Hi Krista and Alan!
Thanks again for another great fishing trip to D’Alton Lake outpost!!
We had a great week with lots of adventure and great overall fishing.
The adventure started on our way up HWY 527 when we came across a moose, who allowed us to photograph and video him while he stood by the side of the road. We also had the pleasure of seeing a small bear cub. In addition, while in camp, we saw two more moose, otter, beaver, woodchuck, eagles, seagulls and several loons.
The fishing at D’Alton seems to keep getting better and better each season, which we attribute to a great forage base (Cisco) and good conservation practices. We caught and released 196 walleyes over 20 inches, including fifteen 25-inch walleye. We also recorded 12 walleyes that qualified for Master Angler Status.
Six 26 inch (1 Joe, 1 Anthony, 2 Dan, 2 Chris)
Two 28 inch (1 Anthony, 1 Michael)
Three 29 inch (1 Chris, 2 Michael)
One 30 inch (1 Chris)
Our group believes the key to fishing D’Alton in the summer is to not sit in one spot for too long, unless you’re catching fish right away. If we didn’t catch fish in 5 to 10 min or so, we moved and kept searching till we found them. We determined that fishing in the evening and morning is also important to catching walleye in the summer. If conditions are hot and sunny, as they often are during summer, we find that the best fishing occurs in windows a couple hours before the sun goes down and earlier in the morning from about six to ten AM. On this trip we found the walleyes in a variety of locations, including neck down areas, new weed growth, waterfalls, and points adjacent to shallow bays. The productive depths were found from 6 to 10 FOW (feet of water) in some spots and as much as 20 in others. The water temps ranged from the low 60s to low 70s depending on the amount of wind and sun that day. Our hot lures included, pink, orange and gold 1/4oz jigs tipped minnows, leeches, or a white twister tail or a pink & white Authentx Pulsar tail. Several good size fish were also caught on slip bobbers with minnows, including 2 of the 29-inch walleye.
Michael D. and myself kept a fish count on one of our better action days and we landed 144 walleye including several over 20 inches and a couple Master Angler fish. On the slower days we probably averaged 40 fish with 5 over 20 inches per boat but we only had two “slow days” and only one day that someone didn’t catch a Master Angler fish.
Also, reinforcing our belief that catch and release works was my landing the 30.75-inch walleye! After quick inspection, I could see she was the same old girl I landed last summer. She has a telltale four-inch notch out of her upper tail-fin and unique markings on her gill plate. Interestingly she grew a half inch this past year, but I guess sounds about right for her age and the lake. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a good photo with her, because I was fishing alone, but I did get one of her on the measuring tape. I was sure to be quick and very gentle with her for the snapshot and I had her back in the water in less than a minute! Our group wants nothing more than for D’Alton lake to stay healthy, like it has for the 16 years we’ve fished it. We also want other guests to have a chance to enjoy landing that old girl again, even if it’s one of us, like in this case.
We also had very good weather, for the most part, ranging from the mid 60s to low 80s with a mix of sun, clouds and some refreshing rain that produced three magnificent double rainbows. The wind did blow hard a couple days but that’s the beauty of D’Alton and outpost fishing, is that the lakes are usually small enough that we never lose any days fishing to wind keeping us from getting out. We also experienced several spectacular sun sets!!
Yes, outpost fishing is a little more rustic than a lodge but for the adventurer at heart there is nothing quite like having an entire lake to yourself for a week to share with a few great friends!
Thanks again!! See ya this fall for another trip.
Chris and the D’Alton Gang
Listen to Chris’ Podcast below:
