McGregor Burbot 2020

[Evil69]

It's on.

Spent last night checking some spots for my favourite fish the mighty pout. McGregor is fishing tough this year so I didn't have a lot of expectations but with the spawn due anytime I knew the odds were in my favour. After about 20 holes I settled on a spot in 17FOW on a small mud flat next to the main basin. Crayfish are the key I look for after structure, find the crayfish, find the ling.



As the sun went down (and the wind) the walleye hoard made it's nightly appearance. At first it was all small 10-14 inch juveniles and lots of them but as it got later larger fish began to appear. I noticed they were hyper aggressive, not the usual walleye nibble n peck. The Jaw Jacker was singing tonight but my jigging rod far outproduced the JJ. Multiple small walleye becomes repetitive and honestly a little borning but at 8 pm I felt something slam my jig and immediate knew it was not a walleye. It felt like bringing in a moving rock, just nothing but power on my medium action rod. I got it to the hole and sure enough a large pout. I reached down to land it, the pout turned a 180 in the hole and shot straight back down throwing the hook....I was in shock, 1st keeper in weeks and I lost it..FML.

Undeterred I set back to pounding bottom with the Trout n pout glow jig tipped with minnow and bacon(Maple hardwood). About 20 minutes later a blob hugging the bottom moved in on the sonar and WHAM another pout on the line. Not wanting a repeat I played it soft like a whitefish and after a excellent fight and several tense moments of line scrapes on the hole I managed to land this beauty 27" male.


Always curious to what they are eating, this one chewed a crayfish with side of boatmen and snails


I hung around for another couple hours and landed some bigger walleye and lost another smaller ling at the hole, hooked the bottom of the hole but since one fish is more than enough for a meal I called it quits early.

From what I saw yesterday the spawn is about to kick in. My only suggestion if your are going to target Ling in Mcgregor bring lots of bait because you have to feed 50 walleye to get to the ling. Full moon coming up Monday so things should only get better. you know where I'll be. Tight lines

Evil

[58thecat]

wow factor eh...gotta like the bite....catching is better than fishin'

[mapleleafman3]

Great story and info. You just got me inspired to get out for some burbs. thnx!

[slingshotz]

Thanks for the great report. Mind sharing how thick the ice was and where you drove on?

Was thinking of heading down there for the afternoon/evening bite sometime this week.

[Evil69]

2 feet plus...closer to 3. Drove on south of the boat launch....the launch was a bit messy the other day but we had a good freeze last night so it should be good.

I'll be out there tonight. Cant resist a full moon

[barbless]

Gotta love the land locked cod there b'y. Good eats for sure

[slingshotz]

Originally Posted by Evil69

2 feet plus...closer to 3. Drove on south of the boat launch....the launch was a bit messy the other day but we had a good freeze last night so it should be good.

I'll be out there tonight. Cant resist a full moon

Much appreciated, wanted to go tonight as well but work got in the way but I'm planning to tomorrow for the evening bite as it's still supposed to be ok according to the solunar calendars.

Hope the launch stays ok for tomorrow as it's supposed to warm up in the afternoon but hopefully the -10 freeze tonight really firms it back up.

Good luck tonight!

[Evil69]

The launch is fine. Temps are still on the negative side and ice is still growing.



Only made it out till 8 pm last night as I had some major equipment issues but there were a steady stream of small pike between 4-8pm and just as I was leaving the wallys were moving up onto the flat I was fishing...no burbs but it was still light out.



Going to give it another go Wed or Thursday. maybe this time I'll remember to charge all the batteries