Ice fishing brook trout

Not much ice fishing in January for me, with only two ice outings done all month. Finally got back out with my 13 year old son Zev to kick off February. Target species were stocked brook trout. A number of lakes in various regions in Quebec get stocked a few times per year, with various organizations running the stocking programs, which are often tied in with local derbies.

After one such derby on Saturday, my son headed up to fish the lake on Monday, hoping to find some of the trout that managed to avoid getting caught during the derby.

We got onto the lake in question by mid morning. Second hole I drilled produced back to back brook trout for Zev and I.

We then made our way around the area of the lake, drilling and fishing until we ran into a bunch of schooling brook trout in the 14th hole I drilled. Zev managed to pull 8 of 12 trout out of that hole over the next 1/2 hour or so, while I got a few more brook trout out of other holes nearby.

Most of Zev's hit on a small Kastmaster spoon tipped with a mealworm, while I landed a few on a small lipless crankbait. Big surprise was their avoidance of worms still fished on our secondary rods, only one brook trout landed on still fished worms all day.

Weather was amazing, sunny, no wind, and it warmed up nicely enough for us to shed out coats and sweaters for a while.

Unfortunately, we were not able to get to two bag limits, as the last 20 holes I drilled didn't produce a single fish. As well, the brook trout that got stocked were significantly smaller than I have caught there in previous years. That being said, free is free, and beggars can't be choosy.

Looks like we'll be eating well once I'm done cleaning these....

Sure enough, it didn't take long.

New year's bass fishing on ice

New year's 2026. Woke up to a lot more snow than forecast. High winds and blowing snow forced me to cancel my plans of fishing flag lines for pike near Montreal I headed up North solo instead, as my kids didn't want to attempt fishing out in the open in -25 wind chill.

I got to my spot mid morning, ground temperature was a balmy -18C.

Nearly half hour trekk on foot to my spot, towing the gear sled. Wearing that many layers, it takes very little time to heat up. It's crucial to avoid getting your underlayers sweaty, to avoid freezing later. As such, I remove most layers for the walk. Sometime, there is only one way to cool off.

I got started fishing not far from where I left off last week with Zev. Didn't take long to start catching bass. 

Action was a bit more sporadic than last week, but I managed to catch a few nice bass up to 16.5 inches.

They were nailing those rattlebaits pretty aggressively. Mini Rattle n vibe from Yozuri, and Rapala Rap V blade tipped with mealworms did the trick again.

I made an effort to stay away from perch in deeper water. Despite some very nice ones in the lake, most are infested with worms. The few I did catch, completely swallowed my lures, and in these very cold temps, the delay in getting them released is likely to kill them after the release. 

Day ended up with decent results, 18 largemouth bass, and 5 perch in about 5 hours of jigging. Left around sunset.

Happy 2026!

Crazy bass action to start ice fishing season

Ice fishing season is finally here again. As usual, I sort of pre-plan where I intend to fish and what I'm attempting to catch, well in advance of the season. As opposed to last year's goals of trying a bunch of new spots, this season, I plan to hit more of my usual spots, hopefully bringing my sons along as well.

After a lackluster outing on first ice earlier in December, I decided to take Zev out for a day of jigging, in relatively warmer weather. With the high just around the freezing mark, and him dressed as warmly as possible, we got out to jig for perch and pike.

Action was much slower than I hoped for, but my I achieved my main goals of training Zev to effectively use a flasher and jigging rod, as well as to get an idea of his general resistance to cold weather. He did stay warm overall, but unfortunately for him, he seems to have his mom's hands when it comes to freezing quickly. Despite the relatively warm weather, and my heaviest gloves lined with additional disposable hand warmers, his fingers were still very cold.

We didn't manage all that many fish, a few perch, and 1 small pike while jigging.

For our next outing together the following week, I picked up a couple Zippo electronic rechargeable hand warmers on clearance at Sail. Definitely get a lot hotter than the disposable powder ones. We headed up to a lake where I've had some very productive fishing for a mix of largemouth and smallmouth bass, as well as jumbo perch. With the weather hovering around -5 and very little wind, it was about as good of a day as I could hope for.

