Sylvan Lake Report: - 2021

[Zip-in-Z]

Originally Posted by boonedocks

It’s been years since I’ve caught a whitefish ( almost 100% C&R fisherman, love fishing just not eating them), Anyways, they are kind of a “ bucket list fish” and I was wondering what time of day is most likely to be productive? Not like we won’t be there from dawn to dusk, just wondering?

I'll be different ... try to fish 6-8 fow over some sand or rock/rubble weed mix, some days the afternoon bite between 1:00 - 2:30 can be fast & furious, both on Sylvan & Gull. I would also agree with the other fellas, the other day, I seen at least 10 Whites from 8:15 to 10:00 am. the remainder of the day they were swimming around not interested in much, I've not had much success with Whites at dusk, that's when we focus on the Walleye & Burbs.

D.

[DiabeticKripple]

I was out at RR23 this afternoon.

Set up on the edge of the dropoff and had a few whites cruise by. One came and bumped the WW but never got hooked.

Moved to a bit deeper on the edge of the dropoff and didn’t see much. My feet got cold so I headed home right at sundown.

And since everyone is always wondering, there was about 14” of ice and a few pickups drove out.

[338Bluff]

Walked on at Sunbreakers in the dark. Hoofed it about 1/2 a mile down the lake. Had two whitefish and a walleye on the ice before the sun even came up. After that it was pretty spaced out. Saw 1/2 as many fish as last week. Brass or red wire wraps. Caught a couple on the flutter spoon as well. Way more refusals today.

Sounds like it was slow closer to the boat launch.

[Zip-in-Z]

Dec 18th …. Went out to Palm Bay for the first time this season, finally got 5 Whites is short order. First thing in the morning they were hitting a flutter spoon not my w/w that was tied up 5-6” above. Later in the morning they were 3-4 ft off the bottom, they weren’t fussy, hitting every color I dropped down but my Cat 6 Brown, they showed no interest in that pattern. Hooked one real big one (Gull Lake size) on Candy Cane Yellow/Orange and my drag wasn’t quite set properly & it broke me off, was using 4 lb floro. Only seen Whites, No Pike, Walleye, Perch or Burbs. Must of walked 3 miles today dragging my sled & shack, drilled lots of holes, killed 9 amp & 5 amp battery. There were lots of guys out, didn’t see to many catching much, surprised the ice was over 14” only 2 guys in small cars were driving around, everyone was parked close to shore.

A bunch of pic’s from today …. Enjoy.

EDIT: Check out my W/W Thread to see what was Hot & Not today.

D.

Nice Solid Ice.




14.5” to Top Hole.



Was way out both right & left of the Lake Access Rd.



Zoom in a Bit.








X Marks my Spot … Z.z



Bucket of Fish for the Mrs.




Fresh Fish for Supper Tonight.

[Talking moose]

What is a flutter spoon I keep hearing about? Is it just a small light weight spoon?
Edit. Seen it on the other thread. I’ve got the exact one looks like

[338Bluff]

Originally Posted by Talking moose

What is a flutter spoon I keep hearing about? Is it just a small light weight spoon?
Edit. Seen it on the other thread. I’ve got the exact one looks like

Actually what I call a "flutter spoon" is actually a Slender Spoon. The one Zip had on the other thread obviously works too.

[Gbuss]

Originally Posted by Talking moose

What is a flutter spoon I keep hearing about? Is it just a small light weight spoon?
Edit. Seen it on the other thread. I’ve got the exact one looks like

The slender spoons from jiggs and spins have the most flutter. When you drop them down depending on depth and weather you stopped it on the fall it can shoot out 5ft from the bottom of the hole. I like to hop it back to the center mimicking a wounded bait fish and it normally attracts the walleye in doing this.

Their is the buck shot from lindy that is more compact it flutters a bit but it is more for a pound on the spot type of spoon.

Then live target has ones that look like shiners and flutter kinda like the slender spoon mentioned above.

Sometimes I like to change the treble over to one with hair tied on and it works like using a minnow head.


Gbuss

[Mudder Man]

Too much information guys! All things that have taken us years to learn you are just handing out and soon, very soon there wont be fish for us to take home!

