Quinte Fishing

Been skunked 3 times now trying to catch my first splake. Any one have any advice on what I should be using. I was marking a lot of fish a few weeks ago but did not get a bite. Yesterday I went out with my camera and started drilling holes to see what was down there and on my third hole I found a ledge with three splake swimming by. I was marking lots of fish the last couple times i was out but I found out yesterday these were mostly very large sunfish. I did see 5 splake throughout the day, 4 small and one big one. 4 of them completely ignored my lure and swam by without even a look. I tried a weighted minnow on a hook, a small white tube as the larger ones have worked for me on the lakers, a small silver spoon tipped with either a minnow or a worm and a small modified silver spinner (egg sinker added for the weight) tipped as well. I only had one bite by one of the small ones, it followed the tube up and took a look and then dropped back down to bottom where I was ready with the spinner in the other hole which it hit instantly on the way down but I missed it.

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I am a very quick learner and try to be the best at what I do.
My friends call it OCD. I call it Passion.

When I cleaned some specks from last weekend, I cut them open to see what they had been eating. One of them had a very small sunfish in his belly but most of the others had been eating caddis fly larvae. Not sure if anyone has tried a fly under the ice before, but I plan on giving it a try next time I'm out.

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HUNT, FISH and RIDE

There was a post on here a while ago about catching rainbows on flies... viewtopic.php?f=1&t=18553&p=104135&hilit=trout#p104135. As for the belly contents thank you sir! I actually have two packs already in my bag that I bought for crappie fishing that I have not opened. One is Mr. twister nymphs that looks close and the other is a bunch of small nymphs and grubs in assorted colours and some of these look identical to the caddis fly larvae. Think they are subzero or celsius, they are made with organic real fish food material and bought from C.Tire.

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I am a very quick learner and try to be the best at what I do.
My friends call it OCD. I call it Passion.

the splake I have seen come off dog this year are full of what I think is shad like bait, just stuffed to the gills so to speak have only got out once , 2 got caught by my bud's, seen a 14.5lb fish caught, the average this year seams to be close to 6-7 pounds.

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Andy

Been doing a bit of splake fishing myself lately. I have found the 20-30' range to be the most productive and if you can find that with a feeding flat close by you should be able to get on them. The lake I fish has very steep drops so the key is to find the edge and drill holes in a criss cross fashion along it. In many of the smaller lakes that have been stocked by the Ministry the larger splake key in on perch as their main diet. This being said the perch can be a nuisance so I set minnows about 5-10' off bottom and jig from 5' off bottom to the top of the ice...splake will suspend in the water column and they also like to chase much like lakers. Don't be afraid to use larger spoons in the 4" range as they tend to be attracted to lots of flash; I generally tip with a piece of worm or minnow sometimes small live dace.

Good luck in your search and I hope some of my info helps you out.

I used to live on Steenburg Lake and found that the splake fed heavily on perch and the specks in lakes in the area definitely preferred stickleback minnows

what works for me is 10-15 fow with a drop off close by, set line with 2 to 4" golden shiner 5' of bottom, smaller minnow seems better hard to find. i use a smaLL green champ with small shiner for jiggin. seems i only catch suspended fish but 5' is key for me.

Seems like I am getting the same information from everyone. Edges of drop offs at flats, 5 feet off bottom and flashy fluttering spoons tipped. I was given some advice at the bait shop (brown bear tackle) today when I was stocking up on minnows to try the flies as well. I was talking to the owner there and told him what I was targeting and he gave me about a dozen nice flies he had tied and said if all else fails put one on with a small splitshot and I could be suprised.

Thank you everyone for the priceless information I will update with my results after I get out again.

_________________
I am a very quick learner and try to be the best at what I do.
My friends call it OCD. I call it Passion.

Just a small report from today. Managed 6 landed between 2 of us with many lost at the hole. Best was a 16.5"er...which is good for this small lake. Top producer was a small gold cleo tipped with a small chunk of worm in 21' of water breaking to 30'. The action was hot and heavy during the first of the snow storm for an hour. Lots of chasers today but it was tough to get them to hit and when they did they were lightly hooked.

Skunked again... I know I was in a good spot as I saw about 20 of them cruise on by. Did not touch my tip up under the ice or even look at my lure. A few times they swam within inches of my lures but acted like they were not even there. Thought I had a quite a few more videos but my tablet memory was full and stopped recording early in the day. Got a bite from something but I think the hook was too big, lol. If you get a magnifying glass and look in the second video at 1:40 on the bottom just before the two big ones cruise by under the ice where my tip up was you can see it slowly heading over my way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A1gUzwYnz0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnoIchh_VXw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsjGgJLTrQE

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I am a very quick learner and try to be the best at what I do.
My friends call it OCD. I call it Passion.

They did seem to be up higher than your lures. Opposite to that though, if you have a sandy bottom like that, it might have been worth letting your lure bump bottom and put out little puffs of sand once in a while.
I am curious how deep the camera was.

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HUNT, FISH and RIDE

The camera was at about 20' - 24'. I fished the entire water column throughout the day and was bumping the bottom for a while but it did not help. They were cruising the top and also near the bottom. I had my tip up set with a minnow at the top just under the ice where the two swam by. The videos that I thought I had that did not work due to lack of recording space were of the ones on the bottom. Two swam by my lure very slowly at one point each fish about an inch to each side of it and another lone one swam by about an inch from it as well later in the day but did not even pause to look at it.

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I am a very quick learner and try to be the best at what I do.
My friends call it OCD. I call it Passion.

Dynamite.

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HUNT, FISH and RIDE

I would try something with a scent attractor to it , maybe a Berkley gulp product or something I have used for specks is a spawn sac may be the trigger you need

Now that and Idea that might work. lol.

_________________
I am a very quick learner and try to be the best at what I do.
My friends call it OCD. I call it Passion.