Just a short update for now! But the proof is in the picture. Look at this fat wally! On their first day the Clemmons groups scored 2 master walleye. Chris alone reeled in a pair of 26″ inchers. The group has also had 8- 25″ inchers so far. Best of luck on the rest of your trip boys!
Weather conditions: strong winds ranging from 10 to 25km from mid-morning to late evening and rain storms with the warmer temperatures into the mid-70s
Water levels: water has been slowly starting to drop down, about 8 inches from last week.
Fish: lots of master walleye caught since the 9th, 28 total ranging from 26 to 27.5 inches. Jigs have been the lure of choice, finding trophy success at the cut, sand point, and walleye alley. Our master angler catches have been found in 5 to 9 ft of water.
River: We have had several river trips with guys in search of rookies! This week saw the catch and release of many brook trout; the largest being 20-inches!
“As always we had a fabulous time; and this year especially. Next, let me commend the quality of service provided by your staff. To a person, they were outstanding. Possibly the best we have ever had. And that Anita, she is really special! She did a remarkable job and without exception so did the others. Maybe it was the chemistry of the collective personalities, but it was the best of the best.” -Makok guest
Water temps at Mim are starting to warm up, but that hasn’t stopped the spring fishing frenzy. Miminiska is producing solid numbers with all three species being caught and released!
On the northern pike front, Doc and Dave are having a blast releasing multiple fish in the mid-high 30-inch range. Fishing buddies from Atlanta and Montana, Scott and John are exploring different techniques for walleye and finding success all over the lake. Tonna from Wisconsin released a 40” northern in Curry Bay throwing a black spinnerbait.
River trips for brook trout were off the charts with multiple master angler brook trout released to the rivers. Fly fishing trips to the Cohen, Freestone and newly explored River X saw 2 x 6 lb brookies, 4 x 5 lb fish and a 7 pounder!
The Klosak group, celebrating their 25th year with Wilderness North reported 100 fish days each last week fishing shore lunch island, Honey Hole and Wottom Bay. The fishing was the best they have ever seen! Our conservation policies are paying off!
Mojikit continues its strength with sheer numbers of fish for this 3rd week of the 2018 fishing season. The entire lake is producing hungry fish taking a variety of presentations. Kim C. released a 25 ¼ inch walleye. Congrats Kim! Northern pike have started to slow down a bit with the temperatures warming up. Remember as the surface temps warm, the pike will search for cooler water and will generally go deeper; however, don’t discount poking around moving water that may be a cooler temperature than the surrounding lake water. There were many fish released in the mid 30” range with Nate releasing a 40+ inch pike! A highlight from their father/son trip was a beautiful 19” brook trout caught and released near the Waboose dam on Sunday! A slight clarification on last week’s report, the first group into Mojikit caught the 2-40 inch pike–we are eagerly awaiting the pictures and will post soon!
From the Staff:
Striker’s is still delivering on all fronts with respect to numbers and size of walleye and pike. The wallys are starting to form their summer patterns and have begun to school up post spawn and recovery. They are now relating to 17-22 feet of water and are hitting plastics as well as minnows. With respect to northern pike, guests have had the best results trolling plugs and spoons. This weeks big pike tapped out at 44 inches!!! A true Master Angler Fish!!
From the Guests:
” Wow! What a great adventure…I have been going to Canada for fly-ins and drive-ins since 1974, and this was, hands down, Absolutely the best fishing trip ever!”
From the time we got to the McKenzie base and met the 1st point guys, (Regan and Travis), and then jumping onto our exciting DeHavilland Beaver flight, (Travis is an awesome pilot), to landing at smoothly at Striker’s Point Lodge, where we were greeted warmly with smiles by Darlene and Billy, (don’t forget to sit and talk with this guy…great fishing stories from many years of experience), and their great crew, we knew then that this was going to be a trip to remember.
The Camp Crew was absolutely the finest I have ever worked with…Professional, friendly, knowledgeable, and we felt like we were family amongst them…and there was not one request that could not be done…all of our needs were met with “Yes I can”…They made us feel like royalty…Words cannot express the quality of their service and accommodations, (Cabin and Boats were 1st class), and food…(Wow!…is Mel a great chef, or what!)
There were 4 gents in our group, and 2 of us were celebrating our 60th birthdays. We came back from a great day of fishing on Wednesday and the crew had decorated the cabin as a surprise with 60th birthday decor. They also had a celebration cake for us at dinner and went out of there way to make it a special day…That is what I call “outside the box” consideration by people that really care about what and how they do in their profession…great touch!
The fishing was in one word, “Fantastic”. Going to shows all the time like I do, you always hear about fish jumping in the boat for you, but this was one lake where that pretty much happened 🙂
Between 4 guys we caught over 1000 walleyes, most of them in the 16″ to 20″ range, with our biggest at 25″. Many times, I felt like a conductor in an orchestra just lifting walleye after hefty walleye into the boat…
Most of our walleye action was finding moving water…like at “the narrows” on orange or orange chartreuse 1/4 to 3/8 oz jigs (Road Runners with spinners were a killer). Find them in the 17 to 20 foot holes, and dont be afraid to search up and down the narrows area…you will be rewarded…Also throw a FireTiger Cyclops Spoon in the turbulent water and you may pick up a 30+ Pike or 3…Trolling a medium, (10′ or so), diving plug like a Rapala Fat Rap, (Pearl or Walleye color), picked up some nice 30’s and 2-40’s. I also got a couple jigging larger plastic swim baits in the middle of the channel using 3/8 to 1/2 oz orange and walleye or firetiger colored 5″ jigging swimbaits…
There was also a great walleye spot just south of the narrows…around the corner west then south about 1/4 mile, to another moving water skinny down area on the right…Fish the 17 to 20 foot depths with the same colors as above…water does not move as fast through this spot so 1/4 oz is great…
There was a nice moving water inlet stream all the way in the back of McKinley Bay, (carefull, rocks and shallow in there), that produced some bigger walleyes in the AM and PM. I was using a 5 inch plug like the Smithwick Rogue, and they were hitting it off the rock bounce…Also all the trees down on the right bay when you enter McKinley Bay were good for walleyes off the edges…
Like I said find the moving water, and you find the walleyes, (and some nice pike as well).
