Walleye

There are a number of reasons why the Walleye fishing is so good on Lake Panache:

1) The prevailing wind comes from the west or from the southwest over Lake Huron and Lake Superior, thus the lake has not been affected by distant heavy industry, which can cause acid rain and other environmental problems.

2) The lake is constantly supplied with fresh water and nutrients from the Whitefish River. This enables large populations of feeder-fish to exist in the lake such as Chub, Sucker, Shiner, freshwater Lake Herring and Cisco. These feeder-fish support large populations of game-fish.

3) Lake Panache is close enough to Lake Huron to receive airborne sand, which has accumulated in the lake over thousands of years and has produced sand bars and sandy beaches, which is where the majority of Walleyes span. This makes the survival rate of young Walleye high thus maintaining the adult population.

4) There are so many lakes in the area that are closer to town that locals in Espanola don’t bother driving the distance to fish Lake Panache very often. Thus the lake received very low fishing pressure, especially for its size.

5) The structure of the lake is made for Walleyes. Lake Panache is a typical Canadian Shield lake, which was formed by glaciation at the end of the last ice age. It possesses a variety of structure such as weedy bays, rocky points, sand bars covered with wild rice that slide off into deep holes, open water, countless islands and shoals as well as rivers and feeder streams.

Northern Pike

Lake Panache has great Northern Pike fishing. There are lots of back weedy bays, mouths of feeder streams and rocky ridges separating the shallows and deep-water drop-offs where Northern Pike congregate. Wherever you find a spot that looks good for a big fish to ambush a small fish; try casting some Pike lures.

Northern Pike have lots of food in Lake Panache. They have Walleye and Perch to feed on but the bigger Pike tend to go after oily fish such as Whitefish, Chub, Sucker, Shiner, freshwater Lake Herring and Cisco. All these fish species are found all over the lake but tend to stay deeper than the stereotypical Northern Pike habitat. As a result the biggest Northern Pike in Lake Panache are usually caught in deeper water in the summer and fall by guests jigging for Walleye.

Northern Pike are common in the 2 to 7 pound range and are caught all year. Once in a while a big trophy Northern gets caught in the shallows in the summer and fall but generally the best time to fish shallow for big trophy Northern Pike is in the spring. In summer and fall most of the Northern Pike in the 10 to 15-pound range are caught in the 10 to 15-foot deep range. Spring is when most of the 20+ pound northern Pike get caught.

In a lake that has Lake Trout the monster-size Northern Pike usually go deep by early summer to feed on Trout. Some of these really big Monster Northern Pike stay deep all year. They are not interested in 10 inch Herring or Perch, they need 2 and 3 pound Whitefish or Lake Trout to maintain their size and strength. We have countless stories of guests fishing deep for Lake Trout and bringing up 20 and 25 pound Northerns out of the deep only to lose them at the boat because they did not have steel leaders on their lines. If you have downriggers you can troll parallel to the shore in 25 to 35 feet of water pulling good size spoons or Muskie plugs and can hook into a monster. You can even try drifting in deeper watch with a big minnow on a hook. Big Pike do get caught in the shallows but guests would catch a lot more of them if they try going deeper.

Northern Pike hit just about anything. A Johnson Silver Minnow and other weedless spoons are popular for thick weeds. The bigger Pike seem to stay close to the points leading into weedy bays or just outside the thick weeds so spinnerbaits, suicks and crankbaits are popular for the edge of the weeds and points.

Smallmouth Bass

Smallmouth Bass are all over the lake and can be found just about everywhere. In Lake Panache they seem to travel in hunting packs and move along the shore eating everything in sight. If you come across a school you can experience non stop action for hours yet go back the next day and not get anything. These packs of Smallmouth Bass may move a few hundred yards down the shore so every day you have to hunt down their new location. Don’t worry, only the smaller bass move around. The really big Smallmouth Bass in the 3 to 5-pound range tend to be less mobile and stake out an area and stay there.

