Our group of six friends had an opportunity to visit D’Alton the 2nd week of June and the fishing did not disappoint. D’Alton walleye numbers and size continue to be very strong, with our group catching and releasing 207 walleyes over 20 inches, including 5 Master Anglers (walleye over 26 inches).
Dan Solecki led the charge with two beefy master walleyes measuring 29.5 and 26-inches, followed by my 28.5 inch, Michael Downey’s 28-inch and Tom Kaltenecker’s 26-inch. Wayne Senneke and Frank Kaltenecker get the oh-so-close award with a couple of walleye just shy of 26-inches.
We also caught respectable numbers of northern pike mixed in for the fun of it, with several feisty critters measuring in the 30-inch range.
The walleyes were in transition the week we visited D’Alton. We found concentrations of fish, including trophies, adjacent to areas of flow the first couple days, then they moved out and we followed them on their journey which took us anywhere from a half mile to three miles from where we had originally caught them. Large pods of fish spent the remainder of the week holding in neck-down areas which we determined were their pre-summer holding areas. Drift jigging with ¼ oz orange jigs tipped with a small to medium size minnow or half a crawler in 5 to 10 feet of water produced good numbers, while the majority of our larger walleyes were caught on slip-bobbers and jumbo leeches that the Silver Minnow Bait Shop, supplies Wilderness North. We also had some short bursts of action on windblown island faces near the neck-down areas, where we’d cast ¼ oz jigs with four-inch white twister tails towards the shallow rocks.
By publication of this report, many of the walleyes will have probably moved out to main lake points, islands and reefs for the summer. Look for them deep (15 – 20 FOW) during the day under calm conditions, and shallower during windy or low light conditions (5 – 10 FOW).
I’d also like to give a shout out to my buddy Dan and much credit for an assist in landing my 28.5-inch Master Angler walleye. I was busy trying to free myself from my rain jacket when a fish took my leech and slip-bobber under. After setting the hook, I handed the rod to Dan to reel in the fish while I continued to free myself from my rain jacket imprisonment. However, after a short time fighting the fish Dan realized what was possibly on the other end and said “Ah, I think you might want to take this one, it feels like the Master Angler walleye you’ve been waiting for all week.” Then he graciously passed the rod back to me to finish landing my largest walleye of the trip. After a couple of quick photos and releasing the big walleye back to her home, we had a good laugh, and agreed we both deserved credit for that fish. Meanwhile, in a boat less than fifty yards away, Wayne and Michael were busy landing Michael’s 28-inch walleye, which hit his leech and slip-bobber rig at virtually the same time. It was a great morning!
The most memorable event of the trip was when we came upon a cow moose with her calf swimming across the lake and, from a respectable distance, were able to capture video of them climbing out of the water and onto shore. It was an incredible display of mother nature at her best! If you would like to see the footage, please go to Wilderness North’s Facebook page or mine, or send me an email and I’ll share the video with you.
It was another awesome trip. The great thing about Wilderness North’s camps is there’s always excellent fishing and you’ll always have the added story or two that will stay with you until your next adventure to one of their lakes.
Hope you enjoyed this fishing report and good luck on your adventure north this summer!
