Another week has come and gone here at Jim and Julies Wabaskang Camp. We are seeing decent fishing along with warm temperatures and plenty of storms. The walleye bite has improved from last week with most of our guests catching plenty of “eaters” along with a few trophies along the way. The most popular method used by our guests was a white jig and minnow combination or a spinner rig and crawler. the best depth varied depending on the time of day and the amount of sun but 15’ to 22’ was the consistent depth to try. We also had some of our guests using crank baits or tube baits to catch walleyes. Kenzie Siemens soon to be Kenzie Lammers unfortunately started things off when she landed a chunky 22 1/2” walleye, Garrett Hancock has a reputation around here that he is the man to beat and his 27” walleye was a nice fish but not nice enough. Reid Lammers is trying to live down to his father “Big Mike’s” reputation and his 27 1/2” walleye was close to being a winner for the week but not quite good enough—-typical just like his dad. The big champ of the week was Brad Hancock, he managed to land a 29 1/8” walleye he caught casting the weeds with a giant Savage Brand Bulldog type lure, he also left the lure here with me to give to “Big Mike” so he might catch a big walleye himself someday. Kurt Behnke released a beautiful 25” walleye but nobody cares. Our northern fishing was decent as well this week, many trophy sized fish were released by our guests. The fish were caught on a jig and minnow, spoons, Bulldogs, and top water baits. most of our guests were casting deep sunken weed beds in the 14’ depth or less. Evan Elkins was new to camp but his 32” northern he released put a big smile on his face. Sid Hancock made the board when he released a chunky 31 1/2” fish, Bill Mincks only managed a 33” northern for his biggest fish this week but Bill and Sue will be back for two weeks in late August to thrash the water and maybe pull a 40” from the lake. Troy Rosendahl released a chunky 34 1/2” northern, Mike Behnke released a 35” northern, Jenna Hancock snagged and released a 36” fish as did her brother Garrett, Kristy Lammers actually caught and released a 36 1/2” northern, actually small by her standards. “Big Mike” once again tried to impress the camp followers when he put a day together that included releasing a 37”, two 36”, and two 35” northern along with many more slightly smaller, he basically tried to win a free hat by impressing me with quantity not quality but that’s not the way it works around here fella. Old Timer Larry Luhring finally won himself a free hat and catch and release pin by skillfully catching and releasing a chunky 40” northern, he has been a camp regular since the beginning of time so let’s just say it’s about time Larry! Our bass fishing is still keeping our guest busy with plenty of top water action. Many of our guests were using top water plugs or crank baits to catch the crazy critters. We had two 19” bass released this week, Tom Benson found time between bathroom breaks to catch and release a chunky 19” bass, he caught his fish in deep water trolling for walleyes, Troy Rosendahl also released a nice 19” brute, his fish was caught after Tom’s fish so too bad so sad for your free hat. We had a giant musky released this week by our guest Tim Murphy, Tim and the skillful netting of his son Jack were able to pull a 49” monster from the weed bed at the mouth of Keynote lake, great fish and great memories for a father and his son. Next week we see more hot weather and storms in the forecast but the rain has kept the fire danger to a minimum along with helping maintain very healthy water levels on the lake. Remember highway 502 has some gravel portions and is currently undergoing some construction projects so if you have a bit of extra time the west route through Nester Falls is your better road. If your running ahead of schedule on Saturday stop in at the Whiskey Jack Restaurant just a few hundred yards north of my driveway and have breakfast or lunch, that will give us the time we need to have your cabin ready when you do arrive. Also, you can grab your fishing license at Dutchies General Store or Rainbow Point Store and save waiting here at camp for us to get things printed, we do licenses here but are very busy on Saturday and you may have to wait a bit for us to get everybody taken care of. For now, this is Jim from Wabaskang.
