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Lake Superior Brook Trout and Steelhead | Fish'n Canada
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Nov 22, 2023
Angelo Viola, Pete Bowman and Mike Miller head to the farthest reaches in the northern portion of Lake Superior for some fast action of Steelhead and Coaster Brook Trout from both boat and shore. Although it’s Trout fishing, you would swear they were Bass fishing! ► Subscribe http://bit.ly/youtube-fishncanada Don't forget to leave a COMMENT and give us a LIKE if you enjoyed what you saw. SUBSCRIBE for new videos and episodes released weekly! CONNECT WITH US -------------------------------- ► WEBSITE http://fishncanada.com ► FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/FishnCanada/ ► INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/fishncanada... ► TWITTER https://twitter.com/angeloviolafnc/ One of Canada's longest-running fishing shows, Fish'n Canada travels from coast to coast in search of trophy fishing opportunities. First started by brothers Angelo and Reno Viola in 1986, The Fish’n Canada Show has been on the air for over 30 years. Today, Angelo is joined by lifelong fishing buddy, Peter Bowman, and the pair continue to travel across Canada educating anglers using the experience they’ve gained over the years
View Video Transcript
0:00
Come on home to our cabin in the wild, cause we're in for some good fishing, feeling easy, feeling free, yes we're in for some good fishing Canada
0:12
Rocking mountains to the maratimes, set your reel and cast your line, come on let's go fishing Canada
0:22
I love this. River Creek, Lake or Stream And everywhere in between
0:32
Come on, let's go Fishing Canada The Fishing Canada show is brought to you in part by
0:39
Coleman, the outdoor company Muskell, serious bug protection Prince Craft Boats The more you know, the better we look
0:50
And Mercury Number one on the water. Together we'll go fish and carry
1:06
That's a finish right there! Yeehaw! Of all the trout species in existence, to me the absolute ultimate has to be the speckled
1:19
or as it's sometimes called, the brook trout. This little beast fights like a pit bull yet looks like an artist's painting
1:25
It's got every quality that any angler should be looking for. Green back. There he goes. Look at him
1:30
The brook trout's big square tail gives it extra pulling power, a short stubby body speed, and sharp little teeth make it an eating machine
1:38
Take all that and put it into a giant deep body of water with an extraordinarily rich food base
1:43
And you come up with a super strain of brookies called coasters. That is something else, man
1:47
Pete, Ange, and I have made our way to the top end of Lake Superior. We're in search of a species of speck called coasters
1:55
Now these fish reside in the big lake, but contrary to popular belief that they can only be found deep
2:01
coasters literally cruise the shallow shores or coasts of Lake Superior. Coaster brookies exist very similarly to the other brookies around the country
2:11
whereas in the fall they traverse up rivers, creeks and streams to spawn
2:16
and once they return to the main lake, they cruise the shallows searching for food
2:20
Where they differ, though, is in their size. Our destination for this trip is, get this, Bowman Island Lodge
2:27
Yeah, that's right, Bowman Island, as in Pete Bowman. Actually, it's got nothing to do with my roots, but it is a pretty good fit
2:34
We arrived at our driving destination, the Nippagon Harbor, where we were greeted by the lodge owner, Gary Lang
2:40
I couldn't help but wonder who the rest of the crew was, though. But I soon found out Pete's relatives were yet again coming out of the woodwork
2:48
Almost every shoot we go on, Pete's got some kind of kinfolk paying him a family visit
2:53
This time it was Aunt Al and Yumps. Who knows who will show up next? Maybe Granny and Uncle Jen
3:01
We were soon on our way out of the furthest north freshwater port in North America
3:05
and down the Nipigon River towards beautiful Lake Superior, making our way to what may be the most mysterious of all the great lakes
3:15
Gary, how long have you been here? Well, I grew up here. I've been here 62 years. I was born and raised in the area. I've been going on Lake Superior
3:24
Started with a 14-foot and an 18-horse going out to where we were going when I was 14 and been going ever since
3:30
So you know every rock out there intimately, I'm assuming. In the area that I'm in, yeah. I know quite a few of them even more intimately than I should
3:38
I've got to tell you, I'm fascinated with the whole coaster thing. I first heard about them when I was a kid
3:46
I think I read an article in a magazine about this mysterious creature called Coaster. Yeah
3:52
Ever since I've been intrigued, I've never, in all the years I've been doing this, I've
3:56
never gone after them. This will be my first time. Oh, yeah. Tell me about them
4:00
What makes them so special? Well, they actually come into the river, the Dominican River in the Jack Vine, Cypress
4:06
along the North Shore here to spawn. And they only stay in the creeks until they're small fry
4:12
And usually late August, they all move out and go back into the main lake and grow up in the lake
4:17
How long have you had the operation on the island? It's Bowman Island where we're going. That's another whole other story
4:23
Yeah, actually, I've been full-time business. This is my second year with the lodge
4:29
