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Huge Hawk Lake Ontario Walleye | Fish'n Canada
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Apr 15, 2025
Angelo Viola and Pete Bowman pay a return visit to what may be the best 'small Walleye Lake' in the nation. They're on Hawk Lake in Northwestern Ontario, and again, they're catching giants! As with all trophy fisheries, it takes time and work in order to succeed. The boys cover a lot of water, essentially looking for "1 bite per spot", and by-the-way, those bites are all big! ► 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
[Music]
0:03
so we're not expecting to catch
0:05
hundreds of fish from this trip we're
0:07
hunting for a trophy fish
0:08
oh got a fighter here kid
0:12
got one dance look at that oh you only
0:13
got one that big oh my god
0:16
oh buddy that's a mule that's a big fish
0:18
and
0:19
wow
0:23
nice one that's a pig oh my god
0:26
that's what we're coming up the hawk
0:28
like right there that's a hawk lake fish
0:31
the fish in canada show brought to you
0:33
in part by
0:34
ram trucks built to serve
0:38
princecraft boats dominate the waters
0:43
garment join the club
0:46
mercury outboards go boldly
0:50
and outdoor canada canada's only
0:53
national fishing and hunting magazine
0:58
[Applause]
0:58
[Music]
1:04
on today's fishing canada episode we're
1:06
back on hawk lake in northwestern
1:08
ontario
1:09
one of the best wildlife fisheries on
1:11
the planet
1:12
and just in case you're wondering the
1:14
next half hour
1:15
is full of giant walleyes all rise
1:21
when did you think we were gonna show up
1:23
well good to see you guys everybody
1:27
five times out of the last eight years
1:29
we've been nominated for best orvis
1:31
lodge in the country
1:32
and this last year just about six weeks
1:34
ago we won
1:35
best lodge uh internationally so that's
1:37
in the world so we're very proud of that
1:39
it took a lot of work and a great team
1:41
and some wonderful guests to get there
1:44
and we
1:45
we couldn't be more excited
1:48
we've been on this body of water before
1:49
but this is in our opinion the best
1:52
small lake for big walleye in all of
1:54
canada it is an
1:55
incredible fishery we're on hawk lake at
1:57
hawk lake lodge and uh we're
1:58
anticipating
1:59
some giants again now can you imagine
2:02
folks a lake
2:03
full of predators this size yeah because
2:06
that's what this lake is they're
2:08
all big they're just no small fish
2:10
they're known for this right here and
2:11
even bigger like even bigger than this
2:13
this is what we go fishing for this is
2:16
it right there
2:18
two years ago we came up and it was
2:19
towards the end of the season
2:21
not exactly prime time for what we
2:23
wanted to accomplish i told you last
2:24
time when you left you came just too
2:26
early
2:26
well we're here now at the right time
2:29
yep we have some brand new technology
2:31
that we didn't have with us last year
2:33
really that we're going to play around
2:34
with like sonar technology yeah
2:36
that light scope that garmin live
2:37
starting i saw that last time
2:39
kind of wild yeah so we're really eager
2:41
to get down there and
2:43
root around yeah a lot of different
2:46
tactics are used here
2:47
we're going to kind of use the old and
2:50
the new we're gonna play around nothing
2:52
is guaranteed that you're gonna have the
2:53
right presentation first time out of the
2:55
box
2:56
although more so in a place like this
2:59
you have to rely
3:00
on the local expertise and our local
3:02
expert here
3:03
is the owner of the lodge ted knows this
3:06
lake probably better than
3:07
anybody else i've been fishing these
3:09
waters for almost two decades
3:11
and you know just like anything you get
3:12
good i mean you get very astute and
