I love Algonquin Park. Close yet remote and lots of fish. In the past I went canoeing from Brent access point and spent most of my time on Clamshell lake. I caught Walleye, Bass and Catfish only(mind you, there is nothing wrong wtih that). NOW... I know the park is renowned for its Brookies....so I'd like get a taste of that action this year. Any suggestions? Access Points? Lakes? Rivers? Takle? Techniques? Any help would be great.

Here is some info on what I got so far.
will be leaving from ottawa
would like to sleep 3 nights and be back by the 4th
I dont have a flyrod
I dont care about bugs
I dont care about protages
no difference between hard trip or easy trip.... it's all good

Thanks in Advance!
Joe V

Hey Joe,

The true Speckled trout (brook trout) fisherman, will NEVER reveal his/her fishing spots, NEVER!

For those who do, especially on the Internet: You will destroy the very value you cherish because then everyone will know.

Eco-note: Algonquin Park brook trout and lake trout lakes are notoriously low productivity lakes. The trout populations cannot take a lot of pressure. A good reason for not revealing the Speck spots.

So Joe, you are on your own. I can’t even give you a hint, because then it would be too easy. But I feel for your need to fish specks. So, if you use some basic brook trout ecology clues (e.g. determining where the lakes and streams with coldwater discharges may be), then you can probably find them. There is a trick to predicting these sites but I cannot reveal it. If you find the honey hole, don’t tell anyone else.

Good luck.

Hi, Joe,

I agree that the time spent exploring and finding your own spots will be most rewarding. It's often the overlooked lakes and streams that yield the best fishing. These photos show some fish caught in the Hwy 60 corridor, these are often overlooked in the rush to get to the more remote hotspots:

http://www.algonquinadventures.com/phot ... fr5418.htm

A canoe route that does have reported good fishing could be a loop beginning at Kiosk:

Kioshkokwi
Whitebirch
Waterclear
Club
Mouse
Big Thunder
Erables
Maple
Kioshkokwi

This should be doable in four days with some weather margin and expose you to a range of lakes and streams to try your luck. For less paddling and more time spent fishing, after Club, return via Mink to Kioshkokwi.

Good luck!

Rick

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Hey Hoop_

Thanks for the reply, better to get a negative reply than none at all. I was hopping for a bit more help than what you offered. Maybe help with bait, lures, technique. I wasn't looking for a spicific spot (45 N 50 W). I see nothing wrong in sharing fishing technique or helpfull stories. Thats the beauty of the NET! I fished pike my whole life and would not feel guilty telling someone to troll a certain way with a certain lure. Also I had no idea that were so many who went threw the pain and suffering of portages and canoeing threw the wild just to stock-up on fish. I've always caught fish for sport and eat maybe one meal a day on a canoe trip...I've never seen people passing by with coolers full.... thats why I like backcountry camping so much. I have seen people party fishing on Lake Nippissing cathing boat loads of Walleyes and that makes me sick!

Sorry for the rant, its just that you make me look like an evil person for wanting a helping hand. I know absolutly nothing about trout and fish mags just dont replace the wisdom of someone who gives direct feedback on a subject.

I thank you for the help you did offer and will keep it in consideration.

Thanks Frozentripper,

You understood my post exactly. Enough info to get an idea where to start but not jeprodizing your own honey holes. I will look at my map and consider the trip.

Thanks a million,

Joe

Hey Joe,

Sorry. I did not intend any "evil" connotations. That's the trouble with print.

My point was that brook trout are different. In those watersheds in Algonquin, they are extremely low productivity. They are not like bass lakes further south, which produce 100's to 1000’s thousands of more kilograms of fish per hectare of lake surface. Many Algonquin lakes are notoriously nutrient poor. Scientists have done productivity and population studies on Algonquin Park brook trout lakes. In some small lakes they have found they support only a few dozen large fish. That’s right, a few dozen! Other lakes only have a few hundred. The same trends hold true for some lake trout lakes.