I started building it five years ago, and it's almost completed. And before that, I worked here at the Mill at Red Rock
4:37
and did weekend extursions and a few weeks of holidays to mainly target the June fishing season
4:45
Give me a breakdown on the lake. We're going to be fishing what sort of depths predominantly
4:51
We're going to be fishing right into 18 inches of the water. You're going to be cast into the rocks if you're dreaming
4:56
Great. I love that stuff. Yeah, that's the only place that's warm enough water
5:01
And they're in there feeding, and that's where we'll head on. If your timing's right, during the spring
5:06
there's an amazing alternate fishery available on your adventure towards the Big Lake
5:09
Ange and I jumped in the Princecraft and started fishing feeder creeks that empty into the Nippagon River
5:14
Sometimes there's specks there, but other times, they're bumped out. Whoa baby here we go Nice one Hard to say what I like to see a speck but We don know What the net
5:29
We don't know where we're at. What, the net? You know what? Let me get the net out. It's a good size fish, whatever it is
5:34
Let me get the net out. Oh yeah. Oh yeah, he just pulled some drag on me
5:38
I can't be a speck, it's too big. Well what else is it going to be
5:42
Oh my, that's... Is it a rainbow or a speck? Look at him screaming
5:46
It almost looks like a lake trout. You don't want to... We're expecting a little speckled trout
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What have we got? I can't... Boy, did they pull, man? That looks like a laker
6:00
It's a rainbow. It's a rainbow. Look at that beautiful rainbow. Nice one
6:05
There you go. That is beautiful, man. Yeah. That is nice. The first creek we tried was absolutely loaded
6:17
with steelhead. And it didn't seem to matter what we threw. Now these fish were giants
6:23
However, for a short, quick stop on the way to the good stuff, it was nothing short of phenomenal
6:32
These are darker. That's a darker fish, isn't it? Look at that. Beautiful
6:36
That's huge. We're going to call you the Rainbow King now. All right
6:40
Get unwrapped there. Bring him in. Get him in first. You'll never get him that way
6:46
There we go. That spawned out. You can see how thin he is, huh
6:50
Yeah. Oh, she could bite it. I thought, yeah. Watch your finger
6:56
On a bucktail. It was lots of fish we could do that
7:01
That baby took it on a bucktail. Yeah, he didn't even touch the fish
7:06
He's good to go. And watch that. That was a squirrely fish, that one
7:10
Look at that. They just blasted out of that net. I love that. Okay
7:16
So spoons, bucktails, what else can we throw out? I don't think it's going to matter, buddy. Right here at the boat, buddy
7:22
So he followed you. Just what he said, they don't do, and they did it. Yeah, that one definitely followed
7:27
Cool. That one definitely followed us out. Speck? I haven't really, I don't think so
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I think he's another. It's long and skinny, eh? Yeah, another rainbow. They don't have that real rainbow color to them
7:41
No. Almost a chrome. It's got a bit of rainbow to it. That's a good size fish. Aren't they nice
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You're casting hard work to these things. We've got here five minutes and we're pounding these fish
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Whoa. The interesting thing about these things is that they're not a native fish
7:54
but they're a natural fish, and that they were originally brought into this area in the late 1800s, Gary was saying
7:59
Right. Yeah. So all of these are just naturally reproducing. And that's fantastic
8:06
Good job. Look at the size of that fish, man. Now, I got this box
8:10
Okay, if you want to work on them right there, perfect. You can, I'm going to bring them in the boat. There you go, what a- he's off
8:17
Not even gonna- we won't even have to hold him up. Just take a look at that fish right there. Fills the net up
8:21
Fills the net up. Fills the net right up. Those fish are going what, five pounds
8:27
That's bigger than five pounds, dude. I think, I don't know. Maybe- Between five and seven-pound rainbows, man
8:34
After Pete and I laid the smack down on those steelhead- well, actually Pete did that
8:38
I was smacking down the net. We caught up with the boat and continued our cruise
8:42
The steam out to the lodge is a great place to put together a fishing strategy by going over some of the hydrographic charts
8:49
A great tale that takes place very close to Bowman Island is the Island of Doom, Talbot Island
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where one of the earliest lighthouses was erected in 1866. It was constructed as a white square wooden tower lit by three kerosene lamps
9:04
Legend has it that all three keepers of the lighthouse died at or close to the station, leading to the nickname Lighthouse of Doom
9:10
There are tales that in foggy, stormy weather, the white-haired wife of one of the keepers can be seen wandering sadly around the island
9:21
Our plans were for Ange and Pete to carry on looking for specks out of the Princecraft
9:26
Myself, I was to venture out onto the Superior coastline on foot, fishing some of the crystal clear creeks that feed the lake
9:34
Two different styles of fishing for one species of fish. Although walking the shores of Lake Superior's coastline sounds like a daunting task
9:42
the work will be well worth the effort if the rewards are what I think they are
9:46
