The arrival of Fall brings mixed feelings for me. While I love, and look forward to the cool, crisp days of fall, the changing leaves, and the arrival of hunting seasons, this year I find myself torn, and slightly saddened to see summer starting to fade away. Our little girl is a serious outdoor loving toddler, and we spend a great deal of time outside. With fall showing, it’s a reminder that winter isn’t far behind, and our days playing outside all day in the sun may be drawing to a close, or at least changing. It’s the first year…
Author: Tom Armstrong
Tom Armstrong
Tom Armstrong is an angler and hunter living in Northwestern Ontario. With a real passion for the outdoors, Tom spends every spare moment either hunting, fishing, or planning for one of these. Living along the North shore of Lk Superior, Tom spends a great deal of time on Superior and tributaries along the North shore, fishing salmon, lake trout, steelhead and Brook trout, with a real passion for the Nipigon area. Tom is often accompanied by his wife who shares this love for the outdoors, and their two labs. Tom shares this love for the outdoors through his work as an Outdoors writer and photographer.
Muskie Baits and the Figure Eight The big fish appeared on the back side of a rock outcropping as my buck tail passed overtop. It seemed to just appear out of nowhere, effortlessly lifting from the depths on the back side of a rocky reef. I could clearly see this freshwater giant in the gin clear water, watching it propel itself forward with such fluid motion, almost as if not trying. I had cast my bucktail over a rocky protruding point off a small island and had barely started cranking the reel when this creature appeared. It paced my bait…
STEP UP YOUR GAME! As we got on the lake, I stopped my skidoo, uncovered the sleigh, rummaging around in the mess of gear, turned upside down inside after a long journey. I managed to find my Sonar unit, unloading the Humminbird Helix from the sleigh. Hopping back on the machine, I cradled the portable sonar unit on my lap and powered it on. Going to the GPS map section, I scrolled to where I wanted to go and started across the lake, watching the screen as I went. The blip on the map covered several miles of deep water,…
JIGGING UP JUMBOS “There’s some trout” I say, looking at the screen of the Helix beside me, seeing some trout looking arcs hovering above bottom. We had just settled over a hump rising from around 50 feet to just over 40, and on top of this little hump were what sure looked like lake trout. I hit the anchor mode on the Terrova, grabbed a rod and sent a jig into the depths. LAKE NIPIGON IS A WORLD CLASS DRIVE TO FISHERY We were fishing the giant expanse of Lake Nipigon and had found an area that seemed to be holding trout, and…
Muskie Mecca! Two follows and a swirl, a good day muskie fishing? That’s what I was told the first time I went to chase these elusive creatures. Muskie fishing is a bit of a special pursuit; you torment yourself for hours, days or years on end, for the chance at even putting eyes on one of these beasts. But when you do, the thrill of that encounter is worth it all. Northwestern Ontario boasts a mecca of trophy muskie water, with plenty of opportunity for anglers looking to chase these creatures. Whether you’re from Ontario, Manitoba, or beyond, there are plenty…
It was hot, sunny, still, 30 C and the crack of noon… perhaps less than ideal conditions for walleye fishing. This is what I found myself fishing in last summer, competing in a local fishing tournament on the Kaministiquia River. This famous river is right in the City of Thunder Bay, a tributary of Lake Superior. The Kam River is a rather interesting fishery, offering anglers easy access, with several launches right in town, and a variety of angling opportunities. The river holds walleye, smallmouth bass, northern pike, perch, sturgeon, and gets runs of chinooks and steelhead in spring and…
For anyone who ice fishes for trout, if it isn’t already in your tackle bag, one thing you must have are white tube jigs. They are an absolutely dynamite bait for winter trout, and something that just about all trout can’t resist. They are one of my go to baits for lake trout, stocked rainbows and splake, and even slightly smaller tubes for whitefish. Here are a couple quick tips to make your tube jigs even more effective. When jigging, I’ll often jig with a bare tube, and don’t really feel a minnow is always necessary. If fish are being…
As we motored across the lake, I was glued to my Humminbird, watching the ever changing bottom structure, excited to start exploring and fishing. The terrain looked like we were driving over sand dunes, steadily up and down; moving over 6 foot flats, then plummeting to 30 foot holes. We were driving across a new lake, heading to setup camp for a three day fishing trip, and I was exploring the lake as we went, trying to find a place to start fishing. We found a gorgeous sand beach, sheltered from the wind, unloaded our gear and made camp, and…
Standing atop a frozen lake in Northwestern Ontario, in the dark: that is a long way from sunny California, but that’s where my friend Chris Shaffer found himself this past winter. Shaffer is the Director of Operations for Pautzke Bait, and he flew to Thunder Bay for a few days of ice fishing, Northern Ontario adventure, and to film for Pautzke Outdoors. We had big plans for his trip, and we had an amazing few days on the ice: we spent a day chasing big lakers and had an epic day fishing for stocked brook trout, but the real adventure…
As we walked the shoreline of this tiny Northwestern Ontario lake, we had visions of the last trip here; although the last time we were on this lake we were standing atop two feet of ice, and had one of the most epic days of ice stocked trout fishing I’ve ever experienced. We got to the edge of the picture perfect brook trout lake; gin clear water with fallen trees littering the shoreline, begging for a jig or spoon to be pitched at them. We slipped into our waders, and stepped into the lake, slowly walking along and casting from…