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Algoma Walleye at Lodge 88 | Esnagi Lake | Fish'n Canada
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Apr 15, 2025
Angelo Viola finally gets the chance to take his grandson Nik to one of Ang's favourite fishing destinations in Northern Ontario's Algoma Country, for a crack at some gorgeous Algoma Walleye on Esnagi Lake. Throughout the fun, Ang teaches Nik the finer points of structure fishing, fish handling, and the all-important: don't be afraid of Leeches... they don't bite... sort of! ► 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 #AlgomaCountry #AlgomaWalleye
View Video Transcript
0:00
[Music]
0:05
I'm father and son father doesn't down
0:09
is this something else man
0:11
your first real true honest-to-goodness
0:13
Northern Ontario experience leeches are
0:25
my friends come on Phil the fish in
0:38
Canada show brought to you in part by
0:40
Ram trucks built to serve Princecraft
0:45
both dominate the waters Garmin Panoptix
0:50
all-seeing sonar mercury boards go
0:55
boldly and outdoor Canada Canada's only
0:59
national fishing and hunting magazines
1:03
[Music]
1:10
fishing can be different things to
1:12
different people
1:13
for me it's food for the Soul especially
1:16
when I share it with a good friend or
1:18
loved one
1:19
nothing nurtures a relationship like a
1:21
trip to the perfect fishing hall north
1:25
to adventures Lodge 88 is just such a
1:28
spot situated at the bottom end of the
1:30
27 my last nagi Lake and accessible only
1:33
by flow plane or rail this extraordinary
1:37
place in the heart of the Canadian
1:38
Shield is home to some of the best
1:41
walleye of northern pike and speckled
1:43
trout fishing I've ever experienced
1:48
now in the past those experiences have
1:50
been shared with my good buddy
1:51
and co-host Peter Bowman this lake is is
1:55
unbelievable for us it has been such a
1:57
lucky Lake we go to that Lodge right
1:59
there and get the best Lodge that we've
2:01
ever been to and we stick walleye like
2:03
this left right center a bad day you'll
2:05
still get a couple of these things on a
2:07
good day but this time I'm cranking up
2:13
the volume baby I'm fishing with my
2:17
grandson Nicky he's a year older
2:21
according to him a lot wiser and eager
2:25
to experience his first Northern Ontario
2:27
fly-in while I adventure imagine I drop
2:30
you off in the middle of the desert and
2:32
we off in the distance you saw an oasis
2:35
and I dropped somebody else off on the
2:38
other side of that oasis and I dropped
2:40
another person off another person on
2:42
we're all for those people gonna go
2:44
anyways what's why why are they going to
2:47
be wasters cousins in Oasis because it's
2:49
different and it has something to
2:51
attract food water shelter what you need
2:55
to look for is something that would
2:57
resemble in Oasis an underwater hump for
2:59
example if there was an underwater
3:00
island out here somewhere that's kind of
3:03
that Oasis so anything that's traveling
3:05
through here would automatically
3:07
gravitate to that home it's all about
3:10
food and you got to be there at the
3:12
right time all of that and timing
3:15
timing is everything in life but none
3:17
more so than when planning a fly-in trip
3:20
to a remote location like lodge 88
3:22
Mother Nature can sometimes seem to be
3:25
heartless give me an idea yesterday it
3:29
was pushing 30 degrees mile-high skies
3:32
not a breath of wind anywhere water was
3:35
completely flat and today we woke up
3:38
thinking we were gonna get more of the
3:39
same and 5 o'clock this morning this is
3:42
what we saw winds are howling low low
3:45
ceiling and why I would say the
3:49
temperature is dropped at least 8
3:51
degrees if not more overnight so this is
3:55
pretty drastic we're fishing for walleye
3:56
and at at the best of time they're
4:00
finicky let's put it that way
4:01
during these conditions man we got our
4:03
heads cut off but I got the ACE they're
4:05
at the front of the boat he's gonna help
4:07
me out it's gonna figure about for me
4:08
every time we go fishing every single
4:11
time I catch on the horn there's one
4:15
boys got a bit away good a bit away well
4:25
that's optimistic man that's optimistic
4:27
a fishing partner the jump further than
4:30
that right away I like that a lot of
4:35
gold into the net whoo not yet Nikki
4:39
here we go what nice fish come on come
4:45
on in nice fish
4:49
all righty Nick nice net dog No yeah
4:52
excellent that job buddy
4:54
good all right some Ontario gold a
4:58
little something to keep in mind Nick
5:00
yeah most of the time if you let the
5:03
fish rest on your hand like this putting
5:05
pressure on his belly it seems to make
5:07
them slow down why I don't know what it
5:10
is it just it's a calming effect I'm not
5:12
sure but it works seems to relax them
5:15
and it's like a pressure point paralyzes
5:17
them in you go bye-bye come on man
5:21
leeches are my friend
5:23
these are my friend there you go
5:27
he's all yours you know it's pretty easy
5:31
at times like this the call of the day
5:33
and and if you're up at a lodge go sit
5:36
off by the fire or whatever but these
5:38
are some of the most interesting days
5:39
because I find that the days where you
5:42
do really poorly and I'm not suggesting
5:44
to throw in the towel right now and say
