Get reel! Make fishin’ your Manitoulin mission!
EDITOR’S NOTE: This year’s series of stories is geared to giving tourist visitors insights into activities Manitoulin has to offer and will focus on unique experiences available to everyone.
Manitoulin Island is said to be the largest freshwater island in the world. Situated in Lake Huron, its North Channel has been fished since before recorded time. The Island has an enormous number of lakes (108 at last count), each with its own unique fishing attractions. Whether you choose a resort or a dinghy on an isolated pond, there’s sure to be a fish tale to tell at the end of the day.
Most resorts rent boats and motors for guests, and many have an expert on hand to take them out for a few hours, or to show them where the fish bite. Just about anyone you talk to has a favourite lake or two, and some folks will even tell you their secret spot for landing the Big One.
Not Bob Tuomi, though. Oh, the lifelong fisherman will reveal plenty of locations where to catch perch (Lake Wolsey), or pike and rainbow trout (Kagawong dock) but when it comes to where he catches his prize largemouth bass, well, he will just chuckle. “Sawbill Lake!” he laughs. This is code for a lake “somewhere” on Manitoulin, not even remotely called Sawbill, so, time to change the line of questioning!
Bob uses only live bait—frogs and fishes—“accident-free” with weedless hooks. Bob insists that his wife Margaret is better at fishing than he is; she’ll only say that she’s “very competitive. If Bob loses a fish, I’m right there casting for it!” Margaret adds, “I love to let my mind escape on a sunny day,” and advises that “sunscreen and insect repellent are essential to a great trip.” And catching some largemouth bass, her favourite since her husband introduced her to it when they first met.
Surrounded by framed fishing licences dating back decades, Bob leafs through a thick binder of Ontario Fishing Regulations booklets from 1980 to the present. He says: “Whether the fish is big or small, obey the law.”
“All of Manitoulin is good for fishing,” Bob declares, “just go out with someone who knows.” He is quick to add, “I don’t fish for fun, I fish for food.” That’s a lot of fish-eating as he will not freeze the catch, because, in his opinion, that would affect both consistency and taste; so he and Margaret also give away fish to friends who don’t have a chance to, or can’t, fish themselves.
At Wee Point Resort on Lake Manitou near Manitowaning, Jim Hembruff loves to tell stories about the old days, when his grandfather built the fishing lodge in 1917 for the American owner who had purchased the Crown land for a resort. When the owner died, a Mr. O’Blennis, Jim’s dad was deeded the 26 acres with lodge, cottages and boathouse, “for 20 years of service to Wee Point.” The will is framed in the lodge.
In those days, fishing was a grand adventure, and Jim vividly remembers his mother’s stories of Senator Dawes, just up the road, where “servants dressed all in white, the cottagers arrived in chauffeur-driven limousines, stayed all summer and ate fish at every meal. There was never any rush.” The 18- to 20-foot wooden boats with inboard motors would purr across the lake, hooks were baited by staff and shore lunches served in style. “The sound of a hammer hitting an old ploughshare meant it was dinner time at the Dawes’,” says Jim, “you could hear it across the bay.” Next year is Wee Point’s 50th anniversary, the beautiful old lodge still stands, the boathouse still docks rental boats, and Jim’s wife Pat reports that “just this year, when the MNRF (Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry) tested the lake, they said the lake is really healthy and has lots of pickerel, trout, and smallmouth bass.” The MNRF also has been re-stocking the lake’s speckled trout, and “people are catching 5-pounders.”
On the other side of Lake Manitou, everybody knows Jack Hayes, 82, who’s been fishing since he was given a cane pole at age five. “I fell in love with it,” he admits, and still goes out almost every day in summer with the same boyhood enthusiasm. “I fish and I garden,” Jack explains, tending to 4,000 raspberry canes. Born during the Great Depression, he and his family moved to Manitoulin from Hamilton in 1947. He worked at resorts as a fishing guide, “when ice houses stored the catch, the ice was cut from the lakes and dragged to shore by teams of horses.”
Jack fishes all the lakes, especially Lake Manitou, and makes his own jigs for the lake trout he loves to catch there. His favourite fish are rainbow trout and smallmouth bass—“they give a good fight”—and for those he’ll go to Lake Wolsey, the North Channel, South Bay, and to Pike Lake for yellow pickerel “or walleyes, as the Americans call them.” “Pickerel bite best after dark,” he notes, “and one and a half to two pounds is ideal eating.”
As a guide, Jack taught people how to tell what was on their line by “how the fish is biting. And you can’t just haul off and jerk the line when you get a bite, you have to let it go so the fish can swallow the hook.” For Jack, too, “it’s very important to read the fishing regulations carefully for the zone you are in. Observe the length limits; you have to have a ruler with you.” If you’re lucky, Jack will share his tips on where to go, which lures to use and where to get bait. “The right bait is important because on the Island you get minnows in one place, worms in another, leeches somewhere else.” Now you know.
Conservation is critical to these fishermen and it’s reiterated by Ken “Duke” Madahbee of Aundeck Omni Kaning (AOK) First Nation, a member of the Fish and Game Club in Little Current. The members sometimes go into schools to talk about protection of game. “Education is key,” says Ken, “we have to conserve the stock of fish for the future.”
Ken’s wife, Ingrid, has run Duke’s Fish and Chips just off Highway 540 in AOK for 14 years, serving whitefish and hand-cut fries to the community and passers-by; she also takes pride in her homemade fresh-ground burgers and special baked beans. Ken used to supply the whitefish for the stand, fishing the North Channel just beyond the family home, but now works full-time for the band office. He still likes to fish with Ingrid for supper, catching bass or pike, or with his kids and grandkids, to teach them his strongly-held conservation principles. “You have to respect limits,” he says, “the fish won’t last forever. I tell my kids: just take what you need, don’t go overboard.”
Even if Sawbill Lake is off the map, there are plenty of other lakes on the Island, as well as the surrounding waters of Lake Huron, that come with near-legendary reputations for various species. Choose your preference, pick up your fishing licence and a copy of the current regulations from any of several licence issuers on the Island, and enjoy your fishin’ expedition!
For comprehensive recommendations for fishing Manitoulin, and an accompanying map, visit: http://thisismanitoulin.ca/fishing/
Manitoulin Streams rehabilitates cold water streams and river ecosystems on Manitoulin. They conduct wilderness awareness tours, nature walks and other programs for children and adults. Tel: 705-859-1653; email: streams@amtelecom.net; www.manitoulinstreams.com
For more fishing activities, such as derbies and community fish dinners, pick up This is Manitoulin and Manitoulin’s Magazine 2014, and check the weekly Manitoulin Expositor and Manitoulin West Recorder newspapers. www.manitoulin.ca
