Hello again from Jim and Julie’s Wabaskang Camp. Week 16 of the 2026 season has come and gone so let’s chat about the fishing our guests enjoyed. The week was another warm and dry week but we’re starting to see the thick cabbage weeds beginning to die back and thin out. Most of our guest’s fish northern along the weed lines and finding lush, thick, and healthy green cabbage weeds we’re key to catching trophy northerns. The smaller “eater” sized northern were easy to catch using crank baits and twister tails. Brown or orange were great colors to use along with green or gold. The trophy sized pike were caught while throwing large musky baits or as usual using a jig and minnow combination while gushing for walleyes. Dan Roose was unfortunately back in camp this week and he caught a measly 32″ and 32 1/2″ northern and his son-in-law Wesley Allan reported a borderline respectable 37″ pike. Trace Comer managed to catch a 34″ and 39″ northern while castling large baits all week. Logan Slocum caught a respectable 39 1/2″ northern on his first trip to camp. The top northern of the week was caught by Karen Jutting, she caught her 42 1/2″ trophy trolling a Sandcat lure on the big lake, her husband once again could only sit back and watch while Karen claimed the limelight.
We had a gigantic musky caught this week; David Vestel released his massive 50″ musky after a few quick pictures. This is Dave’s second year in a row that he has boated a musky of 40″ or better.
Our walleye fishing was good if you moved to deeper water and used Lindy Riggs and large minnow or a simple jig and medium sized minnow set-up. The walleyes have transitioned into deeper water now and can be found in depths from 19′ to 25′ right now. The fish can be found shallower but usually only during windy days or cloudy days. Terry Howard caught a nice 25″ walleye, Craig Mericle managed to find a 24″ and 27 1/2″ walleye this week, both fish were obviously blind and starving. Dan Roose was the man to beat this week when it comes to walleye fishing, he caught a 28″ beauty to proudly win top honors for the week and finally impress his son-in -law Wesley.
Bass fishing took a backseat to the walleye fishing this week, but we did see some nice fish being caught. John Prohaska caught his biggest bass ever, a massive 19 1/4″ trophy but his spot at the top was quickly crushed by Karen Jutting, she caught a trophy 19 1/2″ bass while trolling large baits for northern, she seems to never give her husband Jeff a chance to catch a memorable fish since he is always busy netting Karen’s fish.
Remember to have clean and dry boats when coming into Ontario as the border agents are very concerned about invasive species entering Ontario waters from the United States. Please give us a copy of your fishing license when you get to camp so we can have it available if the MNR stops by to check fish counts.
That’s all for now, this is Jim from Wabaskang.