Remember the old saying: if i tell you i have to K#@l you!!!

Think about

MM

[chucklesthe3rd]

Sunbreaker wasn't so bad on Friday. Caught 6 whites and a small walleye. Must've seen at least 10 other whites on the flasher. Fished from 8 am to 6 pm. Wireworms weren't doing the trick had to switch to a slender spoon with a third of mealworm.

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by Mudder Man

Too much information guys! All things that have taken us years to learn you are just handing out and soon, very soon there wont be fish for us to take home!

Remember the old saying: if i tell you i have to K#@l you!!!

Think about

MM

Really it’s a well known lake and well known tactics. This is information that was passed around fishing stores 20+ years ago

[Hunter4ever12]

Originally Posted by Mudder Man

Too much information guys! All things that have taken us years to learn you are just handing out and soon, very soon there wont be fish for us to take home!

Remember the old saying: if i tell you i have to K#@l you!!!

Think about

MM

All the info in the world doesn’t necessarily mean anyone’s gonna catch anything,but if they do...good for them. Helping others doesn’t hurt,giving out honey holes might be a different story. You should lighten up a bit,maybe you would have had that knowledge come your way a lot sooner then all these years you waited to learn it.

[Zip-in-Z]

Originally Posted by Mudder Man

Too much information guys! All things that have taken us years to learn you are just handing out and soon, very soon there wont be fish for us to take home!

Remember the old saying: if i tell you i have to K#@l you!!!

Think about

MM

I thought about it ... bah humbug. (humorous) expressing cynicism, disillusionment or distrustfulness; and specifically a dislike of helping fellow A/O members improve they're fishing success around Christmas and its celebrations and festivities. Got it ....

When I have time on Sunday I'll post up some pic's of a few flutter/slender spoons that work.

D.

[biggyJ]

Left norglenwold at 6pm. Big police/fire/ambulance presence.

Didn’t bug them to ask what was going on as they looked pretty busy.

Anyone hear what was up?

[Zip-in-Z]

Dec 19th .... what a Bty warm sunny day with no wind, this morning they were forecasting gusty NW winds and dropping temps, it had to be 2C. Had a great time with great company, as Scott (Bwackwabbit) said we got to watch the end of a fellow members frustration w/whites! Congrat's Skawatty!

Surveying Palm Bay the other day payed off for the guys today, my guiding service put them on a couple spots that produced consistent Whitefish action from first light to the end of the day, everyone but Jim caught fish, he had lots of chances but no hook-ups, he could use a Cabellas gift card for X-Mass & invest in some new tackle.

I've always said location and bottom content-structure is very important, try to find sand with light weeds or rock-gravel rubble with weeds etc & it will improve your success. Today I moved out a bit deeper to 8-10 fow and the bottom was a carpet of green mossy type weed growth, not tall weeds & no sand at all. My first thought was this doesn't look good, I'll give it 5-10 minutes & move on. Before my Brass w/w was 2 feet from the bottom a nice White came screaming in & inhaled it. Then another & another, called the guys over they got set up around me over the same bottom & everyone, but Jim was catching fish, lots of fish. If your lucky to find a similar bottom covered with green mossy low growing weeds, give it a serious try, you may get a surprise like we did today. Didn't see any Walleye, Pike, Perch or Burbs, two full days out there and no other species but Whites.

The same w/w's I used yesterday performed again today. Had no action on Red or Brown or the flutter spoon(s) used 3 different one's. I did well at the end of the day on Orange/Brown, see the w/w thread for a pic.

Doug & his 1949 Piper did a fly by, waved but don't think he spotted me, he didn't land on the ice this time. Didn't take any pic's of the crowd the place was a zoo.

Going to give Sylvan Whites a rest, going back out to Gull next week.

Hope everyone had a good day out on Sylvan today.

Cheers

D.


.

[Zip-in-Z]

Originally Posted by biggyJ

Left norglenwold at 6pm. Big police/fire/ambulance presence.

Didn’t bug them to ask what was going on as they looked pretty busy.

Anyone hear what was up?

As of 8:15 nothing posted on the local Sylvan F/B sites, hope it wasn't another fatality. If we see something, will update.

D.

