Fish-Hawk.Net

Hi everyone,

We're going to be fishing this area for a couple of days at the end of the month and I was wondering if any of you have any general info about the lakes, the fishing, etc? I plan on taking everything as far as tackle and gear goes. Spinning, baitcasting, trolling, fly, etc.

I was hoping to get into some Bass and Pike but then I saw that Dog Lake has Lakers in it and when I pulled up my Navionics chart, it looked like it was actually pretty deep and that I could definitely get the riggers out. Has anyone fished it for Lakers? Does it have decent populations of fish? I assume I can get into it from Cranberry Lake by boat? It looks like it from the chart, but you never really know with those types of things.

If any of you have any general info you can throw my way it would be greatly appreciated. PM is also fine.

Thanks a bunch!

Lot's of SM and LM bass, pike, bowfin, bluegill, crappie. Deep water basin will hold some splake but your catch per unit effort will be much higher if you target the other species. No problems in getting to Dog from Cranberry. Enjoy.........Mitch

Cool, thanks mitch. Didn't realize there were Bowfin in there as well, I'd really like to try catching some of those!

Navionics lists lakers in Dog, they were present years ago, but are now essentially non-existent. (only the occasional lake trout still caught, and some of the reports of lakers are actually splake) Splake are stocked annually, they do receive heavy pressure year round but the chances of a decent fish still exists. Bass are decent both size and numbers in both, with smallmouth in the middle basin of Dog and largemouth more toward the south end.

Have fun on your trip, as a combo the two lakes make for a fun fishery with lots of variety of structure.

Dog is one of my favorite lakes to fish.

Splake are a fishable population for sure...this time of year you'll likely need to get down 40-50 feet at least.

Largies can be awesome...tough part about breaking down that lake is alot of it looks the same and all good. Some is and some stinks!

Takes a few days to find those decent fish holding spots fer sure.

RJ

Okay cool, thanks guys. I'll bring my downriggers along just in case I feel up to searching for some Splake. I've caught lots of Lakers and lots of Brookies, but we didn't have Splake back in BC so that would be sort of cool.

RJ, if you feel generous and would like to point me in a rough direction of some potential areas to try at Dog, feel free to shoot me off a PM. My Bass fishing skills have not yet evolved to the point where I'm a threat to any local populations of fish, LOL

NMG wrote:
RJ, if you feel generous and would like to point me in a rough direction of some potential areas to try at Dog, feel free to shoot me off a PM. My Bass fishing skills have not yet evolved to the point where I'm a threat to any local populations of fish, LOL

Will do late tonight, headed to the lake for back to back bookings. Lord help me..

RJ

As folks have said, both lakes have good bass populations, as well as the other species mentioned. Out4trout is bang-on with his comments (as always) about the trout - your chance of catching a LAKE trout are slim to nil. If you do, go immediately and buy a lottery ticket........... Summertime not all that many folks fish the splake and as somebody already noted, your investment in time may not be worth the catch.

Both lakes have pretty much anything you would like to find for bass fishing, and fishy-looking spots are generally worth investigating. My personal preference would be to spend most of the time on Dog Lake, it is pretty much my favourite bass lake (and close to me too, as a bonus). I fish one rig ninety plus percent of the time, and do not recall ever being skunked on it in Dog Lake - and I will send you that as a pm.

Good luck! This is nice bass country.

Doug

Howdy folks,
New member here. Found you guys from a google search... glad I did! I'm a (freshwater) Newfie, and growing up I fished mostly mud/lake trout using spinning rods & spinning lures (like this). I'm in Ontario now and trying to get caught up on all the different species, technique, equipment and tackle... so please excuse my ignorance!

My in-laws just bought a home on Cranberry Lake in South Frontenac. I'm excited to get out on Cranberry & Dog Lake this summer and see what it's all about. I've been reading through some of the threads and I found and old map someone had posted. I've tried to update it with a few of the location names and info I've found on different fish:



I was wondering if anyone wanted to chime in with other areas that are hot spots for the various fish. For example, I saw above in this thread that the middle basin of Dog (C3?) is good for Smallmouth, while the Southern region of Dog (F1-F2-G2) are better for Largemouth. I'll update this map as we go and re-post it.

Also, pardon my ignorance on the subject, but what are the best lures/tackle to use on Bass and the other fish common to the area (Pike/Walleye/Splake/?). All I really know is spinning lures and worms. I know a lot of this style of fishing is in weedy areas... how do you keep your lure from getting snagged up on the bottom or in the grass? Any advice on this welcome! Thanks!

I personally use 50 pound braid or 20 pound flouro with a 3/8-1oz tungsten flipping weight and a craw , beaver , or ribbon tail style bait.
Or you could try a senko wacky rigged with a weedless hook. Personally I can't stand throwing one

Hi Adam
For Splake, I would recommend trolling spoons. Smallmouth, hard to beat a drop-shot rig.
Sent you a Private Message also - regarding the map.

Appreciate the input! Thanks boys.

Once the season opens in June I have a feeling spinnerbaits will likely work well in the weedy areas for the bass.

I'll have to try out the Texas rig and the drop shot as well.

Loads of helpful info

I would love to get back on this lake again. It's a little out of the way when I'm in that area, but it's definitely a favorite of mine. So much water to fish and quality fish swimming in it.