3:15
understand what the fish are doing in
3:16
every season in every type of weather
3:18
pattern or condition
3:19
and so because of that and i need to put
3:22
people on fish
3:23
it's you need to be very exact in terms
3:26
of well this is what they're going to be
3:27
doing and why this is where they're
3:28
going to be doing it and this is what
3:29
you're going to need to do to catch them
3:31
every lake has maps on it i've fished
3:33
every lake for many many years
3:34
we've depth chartered everything and the
3:36
best part about happy hour is you come
3:38
on up and you get all your great intel
3:40
from
3:40
everybody else who are fishing the same
3:42
lakes you're about to fish
3:44
i believe last year there were over 320
3:48
28 inch plus walleye caught on this
3:50
small body of water
3:52
and that is due to catch and release by
3:54
100 they throw
3:55
every walleye back be it this big this
3:57
big or this big
3:59
what we discovered was when you throw
4:01
them back and it you
4:03
tightly control that fishery uh the
4:06
fishery can just explode and over the
4:07
last couple of years
4:08
it's exploded uh exponentially now
4:11
that's not to say that a body water like
4:13
this a trophy fishery like this
4:15
is a place where you can go and catch
4:17
hundreds of fish every day
4:19
the expectations need to be changed here
4:21
here we're hunting for
4:23
one fish we're hunting for a trophy fish
4:26
so we're not expecting to catch
4:28
hundreds of fish on this trip but we are
4:30
definitely expecting to catch a big fish
4:33
we're looking for giants buddy
4:40
there's one down there there he goes
4:46
you got something going on get her
4:47
locked or just stopped i'll lock it
4:51
you better head shake yeah yes he did
4:54
funny but
4:58
we'll be ready for him
5:02
he's pulling you good got my drags on
5:04
real loose and i got a real soft rod so
5:07
i have to it's a light line right six
5:08
pound line
5:10
going under yeah yeah oh that's nice
5:14
nice walleye yeah here he comes around
5:17
and
5:17
there you go beautiful nice good start
5:21
look at that boy they're quality though
5:25
ted the lodge owner he says oh you only
5:28
got one that big
5:29
oh my god we can't even no he's just
5:31
disappointed when you guys lazy i'll
5:33
catch him all day
5:34
oh my gosh he's a 30 man if it's not 30
5:37
inches
5:38
or 29 he's not happy
5:43
we got got a fighter here kid
5:46
get a load of this fish this is what you
5:48
come to hawk lake for right here
5:52
got one boys yeah i could just keep off
5:54
that maybe there's that marked fish
5:57
it might be my net is here i'm waiting
6:01
does he feel inedible oh yeah oh
6:06
i'm liking this i think so oh yeah
6:09
it's good fish i think i think so
6:11
looking good yeah
6:15
oh oh ho ho we got it
6:19
got a fighter here kid he just kicked
6:21
[Music]
6:24
i'm not going to tell you until after i
6:26
get if i get it in i'm not going to wait
6:28
i'm going to tell you something after
6:30
because i don't want to scare you
6:35
i don't want to scare you everything's
6:37
that weird happened there didn't it
6:38
yes oh that's a big fish i think so
6:42
oh yeah and we're hoping walter i don't
6:44
know
6:45
unless a giant pike but no
6:52
not a pike for sure
6:56
i am a little concerned right now i
6:59
don't mind telling you
7:00
[Music]
7:01
i'm thinking a big fish unless you
7:04
snagged it
7:05
no okay i'll tell you what i get
7:08
i don't want to tell you now it's a big
7:10
boy you got a good one
7:12
yeah a little walleye don't fight like
7:13
that no no
7:15
a lot of weight there
7:20
he's just he's really not doing much
7:22
other than bulldogging every once in a
7:24
while
7:24
yeah typical big wallet drop shot
7:28
drop shot you just came up watch your
7:31
motor
7:37
