfish both of these lures & I have seen that time & time again up there. Flatfish are mostly for trolling except for the smaller sizes & then you have to put a split shot 18 inches ahead to get them down. My lure casts well & trolls well just as it is. When I was a kid I caught a lot of really nice smallmouth on the f-7 Flatfish in yellow with red & black dots with two treble hooks on a copper wire that swiveled in the bottom center attached with a screw in eye. Charles Hellen invented it & when he passed on it kind of lost favor with many fishermen mostly because the new owners or managers monkeyed with his double treble hook holders that swiveled by getting rid of them to make more money & sadly they were what made the action of this lure so good. Some Flatfish had two treble hooks, some four & some even six. Now all of them have only one or two & no swivel hooks. The action is nothing like the original ones that sold by the millions & made Charles Helen very rich & famous. Then the Rapala came along to further speed up it’s demise. However, they will still outfish Rapalas trolling in Georgian Bay & other places if you know how to rig & use them. Especially the big ones for muskie & pike & silver can not be beat.

Orginal Dice Device Jig Spoon Prototypes

If you men out there think it is difficult to figure out women which is basically something that can not be done try inventing or designing a new or better fishing lure.

I actually did that & it took a long long time & a lot of work.

Consider there are 80,000 patents on fishing lures & mouse traps which for some reason come under the same category & one would think it would be impossible to come up with another mechanical patent. The hook holding device on the very first lure at the top of this page was worthy of that & that is how the name Dice Device came about. That lure had to be made entirely by hand & was very labor intensive which is a no no in mfg. today. They have a vibration in them like no other lure & fishermen in Alaska loved them for pike. I made over 1,000 of them so a few may still be out there somewhere. I only have one left. The hook holder device will work on many different new lure ideas but who really needs anymore new lures anyway?

Deep Jigging Spoon For Georgian Bay & Lake Erie Fish

Pike Caught In Alaska On Dice Device Fishing Lure

 

Pike Caught In Alaska On The Original Dice Device Fishing Lure

I invented the world’s first totally snagless automatic enclosed opening jig that would stay closed & keep the point of the hook totally covered until a fish grabbed it & then it would spring open to hook him after he had it in his mouth. You could also put a propeller spinner on it’s shaft & a Mr. Twister Grub on it’s hook. The problem was no one could figure out how to make it on a machine which they call a fourslide. I still have several of them somewhere plus the drawings when I advertised them in magazines to tackle companies none of which showed any interest at the time & I will post pictures of them when I find them.

All of my lures & the name Dice Device are well protected legally with poor man patents but you can make all you want for your personal use & you have my permission.

Tackle companies today are not generally interested in new ideas & set in their ways & so big headed they will hardly ever pay anyone royalties on anything anymore anyway & if they do they like to pay only 1 to 2% of gross sales which is basically chicken feed in these days.

But some may copy them or alter your designs if you disclose them to them & tell you to sue them which is impossible to do unless you are rich as the lawyers used to want at least $40,000.00 up front to even begin one patent infringement suit. If 40 different comapnies copy your ideas multiply that by 40 so not many fishing lure inventors will ever get rich on their ideas unless they mfg & market them themselves & be first on the market with their idea & the name they choose to use will be more valuable than their patents. The patent attorneys always make money the inventors hardly ever. Design patents on fishing lures are virtually worthless & to expensive to protect so forget that idea unless you want to fork out thousands of dollars for nothing just so your patent attorney can buy a new car every year on you.

If you come up with anything you can protect it cheap by putting drawings, pictures & a prototype of it in an envelope & mailing it to yourself at the post office by registered mail sealed & stamped by the Post Office which proves you are the orginal inventor on that date & time. You can then show your idea to anyone with or without a disclosure agreement & you have a year from that date to file for a patent if it ever proves to be worthy of one after exhaustive searches are performed by qualified patent attorneys & the patent office & even then they can be challenged after you are awarded a patent. If someone copies it & manufactures it & they cut you out let them do that & then after they make a bunch of sales & money go see a patent attorney & he will get you money in a settlement usually out of court because most companies want to avoid long drawn out suits & the big legal fees involved & especially so if they know they are going to lose in court anyway. If they copy it & it flops you won’t get much either if you sue them & you will probably have trouble finding an attorney that would be willing to take it on a percentage basis.

But before you do anything talk to a real lawyer because that I am not & never will be. To much hassle & paperwork for my blood.

The very best thing to do if you can afford it is go tell all the big tackle companies & distributors to go flip up a tree & go ahead & make ten thousand of them & take them to lakes & rivers & streams of the area you designed them for & give them to fishermen & ask them to try them out & leave them your address or phone number. If your lure is as good as you think it is you will be in business as they will contact you for more & tell everybody & their brother about it. If not just forget it & accept it that your idea really sucked unless you like losing money on fishing lures no one will buy in quantities large enough to make any money on. It can be done but very difficult & your emotions & emotional attachments to your very own ideas can wipe you out financially real quick & then all your joy will turn into reality in the form of sadness & then maybe even instant divorce may come down upon you if they take your house & everything you own for non-payment of delinquent business loans.

In other words if you are really smart best to forget it & leave the fishing lure business up to the ones that already own & control it. Spend a little to see how good your idea really is but not a lot. If you hit a home run go for it. If not go back to the drawing board or better yet go fishing in The Georgian Bay & use your lures yourself.

That’s what I did.

