The few storms that rolled through the area of Makokibatan Lodge didn’t stop some of the groups from toughing it out and catching fish – really big fish.
The Nichlaus group – Cheeseheads (from Wisconsin) had a great time. They mostly fished in the cut, the river, shore lunch island, and horse shoe bay. They all caught a good amount of fish in depths of about 4-12 feet of water. The average length for Walleye was 20-22 inches and for Pike it was about 19-30 inches. The Walleye were caught on jigs, orange, chartreuse, green, and white. Three of the group of four became Wilderness North Master Anglers: Ronald Nichlaus who caught two 26 inchers and one that measured 28 ½ inches. Lance Neinow of Merrill Wisconsin who caught a 27 and a 26 incher, and Steve Anderson from Ringle, Wisconsin who reported his 28-incher.
The second group featured in our report is the Janis group from Grand Rapids Michigan, who reported that fishing was excellent. They caught most of their Walleyes at the cut, Walleye alley, sandy point, sunken island, and shore lunch island, in 6-12 feet of water. The average length of the Walleye was 20-22 inches. Only one person caught a Master Angler Walleye and that was Kevin Polakovich of Grand Rapids, Michigan, who caught both a 26 and a 27-inch glass eye.
Dave Hill and Art Disbrow thought that the fishing was good, and they were courageous and tried fishing everywhere that the boat would take them on the lake. The average water that they were catching fish in was about 7 ½ ft of water. The average length that they were catching was for Pike 24-30 inches and 17-19 inches for the Walleye. They found success for the Walleye on jigs – black and white, Cleos, silver and blue, Hot-n-Tots, and deep divers. Even though they did not catch any trophy Pike or Walleye they still had a good time.
The last group in our report is the Ferris group – seven eager Buckeyes from the USA – who said that this was the best place that they ever fished. They went fishing at the cut, sand point, Walleye alley and the top of the alley. They found fish in 7-25 feet of water. The average length for the Walleye was 19-26 inches and 24 inches for the Pike. Walleye success came on jigs, chartreuse, orange, green, white, with Twister-Tails, Hot-n-Tots, silver and white, Mepps spinners, and crawlers. And the group reported ten Master Angler Walleye including, Curt Moore who caught a 26, 27, and a 28 inch Walleye, Doug Fitch who caught a 26 ½ incher, Don Steir who caught a 26 incher, Dr. Tommy Donahue who caught three 26 inchers, and last but not least, Tom Ferris who caught a 26 and a 27 inch Walleye.