5:46
we're gonna do poorly but days like this
5:48
where it gets really tough are the days
5:50
that you'd go back home and say you
5:53
actually learn something when you're
5:55
catching fish all over the place you're
5:57
too busy catching to learn days like
6:00
this you got nothing but time so Nick I
6:04
want you to start getting used to
6:06
leeches because you know what they're
6:08
your best friends especially in
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situations like this where it's tough
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fishing
6:12
nothing beats a real leech so what I
6:14
want you to do is reach into the back of
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them as your friends it's a worm and
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mosquito had a baby it's a leech that's
6:30
what you're afraid of right it's
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something I'm afraid of them I don't
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like them because they suck my blood
6:35
they will not suck you play it's a myth
6:39
these leeches will never do you any harm
6:41
the biggest problem with them though is
6:44
its managing them this one will put him
6:48
back this active one will send him back
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we're gonna try and get this one here to
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work for us this one here so put your
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hand up get used to him in your hand for
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a minute now there's a head and there's
7:06
a tail first thing you got to do is
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figure out which is which this is dead
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right because you can see that big flat
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surface right yeah okay so just put it
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through that flat part what you would
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call the sucker that's where you need to
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put the hook they're really hard and
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they squirm around a lot so thank God
7:22
you got it perfect yes that's it buddy
7:26
I want you to say leeches are my friends
7:30
come on saying leeches are my friends
7:32
leeches are my friend there you go now
7:35
you're good buddy
7:37
they are not much so things might get a
7:43
little more active Dec now that that
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cloud cover is gone yeah that's there's
7:48
good news and bad news the good news for
7:50
us is that the wind is down and and the
7:53
water is starting to flatten out the bad
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news is that as a flattens out it gets
7:58
more difficult to catch walleyes so it's
8:00
a catch-22 we have to find a happy
8:03
medium with enough wind to still give us
8:05
a bit of a chop on the water the worst
8:07
thing that can happen right now believe
8:08
it or not is if the water flattens right
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out of it for walleye fishing is just
8:13
not going to work why not well because
8:14
they just they need a little bit of
8:16
break in the water it kind of refracted
8:18
reflects the light away from them
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otherwise you've got that beaming Sun
8:21
right down on them and they tend to
8:23
hunker down when that happens but when
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you've got a nice chop or what we call
8:29
it while I chop they get real active and
8:31
move around so we better hope that the
8:34
wind doesn't die down completely but
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I'll tell you what I'll take it right
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now cuz it feels awful good see that
8:39
when there may be food but if you look
8:41
down here on the scan you'll see a faint
8:44
little outline that that is an actual
8:46
fish now something really important for
8:50
you whether I'm talking to you right now
8:52
something to understand about this
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technology so the transducer is in that
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back corner and we probably have a 15
9:00
foot cone that we're shooting maybe 12
9:03
foot column in 22 feet of water and that
9:06
fish that we just saw could be anywhere
9:08
in that 15 foot circle so the idea there
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is to see if you can find a reason why
9:14
that fish was there such as an e
9:16
irregular bottom weed growth rock hump
9:19
something different that would hold them
9:21
and then go find that the chances are
9:23
you'll actually find where that fish
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lives
9:25
nice nice that's the one I just marked
9:29
buddy take your time take your time take
9:32
your time there yes hang on don't lift
9:36
them all you want to do that is that
9:39
well you're not a very good Network well
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I'm running the motor buddy well guess
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what no excuses