After </strong>I lost a bunch of money.

How To Rig & Troll Rapalas For Key River Area Of The Georgian Bay.

  

Rapalas are by far the top lure to use in The Key River area of The Georgian Bay for trolling for yellow pickerel or for anything else as far as that goes.

The Big Rapala closely resembles the Cisco which is the number one bait fish that pike, muskie & yellow pickerel eat in The Georgian Bay & perch & each other come next & also the Alewife that resembles a shad.

Anything that swims in The Georgian Bay will hit Rapalas trolling & you can also cast them but they are much better for trolling than casting.

If you know how to jerk or kick them on the surface they also are top surface lures. Use a split ring & tie your line to the ring. No wire leader or wire works best.

The two lures in the above photo are the only two sizes you need in the Key River area & silver & black are favored by most. The smaller ones are better for kicking or jerking on surface. Floaters are best.

Both are floaters & the larger one is used more often than the smaller one because it goes down deeper & is the lure Georgian Bay fishermen use to catch large pickerel trolling at night.

Deep divers get more weeds than fish in Georgian Bay Back Bays but they are good in deep weed free water at times especially along steep rock cliffs.

I always use twenty pound test with the bigger Rapala for trolling or casting.

The large one goes deeper than the smaller one.

Use the small one in shallow water weed areas or shoals but it will not cast well with twenty pound line as it is much lighter than the big seven inch one.

Always use a wire leader or a solid s.s. .020 wire like I explained under Zara Spook in the day time.

The length does not matter but I prefer six inch long.

You do not have to use a wire leader for night time trolling for yellow pickerel & the action of the lure will be much better without one.

Pike & muskie very seldom hit after dark where I fish but I have caught a few at night.

I always jam the knot down on the eye & put a split shot eighteen inches ahead of the lure to keep the nose down for yellow pickerel trolling at  at night. This is very important so experiment with it to get the nose down action right.

Big Yellow Pickerel knock the hell out of this lure at night & will do that in three feet of water right on the bank or shoal. You can cast them on shallow shoals & get big pickerel that way if they are feeding there.

Find out where they feed at night & you will be rewarded.

 

Man Eating Bugs & Insects In Key River Area Of The Georgian Bay

One of the nice things about bugs & insects is that most people do not like them & avoid them at all cost.

That is one of the reasons the wilderness fishing & camping is so good on The Georgian Bay for people who camp out.

The bugs keep most people away & that is fine with me.

There are three bugs up there you have to worry about:

Mosquito

mosquito

Balck Fly Georgian Bay

black fly

Deer Fly

deer fly

Main thing is to be in your tent when the wind stops & the sun starts going down or cover your whole body with something that keeps them off your bare skin.

I always take head-nets & light gloves & cover all exposed skin when they get bad.

Personally I do no like repellents but for those who do the bugs seem to like to eat the ones with deet in them the best.

They all work for a short while but when the bugs are really bad most people head for the tents or out on the water where the wind keeps them away.

The black fly starts in early spring & can be bad until the last days of June at which time mosquitoes take over.

All you can do about black flies if they really bother you is stay home or leave.

Believe me I have tried everything.

They can crawl over or under anything & get to your skin no matter what you do.

A lot of people go to Georgian Bay on June 28 every year to avoid the black fly & bass fishing becomes legal at that time out around the islands.

Many say it is the all around best time to go if you are going anywhere out past Dead Island where you can catch all the small-mouth you want on light outfits or fly fishing gear.

Many people go at the end of September to avoid bugs altogether after the first frost.

This is the very best time for big pike short of October which is really harsh weather & hard on campers at times & especially campers my age.

The duck hunters invade at this time of year so don’t be surprised if it sounds like world war two one morning if you are camped out on opening day.

There are a lot of ducks on Georgian Bay.

If you camp somewhere with a breeze off the big water it will help to blow the bugs away from your campsite.

If a big storm blows up it will also help you to lose your tent & boat & half your gear.

When the wind goes dead or the sun goes down the bugs in Georgian Bay come out to play.

You will find that out so always take a head-net, bug jacket, special light gloves & tape your pants legs & shirt sleeves & collar with duct tape if you want to cast & fish at night or cook without doing it in your tent which is a no no in bear country.

Gas lanterns will attract bugs & so will camp stoves or lights.

Campfire smoke drives them away so we always like to build a fire at night.

We liked to exaggerate about all the big ones that got away or tell fishing & hunting stories from the past or recollect the good times.

One more thing.

If anyone knows what to do about deer flies that bite you in your boat out in the middle of the lake when you are fishing let me know.

They can be worse than black flies or mosquitoes at times & they do sneak attacks time & time again.

Sometimes you feel like diving off the side of the boat to get away from a pesky one.

If one of them nails you on the face you will know it when your head swells up & you can not see out of one eye anymore.

Make sure you get a bug bite kit & take it with you & dab the stick on the bites when they happen which they will if you go where I go.

Ammonia will also work if you bring some in a small bottle & dab the bite site with a Q tip.

The Bass Hole is a swamp area & there is nothing bugs like more in The Georgian Bay than swamps.

There is nothing more small fish love to eat than bugs & bass love to eat the small fish that live in swamps & a good reason they like to hang out there in the first place.

No bugs no large-mouth.

Frogs & snakes & birds eat bugs & large-mouth eats them.

Everything that lives in Georgian Bay eventually gets eaten by something including bugs.

