Hello again from Jim and Julie’s Wabaskang Camp. Another great week has come and gone and we have plenty to talk about. Week 8 had all kinds of different weather. We saw hot and dry days and had days with storms and cool temperatures, we even had one morning so foggy our guests couldn’t leave the dock to go fishing. The lake seems to be slowly dropping and even though it’s still high it’s better to be high than low going into late July and August. Our guests did very well this week on trophy sized walleyes but struggled to find the 16” and 17” fish to make a meal out of. The mayfly hatch definitely had a lot to do with getting the smaller fish to bite. Our guests primarily used a spinner rig and minnow or crawler or a jig and minnow combination. One couple from Missouri had good luck casting plastic grubs for an occasional walleye. It seems the smaller sized fish are buried deep in the thick weeds and are gorging themselves in the mayfly hatch but could still be occasionally caught if you didn’t get frustrated fishing in the weeds. Many nice walleyes also came from rock structures close to deep water. A spinner rig and minnow did a good job especially on cloudy and breezy days. Rob Lerum started things off by releasing a 23 3/4” walleye, Corinna Smith made her first trip to camp and she caught a nice 24” walleye for her biggest of the week. Curt Lerum enjoyed fishing in son Kyle’s new boat and he released two 25” walleyes and a gorgeous 26” fish. Phil Turnquist was busy this week trying to put Corinna on fish but he managed to catch and release a beautiful 27” walleye that almost won him top honors for the week except for tricky Dave Marshall, he always catches big fish and he used his red and white spinner and minnow combination to catch and release a 27 3/4” walleye, son Blake was amazed that the old man still has what it takes. Northern fishing was good this week with our guests catching many of the toothy critters on the same rigs they were using for walleyes. The northern have been risking the weeds looking for an easy meal and a simple spinner and minnow was the ticket for father and son combo Dave and Blake Marshall, they both landed and released their twin 34” northern at the same time, what a show I bet that was in the boat. Joyce and Randy Adams both love throwing tube baits and some crank baits and they caught some great northern. Joyce released a 32” and a 35” brute and husband Randy released a 32 3/4” northern, obviously Joyce is the better northern fisherman in the marriage. The biggest northern of the week was caught and released by Curt Lerum, his fish was caught on walleye tackle and he managed to get it into the boat after numerous runs through the thick weeds, his fish was a whopping 36” long, great job Curt. Bass fishing has been steady all season and we saw some nice fish again this week. Casting the rocky shorelines was the ticket and Randy Adams was the star fir the week. He released 18” and 19” bass this week to take top honors a second week in a row, who would have thought such a thing was possible. We didn’t see any crappies this week but most of our guests didn’t really try for them. I am writing this report on Monday and last night we had a big storm roll through that toppled almost a dozen trees on my road and power line, hopefully the weather will calm down soon. To our future guests don’t forget to get your eggs and other poultry products after you cross into Canada. Also get your licenses before you arrive either print them from home or at. A tackle shop after you cross, if you print them from home print a copy for us if you can or we can copy them when you arrive. Dutchies General Store and Rainbow Point Store can fix you up with everything you need. Also, the Whiskey Jack Restaurant can cook you a great meal or just a snack when you need a break from your own cooking Wednesday – Sunday. Manotak Lodge also takes dinner reservations when you would like someone else to do the cooking. Week number nine is under way and so far, the walleyes seem to be moving deeper but that might be because of the hot weather we are seeing. Nice group of our regular guests this week and lots of laughs and stories being exchanged, we miss not seeing many of our guests because of vaccination requirements but there is nothing we can do about it. That’s all I have for now; this is Jim from Wabaskang