9:48
there you go he's all yours remember how
9:52
to hold those things right down right
9:55
about there now reach in the net and get
9:59
the jig out of them Nick and I are using
10:02
a couple of presentations today the
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first is probably the most popular
10:06
walleye technique in all of Canada using
10:09
live bait the second one might surprise
10:12
you though we're dropping ice fishing
10:14
jigs in Northern Ontario during the
10:16
middle of summer
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the reason they're called ice fishing
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lures is because they're designed to be
10:20
vertically jigged through a hole in the
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ice hey I'm not a rocket scientist but
10:25
who says you can't vertically jig
10:27
directly below an angler in a boat trust
10:29
us on this one it works yeah good for
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you buddy
10:39
Mike have a nice life we broke the ice
10:48
all right Buffalo there's one and feels
10:53
a little bit heavier whoa
10:59
oh yeah you say get another one
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I say challenge accepted and I produce
11:15
all right here you go here you go it's
11:20
you now are you feeling them are you
11:22
feeling that little tick yep you have to
11:24
wait a sec one second yeah
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before you go to set the hook good stuff
11:30
man
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[Music]
11:35
yeah you're gonna get him to bite you
11:38
all right off you go all right no one
11:44
yep not huge he's been got nice bigger
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than the ones we got before ah maybe yes
12:02
let him get a little better upgrading
12:06
upgrades an upgrade
12:07
watch the for that dorsal man yeah don't
12:13
want I'm doing that I thought it was
12:14
bigger than that but he came up real
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quick to him he did he did it on us it's
12:20
a good sign well it might just be you
12:24
know that I just came in little deeper
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water about 22 feet neck yeah yeah a
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couple of fish down there
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okay make it hurt there's one nice all
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right
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alrighty thank you that feels a little
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bit heavier whoa whoa Gramps oh there he
13:02
goes a little better fish not a monster
13:09
well you've extended that that did ya
13:12
yeah you were taking any chances no sir
13:15
Oh bring it in oh that's a little better
13:24
nice ass Nagi walleye yeah uh-huh that's
13:28
a little better you know you don't want
13:31
a minnow bag the bird they're the right
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kind you know by now see you mr. walleye
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okay nice work on that depth
13:44
come on get slimed come on there you go
13:52
good job buddy is this something else
13:55
man sitting in the middle of this your
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first your first real true
14:00
honest-to-goodness Northern Ontario
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experience it's it's a nice experience
14:05
buddy sharing it with you Northern
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Ontario walleye it doesn't get any
14:09
better or not I know there's there's
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most of these northern lakes have got a
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multitude of species including northern
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pike and lake trout and all kinds of but
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but walleye is still king no matter
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where you go in these northern lakes
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walleye is still King and King and
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Algoma for sure spectacular man alright
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let's do that again buddy
14:30
get him to get the today's awesome
14:46
walleye fishing we first took highway
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400 north to highway 69 we then took
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highway 17 Northwest to White River we
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then turn right onto 631 and finally
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left on tuck Andy Road to the White
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River Air Base from there it's a short
15:02
flight into the luxurious Lodge 88 we
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Onam I have a good feeling about this
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[Music]
15:21
hey come on areas
15:25
okay there you go
15:29
congrat into Papapa thank you
15:31
that wrap you got through that look at
15:33
that he got hooked underneath he's he