[Poppa]

First trip to Sylvan this year today... Out at RR23/Palm Bay. Very strange experience. I wanted to fish exactly where we fish in the boat in summer, but that was not very active. Most people fish right in the bay, which just seemed WAY too shallow to me. We nearly hit the Sylvan Grand Slam... Had a white, a Walleye and a Pike... Just needed a Burb but no sign of em. Consistent 12-14" of ice nearly at the middle of the lake. Not a lot of action, but definitely saw a few. Definitely need to figure out why everyone was fishing so shallow. We're gonna head to Sunbreaker tomorrow... Have a bit better of a handle on that.

[skawtty]

Originally Posted by Zip-in-Z

Dec 19th .... what a Bty warm sunny day with no wind, this morning they were forecasting gusty NW winds and dropping temps, it had to be 2C. Had a great time with great company, as Scott (Bwackwabbit) said we got to watch the end of a fellow members frustration w/whites! Congrat's Skawatty!

Surveying Palm Bay the other day payed off for the guys today, my guiding service put them on a couple spots that produced consistent Whitefish action from first light to the end of the day, everyone but Jim caught fish, he had lots of chances but no hook-ups, he could use a Cabellas gift card for X-Mass & invest in some new tackle.

I've always said location and bottom content-structure is very important, try to find sand with light weeds or rock-gravel rubble with weeds etc & it will improve your success. Today I moved out a bit deeper to 8-10 fow and the bottom was a carpet of green mossy type weed growth, not tall weeds & no sand at all. My first thought was this doesn't look good, I'll give it 5-10 minutes & move on. Before my Brass w/w was 2 feet from the bottom a nice White came screaming in & inhaled it. Then another & another, called the guys over they got set up around me over the same bottom & everyone, but Jim was catching fish, lots of fish. If your lucky to find a similar bottom covered with green mossy low growing weeds, give it a serious try, you may get a surprise like we did today. Didn't see any Walleye, Pike, Perch or Burbs, two full days out there and no other species but Whites.

The same w/w's I used yesterday performed again today. Had no action on Red or Brown or the flutter spoon(s) used 3 different one's. I did well at the end of the day on Orange/Brown, see the w/w thread for a pic.

Doug & his 1949 Piper did a fly by, waved but don't think he spotted me, he didn't land on the ice this time. Didn't take any pic's of the crowd the place was a zoo.

Going to give Sylvan Whites a rest, going back out to Gull next week.

Hope everyone had a good day out on Sylvan today.

Cheers

D.


.

Haha yes it was a great day weather wise and fishing with good friends. At first we were not going to go as the forecast the day before was for 25-50 winds. Finally got that white jinx off my back this year, thanks Bwack and David for the positivity haha. As for Jim he went to cabela's so we might be able to get him one. Ohh I got the Knives all sharpened.

Skawtty

[Zip-in-Z]

Originally Posted by skawtty

Haha yes it was a great day weather wise and fishing with good friends. At first we were not going to go as the forecast the day before was for 25-50 winds. Finally got that white jinx off my back this year, thanks Bwack and David for the positivity haha. As for Jim he went to cabela's so we might be able to get him one. Ohh I got the Knives all sharpened.

Skawtty

Scott & I were very happy to be part of your positive Whitefish adventure & pleased to read Jim is investing in some new gear. Now with a sharp knife all those fillet's should be boneless & yummy for supper last night.

Cheers

D.

[Zip-in-Z]

Found some time this afternoon, to provide some details & pic's on the Flutter Spoons what were working yesterday morning. I didn't have any success with them in the late morning or afternoon, the Whites were aggressively hitting W/W's.

The flutter spoons in my pic’s are the Wetaskiwins, Kastmaster and a Slender Spoon, the major fishin stores sell them.

Check out the W/W Thread for more details …

Cheers

D.

[sns2]

Tricky tricky

[Fishingforjoy]

First time on Sylvan Lake this year. Be there around 2pm. West side of R20. Tried 6 fow for 30 minutes, saw one white, circle around the hook 3 times then left. Moved to 10 fow, by 4pm. Got 7 bites, lost 2 landed 5.

[Zip-in-Z]

Dec 22nd ... Snowed all last night & still snowing now, they said 10 cm & it looks like we got at least 3-4", that will make for slippery ice conditions.