If you are there in the evening you will know what I mean. Your blood will be the bugs dinner.

The more you fight bugs the more aggressive they get.

I just ignore them & brush them off lightly when I feel them land.

When it gets real hot & the wind is dead they begin their attack both day & night & they love sweat & skin with blood underneath.

You are a much easier meal than the local wildlife as they have heavy fur to get through & no bare spots.

Human beings are like gourmet meals to them.

Always bring one of those bug coils & light it & put it in your tent to kill all the bugs that got in your tent when you opened the doors.

Always do that before you go to bed for the night if you really want to sleep.

I you have ever had a mosquito buzz you at night in a tent you know what I mean especially if he nails you in the face or hand over & over again.

Also know hornets & bees in the bush can actually kill a man if you disturb a nest so leave the thought about honey for breakfast to the bears & beware of hollow rotten logs or holes if you see bees going in & out.

It would be a good idea not to camp there or disturb them.

If bees or hornets attack all you can do is hope you are close to water & dive in it & stay under until they leave.

If you are allergic to bee or insect stings make sure you take the proper shot kit with you just in case.

Adolph’s steak tenderizer will work on bug bites & bee & wasp & hornet stings to neutralize the venom & keep the swelling down.

 Just get a small amount wet & apply it to the bite immediately.

It works.

Especially on painful bee stings.

Believe me I have used it many times over the years.

That is one reason many of the women always turn me down when I invite them to go with me.

That is a good way of keeping your fishing trips all to the men.

Show them pictures of yourself all swelled up from bug bites & then show them pictures of the rattlesnakes & bears & wolves then tell them you have to jump in the lake to take a bath & then tell them how cold the water is & how bad the weather can be.

Tell them black bears very seldom kill campers but sometimes they do.

Tell them wolves do not kill humans unless they are starving.

Watch their expressions when you do that.

If you have one like that best to leave her at home.

If none of these things work tell her there are no toilets & you have to go in the woods.

That usually does it.

The Georgian Bay is no place for women that have to be pampered to be happy.

Strictly for the outdoor type that grew up in the woods.

Some women have to have a cabin & I doubt that will ever change.

Most prefer a hot tub & gourmet meals & all that.

I prefer the wilderness & camping in the woods.

Do yourself a favor & don’t take anyone with you that is like that men or women alike.

Not if you want to enjoy your trip.

 

Wilderness Canoe Camping & Fishing Trips In Key River Area Of The Georgian Bay

If you love to canoe & camp in the wilderness like I do The Key River area of The Georgian Bay can not be beat.

Approaching the fallen rock lower Pickerel River Georgian Bay.

If you also like to fish you will will get plenty of action irregardless of where you stop for the night.

There are unlimited places to stop & set-up camp with no hassle or red tape.

You will see more bears & moose in a canoe than a motor boat because wild animals can hear boat motors a long way off & usually book it or step back into the bush when they do.

Bear & moose swim from island to island & if you are lucky you may catch one in the process.

Canoe camping is different than motor boat camping simply because you have to go light & keep all your gear to a minimum & leave the lawn chairs, folding cots & heavy lanterns, camp stoves, gasoline & all that behind.

All you need is a good open faced spinning rod & assortment of small floating Rapalas, Daredevils, Rooster Tails, Mepps, Mr Twister Grubs, Jig Heads, Safety Pin Spinners for jig heads & extra spools of six, eight, ten & twelve pound test Stren line & six inch long wire leaders in ten to fifteen pound test.

I never take more than one rod on a canoe trip so I prefer Ugly Sticks because the are almost impossible to break unless you smash them with something.

The winds are westerly & the trip out The Key River to Georgian Bay can be a real pain at times if the wind is up.

Many canoeist will make this trip in the evening or early morning to avoid afternoon winds & motor boat traffic which can be pretty heavy on weekends & very few of them slow down for loaded canoes so you will have to keep your bow up & cross over their wakes.

You can also hop a ride out to the bay on a big motor boat if you check around at the road & someone is willing to accommodate you.

Checkout my blog roll for canoe route links & information.

One popular three day trip is putting in at the Pickerel River & coming back to the road up The Key River where you will park your vehicle for a fee.

I only know of one or two portages on this route & the camping & fishing for smallmouth bass & largemouth bass is really good.

Always keep an eye out for rattlesnakes on portages in this area especially near The Pickerel River Falls where it drops down to the Georgian Bay.

I have seen more of them in this area than anywhere else in Georgian Bay & especially in hot weather in July & August.

Many canoeist that have gone through there told me they saw one there & that was the best part of their whole trip.

There are not a lot of rattlesnakes in Ontario, Canada & that was the only chance they had to ever see one in the wild.

I have also encountered wolves in this area.

You can also take a longer trip by going past the Pickerel River where it drops down into Georgian Bay & keep going on down The French River all the way to Dallas Rapids or The Bad River Channel both of which will take you to Georgian Bay & back to The Key River to the road or if you are brave on to the town of Killarney via Georgian Bay where you can get out there & have someone come to pick you up & take you back to your vehicle.

That would be a trip of a lifetime & it would also take a week or more unless you are into the all out paddle gang.

You can not go directly down The French River from Rte. 69 because of several falls or drops in that area before it joins The Pickerel River where the two come together.

The French River is often high & dangerous in early spring & so is The Pickerel River where it drops down to Georgian Bay.