You can see then, how excess human fishing pressure can severely impact these fragile populations.

Rivers likely have more productive stats for brook trout.

Brook trout are also special in that there seems to be an almost cult-like aura about the species. It may be their incredible multicolored beauty that earns them this worship by anglers. However, I think it is something else. Brook trout and lake trout are true indicators of pristine ecological conditions. They are always the first species to suffer when watersheds are damaged. They are slow growing, slow maturing, require pure cold, well oxygenated water, have fragile spawining sites, and compete poorly with introduced exotics. Bass for example are introduced in many watersheds in Algonquin, and they are an alien species there. Bass are very aggressive, and can displace brookies. In fact they eat lots of brookies.

Brook trout and lake trout can only survive where there is very limited human fishing pressure. This is "relative" of course. Some watersheds are more productive than others. Algonquin's are on the low end of productivity. Because of fishing pressure, fish communities have shifted, so that young brookies get eaten now by other populations of fish that expanded to fill the gap, such as perch, which were also introduced along with the bass.

I could blab on, but in southern Ontario, there is an honour code among brook trout fishermen and fisherwomen to never reveal your spots. Let others have to work hard to find the secret spots. The more you have to work on finding them, the better the reward, and then you too will become part of the brook trout cult.

Best of luck.

Gotta add my two cents here...

An Algonquin lake, like Dickson, without actually measuring it for area, might produce roughly, 200 - 500 Kg of trout per year.

The fisheries research done in Dickson suggests that about half of the annual production might be removed each year, so maybe 100 - 250 kg of trout may be taken out in a year's fishing. These will tend to be the larger fish caught, leaving the smaller juveniles to be caught another year.

We know that, historically, there were far more large trout in Algonquin lakes than today, because they were able to live to an old age and a large size. So the population then would have been dominated by heavier fish. This is especially true for lake trout.

Even though many of the large, mature fish are being taken out today, there still seem to be enough mature spawners remaining to make the lake trout and brook trout in many Algonquin lakes self-sustaining.

Previous research has shown that greater or lesser fishing pressure will not change spawning, or the numbers of juveniles significantly, there seem to be young fish ready to grow into adults, unless other factors like disease, or changing water levels, prevent this by causing mortality separate from fishing.

The liabilities resulting from heavy fishing for anglers:

(1) There will be fewer large fish to catch, and the population will consist mainly of immature juveniles, making for poorer angling.

(2) Other non-sport species may become more abundant, or recent introductions like bass or pike may begin to take over.

(3) If fishing pressure becomes high enough to affect self-sustaining characteristics, the lake may be closed to fishing.


The above numbers for Dickson lake are my rough estimates only and might be different from actual measurements, I added them to show what the bigger picture might be.

Rick

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For an algonquin type lake to sustain brok trout, a minor miracle ha to occur. Food availability, proper oxygen concentration of water, and proper temperature all have to jive at a common depth. A typical algonquin lake will be able to produce about one pound of brook trout or lake trout per acre of surface area per year.
Brook trout and lake trout are the most common indigenous (sp?) species of salmonids in Southern Ontario. Most Great Lakes fisherpersons treat lakers like garbage fish, probably because of the high concentration of pollutants they absorb due to their longevity and slow growth rate, but lakers and brookies are the true gems of the Ontario Fishery. Anyone can catch a bass: it takes a little more work to catch a brookie.
The first step is to identify those bodies of water where the "minor miracle" can occur. River and stream brook trout tend to be more wary than lake fish, and can be difficult to catch in the spring after a hard winter: high water levels lead to lots of "feed" in the water, and the fish can be picky.
Try to be stealthy when fishing. Forget about spots that are heavily travelled, stocked lakes being the exception.
Use the lightest gear possible for brookies, and "match the hatch" when selecting bait: fish with what the fish are feeding on.
Clip your barbs, and use single hooks if possible (a badge of honour for true brook trout fisherpersons). Consider releasing all of the brookies you catch...the catfish you caught will taste just as good.
Try to handle the fish as little as possible..even better, release them in the water by "flipping" the hook out of their mouths (very easy to do with a single barbless hook).
That's the how, sorry, but I can't tell you the where, but I will tell you that if you are entering the park via Brent, I have fished in that area and have, on occasion, done quite well, but I never keep a brook trout, and would encourage you to do the same.