come right around for if i go we're
7:38
going around the boat edge
7:43
we should be able to see him at six feet
7:45
here
7:45
[Music]
7:48
oh whoa i'm seeing a lot of side right
7:50
there bud
7:51
a lot oh yeah that big fish
7:55
oh yeah that's a big boy
8:00
that's what we're coming up the hawk
8:01
like right now that's a hawk lake fish
8:04
that's a hawk lake fish right there oh
8:07
buddy that's a mule that's a big fish
8:11
yeah yes dude that's a big big big fish
8:14
like wow
8:15
that that is a 10-pounder oh look at the
8:17
length of that fish
8:19
yeah that's 30-inch fish for sure oh
8:21
every day
8:22
look at that just on the back just to
8:24
the bottom oh yeah just perfect
8:26
get a load of this fish this is what you
8:29
come to hawk lake for right here
8:30
northwestern ontario
8:32
and teddy the lodge owner says oh we got
8:34
lots of those yeah
8:35
probably right there's not very many
8:38
small lakes you can come to
8:39
and get walleye like this
8:44
wow that's a big fish
8:47
that's a big big i'm gonna get a
8:50
camera real quick
8:50
real fast snapshot for you know we've we
8:53
talked about
8:54
this before on previous programs there
8:56
are some lakes that just
8:57
naturally grow big fish good management
9:00
helps but you need a good stock and i
9:02
think this is what hawk lake has got
9:04
that's a great fish inch
9:09
yeah look at that fish man
9:13
put her back buddy what a great fish
9:16
now you got to tell me and the camera
9:18
what you did because you said you you're
9:19
good
9:20
so here's what happened just before we
9:22
made that pass
9:24
yeah i put on an a a new a sinker you
9:27
saw that because i'd lost myself i got
9:28
hung up there on that point
9:30
and i looked at my line and it had a big
9:33
fray
9:34
just before the hook and i sit
9:37
and i said i'll change it next time
9:42
oh that's why i didn't have the heart to
9:44
tell you what was going on
9:47
if you broke up you could have made up
9:48
something oh
9:54
oh my god well that shows you how a nice
9:56
light ride
9:57
rod and a drag setting is uh that was
10:00
critical yeah that was that was a big
10:02
fish
10:06
a lot of people have never caught a
10:08
walleye that big that's a big
10:11
big walleye probably the biggest of most
10:12
people's life
10:16
this year's trip to hawk lake lodge was
10:18
a very special one for us
10:20
you see this time around we were able to
10:22
finally meet a long
10:23
time fan of the show dustin moncrieff
10:26
at age 17 dustin was diagnosed with a
10:29
rare form of brain cancer
10:31
but this didn't affect his love for the
10:33
outdoors and more importantly
10:34
fishing and since it just so happens
10:37
that dustin lives right on hawk lake
10:40
we were finally able to pay him a visit
10:42
in person
10:43
how has it changed your your outlook on
10:46
life and more importantly
10:48
about this in general the outdoors
10:50
fishing everything that we take for
10:52
granted
10:52
just as you said you can't take anything
10:54
for granted i was fine one day feeling
10:56
100
10:57
and the next day it was gone it couldn't
11:00
happen to anyone at any time
11:02
maybe we should take him to one of those
11:04
shorelines where we saw a bass
11:06
and let him catch one or two what do you
11:08
think absolutely
11:09
what do you think whatever works best
11:11
for you guys i'm just happy to be out
11:14
you started the business tell folks
11:16
about it so right now i'm pouring soft
11:18
plastic baits um i started it
11:21
after i was sick actually and so i kind
11:24
of got into this because i love
11:26
fishing and it keep i wasn't able to go
11:28
fishing but this kind of
11:30
took my mind off things and i enjoyed
11:32
doing it so why not
11:34
and what's the name of the the bait
11:36
first cast tackle
11:38