The rapids & drops there are full of big boulders in early spring when the water is way up & you would do better to line them or carry around them & especially the falls that begins in a very narrow place & just drops out of no where.

I always attach two lining ropes to each end of my canoes & use them or carry when in doubt.

The last time I was out on The French at Dallas Rapids the first of June the water was up seventeen feet & roaring over Dallas Rapids & dangerous was the only word I have for it.

This route is not for everyone in early spring as the carry around Dallas Rapids is a bruiser.

There is a store at The French River on Rte. 69 that hauls canoeist up to Lake Nippissing & they can canoe back to the store where they leave their vehicle.

They offer several different lengths of trips & they also rent canoes.

There are several options to be picked up & all that.

Check with the lodges & stores on Rte. 69 for information & arrangements.

The big danger is cold water out on the big open lake water past Dead Island & this is no place to be if you are not highly skilled in the art of canoeing & safety.

There are back routes marked with buoys that take longer but they are much safer as the route winds through islands that shelter canoes from high winds & big waves.

I could do a whole blog on canoeing but the best thing to do is go to my blog roll & click on Bill Mason & Cliff Jacobson & buy their books on wilderness canoeing & camping.

You will know how & what to do after you read & study them & I can assure you they are the Bible on this subject.

Personally I am a canoe poler & have actually competed in The National Canoe Poling Championships in the past.

I got to meet Harry Rock & pole with him & he is probably the greatest canoe poler that ever lived. Many of the professionals actually do back flips in their canoe to warm up or jump up & twist their bodies & land in the opposite direction to reverse their conoes direction & they climb drops that most canoeist would fear going down let alone up standing up. Canoe polers stand tall & carry a big stick & always go up stream against the flow hopping from eddie to eddie & cross ferrying to the top of the drops.

 You just have to see it to believe it.

I also have a link on that if you are interested. Not many of us around.

The Old Town Tripper in Royalex is my favorite canoe for tripping & I also have a fifteen foot Grumman that was made in nineteen fifty.

Always get really good maps & a good compass & study them before you go as you will need them to navigate in Georgian Bay & out around the islands. I have never used a GPS but hear they are great.

When the sun goes down everything & every place out there looks the same at night & it is very easy to get lost or disorientated.

Paddle To Be Free

Georgian Bay Bass Hole

What Not To Do On Georgian Bay Wilderness Camping & Fishing Trips

 

One of the things that really upset Fritts & I was trash that other fishermen & campers had left behind over the years & especially when they threw it in the water.

 Evidently a lot of people that like to hunt or fish in The Key River area could care less about conservation or the next guy that comes along to enjoy the beauty of this pristine wilderness camping area.

We always took trash bags along with us & hauled out all of  our trash out when we left.

We also gathered up & hauled out trash left by other campers  many times.

At many campsite locations trees & vegetation have been chopped down with chain saws & all kinds of human junk are left behind.

You will find dead trees that were killed when campers drove big nails into them to hang things on them & some have even chopped roots in half with an axe so they would not have to step over them.

No one has to trim vegetation or cut down trees or take an axe to tree roots in the wilderness for anything & if they can get all their supplies out there with them they can certainly find a way to bring out their trash with them.

They have dumpsters at the road for that purpose.

Always be careful with camp fires on the islands because high winds are common at night & hot coals will blow a long way in a big wind.

Always dump water on fires before you leave your campsite for anything just to be safe.

Never throw gasoline or white gas on a campfire to get wet wood burning unless you want to become a burn victim.

When walking around the islands always where knee high rubber or leather boots & especially in berry patches or high or thick brush or weeds unless you want to be the next camper to get injected with rattlesnake venom at the hospital in Parry Sound. NOT MANY EVER GET BITTEN BUT THEY DO.

They are there & appear when you least expect it & especially at night when they come out of their dens to feed.

Remember that when you get out of your tent at night or you have the urge to take a moonlit stroll on the islands.

Always use a good bright light & make sure you do not step on one of them.

They blend in with rocks & are very hard to spot when motionless.

Never ever bother or kill a rattlesnake.

If you are the type that kills nature’s creatures for no reason at all I would just as soon you stay home & so would the Canadian Wildlife people that are doing everything they can to save this species that is vital to the areas fragile ecology & survival.

If you leave them alone they will simply go about their business & go back to their den.

Never ever try to pick one up or handle it unless you are a biologist that has the right equipment & knows how without getting bitten.

I have had no trouble running or getting away from rattlesnakes at all & you can do the same. 

Never keep anything in your tent that smells nice & especially not food, sweets or candy unless you like to kiss big black bears in the middle of the night.

If bears start visiting your campsite to get food pack-up & leave because they will raid your camp every-time you go out fishing or when you go to sleep & the braver ones will do that when you are eating your dinner.

Find another area to camp & don’t be shocked if they discover your new one if it is not to far away.

If you hang your food in a tree they will climb up & get it or simply knock the tree down. 

Most of the bears that grow up on the islands want nothing to do with humans & will go out of their way to avoid you & your food.

They are not really a big problem.

But they are there and you just never know.

If they have a bad berry season bears will be a problem so you need to check that out before you go & that would be a good time to get a cabin.

Bear hunters have a hard time getting bear in The Georgian Bay & the only thing that seems to work is baiting.

They often hang meat in a tree & sit on another island with a high powered rifle with scope & wait down wind of course.

If there is a kill nearby stay away from the area.