D.

[338Bluff]

Are most people driving on now? Anyone know if they knocked down the ice heave on Sunbreakers boat ramp?

[Poppa]

Originally Posted by 338Bluff

Are most people driving on now? Anyone know if they knocked down the ice heave on Sunbreakers boat ramp?

As of Sunday, ice heave was still there. Walk on only. We had about 13" 100yds out from the weed bed on the right...

[338Bluff]

Originally Posted by Poppa

As of Sunday, ice heave was still there. Walk on only. We had about 13" 100yds out from the weed bed on the right...

I drove on at Palm Bay 15 " of ice over by the creek mouth. Not much for fish movement today. Fish I've seen bit though.

[bessiedog]

Originally Posted by Zip-in-Z

Found some time this afternoon, to provide some details & pic's on the Flutter Spoons what were working yesterday morning. I didn't have any success with them in the late morning or afternoon, the Whites were aggressively hitting W/W's.

The flutter spoons in my pic’s are the Wetaskiwins, Kastmaster and a Slender Spoon, the major fishin stores sell them.

Check out the W/W Thread for more details …

Cheers

D.

Really interesting how these basically look like the old Russian shaped hooks I used to use at Pigeon and Wabamun back in the 70s and 80s.

Those did a slow drop flutter as well.... but I’d keep em fairly still for the most part...

And the whites don’t shy away from the trebles....?

Huh.

Whooda thunk it.

I just started using Wetaskawins seriously for the first time last year down here...

Very effective if the wire worm colors weren’t producing

And the wire worm catches like that..?
I thought the line touch would make em veer off

Or are you sight hooking them?

[italk2u]

This has probably been asked many times, but do whites shy away when there's a camera watching them.?

[Talking moose]

Originally Posted by italk2u

This has probably been asked many times, but do whites shy away when there's a camera watching them.?

I believe they do. I’ve been cutting a hole right next to the one I’m fishing and leave it right at the bottom of the ice pointing down.
We had an experiment at sylvan last week. Buddy had his down near the bottom looking at his hook and mine hidden up top looking down. He had no whites come right in, I had lots.

[pikeman06]

Whites have a great big eye about a half inch from their little mouths and feed on abundant invertebrates selectively day in and day out. For a brief period of time after spawn they can seem aggressive and take bigger lures out of instinct over their spawning beds, but I've tried the camera thing extensively with whites because I love that style of fishing and personally I just use it to confirm there are whitefish in the area cruising and then pull it out and finesse them. Thats just my 2 cents. You can have a hundred whites within six feet of your hole and never see a single one all day if you don't have the proper gear. I think they can see very well in shallow clear water.

[Zip-in-Z]

Originally Posted by bessiedog

Really interesting how these basically look like the old Russian shaped hooks I used to use at Pigeon and Wabamun back in the 70s and 80s.

Those did a slow drop flutter as well.... but I’d keep em fairly still for the most part...

And the whites don’t shy away from the trebles....?

Huh.

Whooda thunk it.

I just started using Wetaskawins seriously for the first time last year down here...

Very effective if the wire worm colors weren’t producing

And the wire worm catches like that..?
I thought the line touch would make em veer off

Or are you sight hooking them?

Bessie-D .....in response to your Q's.

And the whites don’t shy away from the trebles....?

My experience is to add a Pink Mag on 1 treble & they focus on it, I've had a number attack my flutter spoons or Vibro some get hooked lots get off.


And the wire worm catches like that..?

Yes .... that's why I add a w/w above the spoon with no Pink Mag, 95% of the time they hit it not because they're starving, they're annoyed by it ... ie ****-ed off & smack it.


Or are you sight hooking them?

Sometimes I feel like a homeless person, sitting in a tent staring down a dark hole for most of the day. My fishin spots on Sylvan & Gull are in 5-8 fow, then I move a bit deeper, 10-12 fow & can still see my presentations. I've fished Sylvan in 20-24 fow, put my camera about 5 ft behind me & can see the whites inhale my presentations. I found they aren't all that camera shy in deeper water.

Wish you all the best over the holiday's.

D.


Vibro ....Cdn tire sells them.