We trekked to out spot, and got to work trying to locate a pattern. After spending a good hour or so of searching, we got into some sporadic perch at about 28 to 32 feet of depth. Sizes were good, I even managed to land my biggest ice perch at 13.5 inches.

Still only 1 bass nearly 3 hours into the outing.

Based on past experience on this lake, I had a hunch the bass action would pick up after noon. Sure enough, once we located them between 25 and 28 feet of depth, the action was just about non stop. Over the next few hours, we managed to land a whopping 33 more largemouth bass, as well as a couple smallmouth bass too, with Zev catching the majority of them, as I was guiding him along. Mostly caught on small lipless crankbaits, as well as small spoons.

Zev was more than thrilled, and couldn't believe what was happening. He'd never caught that many bass in any given season, let alone in one afternoon on ice. So much for largemouth bass being a "warm water" species... Better yet, he was able to push through his frozen fingers to get at the fish. Truly a unique experience I was happy to be able to get him onto.

At this point, it looks like my 2025 season has come to it's end. It's been another fun season, with many very nice surprises. From a crazy week of catching saltwater fish in a freshwater canal in Miami last winter, to the insane numbers of pike and walleye landed during a few of my summer vacations, to some trophy carp in fall, and now ending off with this latest bass frenzy on ice. Just about ready to get my 2026 season under way as well.

At this point, I'd like to wish everyone a great 2026, with lot's of good fishing, great catches, and a happy new year!

Fishing with chick peas as carp bait

After last fall's success using chick peas as bait for carp fishing, I decided to dedicate most of my carp fishing this season to sticking with chick peas, for pre-baiting, chumming, and hook bait. I was quite hopeful, as in the previous season, I managed to avoid any other "nuisance" species, such as tench, suckers, and catfish, once I stuck to fishing exclusively with chick peas as bait.

Knowing that my first spot for the season typically starts producing carp once the water temps nears 55F, I planned my first pre-baiting campaign, chumming chick peas for 3 days in a row, before finally fishing it on the 4th evening. I invited my friend Warren and his kids out for the outing, and sure enough, they managed to land a carp within less than 10 minutes. Nothing big, maybe in the 12-13 lbs range, but it had them fired up for a bit, until the bite died down and they started getting cold, which spelled the end of their outing.

The rest of my spring carp fishing was a complete shock. Despite a few heavy pre-baiting campaigns using only flavored chick peas, I managed to get skunked 3 outings in a row, during what should have been peak carping conditions during pre-spawn.

After a few weeklong trips up North to start the summer the summer chasing pike and walleye, I finally got back to carping late in July. I managed 4 outings within 9 days, all with more heavy pre baiting. Again, I was surprised by the meager results, with 2 outings producing only 1 carp each, and getting skunked on the other 2 outings. At least Audrey and Zev managed their first carps of the season.

At this point, I decided to give up on that fishing spot, and started pre-baiting chick peas in another area. Sure enough, the first outing worked out well, with Zev landing 2 more decent carp.

Feeling confident that I was onto a good bite, I kept chumming the spot. I invited Eli and Audrey out for the next 2 outings at that spot, and again, we got skunked both times. This was getting a bit frustrating, but being my stubborn self, I decided to switch it up again and heavily bait a 3rd area with chick peas, before attempting to fish it with Eli and Audrey. Again, another fail, with us getting skunked yet again.

At this point, I was thinking my last year's success may have been a fluke, possibly just having hit some good timing. I gave carping a break until the fall, focusing on enjoying what was left of the summer, chasing bass and pike from my float tube.

As fall rolled in, we were still enjoying slightly warmer than normal weather. Having a few KG of dry chickpeas, as well as left over range cubes and boilies, I decided I'd try chumming a combination of all 3 baits. After a couple days of prebaiting my carp spot with all of the above, I took along Zev, Eli and Audrey, for an afternoon/evening outing.

Bite was on, we landed 2 nice carp, with Audrey catching her new PB at 28 lbs.

Hoping to build on the streak, I returned with Eli the following evening, only to get skunked again.