15:35
took a swipe out of it yeah he didn't
15:38
actually commit yeah well he did but he
15:40
missed I must have been going on the up
15:42
and I pulled it away from him but
15:44
obviously part of it got in there
15:48
interesting i watch that good ticket
15:54
you're lucky we're not hungry buddy
15:57
like you're not need an eating mode can
16:02
grandpa why did they strike like that
16:03
why why don't they strike like you know
16:05
other fish on this bait they're striking
16:07
hard cuz it's a reaction bait right
16:09
these fish are not the sleeping giants
16:12
that we were looking for earlier
16:14
fish are actively feeding so they see
16:17
something that's going crazy and they
16:19
just jump on it they they jump first and
16:22
ask questions later how's that hmm well
16:25
do they know little do they know 'he's
16:27
waiting on the other side young nicky
16:30
and old angelo well thank you Wow could
16:34
have paid me a compliment to you no I
16:36
did with age comes wisdom
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got one yes you do easy
16:45
Wow he's pulling okay good good good
16:48
that's a lot buddy
16:49
just take your time there's no rush you
16:53
might have to come back here
16:55
don't put that rod tip down every time
16:57
you put it down you're risking him
16:59
getting away on you
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Wow it's like state fish don't don't you
17:05
don't really men that don't really
17:06
manage us keep tension on that rod all
17:09
right grandpa okay how you really feel
17:26
give it to me now generally Nicki's
17:32
heavier fish when you rest them in your
17:34
palm like that like I was telling you
17:35
you're on the heavier fish seem to for
17:37
whatever reason get a little more docile
17:40
see that he's just all relaxed good
17:43
catch buddy
17:44
that's fantastic your biggest walleye
17:47
ever
17:48
yeah actually fear not Terry oh man look
17:51
at them those are the teeth of a hunter
17:53
yeah black sea otters in some waters
17:56
that's the apex predator in this
17:58
particular body of water he's its
18:00
second-in-command he got a northern play
18:02
Thanks yeah he's kind of the boss but
18:04
this guy he rules man thank you bye-bye
18:12
nice Wow
18:14
nice job just wow and you did such a
18:17
great job of handling him too man
18:19
good stuff I feel so awesome
18:24
was it on the lift yeah it was on the
18:26
left I was just kind of so you're
18:27
bringing you're doing it another go back
18:28
yeah and then you felt them and then it
18:30
just yeah and by the way he was hung up
18:33
in there he went to he was swiped right
18:35
you pulled that incident that he swiped
18:38
that's it man we go home now our job is
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done here
18:44
the best player couldn't get any better
18:46
than that I mean that's a postcard that
18:49
is fantastic this this is why I do this
18:54
job I've said this countless times
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before fishing is a powerful platform to
19:09
build and enjoy friendships I believe a
19:12
relationship that has a foundation
19:14
rooted in the outdoors and fishing is a
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relationship for life I encourage you to
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take any opportunity to go fishing with
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a friend or loved one like I did today
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with my grandson Nick it will fulfill
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you beyond words
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[Music]
19:39
today's Garmin hotspot is adjacent to a
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large rock that Nick and I found on the
19:45
snuggy lake in the Algoma region of
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Ontario the waypoint on your screen will
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put you right on it
19:50
the beauty of fishing a spot like this
19:52
one is that there are a multitude of
19:54
ways to approach it
19:55
you can try vertical jigging with ice
19:58
fishing baits drifting with a jig and
20:00
live bait electric motor trolling with a
20:02
live bait rig or gas motor trolling with
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a variety of typical trolling lures
20:07
another bonus of this hotspot is that
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it'll have walleye on it throughout the
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entire season
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as we've said time and time again the
20:15
Algoma region of Ontario has some of the
20:17
best walleye fishing in the entire
20:18
country for more hotspots like this one
20:21
check out fish in canada calm
20:29
the fish in Canada show brought to you
20:32
in part by Ram trucks built to serve
20:38
Princecraft boats
20:39
dominate the waters Garmin Panoptix
20:43
all-seeing sonar mercury outboards go
20:48
boldly and outdoor Canada Canada's only
20:52
national fishing & hunting magazine
20:55
closed captioning for this episode was
20:58
brought to you by fishing Canada comm
20:59
the Gateway to your next fishing
21:01
adventure
21:05
[Music]
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