Here we are already past the seventh week of the season. We continue to experience a few smoky days each week and are closely monitoring the fire situation in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. We are getting very dry here again and a ban on open fires will probably be put in place if we don’t see some significant rain soon. So far, no border issues being reported by our guests, everyone has had quick and cordial conversations with the border agents in most cases. Remember to have your personal boat clean from your last outing and especially wash and rinse your live wells with a mild bleach solution before drying them.
Our guests continue to experience slow walleye fishing for the 17” and 18” fish, plenty of trophies being caught and released which is exactly what has to be done to increase the population in the future. Our guests had great success using medium sized plastics this week, purple, gold, and brown were very popular colors. The smaller walleyes were in the emerging weeds and a twitch of the soft plastic usually got a response. The trophy walleyes were also in the weeds, but many were also found suspended over deeper water above rock humps. Jeannie Snyder once again proved who the angler in the family is when she released chunky 24” and 25” walleyes, her husband Kevin could only shake his head. Deb Waterman without a doubt is the best fisherman in her family, she released a beautiful 25” walleye that her husband Ryan can only dream of doing.The best walleye this week were once again caught and released by Mike Lammers, he uses plastics almost exclusively and his efforts paid off. He left the dock almost every morning at 5:30 and was back by 9:00 to give his report. He released a 27”, a 27 1/2”, and a monster 30 1/2” trophy walleye to easily take top honors for the week.
Northern fishing has been getting better each week and this week we saw more slot fish than any other week so far. Big stick baits are starting to produce giant fish but so are the same plastics that the walleyes are chasing. Melissa Luchtenburg released a pair of 31” brutes. Kristy Lammers released a chunky 37” northern, small by her usual standards. The biggest northern of the week was caught and released by Mike Lammers, his 38” toothy critter was the best in camp for week seven.
Bass fishing was slow this week, but the smaller fish were very active in the shallows mornings and evenings. Piper Schmidt made he first trip to camp but went home wearing her free hat after she released a chunky 17” bass.
Cory Luchtenburg along with his wife Melissa and friend Nate Hutzel did make a few evening runs down to Keynote Lake and caught a few nice crappies but nothing like the bite was a few weeks ago.
We did have a beautiful 39″ musky caught this week by Deb Waterman, she quickly released her fish, but it was easily her personal best.
We look forward to next week and seeing what the next group of guests can catch. Remember to get your license before arriving at camp and bring us a copy or let us make a copy when you get here. Graham and Laura are making it easy for our guests to enjoy a meal or two away from camp so slip up to the Whiskey Jack Restaurant and enjoy a great meal. That’s all for week seven updates, this is Jim from Wabaskang.