After a couple weeks enjoying the Jewish holidays at home with the family, I was itching to give the spot one more shot in cooling water. Historically, I've landed a good percentage of trophy fish at this spot in October, and I knew I had just enough bait left for a couple more pre-baiting campaigns. Again, I went with chick peas, range cubes and boilies, chumming my fishing spot 3 consecutive days before fishing it for a few hours. I timed my outing to coincide the the peak of a mid October heat wave.

For the first time in a while, I went solo, which meant that I had a shot at landing my first carp of the season, being that I'm usually guiding the kids. Sure enough, I got hit within less than 10 minutes, and landed a fat 30 lb carp. Unfortunately, the passerby that offered to take a picture though they were doing so, but after I released the carp, I realized the pictures had never been snapped. Oh well.

Luckily, I managed 2 more carp within the next 40 minutes, 19 and 25 lbs. This time, I made sure the pics were on my camera before releasing the carp.

Bite died down for a while, and eventually, I had to leave to run some errands. Just as I started packing up my gear, my rod went off, and within minutes, I landed another 30 lb carp! 

Gotta love those fairy tail endings whenever they happen, as it was my first time landing multiple 30's during a solo session. As well, I didn't feel as bad about missing the pictures of the first 30 of the outing.

Being down to my last bits of bait, I return the following week, considerably colder temps in the single digits. Water had cooled by a few degrees, and I didn't manage any bites after a couple days of pre-baiting mainly chickpeas.

At this point, I'm done prebaiting spots for carp for the season. Chickpeas will definitely be part of my next years chumming plans, though I'm likely going to mix in range cubes, and probably boilies as well. 

Not sure I'll get out to fish for carp again this season, but hoping to get out on open water before first ice.  

Walleye, bass and pike in Montreal

Finally got out with my friend Mark, who runs  Advanced Bassin plus fishing guide service. Figured it would be a nice way to end my summer fishing season, and I decided to bring my son Zev along for the action.

After a short boat ride from the launch, we hit Mark's first spot for walleye. Sure enough, Zev had his first walleye of trip onboard within a few minutes.

After a couple more drifts, Zev hooked in to a much better fish. With some expert coaching from Mark, Zev landed his new PB. This 28 inch beauty was in the 7 lbs range, so we set her free in good shape after a few quick pics.

Over the next hour or so, we landed some more keeper sized walleyes and a small bass.

On the final drift of that spot, Zev hooked into another nice fish, this time it was a solid pike in the 30 inch range.

We then switched spots, in order to target smallmouth bass. Using a super slow drop shot presentation, the three of us each landed some decent bass, and missed a few more.

Nice football shaped fish!

After a while, head headed back to attempt drift fishing for walleye and bass, but the wind had picked up, and was no gusting in the 30 km/h range. All we managed, was a small perch I landed just before calling it a day.

All in all, another great day on the water with Mark, who did a spectacular job coaching Zev all day, as it was his first real experience focusing on the drop shot technique he learned.

Mark still has many available dates this fall, which also happens to be prime time for bigger fish, as they start feeding heavily before the winter.

Contact Mark abut an outing today, at https://freshwaterphil.com/contactmark.cfm 

Fishing trophy walleye at Le Domaine Shannon

After a very successful fishing trip to Le Domaine Shannon A couple weeks ago, I headed back for another week of walleye and pike fishing on Lac Wahoo. This time, my good friend Jimmy came along, after I had briefed him on the outstanding quality of walleye fishing my son Eli and I had enjoyed on our trip (see: https://www.montreal-fishing.com/2025/07/best-walleye-fishing-at-le-domaine.html ).

Day 1:

We drove through the night to get to out cabin on Lac Wahoo bright and early. After breaking camp and getting the boat setup up with our add on electric motor, sonar, rod holders, and other accessories, we launched early in the day. Plan of action to start was a mix of trolling, and stopping to cast jerkbaits at spots where Eli and has success finding walleye. Fishing started off quite slow, but eventually, we managed to find a couple pods of walleye while casting, landing a few each, with a couple in the lower end of the allowable slot size.

Eventually, we trolled by a spot where I've run into better sized pike and walleye. Sure enough, on our first pass, my rod got hit, and I landed my first decent pike of the trip.

We turned around to try another pass, and I landed another one in the same size class. 