Best of luck,

cdb

For an algonquin type lake to sustain brok trout, a minor miracle ha to occur. Food availability, proper oxygen concentration of water, and proper temperature all have to jive at a common depth. A typical algonquin lake will be able to produce about one pound of brook trout or lake trout per acre of surface area per year.
Brook trout and lake trout are the most common indigenous (sp?) species of salmonids in Southern Ontario. Most Great Lakes fisherpersons treat lakers like garbage fish, probably because of the high concentration of pollutants they absorb due to their longevity and slow growth rate, but lakers and brookies are the true gems of the Ontario Fishery. Anyone can catch a bass: it takes a little more work to catch a brookie.
The first step is to identify those bodies of water where the "minor miracle" can occur. River and stream brook trout tend to be more wary than lake fish, and can be difficult to catch in the spring after a hard winter: high water levels lead to lots of "feed" in the water, and the fish can be picky.
Try to be stealthy when fishing. Forget about spots that are heavily travelled, stocked lakes being the exception.
Use the lightest gear possible for brookies, and "match the hatch" when selecting bait: fish with what the fish are feeding on.
Clip your barbs, and use single hooks if possible (a badge of honour for true brook trout fisherpersons). Consider releasing all of the brookies you catch...the catfish you caught will taste just as good.
Try to handle the fish as little as possible..even better, release them in the water by "flipping" the hook out of their mouths (very easy to do with a single barbless hook).
That's the how, sorry, but I can't tell you the where, but I will tell you that if you are entering the park via Brent, I have fished in that area and have, on occasion, done quite well, but I never keep a brook trout, and would encourage you to do the same.

Best of luck,

cdb

I think it's quite true about a brookie fisherman not wanting to give their "honey holes" however there are certain lakes in the park where I'm sure it's "public knowledge" you can catch brookies.
For example, if you access Rock Lake, and paddle to Pen Lake, portage from Pen into Welcome, Harry or Rence they're all brook trout lakes. There's slot limits in place, so pretty much any brookies you catch would have to go back in....but if you're just doing it for the sport anyway. You could reach Welcome probably in a half day's paddle.

Happy fishing!

Sir Campsalot

Hey joeisout2lunch,

Here is a technique that worked well on many occasions for me:

1- don't use a leader of any sort.
2- Attach a small silver spoon to your line. If the spoon has a hook on it, remove it.
3- Attach a piece of monofilament fishing line in place where the hook used to be. This line should be a clear line.
4- Attach a single hook at the end of this line, then throw a worm on it. The line between the spoon and the hook should be 12-18 inches in length.
5- Cast away!

Another tip for Algonquin trout: go early in the season when they are near the surface. During the summer they are down deep and difficult to catch.

Another tip for trout is to leave drag loose and let them run with the line for a bit before you set your hook. Once your hook is set, tighten your drag a bit, but not much. I've seen trout with their mouths torn because someone had their drag set too tight and just yanked away. If that happens you don't get a catch but you've probably ruined the fish. Easy does it works best.

Pretty well ANY lake in the interior (middle) will produce Specs. Take a look at the Algonquin map, point to the middle (app.) 8" in any direction will produce! Flat-line out from shore in no more than 10' -15' of water and follow the shoreline. Where you have sunken logs or overhanging trees, target those areas as well (by casting to them). Drop-offs are fantastic flat-lining just to the deep side.For Specs in the Park my number one is a Little Cleo with a stinger hook, they'll often short-bite in the early spring. Fly-wise for Specs I use a leech imitation (lots of maribou!) tied black with a chocolate/red underbelly.

Dave

I'd like to take some time to thank everybody who responded to my post.