You will know where that is because the buzzards & vultures will circle it high overhead.

It could be a bear kill or a wolf kill & neither one likes anyone or anything to mess with their kills.

Remember wild animals are not predictable.

Always have a cell phone with you & know who to call if you have an emergency & tell the lodge owners where you park your vehicle where you will be camping out in the bay so they can find you if need be.

They have helicopters that can be there in an hour or so if they know where you are.

Always wear a life jacket in your boat & when you are walking around islands fishing off of rocks.

Leave your car keys at the road with the lodge owner.

Never leave money in your tent when you go out fishing or anything valuable as far as that goes.

Stay off the water when high winds come because they can get up to seventy miles an hour in a hurry in Georgian Bay.

Always tie your boat up real good at night unless you like to swim in cold water to get it back the next day.

Always camp in places sheltered from high winds & bring canvas tarps for rain & windbreaks.

You can slip or fall on wet slick moss on rocks or cliff faces or trip on stones or rocks or downed trees & fall & hit your head on solid jagged stone or slide down the rocks into the water easily in Georgian Bay.

You simply have to use caution at all times & places.

I have slipped & fallen many times up there & I have done that almost everywhere.

There is no place quite like Georgian Bay & it will never be a safe place for many reasons & one of them is thunder storms, lightening & high winds & rough water.

If you practice safety first & use your common sense & become aware of all the dangers before you go none of these things will be a concern to you.

You will know what to do to remain safe unless lightening hits you at which time you will never have anything to worry about ever again anyway simply because you will probably be dead.

Remember the water is very cold out on the big waters & it will kill you if you go in & can not get back out & warmed in a hurry.

The best way to do that is put a person with no clothes on in a sleeping bag with the nude victim until they warm up. If you are lucky the one that needs to be warmed up & saved will be of the opposite sex.

Hypothermia is a major killer in The Georgian Bay & it has taken many of the locals over the years & campers, hunters & fishermen.

Always have a big orange distress flag & wave it high on the water if you have a motor breakdown or an emergency & can not get to your phone.

The bigger the flag the better.

Also have an emergency light & reflector mirror for night time emergencies & learn how to use them just in case.

Always have extra dry matches or lighters with you & take extra food just in case a big storm prevents you from leaving on time.

Always take an extra motor when you go out on exploration trips a long way from your camp unless you like to paddle heavy motor boats for sport.

Ask me about it?

Always have navigation maps on your person & a good compass & knife & emergency blanket & lighter & make them water proof.

If you checkout my blog roll & click on Bill Mason or Cliff Jacobson & get their books on the inter-net or a bookstore you can learn everything you will ever need to know about camping in the wilderness, safety,  first aid , camping equipment, tents, packs, camp cooking, canoe camping & tripping, etc.

They are also fun to read & study in the winter when you get bored waiting for spring to come.

I have all of their books & many old classics about wilderness camping including one called Cache Lake which has a lot of good information about living in the wilderness.

Please do all you can to stay safe & help keep this area pristine & clean & natural for the generations behind you.

It is all part of The French River Provincial Park now so they are trying to save it from man & you can help.

All of us owe it to mother nature.

If it were not for her none of us would be here let alone fishing & camping in Georgian Bay.

Georgian Bay Bass Hole

Safety On Georgian Bay Camping & Fishing Trips

 

The Georgian Bay is dangerous at times.

Storms can & do kick up in a hurry.

High winds cause rough water & huge waves & that is a problem in areas where there are a lot of rocks & shoals just under the surface which is almost everywhere out around the islands.

Always take a weather radio with you & if thunder storms are predicted that day be prepared to get off the water fast & to an island at the first sign of thunder or lightening.

A boat is no place to be in an electrical storm & even solid rock islands are not the best but what other choice do you have?

When lightening hits an island it goes off in all directions & bounces off rocks & careens all over the place.

One year lightening hit one island & shot to another & a whole bunch of big pickerel got electrocuted & floated to the surface & fishermen camped out there were picking them up out of the water along with hundreds of Georgian Bay Gulls that were gorging themselves on the smaller fish killed.

It is best to find a low lying place to crouch down & lay low & preferably not under high or tall trees.

I like to sit on my life jacket with my kness pulled up by my hands & my head bent down.

It is more of a form of prayer than protection.

If lightening hits you sitting like that on insulated material it will not go through your heart & kill you but it may burn you pretty bad (that is what the book says written by Cliff Jacobson).

If you are standing up erect or laying flat it will destroy your heart & kill you instantly.

Personally I do not want to test this theory on real lightening to see if it works.

All I can tell you is I am still alive & have been in some pretty bad electrical storms up there so my form of protection ( praying ) has worked so far.

I have seen storms so bad no one could get up or down the Key River at all let alone the water out & around the islands & everyone up there was confined to their campsites for several days until the storms subsided.

All the campers out on the islands had their tents blown down or away & they were stuck at their campsites until the storms subsided.

Many lodges had their docks & boats flipped over or destroyed or windows blown out or roofs ripped off.

They call these storms Great Lakes Hurricanes & that is exactly what they are.

I was staying at Key Harbour Lodge one year with my wife at the time & young son Duke when a hurricane kicked up & lasted three days & nights.

One of Al Lyttles children had been playing with my son every day & they thought he was in our cabin but had actually wandered out into the bush in the storm all by himself & was only three or four years old.

