Jackfish

[Cgills 2]

Hey! Anyone know how jackfish river is doing right now? Is the water still raging pretty bad? 

[Davis Viehbeck 25]

Very high.  Fishing has been slower than normal.

[Zackcorbin1401 542]

I don’t know how I convince myself to make that whole trek just for 2 walleyes, but I’m feeling it coming up soon.

[Duhaus 47]

When you park at the ‘spot’ and hear the water….get back in your truck.

[speckmaster 114]

…isn’t it a little too late at that point?  😂

[brookiebuster 117]

I haven’t been to jackfish but all I know is that rough is ROUGH. Be prepared to break stuff on your truck

[Zackcorbin1401 542]

18 hours ago, brookiebuster said:

I haven’t been to jackfish but all I know is that rough is ROUGH. Be prepared to break stuff on your truck

I’ve done it in a small car multiple times 😏

[James01 223]

On 8/23/2022 at 1:07 PM, Zackcorbin1401 said:

I’ve done it in a small car multiple times 😏

👍

[walleye seeker 39]

I’ll be up that way next week and planning to fish the river for the first time. I’ll probably concentrate on “the pool”. Any recommendations for general areas to target or presentations? Thinking a 3/8 oz jig tipped with minnow, streakZ or small swim bait and maybe try throwing some cranks. Do smelt-like presentations work better? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to send a DM as well. Thanks in advance! 

[Duhaus 47]

3/8 with a chartreuse twister

 

If the water is low (can’t hear it from the parking spot) then you should do well.

 

watch the bears…some people leave scraps everywhere after cleaning. Bears hear people there is like a dinner bell.

[walleye seeker 39]

12 minutes ago, Duhaus said:

3/8 with a chartreuse twister

 

If the water is low (can’t hear it from the parking spot) then you should do well.

 

watch the bears…some people leave scraps everywhere after cleaning. Bears hear people there is like a dinner bell.

Right on! Thanks 

[Zackcorbin1401 542]

3 hours ago, walleye seeker said:

I’ll be up that way next week and planning to fish the river for the first time. I’ll probably concentrate on “the pool”. Any recommendations for general areas to target or presentations? Thinking a 3/8 oz jig tipped with minnow, streakZ or small swim bait and maybe try throwing some cranks. Do smelt-like presentations work better? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to send a DM as well. Thanks in advance! 

3”-4” white paddle tails & 3/8oz Jig allways worked for me

[johnr 47]

The first time I fished it was on a moose hunting trip and an afternoon break from hunting . I brought a rapala , a jig, a dare devil and a twister tail. Caught fish on all but lost them quickly. Scavenged the shoreline for old discarded damaged jigs and pieces of twister tail [ sadly there were plenty ] ......fish every cast . 20 years ago but true story . No kidding tho about the bears.......

[Eyeguy 22]

No bait required. I always experiment with a plain jig head with nothing on it. Last year I fished my final two hours there with a plain leadhead jig with nothing on it and caught a fish pretty much every cast. If they’re on, you literally need nothing but the jig head. 

[fireram 0]

Last year I walked up river from the group of guys fishing the hole, used floating mono and a floating torpedo with a spinner on the back. Tossed it as far into the current as i could, and let it take line out till it got past the group,, then, slowly reeled in so my lure would drift into the hole in front of the group.

TOP water walleye, right in front of them, what a blast....

Caught one every cast, all smaller than average out of the hole that day, but fun fun fun....

 

If you go, please post road conditions, and water levels if you could.

 

Thanks and tight lines.

[oyo 127]

Isn’t the jackfish river closed for walleye?

[MetalFishing 84]

On 8/31/2022 at 7:38 PM, fireram said:

Last year I walked up river from the group of guys fishing the hole, used floating mono and a floating torpedo with a spinner on the back. Tossed it as far into the current as i could, and let it take line out till it got past the group,, then, slowly reeled in so my lure would drift into the hole in front of the group.

TOP water walleye, right in front of them, what a blast....

Caught one every cast, all smaller than average out of the hole that day, but fun fun fun....

 

If you go, please post road conditions, and water levels if you could.

 

Thanks and tight lines.

I’m working just south of Armstrong and have only heard terrible things about the current state of Airport Road

[Zackcorbin1401 542]

On 9/1/2022 at 7:03 AM, oyo said:

Isn’t the jackfish river closed for walleye?

 

Lake Nipigon - Ombabika Bay (50°15′ N., 88°15′ W.) and Wabinosh Bay (50°02′ N., 88°50′ W.) and the tributaries of the bays up to the first barrier including the Little Jackfish River downstream from the centre line of the CN railway bridge and Wabinosh River downstream of Wabinosh Lake

• Walleye and sauger combined - S-2 and C-2; not more than one greater than 46 centimetre
• Walleye and sauger - open from January 1 to April 14 and June 10 to December 31

Edited September 2, 2022 by Zackcorbin1401

[oyo 127]

Oh I thought this was the jackfish river going into Nipigon Bay on superior you were all talking about.

[Zackcorbin1401 542]

1 hour ago, oyo said:

Oh I thought this was the jackfish river going into Nipigon Bay on superior you were all talking about.

I knew that’s what was going on

[walleye seeker 39]

Between second train tracks crossing and mud river (for about 30k) the road is rough; mostly because of the hard packed, grape fruit to basket ball sized cobble mixed in pit-run aggregate used to top the road. Other than that the road wasn’t bad, just got take it a little slower at spots.

Tried the upper section (parked just west of bridge) was slow. Back tracked ~2.5 k west and the bite was great. 

River is still rocking pretty good; looks like summit is still passing ~180 CMS: https://files.opg.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Summit_220901_152117.pdf

[fireram 0]

Thanks muchly @MetalFishing and @walleye seeker   
We always go to the lower pools. And usually work our way down to the bottom

of the rapids.  Hooked into some large pike there and occasional whitefish in the slow water at the bottom.

usually see a flock of pelicans there also.

 

interesting that the water is so high this year. 
One year we went the water was so low there was empty exposed pools that were big enough to fit a two bedroom house.  Hundreds of jig heads and leaders snagged in the rocks, and the few walleye we caught were very sickly looking. 

[fireram 0]

Fished the little jack last week. Water was high but not as high as last year. And fishing was slow. Compared to previous years.  Lots of rain up there last week. 48 hrs straight. All the surrounding lakes and tribs are very low. 

[fireram 0]

Road has not been graded for a couple years. And lots of heavy machinery on it this year. Lots of washboard and several soft spots.