when he told me he was now a bait
11:40
builder i said yeah whatever
11:42
hey dude he had to take me out the water
11:45
and show me how it worked
11:47
guess what they work pretty good yeah
11:50
nice nice
11:53
awesome buddy on your home lake on your
11:55
own bait with the fish in canada guys
11:57
it doesn't get any better than that
11:59
that's awesome easy just to go home and
12:01
you know
12:02
lay on a couch or in your bed for 24
12:05
hours a day seven days a week but
12:06
exactly i just try to do the best i can
12:08
get out as much as possible i mean as
12:11
long as i'm fishing i'm happy
12:13
for more on dustin's story and to
12:15
support him and his first cast tackle
12:17
company
12:18
visit fishingcanada.com
12:21
you got em a little bit of weight
12:25
got quite a bit of weight i think i'm
12:27
gonna have net
12:28
in hand nih
12:31
[Music]
12:34
there he is down there just saw
12:36
something a little flash or something
12:38
yeah belly oh big walleye
12:41
nice nice he's a goldie
12:45
he's an old dude yes he ever beat that
12:48
oh
12:48
it's a beat up he looks about 80 years
12:51
old don't they boys guys he's looking
12:53
they look at all these big
12:54
all this all these scales are pushed up
12:58
wow does he ever feel weird dude it hurt
13:00
unit man
13:01
that's probably an old just never grew
13:03
you know what i mean it's not like
13:04
myself
13:05
so old and not really grew too much
13:08
that's you know what i'm saying
13:09
let's see buddy and
13:12
there he goes cool nice
13:15
nice there's lots of stellas mr bowman
13:18
hits him into shallows
13:20
oh where's shala too how's it look
13:23
how's it looking feel you know what it
13:25
feels feels like a walleye for sure
13:29
that's a big fish yeah whatever it is
13:31
big i can see his
13:32
what what
13:35
that didn't look like a walleye for sure
13:38
maybe a biker maybe it's long it's long
13:42
not a smallmouth so we're we're liking
13:45
it so far
13:46
is there a tip do you see a tippy on the
13:47
tail no that's what i mean
13:49
oh it's a tip i think it's a giant wall
13:51
in it i saw a tip i saw a tip yeah it's
13:53
a walleye
13:54
yeah nice one a real nice one yeah
13:57
there's some gold that's a big walleye
13:59
there's nice gold
14:01
this look at how fat he is that's a big
14:03
look at how wool he is too bring his
14:05
head in there
14:06
no yeah a nice one that's a pig
14:10
look at the size of that buddy that's 10
14:12
pounder holy smokes buddy i got the net
14:15
okay that's a tank right in the nose
14:17
look at this oh that's perfect look at
14:19
this
14:20
not gonna break you off you're not gonna
14:21
do anything silly oh that was an
14:23
absolutely perfect hit gorgeous
14:27
gorgeous walleye my god that's a big
14:29
fish
14:30
he's got a fin that's almost yeah he's
14:33
getting ready he's an old boy indeed
14:34
he's getting beat
14:35
that's a big fish and good work
14:39
i wasn't even sure it was a walleye the
14:41
way the way it felt i thought there was
14:42
a pike
14:47
[Laughter]
14:50
[Music]
14:50
[Laughter]
14:52
nice work buddy oh a lot of people have
14:55
never caught a walleye that big okay
14:58
you say we've heard stories of people
15:00
catching they got i got an eight or nine
15:01
pounder in reality as it's not an eight
15:03
or nine
15:04
that was a true nine to ten pound fish
15:05
right there every minute of the day and
15:07
that's a
15:07
big big walleye probably the biggest of
15:09
most people's lives
15:11
nicely done buddy all right pig that was
15:13
an old fish
15:14
he was old he had that one finn blown
15:17
out
15:18
he's been fighting his whole life
15:21
good work
15:29
oh my god another beast
15:36
to get to today's outstanding trophy
15:38
walleye fishing we first drove north on
15:39
highway 400 to highway 69.