Everyone staying there went to search for him & feared the worst as it was getting dark fast.

Luckily one of the camp dogs found him over a mile away way out in the bush which is all solid rock.

That is why I always choose a campsite sheltered from high winds & I always tie my boat up real good where it will not be damaged by big waves banging it on the rocks in a storm in the middle of the night.

I always wear a life jacket in my boat or canoe or when I am walking around on the rocks fishing just in case & just to be safe.

It is very easy to slip & fall in the Georgia Bay & especially so when the rocks are wet or covered with moss or fungus.

I have slipped & fell many times especially trying to step on rocks in the water getting in & out of boats.

I have also fallen out of boats & canoes many times.

Everyone that fishes should wear some kind of glasses or eye protection just to be safe as hooks, sinkers or fishing lures that hit eyes can blind a person in a second & no one is beyond having a back lash or fish throw a hook or lure back into their face at any minute or any time.

I have been lucky as I have had many close calls over the years.

Never ever grab a fish with your bare hands with a Rapala in it’s mouth.

They are slick & will slide through your hands & bring the Rapala with them & all three treble hooks will be in your hands & fingers & then the fish will jump & flap around & you will not like that one bit.

That happened to Fritts one year & I had to take him to the hospital at Parry Sound to get all three hooks removed that were sunk to the bone.

There were fifteen other guys there waiting to get hooks removed & they had them everywhere you could imagine including the eyes & face.

The doctors there have designed special surgical instruments to take them out in a hurry.

I have been to the doctor many times myself over the years & that is why I prefer to smash the barbs down or file them off my hooks & lures just in case.

Most of the times I have hooked myself I did it reaching into a pocket to pull out a lure.

If you keep your line tight & do not slack your line barbless fish hooks will stay in the fish & if you do not believe me put a hook into your hand real deep to the bend & have a friend keep the line pulled tight with constant pressure & try to pull it out.

Barbless hooks also do less damage to fish when pulled out & makes it easier to release them unharmed if you are catch & release like we are.

If you do get hooked all you have to do is pull it out & then soak your wound in dish detergent every day once a day for the rest of your trip.

Joy or Dawn detergent is something to take with you as it will draw infection on cuts & wounds.

Boil water & soak the wound in warm water several times a day.

Always take a first aid kit with you & Neosporin to put on cuts or scratches & make sure you know what to do in a serious emergency like broken bones, head or neck injuries or heart attack or stroke emergency or hypothermia.

Always have a way to communicate with lodge owners at the road such as a cell phone, ship to shore or CB radio & let them know when you expect to be back to where you put in to pack up & leave with your vehicle & make sure members of your family have their phone number to call if you don’t show up at home on time.

The locals have Cb radios in their cottages but probably depend more on cell phones today.

Water proof cellphones just in case.

Always take extra food & gasoline just in case & an extra small boat motor just in case.

Use caution at all times when you decide to hike around the islands & be aware that bears, moose , wolves & rattlesnakes live there & you could come upon one at any time or place unexpectedly.

I have looked 600 pound black bears in the eye & had huge moose stroll right up to me right behind our campsite.

The last time I went up & camped out alone a 350lb mother bear & three big cubs were 50 feet from my tent when I got up at 7:30 A.M. & that is simply not good.

It did get my blood circulating in a hurry.

Luckily they were headed away down the shoreline or I would have been in a dangerous situation.

Knee high rubber or leather boots are your best protection against snake bite.

When you get out of your tent always look before you go out the door & especially at night when snakes come out of their dens to feed.

We have had rattlesnake dens right behind our tents before & we would be sitting around the campfire & a rattlesnake would crawl right by us & scare the hell out of us & you could hear them rattling in their dens at night.

That can happen anywhere in Georgian Bay & always when you least expect it.

If you try to find a rattlesnake you can never find or locate one.

High weeds or berry patches are not the place to be in tennis shoes or sandals.

Always carry on your person a knife, lighter, a trash bag, a compass & reflector mirror & small flashlight & fish hooks & line & orange distress flag just in case.

Learn how to read & use maps with orientating compass or the new no brainer GPS units that have the ability to tell you where you are if lost or disorientated which is what happens up there at night or in fog which is very common & thick at times.

A boat will come by sooner or later if you have a distress flag they can see.

We have rescued a lot of fishermen & locals that ran out of gas over the years.

Be extremely careful with camp fires & white gasoline stoves & lanterns & never ever throw any type of gasoline on wood & light it.

Never put a 6 gallon boat gas tank on top of your battery terminals if you have an electric start motor (don’t laugh we did that one year & tried to put the fire out with a minnow bucket) we burnt the 40 hp motor up & had to use a 5 hp Mercury on an 18 foot boat the rest of the trip.

Do not keep food in your tent or anything that smells like something wild animals would want to eat or investigate.

Always wash your pots, pans, skillets, silverware & dishes away from the water after every meal & keep them clean when not in use so wild animals will not be able to smell your food from a distance.

Washing dishes in the water kills all the natural organisms & damages the enviroment.

Once wild animals find food in your camp they become domesticated & they will return & do that often.

Raccoons are all over the islands & they are very clever & sneaky & can bite right through canned goods.

Bears just knock the hell out of everything including you if you get in their way while they are ripping your campsite apart & your tents.

Some campers have put up makeshift electric fences around campsites & take batteries to power them.

If you go out to the Bad River area be careful & think twice about running up & down the rapids with your boats like the locals do.

