Algonquin Park Lake Trout

by JC Besner
(Saint John, NB, Canada)

Every year, a group of family and friends goes into Algonquin Park the first week of May for some canoeing, portaging and camping. We have been doing this trip every year for 20 years. Every three years, we switch lakes in order to try something new.
This year, we camped on Merchant Lake, two portages removed from Opeongo Lake (the biggest lake in the Park). The fishing on Merchant was very good this year. So good, in fact, that most of the other canoes never left the lake for all four days of fishing! My friend and I decided to try a couple of different lakes on two of the four days. The first try, on Big Trout Lake, only netted us one lake trout. True to the name of the lake, it was bigger than average for these lakes (3-4 lbs), but not worth missing out on catching many more on Merchant. Slightly disgruntled, we nevertheless attempted Happy Isle Lake on the last available day of fishing.
We were trolling in 17 feet of water (yes, I cheat and bring a portable fish finder with me), just going between two likely spots, when I hooked the fish in the picture. I was using a fire tiger Rapala Husky Jerk on 10lb P-Line. I normally use spoons but every once in a while will tie on a jerk bait. I'm normally an ardent smallmouth bass fisherman and only go for trout during this trip, so have lots of minnow jerk baits.
As soon as I hooked the fish, I knew it was big. Happy Isle also has smallies, so I was hoping it wasn't a bass hooked with the treble hooks at the mouth and tail, creating drag. It took about 7-8 minutes to bring the lake trout to the canoe, after 5-6 good runs. My friend almost tipped us hauling it into the canoe in the net! I'm sure you could hear the joyful whooping and hollering two lakes over.
I didn't have a scale, but my guess would be anywhere between 10-14 lbs. It was 34" long. Biggest lake trout I've ever caught!