15:42
we then took highway 17 northwest all
15:44
the way past dryden and just east of
15:46
kenora
15:47
we finally turned south on hawk lake
15:49
road taking us to the beautiful hawk
15:51
lake lodge
15:52
this award-winning facility is
15:53
absolutely perfect for a
15:55
once-in-a-lifetime fishing trip
15:57
it pretty much has it all
16:01
[Music]
16:06
yep you came back yep
16:10
he that's a big fish yeah i think so
16:12
excited when i said the hook i thought
16:14
it was snagged
16:17
he was very pikachu he came back and did
16:20
his thing you know what i mean
16:25
it could be a walleye is easiest
16:27
wally-ish
16:29
that's why
16:33
off that opposite drop right on the back
16:35
end of it
16:37
and we've been working the front end
16:39
yeah working the flat in the front end
16:42
yeah he's a good fish whatever it is a
16:44
good one look at the scar on them yeah
16:46
that's a walleye what is that white on
16:48
them
16:50
he's got a huge scar i think this is a
16:53
huge fish
16:54
oh i'm seeing a really big fish like
16:57
really big i think this other tip i
16:58
don't know
16:59
yeah i'm pretty sure i saw a white tip
17:01
on that tail bud
17:03
it is what is that walter walter nice
17:06
one
17:06
an old one just a beat up look at the
17:08
scars on his back yeah another old beat
17:10
up wally
17:12
good work brother bring him on in here
17:15
he looks like he's on his last leg
17:16
yeah he might be we've gotten a few of
17:18
them like that right yeah
17:22
that's a nice walleye oh my god
17:25
another beast oh good
17:29
fish bud they you gotta love these fish
17:33
up here
17:33
minimum eight pounds at minutes oh yeah
17:35
eight nine pounds
17:36
and he's he could he could have a couple
17:38
of pounds on him for sure and he's got
17:39
some scars yeah
17:41
but his fins are all eaten away too yeah
17:43
just like the other ones yeah
17:45
look at that wow old fish yeah obviously
17:51
that was nice on a swim bait too yeah
17:54
i might have to hold him in there a bit
17:59
looking good look at those fins oh yeah
18:03
we're getting a lot of walleye that are
18:04
showing the rage aren't we yeah which
18:06
means
18:06
which is a good thing right they're
18:07
growing to what 15 20 whatever they go
18:09
15 years at least
18:11
yeah whatever they are they grow to that
18:13
guy is getting into his last couple
18:14
years i think
18:15
hey
18:19
nice uh honest on that swim bait buddy
18:23
look at that folks that's what he got
18:25
that on
18:27
a swim bait nice ah good work
18:30
i think we're done we're done back to
18:32
the lodge for a
18:33
hell of a supper yeah baby
18:36
i like that that will be awesome
18:41
as you can see hawk lake truly is a
18:43
phenomenal walleye fishery and a
18:45
world-class travel destination
18:47
this didn't come by chance it came
18:48
through a vision and hard work
18:50
so the fishery has really exploded and
18:53
done quite well under a nice management
18:55
and
18:55
people have really um they've really
18:57
enjoyed that they respect that because
18:58
they can go have a great day on the
18:59
water catch some trophy size fish
19:01
and i think that's been very successful
19:03
and i'm glad we did it because
19:05
it's a good model for other lives i
19:07
think to follow as well
19:09
our second trip to hawk lake again
19:11
didn't disappoint
19:12
trophy walleye great fish stories and a
19:15
boatload of new memories
19:25
today's hot spot was given to us
19:26
straight from the horse's mouth by lodge
19:28
owner and walleye fanatic ted putnam
19:30
the waypoint on your screen will get you
19:31
there it's located in one of the many
19:33
bays or fingers at the opposite end of
19:35
the lake from the lodge
19:37
try live bait rigs jigs swim baits or
19:39
ange's favorite a live bait presentation
19:41
on a drop shot rig
19:43
remember hawk lake lodge has a strict
19:44
100 live release policy on all fish
19:47
please respect it for more hot spots
19:49
like this one check out fishing
19:50
canada.com
19:54
[Music]
19:58
the fish in canada show brought to you
20:00
in part by
20:02
ram trucks built to serve princecraft
20:06
boats dominate the waters
20:10
garments join the club
20:14
mercury outboards go boldly
20:17
and outdoor canada canada's only
20:20
national fishing and hunting magazine
20:23
closed captioning for this episode was
20:25
brought to you by fishingcanada.com
20:28
the gateway to your next fishing
20:32
our adventure in the wild cause we're in
20:35
possums in canada
21:01
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21:07
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