It was a successful week out at Striker’s with several groups out on the water. Proving that he sure knows his way around Whitewater, Par and his boat mate managed to catch and release 12 walleye in under 20 minutes their first day on the lake. Their hot streak continued throughout the rest of their stay. Using white jigs tipped with leeches and pink twister tails proved to be a deadly combination for walleye hiding out in the narrows, up river, and in Caribou Bay.
Setting the record for the smallest catch on their first day with a haul of 21.5 inch walleye, Don & the boys quickly dialed in their plan of attack and set the trap for some larger prey. The biggest catch of the group went to Don who landed a feisty 36in pike near Bear Island several days later on a jig and grub. Spinners and spoons also worked quite well at luring pike and walleye from about 10 – 15 feet of water near the Bay of Pigs, Caribou Bay, and various spots up river. An added bonus of the trip was reconnecting with Boyce and Alma who are up at Striker’s helping out. It was a happy reunion!
Heading for deeper waters (15-20 ft) their first evening sure paid off for Larry and friends. They watched as Geoff reeled in a hefty 46in pike off small island on a jig and grub. Hoping for another crack at a trophy catch, the next day saw the party headed out towards the Ogoki River where Jake caught a 35in northern on a jig and worm. After giving up two, the big pike went into hiding causing the party to focus more on achieving high cast to catch ratios and adding to their grand totals. The end of the week saw too many pike to count and also numerous walleye caught while searching for big northerns. Preferred bait & tackle combinations included: Jigs tipped with worms and grub, assorted rapalas, various spinners.
As for the rest of the title, here’s the story about the bear. While returning from a shore lunch at Burnt Island, our cook, Ginny, Boyce, our dockhand, and Candace,our server stopped at Best Island to check out the Wendell Beckwith site. After checking out the cabins our staff noticed there was an animal swimming across the channel. Excited and curious they hopped into the boat to get a closer look and soon found out it was a black bear. The channel is roughly 300 yards across and has some very strong currents however, the bear wasted no time, swimming quickly across he leaped up onto shore and quickly took off into the bush.
Did you know black bears can swim 5-15 miles per hour? No wonder he made it look easy.
Tight lines,
The Striker’s staff