Larger bass tend to travel in pairs or be loners so working the shoreline will produce some big ones. Smallmouth Bass have been caught as big as 6 pounds on Lake Panache but a Smallmouth Bass that big is not common. If you concentrate on Smallmouth fishing you should catch a few per day in the 2 to 4-pound range and maybe even a 5 pounder.

If the Smallmouth Bass are aggressive, they will hit just about anything. Changes in air pressure, wind, cold, heat and time of year can change their behavior drastically. If they are not hitting your regular lures try going to something blue. If they are not hitting blue lures at all try casting out tube jigs and make long slow jigging motion. If they are not hitting jigs then the last step is to put on a single hook and big fat dangling worm with no weight and cast out and let the worm sink to the bottom. Then drift pass an area and just drag the worm over the rocks.

The best time to fish Smallmouth Bass on Lake Panache is in the summer. The bass generally are down deep and spread out during the spring. This is a very hard time to catch them. Then around the end of June they start showing up on the shoals and off rocky points. They are easy to catch all summer until mid August. In mid to late August the Smallmouth Bass go deep but stay close to structure. As the lake starts turning the bass go down 20 to 40 feet and stay near ridges and deep water structure. At this time of year you have to find them with a depth finder and when you do find them, drop some tube jigs down to the bottom and do long slow jigs. You can shove some worm inside the tube for flavor.

Lake Panache has a reputation as an incredible Walleye lake and 90% of people that come to fish the lake concentrate on Walleyes. The Smallmouth Bass action is a fishery that not many people take advantage of.

Lake Trout

Lake Panache is a deep lake with a very diverse structure. It’s also very nutrient with vast schools of deep-water feeder-fish such as Chub, Sucker, Cisco, Whitefish and Lake Herring. Even though the lake is fed by the Whitefish River and sees an average throughway water-flow of 310 cubic feet per second, it’s depth of 180 feet protects it from warm-water contamination and the size of the lake allows the formation of a stable thermocline. This is the recipe for a great Lake Trout Lake.

In the spring the Lake Trout are everywhere. Guests catch them in the shallows while Walleye fishing or if they specifically go after Lake Trout they just troll 30 feet off shore with lures and spoons. The Lake Trout are very shallow in the spring. As the water warms up the Lake Trout start going deeper. By late spring they are down around 50-feet deep and just above the thermocline. Some Lake Trout go deeper but oxygen levels below the thermocline are so low that the fish go into a state of suspended animation and stop feeding and do not move or do anything to expel energy. Trolling just above the thermocline will produce Lake Trout.

Lake Trout in Panache Lake are most common in the 1 to 4-pound range. Guests who concentrate on Lake Trout fishing do come across Lake Trout up to the 10-pound range. Panache Lake is a big lake and a very small percentage of people fish for Lake Trout so it’s basically an untapped fishery just waiting for an experienced laker-hunters to have a field day with. With the size of the lake, the diverse structure and the amount of forage, there is no reason why Lake Panache will not produce trout in the 20 to 30-pound range. Not enough people fish for them to truly know what is down in the depths.

We have 16.5-foot fishing boats with 9.9 hp motors. This is the perfect size motor for back-trolling slow and deep for trout. Downriggers and other methods worth for deep water trolling but if you do not want to invest in that kind of equipment and just want to spend a couple of hours in the morning fishing for lake trout, then you will find great success with a 3-way swivel Lake Trout Rig and all you need is your Walleye or Pike rod to fish 50 feet deep.

Lake Trout tend to go after lures that are all silver or all copper. Sometimes they like combinations such as silver-&-blue or silver-&-green. We have also been hearing reports that they are hitting hot pink. If you are using a larger faster-trolling boat with down riggers you can use any lure. When deep water trolling with a 3-way swivel or other light-action methods, a thin ultra-light flutter spoon works best. Sutton Silver Spoon, Mooselook Spoons, Williams Wablers, Nasty Boyz and other light spoons work best. The best sizes are in the 2 to 4-inch range.