Not much else to report that day, other than my first ever perch on Lac Wahoo, was actually smaller than my lure.

Day 2:

After a very cold and windy night, we woke up to high winds and frigid temperatures, down to the single digits. Wearing thermal underwear and 2 hoodies, I managed to stay warm enough to fish all day. Most of the day was spent trolling due to the high winds, and fishing was slow. I manage a couple pike and smaller walleye, as did Jimmy. Eventually, we headed out for some evening casting, where we found a couple better fish,

I started off with a decent walleye:

Jimmy followed up with a pike:

That pretty much ended the day for us.

Day 3: 

With calm winds and sunny skies, we spent the morning casting and trolling, with only one tiny pike that I landed. By mid afternoon, the temperature had warmed up enough for me to head out in a t shirt for the first time all trip. Jimmy suggested casting a new spot, where we hadn't tried using jerkbats up until that point. Sure enough, there was a pod of walleyes waiting for us, and we landed 4 nice ones within a short 20 minute span.

Check out the blue dorsal fins on these walleyes:

We knew we had secured enough for more tasty walleye dinners, as usual, I took care of cleaning and cooking our catch.

After the bite at the spot died down, we did a lot more casting at a few spots we planned around the lake. Towards evening, our last spot paid off with a few more walleye, including my biggest of the trip, in the 4 lbs range.

A few casts later, another good hit, and I landed my biggest pike of the trip after a good battle.

After a few more keeper sized walleyes landed, we called it a day shortly before sunset.

Day 4:

Another cold night and early start had us out in hoodies again. We started off at the spot where we had success the previous afternoon, and sure enough, the first 4 cats, landed us 4 more walleyes.

When they stopped biting there, we headed off to cast another spot, out of the howling winds. Within minutes, Jimmy hooked into another seemingly decent fish. As is swam past me in the boat, I was the first to spot one of the biggest walleyes I've ever seen. My first reaction was to yell out "Huge Quinty walleye", referring to the giant sized walleyes that the Bay of Quinte in Ontario is famous for. I netted the trophy walleye for Jimmy, and both of us were in awe.

This was a very old walleye, likely over 25 years old. A huge head, but emaciated body with some strange looking growths, it measured 31 inches, but weighed only 8 lbs. 

My son Eli, actually had the lake record for walleye at 30 inches and 9 lbs. which he caught a few years ago. So Jimmy's fish is now the longest walleye known to be caught on that lake, Eli's is still the heaviest. I'm just happy I was there for both catches. I made sure to get her back in the lake in good shape after a couple minutes in the new cradle.

The day continued with a lot more walleyes landed, a good dozen or so between both of us. At some point, we noticed a couple eagles flying overhead, that were pecking at each other. We eventually found them perched in a couple trees, very noticeable with their big white heads as we trolled by.

One eventually flew off, and we spotted the other one a bit alter on.

Shot some footage, which I'll post later.

Day 5:

Only half a day planned to fish, as Jimmy had to leave earlier than planned. After casting a few spots without much success, we finally found a few more walleyes, not far for where we had seen the eagles the previous evening,

Shortly after noon, we decided to troll back to the cabin, and call it a trip. With my luck, my rod got hit again with less than 5 minutes left in the trip, and I landed another nice pike.

Perfect end to another perfect fishing trip. The cold weather kept most of the biting bugs away, and cool nights made for much better sleeping condition. While the pike were tough, I managed to catch a few nice ones, and as with last trip, the casting bite for walleyes was completely off the charts. Jimmy's new record trophy sized walleye was definitely the highlight of the trip. I'm glad my friend Jimmy came along, and that we got time to spend doing what we enjoy most. There aren't many people I'd rather fish with, and Jimmy's one of the few dedicated anglers that will put in the hours and work required to catch fish, no matter what the conditions.

Lastly, I'd like to thank Serge and all the crew at Le Domaine Shannon, for running a top notch outfitter operation. Though the lake I fished at (Lac Wahoo) is very remote, perfectly functioning appliances and motors are essential  to us being able to pull off these trips. 

Contact them about your next walleye trip by clicking: https://freshwaterphil.com/ledomaineshannon.cfm