Doc Talks Fishing Podcast

Imagine surgically implanting radio tags inside 38 smallmouth bass and then tracking them on a daily basis for up to five years. The details you would learn about their habits and habitats would astound you. Well, that is what OMNR biologist Barry Corbett did on one million acre Lake of the Woods, in one of the most monumental bass tracking studies in fisheries science history. Barry shares what he learned with Liam and Gord on today's podcast and it will take your breath away.

Any day now, an amazing pre-summer peak walleye pattern is going to explode. And it is based on something few anglers understand — the shiner spawn.  Dr. Paul Cooley is the fisheries scientist who discovered the phenomenon on massive Lake Winnipeg — but it happens in every lake where walleyes eat shiners — and he tells the boys where you’ll find the fish bunched up big time. Are you ready for this: the best fishing occurs in waist deep water on the same sand beaches where everyone is swimming and sunbathing. Hold onto your hats because you’re not going to believe this one.

Nick Baccante, the Senior Research Biologist in Ontario's renown Walleye Research Unit, recently shared some amazing early season science secrets. This week, Gord and Liam take Nick's walleye words of wisdom and show you how to prepare a foolproof game plan to put more and bigger fish in the boat. Jump in with the boys and learn how to combine state-of-the-art science with cutting edge walleye presentations.

There are 669 different species of crayfish, including 400 varieties in North America. And every fish finds them finger licking good. Especially, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, walleyes, yellow perch and trout. Liam and Gord spend an hour brainstorming with crayfish biologist, Tom Brooke Jr., discovering what is happening on the bottom of our favourite lakes, rivers, reservoirs, pits and ponds. Did you know that crayfish don't lay eggs? That they range in a rainbow-like array of colours. That depending on the species, they can be docile to mean. And fish find them to be most vulnerable when they're in their soft-shelled phase. Tune in to learn more about the captivating world of crayfish.

If you fish for walleyes (bass, trout, pike, perch, even muskies) you won't believe what you're going to learn from biologist, Bev Ritchie, who discovered that the magnificent hexigenia limbata hatch so heavily in even numbered years - like this year — that the walleyes go berserk devouring them. There are as many as 120 mayfly nymphs crawling around every square metre or yard of lake bottom and the fish pounce on them and eat them almost exclusively when they're about to hatch. Which is any day now. It is why the walleye bite often slows down when the mayflies start hatching, but we're going to tell you how you can turn this into the most exciting walleye fishing of the season. You're not going to want to miss this episode.

Nick Baccante helped write the book on walleyes, studying the popular sport fish as the lead Research Biologist in Ontario’s esteemed, Walleye Research Unit and as the Fish and Wildlife Section Head, for the Peace Region in British Columbia. Nick joins Liam and Gord on this week’s podcast as they talk about early season walleye behaviour and fishing strategies. Do you know why you typically catch more small male walleyes than large female walleyes when the fishing season opens?  The trophy-size fish go to specific locations and develop unique feeding habits that you can incorporate into your fishing strategies. Want to get your doctorate in spring walleye fishing? Tune into this week’s podcast. 

Liam and Gord sit down this week with Dr. Bruce Tufts, who heads up the prestigious Freshwater Fisheries Conservation Lab at Queen’s University. Tufts explains why big walleye, bass, trout, northern pike and muskies are the rock stars of the fishing world. A 12-pound female walleye, for example, lays exponentially more eggs than three four-pound female walleye. The eggs are bigger, more nutritious, more viable and hatch earlier leading to the best year classes. And that is just for starters. The behaviour of big fish will leave you amazed.

If we’re lucky we get the chance, once or twice in our life, to cross paths with someone who changes the course of history.  In Rob Swainson’s case, it is the celebrated brook trout fishery associated with Lake Nipigon, the Nipigon River and the north shore of Lake Superior.  Gord and Liam interview the man this week, who wouldn’t accept the fact that a world class fishery was doomed. Under Swainson’s leadership the brook trout fishing has sprung back to life. How did he do it and what has he learned that will help us manage and catch more and bigger trout wherever they swim? Hold onto your hats — all this and more with Rob Swainson, aka Dr. Trout.

Gord and Liam sit down this week with renown lake trout scientist, (Dr.) Chris Therrien, who has spent years studying the habits and habitat of lake trout. Chris shocks the boys explaining how cold water loving lake trout will venture to feed into the last place you'd ever expect to catch them — hot shoreline water in the middle of summer. He also spells out why he would never fish for lake trout in a lake that didn't offer ciscoes as the principal prey species. And are you ready for this: lake trout suffer beriberi disease when smelt are introduced to the water. If you think you know something about the biggest trout that swims, tune into this episode and prepare to have your
mind blown wide open.

Unbelievable ... amazing .... mind-boggling. Choose whatever superlative you want to use and it is appropriate for this week's guest, Kamden Glade, who works for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Kamden studied the diets of muskies (northern pike, walleye and largemouth bass) using gastric lavage - the same technique employed in hospitals. Kamden joins Liam and Gord on this week's podcast and explains what muskies eat in different lake settings and whether or not they compete with each other for food. Muskie anglers love to "match the hatch," so go ahead and guess what muskies eat most often? You're going to be surprised.