For one thing they know what they are doing & you may not & that could cost you your life.

Small boat motors do not always have the power necessary to get you up the fast rapids & if you get turned sideways on a bad rapid you could get flipped over quickly & sucked down under.

Rapids are dangerous & make no mistake about that. Especially with 15 hp & below motors & small 12 foot boats.

Never plane your boat in areas you are not familiar with as there are rocks & shoals just below the surface all over The Georgian Bay & even in The Key River.

If you hit one going wide open you will know it because your lower unit will probably be gone when your boat stops & your transom may be broken or gone to.

We have lost both over the years & have seen lower units fly 30 feet in the air after hitting shoals wide open & have seen boats actually end up high & dry on top of shoals 2 or 3 inches under water.

If the boat hits a rock or shoal before your lower unit does your boat will stop dead but you will keep going & all of your gear will go with you into the brink or onto the shoals or rocks whatever the case may be.

The Georgian Bay is not nice to any boat including aluminum yet alone fiberglass unless you always run the buoys out in the big water & tie up at docks only.

They all used wood boats made for rocks for many years & they could take the rocks but everyone got tired of refinishing them every year & most have gone by the wayside.

If you are the type that wants your boat & motor to look & stay like new without any scratches or dents do not take it with you & rent one.

Always think & safety first on Georgian Bay.

What good are you to anyone or anything if you are dead.

Safety on Georgian Bay is no joke & priority number one & especially so if you are taking children with you.

We have seen boats flipped over & helped haul fishermen out of rough cold water before & we have seen fishermen die of hypothermia & drown out past Dead Island in shallow flat bass boats that are not made for big wind whipped waves & water.

We found all their gear & parts of their boat on the shores of Dead Island.

We have done stupid things & taken many risks ourselves over the years including running a boat over Dallas Rapids wide open while two Canadian Wildlife Officers watched with disbelief & amusement.

We camped right on the rapids that year.

The guy that did it was a professional race car driver & did it on a dare after drinking quite a few beers.

We all pulled the 14 foot boat & 25 hp Evinrude boat that was very fast up the rapids on a rope & he went a quarter mile up stream & then ran wide open over the rapids which were really falls & it was a site to see & hear.

It was a great jump until the lower unit hit a rock on impact but luckily nothing got broken & we all made it home in one piece.

When you are young & dumb anything is possible including stupid things like that twenty five miles out in the wilderness.

The wildlife guys are probably still talking about it & how dumb some American campers & fishermen can really be.

From that time on we refused to take anyone with us that had to have alcohol or beer & simply left them at home.

We used to always put our boats in at Key Marina & every year we would get stuck on the slick wood ramp & the guy would have to come down & pull our truck & boat up with the tractor.

One year he made wisecrack when he saw us getting ready to back down the ramp.

He told us to come & get him at his workshop when we were ready to be pulled out.

Fritts backed the truck down the ramp & put on the emergency brake & left the truck run in neutral gear.

When we started cranking the boat onto the trailer the truck started to slide backwards down the ramp & we both jumped into the water out of the way & the whole truck completely submerged to the roof top with the engine running.

Fritts told me to go get the guy & tractor & I had to tell him what happened & he did everything he could to keep from breaking laughing out loud.

When he got to the ramp with chain & tractor he held out the chain & simply said which one of you guys are going to dive down under water & hook this on the bumper?

The boat was floating & the trailer was submerged & our gear that we had stuffed into the bed of the truck before it slipped down the ramp was floating all over the river.

People were standing around trying not to laugh at us or our situtation which was anything but good.

I dove down under water & got the chain hooked up & he pulled the truck up the ramp with his tractor.

When we got it back on land water was coming out of the tail pipe & bottom of the doors & all the dashboard gages were full of water.

He towed us up to his shop & took out the drain plugs & spark plugs & water was coming out of the block & tailpipe.

We made it home okay but it was a long while before all the water dried up.

The next time we went up we put in at Camp Dore & did so from that time on to avoid the ridicule.

Memories.

Piece Of Advice.

If the birds are flying low right on top of the water get off the water quick & get near an island or bay as a big storm may be coming in off the big water before to long.

If your campfire smoke is not going sort of straight up a big blow may be on the way so batten down before you retire to your tent for the night.

When they give you weather forcast on the radio up there for Parry Sound or Sudbury forget them because it is never the same in The Key River Area which always seems to have it’s own weather pattern irregardless of what is going on in the rest of Ontario.

Sometimes you will have good & bad weather all day long combined or it can rain for days & days or rain all night & stop early in the morning. It reminds me of a rain forest climate at times. The winds up there are totally unpredictable even on a bright & sunny day. I have seen it snow in July one minute & then the sun would be out the next & 8o degree weather the rest of the day until it would turn cold & snow again & then rain all night & then the sun would be out early in the morning the next day. If the gulls are not around anywhere remember they are much smarter than we are when it comes to really bad weather being on the way. They know what to do & where to go & that is usually why they are gone. They are the weather forcasters in the Key River Area Of The Georgian Bay.