You get a great feeling out here that you're... I mean, being from Toronto and southern Ontario
9:54
to come here it's almost like you're going into the wilderness of BC
9:58
There's no residence on any of the islands out here. They're only accessible for two or three months of the year
10:05
I'm all alone out here some of these rivers have probably never been fished
10:13
there's one oh look at this he's gonna go down the beach here look at that it's
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just cross it back and forth bouncing off of rocks come on
10:35
Oh, that was heavy for the bottom of Lake Superior. He turned around and ran
10:41
Come on, come on, come on. Oh whoa look at that You never know what you gonna get here There rainbow trout big giant brook trout They call them coasters This guy taking me coast to coast Come on baby come on
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baby. I got a net behind me. This is the challenge here. You got to be sort of a one-armed bandit
11:03
I'm going to wade out a little
11:12
Come on girl, come to papa. Come on. The good thing about fishing on these islands out in Lake Superior is there's probably a
11:20
dozen rivers like this off the big island of St. Ignace. Look at this fish go
11:29
Come on, you got to come a little closer, baby. You're almost here
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I don't know what it is yet. It looks like a little brookie. Beautiful
11:48
Look at that. Nice little brook trout. And I'm saying little because that's the area I'm in
11:56
Pete and I were up here last year catching five and six pounders in the Nippigan River
12:01
and this being Lake Superior. Look at that. If you can only feel the feeling of this, it's like a slippery little soft eel
12:14
Beautiful fish. Just gonna hold it in the water here. Come on now, go on there and get bigger
12:30
Woo, wow, it just shot off like a bullet. That was awesome
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When fishing an area like this creek mouth, it usually doesn't take long to tell if there
12:41
are fish there. Specs are current predators and they lie in wait for a morsel to drift by and then instantly
12:46
rush out and grab it. Oh my god. Where do you see the bait I'm throwing for this
12:58
All you guys that catch bass at home, Southern Ontario, I'm catching giant
13:02
brook trout off a rock with a senko. Oh my god, look at the strike of this fish
13:08
All I can do is just put resistance on him and try and move him up current slowly. Come on, turn your head
13:14
Oh, Lonnie! He wants to go in there. I got him out
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I got him out. Wait until you see what this fish bit on
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Wait until you see what this fish bit on. Oh, that's another nice one
13:35
Beautiful, beautiful fish. Oh, they're gorgeous. Go on! Go on
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A lot of you guys are going to think I'm crazy. But look at this
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I've got a mosquito hook. And I'm going to wacky rig a soft stick bait
13:58
Just like that. Small, small, fast fishing. Guys love that. But here
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I think these rookies will eat anything. Oh! It's another decent one
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This is the second fish I've caught on a Senko. It's just unbelievable. Here she is here. Here she is here
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Gotcha. Oh, look at the way that's hooked. Just right in the nose. Should be able to pop that
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no problem. Wow. Wow, they're slippery little buggers
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Okay darling thanks for the fight. It's just awesome catching these fish here
15:00
Wow, now if you look right here along the bank, the river is here, but when you want
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to catch brook trout, you're going to look for water seeping through the shoreline here
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This is really warm water because of the rocks and they seem to just pile up out in front
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of it. On the opposite end of the first cast, first fish spectrum, once you catch a speck or two
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things will slow down. I'm getting skunked. A fighting fish thrashing in the current will send up a flag for other fish in the area
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The key is when things start to slow down, wait it out and try other baits
15:37
One thing a lot of people don't realize is there's smelt in Lake Superior
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Millions and millions of smelt. And they come to these creeks just like the trout do and salmon do
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So these brookies, they're real voracious and they like to eat smelt
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So instead of a row bag or a worm, you just put on a little bait that sort of looks like a smelt
15:59
And you're going to fish it the same way. Just drift it down with about two feet of line and a bobber stop and then your your float hits that stop
16:07
This will drop down into just above the rocks and it looks like a smelt getting caught in the current and those brookies are just gonna smash it So there you go That it I just cut it with those scissors to make it flush with the head and then I got a bead
