Squeers..... past stories and current fishery

[sinker7 114]

In just over a month the Squeers fishery will be upon us. Interested in hearing members past success stories and current opinions about the fishery.

Here is mine. I first fished Squeers back is 1989 when I was sixteen. My older cousin took me to the lake on the Friday of the fishery. We walked into the lake. We didn't start fishing until 11:00am(he wasn't an early morning riser). The fishing started out slow, we lost one fish right away and it took a couple hours before were actually landed our first Squeers Lake lake trout. It was a nice one around 2lbs. At this point I personally had never iced a laker before and was anxious to do so. The day was sunny and warm and we enjoyed the spring like weather. It wasn't until 4:00pm that we started to get some action. Lines starting going down and the fish were 'on'. I remembered we landed 5 nice trout trout and lost a few others by the 5:00pm cut off time. It was a great day and I vowed to return in future years.

I returned to Squeers every year except 1990(we didn't make the draw) and one other year when the MNR were on strike and the fishery was cancelled. In the 90's the fishing was great. Lots of fish and some nice ones. I personally landed one around 10lbs and released it. The fish was tagged. I caught the fish in 1994 it was 24" long and had a massive girth. I wrote the tag number down and brought it into to Jon George at the MNR after the fishery was done. The fish was tagged in 1989 and measured 18". Jon said the fish become cannibals around that size and there growth rate increases dramatically. My friends and I has several memorable trips back then. I recall one year two of us caught just shy of 60 trout one day. The action was crazy.

As of late the results are much different. Numbers of fish for us are down and the overall size it not what it used to be. In the past limits of fish(3) between 18-20"+ and 20-30 fish days between 2 people were common. Now it is more common to see fish between 13-18" in a limit with a number of 10-13" fish released. A days catch consists of 15 or so fish between between two anglers.

Curious what other members stories/opinions are about the fishery. Will try to post some old photos of past days from Squeers once i get them scanned.

[naden 136]

Fished squeers about 5 or 6 times over the last 10 or 12 years. First time there caught some decent eater lakers. Got caught crossing the lake in a thunderstorm that year, never experienced that again while ice fishing.

Another year we left town extra early to beat the rush, forgot my helmet at home, got a flat on the trailer in shabaqua, changed the tire while we watched a hundred trucks go by heading to squeers, spare tire was also flat. Left the trailer in shabaqua and headed to squeers with 1 sled in the truck that had no hitch and 3 guys. Duct taped the sleigh to the back bumper of the sled, smashed the rear tail light out of the sled, but caught some eater lake trout. Left the lake late and returned to shabaqua, called town to get a friends dad to pick up another tire and drive it out to shabaqua. Got home late that night.

Went a couple more years after that and only caught lots of small lakers. Last time there the trail was so rough my tackle boxes, auger, hitch and tip ups/reels were all damaged in the sleigh, and all for a bunch of lakers that make specs look large in comparison.

Last year we discussed going to squeers and decided to go elsewhere instead. Spent the day catching lakers on a lake that hadnt had a hole drilled in it all year and no one around for miles. No damaged equipment, no rutted trails, no mud pits to run the sleds through, no dodging sleds, argos and quads stuck on steep hills and no bumper to bumper parking.

I know lots of people enjoy squeers and have made it a tradition, and for a while I did too but in my opinion there are better lakes with less people around and I doubt Ill be back to squeers this year.

[naden 136]

If I remember right, before the season changed for lake trout going to squeers allowed you to get an extra week of lake trout fishing in as our winter lake trout season was only 4 weeks long. Now that the season has been extended this advantage has been eliminated.

[Pro fisherman-Stud Muffin 420]

Last time I was at squeers it was a blast. 2 years ago. High temps in the teens. Opening day.

We weren't the first ones on the ice maybe a 100 or so ahead of us. The night before I had overlayed that depth chart Roger had posted on Google earth. Then I marked a few waypoints that would hold feeding fish. We headed out on ice gps in hand. With 5 in our group 2 guys got on auger 1 with scoop and shovel so I grabbed a rod rigged with a buckshot spoon.

First hole was drilled in seconds so I immediately dropped my spoon in .about a foot of line fell then It stopped, knowing we were 15 FOW I set the hook and iced a nice 18 inch laker . Seconds later I dropped spoon again this time stopped at 5 ft... hook set and a 20 incher on the ice . My 3 rd drop made it to bottom then my first jigging motion was interrupted with a strike followed by slack line. Moments later my 3 biggest squeers lake trout were flopping on ice.

I then shouted to my partners to get their attention as they were clueless I was slaying trout. And just to show the short amount of time this happenend during they were only drilling their 3 rd hole and 3 trout were dancing on the snow .

By the time all 10 holes were drilled I was realeasing 14 inch fish looking for one last hog for the smoker . I never did get a big fat one that day. I left the lake with 5 over 18 inches . And will never forget the fastest leaker bite I had ever seen. All on a spoon. no live bait

[Lyle Reiner 174]

you are forgetting the walk I had to make to catch you, the one and only fish I caught lol

[Pro fisherman-Stud Muffin 420]

Oh yes I may have lost a passenger on ride out due to slush. I couldn't turn back fish were waiting.

[scandiman 114]

IMO Squeers isn't worth the hassle of dealing with finding a parking spot, navigating a trail in that is torn to pieces by end of day one, and a slopping through a foot of slush just to catch some dink lakers. Perhaps my point of view would be different if I had children to bring to enjoy some hot chocolate and cookies, but as it stands I would much rather angle some bigger/nicer looking fish on less crowded lakes.

[WalleyeWayne 137]

I've fished Squeers for the last 8 yrs and have generally enjoyed it. We typically fish in no less than 75' of water, straight out from the MNR cleaning station. The numbers have been good most every year, averaging 16", except for last year we didn't get as many hook-ups. The last couple years there has been more slush than usual, and I expect this year to be the worst for slush. We make a day of it for whomever wants to join us, including an on-ice BBQ with dry-rub steaks, M&M burgers, and hopefully someone has deer or bear sausages. It gets congested on the roadway, so just leave earlier if that is an issue. I am just as intrigued by how the fishery is doing as I am with hooking trout to eat. In the 8 yrs we've been fishing Squeers our biggest was around 6lbs....but that was a rarity for us. We've probably gotten less than a dozen total that have been over 26", but I'm okay with that because we prefer pan-frying or individually BBQ-ing them. I will keep going until the slush takes the fun out of it!