Georgian Bay Bass Hole

How To Locate & Catch Large Muskies On Georgian Bay

 

The possible new world record Muskie (65lbs.) was caught in Georgian Bay by the lucky happy fellow above in The Moon River Basin which used to be one of the hottest fishing holes in all of Canada but the last time we visited the area it was full of cabins & people & not really what we wouuld call wilderness as compared to the Key River Area or French River Provincial Park but top Canadian Fishing none the less. The Moon River is famous & has been written about in many outdoor magazines for years & years long before computers came along. It had the best big walleye (yellow pickerel) runs for many years until gill netters wiped them out for $6.00 to $9.00 a pound profits. That is being corrected as I understand so hopefully they will come back again & so will the really big Muskies that love to follow them & eat them. If you want to catch the world record find the yellow pickerel & troll the area over & over. The big Muskie will be following them. An old time muskie fishermen out on The French River told me that years ago.

Big Muskie also love to eat pike in the same manner & ciscoe.

I have no idea whether they like panfish & I have never had a pike or muskie hit a crappie, bass or bluegill while bringing one it in but I have seen them bust pike & yellow pickerel after being hooked by fishermen while they were reeling them in.

For some reason they like to grab them when you get them right next to the boat.

Muskies like to follow lures sometimes but they will not always grab them & sometimes pike do the same.

The Creek Chub Pikie resembles both yellow pickerel & pike & Muskie love this lure in Georgian Bay.

The bigger the better.

Troll it as fast as you can without pulling it out of the water.

A live sucker a foot or more long fished on a big bobber near where the big ones are known to feed would probably be a better bet in the long run for huge pike & muskie if you like that kind of fishing.

Checkout European websites on bait fishing for big pike.

That is their thing over there & you can learn a lot from them.

They have all kinds of special bait rigs not available in Canada or America & you can purchase them on their websites along with books about the subject.

I have heard of Muskies caught in the upper & lower French River & upper Pickerel River that equal this size but have never personally seen one of them except swimming in shallow clear water chasing bait fish which for a Muskie this size can be a 5 to ten pound pike or walleye (yellow pickerel).

Personally I have never caught a muskie like this in The Georgian Bay but I have gone out in The French River area near Dallas Rapids & trolled for them before.

I had a big Rapala bit right in half & only got the front end of the lure back trolling on The French River not far from Dallas Rapids & you should have seen the look on our faces when that happened?

They have powerful jaws that act like wire cutters if you get your lure or leaders into the right part of their jaws.

I have had many wire leaders bitten right in half cleanly over the years & have no idea the size of the fish that did that.

I have also seen big pike cleaned at Key Harbour Lodge that had the 7″ Rapala & 18 inch leaders all the way in their stomach.

That is one reason I prefer solid s.s. wire over cable for leaders.

The couple pictured used to go up & fish out there for big muskies by trolling all day in a big boat with a ten horse power trolling motor.

They always used 60 to 100lb. line & heavy stiff rods just in case.

They used the largest silver flatfish you could buy & also caught a lot of big pickerel & pike in the process of trolling for big muskie.

They used to catch more big fish than anyone up there with their flatfish.

They caught many big muskies over the years & I took this picture of them.

The one they are holding is in the forty pound range.

They told me they hooked a muskie one time that went at least 80 to 100lb.

They hooked it on the bay & it headed up the French River To Dallas Rapids & got down in the rocks under the rapids & got them snagged up & they finally lost it after following it for over an hour.

These people were not the type to exaggerate & were experts with years of experience fishing muskie in this area.

The lodge on the French River used to have pictures of all the big fish they took over the years while staying there in the summer.

If really big muskie is your thing the world record lurks in these waters & is waiting for someone to hook into it.

65 lb. muskies have been taken in the past in the upper & lower French River areas.

I have heard stories about world record size muskies being netted & released by wildlife people out on The French River near Gull Rock.

The best thing to do is get a hold of a fish camp & hire a guide that specializes in muskie fishing to find out where to troll & what to use & all that.

Very few really big muskie are caught in the area the Bass Hole is in.

I have caught nine pound muskies & have never seen any taken there over twenty pounds but I know forty pounders are around occasionally because I have seen them in clear shallow water feeding before.

I have caught hammer handle muskies there fishing for bass so they do spawn in the area.

Generally pike & muskie do not mix well & the area I fish is mostly pike.

If you know what muskie weed looks like you will always find them around it somewhere.

Pike beds look different than muskie beds so a guide would be best if you really want to catch one.

There are good places on the upper French River also if you know where they are.

Some fishermen cast the really big Mepps spinners for them there & get forty pound muskie all the time.

Art Lawton that held the world record bought a cabin on The Upper French River because it was so good & used to guide people there.

Someone caught a 65lb. muskie there a few years back on a Creek Chub Pikie trolling.

Most muskie fishermen troll very fast with big lures & do that for hours on end with lures like the Creek Chub Pikie in muskie sizes.

If you get one or two on your trip you are doing good.

If you are a serious muskie fishermen you would be best to book with

Georgian Bay Fishing Camp as these people know all about the muskies out on the big water & they know where & how to catch them.

Big Creek Chub Pikies in perch color are also good for big muskies in The French River & Georgian Bay.

You can not go wrong talking to a pro & especially Muskie Heaven for Georgian Bay Muskies.

Ontario Big Fish Records

Georgian Bay Bass Hole

Both of these Muskies were caught in Georgian Bay recently & emailed to me by local fishermen that really know where to find them & how to catch them.

 

 

Notice the smiles on their faces.

They were released after the photos & will grow bigger.

I can not imagine hooking up with a muskie this big on my fly rod.

One of the muskies above was taken on a three inch long orange Rapala.