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and a bobber stop right here. So you can see I might have might have two feet of
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line. Oh look at that I just passed the rock and that float disappeared. Who'd have thought
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This is almost like a perch rig. It's a little jig head with a minnow bait on it
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Soft body middle bait. Oh, this fish is strong. Oh, whoa, he's heading out for the lake
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Pull and drag. I just saw another fish roll over there. He just shot off
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Whoa, easy girl. Easy girl. Easy. Oh, look at this. It's a nice one
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I'm going to come behind this rock here. Oh, this is a gorgeous fish
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Let the waves do some of my work for me. Oh, beautiful, beautiful brookie
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Settle down, settle down. Should be able to just pop this. It's hooked really good
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Easy now. Easy now. Look at that. Look at the white fins
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That is gorgeous. That's probably male. It's got a bit of a kite here
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Let's slide it right back in. Look at that. See you later
18:05
That was killer. The time has finally arrived. After warming up with the steelhead
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we now go after what I consider the most exotic Canadian species available
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the coaster. I've been waiting ages for this one. What a contrast to the steelhead fishing we just did on the feeder creeks along the Nippagon
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Right there, steelhead. That is beautiful. Gorgeous fish. Here the water is bigger, colder, cleaner
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You name it! It's a whole new ball game. They're called coasters because they work the coast of the Lake Superior
18:44
What Anja and I have found here right now is just a big rock point that's come out. So it's a big bouldery point, just like we were smallmouth fishing
18:50
I think they're up, down, all around it. I think they're just moving
18:54
When they're in the creek mouths, they're feeding on the trout row, the rainbow row, row, stuff like that. Here they're probably hitting bait fish. Keep in mind, I mean it's been a long
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tough winter on these fish. They haven't had a whole lot of time to get all stocked up again
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from the cold. And this would have been frozen over. Oh for sure. Oh yeah this channel for sure
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One of the coolest things about this coaster fishing is it's more like bass fishing than it is
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trout fishing. You throw spinners, spoons, crankbaits, and minnow baits along the shore in the extreme
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shallows waiting for one of these little predators to nail it. Got him? Yeah he's on. Good job. What do
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you got him on? That little crankbait. He took around the surface too. Oh look at that beautiful
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fish man. How's that? Nice work. He's off the net. Perfect. Show him the camera flipping around like a
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crazy lunatic fish. Oh my god fish. I'm just gonna throw it back. He's gonna get hooked up again
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Oh, there's your hook. Thank you. Look at him. Easy, easy. See, wow
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You just shot out of there, man. Fish in Canada Hotspots. The ultimate fishing guide presents Get In There
20:04
Today's hotspot is a shoreline point at the mouth of the Nippagon River where it empties into Lake Superior
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The waypoint on your screen will take you right there. We fish with small spoons, size 1 and 2 spinners
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as well as crankbaits to catch a variety of species. When you're fishing here, think more like you're fishing for bass or pike
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even no trout or your quarry. To get to this amazing Lake Superior trout fishery
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we first drove north on Highway 400 to 69, and then took Highway 17 West all the way to the town of Nipigon
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From there, we met Gary Lang at the Nipigon Marina and made the long steam to Bowman Island Lodge
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Visit FishinCanada.com for more details Fishin' Canada was brought to you in part by
20:51
The Rocket Fishing Rod MyOutdoorTV.com Outdoor television on the internet Sterns, the life jacket experts
21:03
And RadioWorld.ca Closed captioning provided by Ontario Tourism. Go fish in Ontario.com
21:19
For more Fish in Canada, visit FishinCanada.com
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