Our week houseboating

July 3-8 was our week to enjoy some time on the lake. I don't think we've ever been out when it was so warm. In fact the weather was HOT: but the lake was great for swimming. Mike always likes to go to Cross Lake to 'his' campsite. It's a nice spot but in the past I've been cautious about swimming there because there are some big snapping turtles around. This week Mike didn't try to lure them in with fish remains until later in the week and we didn't see them (although I'm sure they were there) so I told myself it would be fine to swim. I still have all my toes and 'apparently' the turtles are not normally aggressive when in the water.

We went out with my parents and they parked just across the bay at their own special spot where it's deep enough to catch smallmouth bass off the back of the houseboat. We had a nice time, sharing suppers together, playing some games, fishing and even my parents went in the water.

The fishing was good although it was windy at times. We caught a little bit of everything: some lake trout, some smallmouth bass, some northern pike, some pickerel and a whitefish.

It was great weather for resting and reading. The bugs were not bad at all...until the sun went down that is! Then you had better hope you were inside because the mosquitos were hungry after not being able to eat most of the day ... poor little things.

On the way home we stopped at the opening to the Tetapaga River. Even though it was windy I really wanted to put my kayak to use and travel at least part way up the river. I've been up it by boat but there's something about travelling by kayak: you get to see so much more. I saw what could have been a black duck with six ducklings. They were a little way off as I was entering the Tetapaga so it's hard to be sure exactly what kind of duck they were. I followed a great blue heron for a while. I'm sure he thought I was chasing him but really he just kept flying a little way ahead of me. I also saw a muskrat minding his own business. I was downwind from him so I'm not sure he ever noticed me. He took a small 'stream' off the main course through the wild rice. I also saw the cutest little flowers. They looked like they were growing in a patch of grass on rocks that would have been covered by water last year at this time. They were yellow and probably less than a centimeter across. I wish I'd been able to take a camera with me but even though I've never tipped the kayak I didn't want to chance getting the camera waterlogged!

Prize Laker: caught and released

One of our private houseboat customers came back Monday from an exciting week of fishing. They caught this beautiful lake trout while wire lining on the bottom of Lake Temagami with a big silver spoon. It weighed in at 31.2 lbs. They spent about 45 minutes reviving the laker after his ordeal and watched him swim away to live another day. Pictured below is another nice catch by the same group of guys. All in all it seems to have been a good week of fishing!

All this week our customers have been having good luck catching lake trout. Early in the week they were catching them in as shallow as 15 feet of water but this warm weather has caused the water to warm up quickly and the trout are retreating to cooler places.

May 15: Opening day for fishing... and houseboating!

The weather network is promising warm weather for opening week with only a bit of rain - if you can trust what they say. If they're right it sounds like perfect weather for houseboating and for fishing.

Since the ice went out so early this year I was curious how warm the water is and if the pickerel would spawn early. So I checked the water temperature this cool, rainy morning. (Yes, we finally received some real rain!) The water is currently 56 degrees Fahrenheit.

That still didn't mean a whole lot to me since I've never checked the water temperature at this time of year before so I turned to the internet. Now I know you can't rely on everything you read online but I checked out a few sites. I discovered that pickerel feed the most between 55-75 degrees Fahrenheit. One site said their feeding peaks at 64 degrees. Another site said that it all depends on your latitude - how helpful...

Another said that their feeding was 'most voracious' just after spawning. So I visited the folks at TAFIP (Temagami Area Fish Improvement Program), our local fish hatchery to see whether the pickerel have finished spawning. I was told that they have finished and that the first batch of eggs will be hatching next week. I've included pictures that were taken a few years ago at TAFIP of both the eggs and the little guys just after hatching.

So the conclusion is that the pickerel fishing on Lake Temagami should be great opening week even though it is earlier than usual. Now I can't promise that there won't be snow. And I can't promise that you'll catch fish. I can only say that it looks hopeful and I wish you all the best!