Pacemaker Fishing Forum

Leon and I just got back from a full week of fishing in northern Quebec.  Our goal was big small mouth bass and any bonus fish that happen to hit our baits while bass fishing. Most of the time we get up there this time of the year, the fish are just leaving their beds. I’ve always wanted to fish the area during pre-spawn.  And we did. The total drive is about 15 hours. We stopped after about 12 hours, stocked up on food, and got a hotel. Then woke early, drove the remaining 3 hours, stocked up on beer, got gas, signed in and fished the rest of the day.
We arrived and it was cold.  No lily pads on the lakes, vegetation was just starting to sprout, and best of all, very few mosquitos.  We did need our layers of cloths to keep us warm and dry the first couple days. 
Wildlife was celebrating the coming of spring (based on temperature not the calendar).  We saw hawks hunting.  They would fly to one spot, usually a log sticking out over the lake, and sit for a while.  Then if no one was home, take off for their next spot.  We had a hooded merganser duck perform a dance ritual in front of the front porch of the cabin for almost an hour.  He’s fly around the island the cabin was on, then land, web feet out and slide about 10 feet.  They he’d get up on his web feet and do a little dance on the water while flapping his wings and making a racket with his song.  We assumed someone before us was feeding him, and he was expecting food from us.  Didn’t happen.  Foxes and road runners made their appearance.  Nature did have a surprise for us. Black fly season was over but apparently we were in the middle of horse fly season.  I got bit on both hands, but this time came prepared with Benadryl and sting relief pencils.  The weather was challenging.  Cold, then a front came in, then rain, then another front, then more rain, then nice, then hot.  All in all, it was a very pleasant temperature to fish if you were dressed properly.
We stayed in an outpost cabin on an island. Remote, alone, and no power.  We motored there, with our gear, in the outboard.  The cabine did have propane for lanterns, the stove, refrigerator, and best of all, hot water.  A 12V battery powered a water pressure pump for hot showers.



The view sitting on the porch at night was phenomenal.  Between the wild life, the northern lights, and the long days, it was peaceful. No cell service, no TV, no news.  Peacefull.
Until we jumped in the boat.    The boat was a 14’ jon boat with a 20 hp electric start Mercury.

The best spots had rock gardens extending 30+ feet from shore


The early season brought in the big fish and not big numbers.  We still caught a bunch.  These fish have shoulders and wear you out hooking, fighting, landing and releasing.
Baits we used were mostly stixbaits, flukes, and swimbaits.  Stixbaits and flukes were weightless.  Swimbaits were on 1/8ox jibs.
Got to the point where we stopped taking pix of fish that were 18". Anything smaller, the camera never came out.  Fished for the next six days about eight hours a day, then ate, had a few barley pops on the front porch, then slept and got ready for the next day.
Some days the bite were finicky and numbers were low.  Other days the bite was wide-open all day.  All in all, we did great and will go back.