The River was a good bet for walleyes as well…find the 3 rocks on the south shore adjacent to the 2nd creek opening on the north shore and your in like flint in all depths…We found multiple shelves coming off the northern side of these rocks, and in the AM and PM near the 3 rocks they were up on the shelf in 10 to 14′, and when not actively feeding, you could still get them off the shelves in 18 to 22′ of water on all the same colors…What a blast
I also got a 45″ northern pike on my Cyclops FireTiger spoon near the mouth of the 1st feeder creek on the north side of the river…Great fight, she ran 4 times and came in clean, measured her, got a couple of excellent pics, and gently released her back into the dark waters, where she swam away healthy and waits for me for my next years trip.
A very special thanks to everyone at the camp, Darlene, Billy, Matt, Colin, Mel, and Yvonne…All of you made this our best fishing adventure yet! I cannot wait till next year!
Dan (Old Fart), Paul, Jimmy, and Brian (Smiley :-)!”
“Everything was fantastic! The fishing was incredible. We caught in excess of 1,500 walleye and several hundred northerns (including a 44″, 41.5″ and 5 in the thirties). The staff were incredible and treated us like kings! From outstanding breakfasts to getting our boats ready, cleaning our fish, happy hour and incredible dinners, THIS PLACE IS PARADISE”
A father-daughter duo in this past week caught a good number of northern pike. They were also catching walleye like crazy using salted minnows, catching most of their walleye in the fast-moving water. The Ogoki rapids proved well for this! 200-300 walleye! A very happy father and daughter went away writing that the cabin and campsite at Whitewater Lodge were in perfect shape. Thank you to Scott for that remark.
The Reilly party had a great week fishing catching lots of walleye in the 15″-19″ range. 1 northern at 40″ and a 35” as well. The 40″ fish was caught west of Grace Island and the 35″ south of Porter Island. The Happy group kept only 5 walleye for shore Lunch and everything else was released.
A Wilderness North canoe trip also ended their trip at Whitewater Lodge and raved about the immense number of walleye at the outflow of the Ogoki rapids, just next to the camp. Walleye on the end of just about every cast!
“We just concluded a week at Zig Zag Outpost, and what a week it was! The weather was very challenging…it was in the mid 40’s, windy and it rained what seemed like constantly for three of our five days on Zig Zag lake. But heck, there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes, so we dressed accordingly, kept the wood stove stoked and we cheerfully persevered.
This was my first time at an outpost camp after many visits to Striker’s Point on Whitewater Lake, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I can say now that my experience at Zig Zag was excellent…after all, there is nothing quite like fishing on one’s own private lake, a lake that sees minimal angling pressure during the course of a season and which holds really big fish. Despite the windy conditions, getting to the fishing spots was quick and easy, and there were plenty of calm areas in the lee of the trees in which to wet a line with success. Everyone in our group appreciated the new dock, new Lund 16 footers and Yamaha 20hp engines, and the accommodations were very comfortable.
The trophy walleye were elusive during our stay, but there were a ton of wallys in the 17”-22” range boated, the largest measuring 28”. In fact, during our one-day walleye tournament, the Ryan/Lashbrook team caught 82 fish! Jigging and trolling in and around the upper rapids (Zig Zag lake is, in fact, a widening of the Jackfish River system) and various holes around the many islands that dot the lake proved successful. Even our fly fishing contingent caught several nice walleye using 6-weight fly rods, sink tip lines with short leaders and Clouser Minnows.
There was hope that the pike had moved into the shallows, enough so that fly fishing for them would be successful. Spring came a little late this year, and while there were several caught with our 8- and 9-weight rods and various poppers and streamers thrown near the weeds close to shore, it became obvious that it still hadn’t warmed sufficiently enough to move many of them into the shallows. That being said, Lou pulled a 33” Pike out from under a mat of weeds in two feet of water on a big, hairy black popper. Most of our pike activity came from trolling Long-A Bombers in depths of 10 to 14 feet. There were many pike caught by trolling, and three of them were 40” or over, the largest being 45” and 20lbs. (see picture).
As usual, the WN staff was helpful and professional. Kiwi Jax was so nice as she greeted us, got us settled in after our arrival and she even made us an early breakfast prior to our flight to Zig Zag the next morning. And our pilots Travis (DHC-2 Beaver) and Mark (DHC-3T Turbine Otter) were awesome. They never even flinched when they first laid eyes on, then loaded and unloaded, our virtual mountain of gear and had unending smiles. Thanks to all at Wilderness North, and I think I can speak for my fishing buddies when I say that we truly look forward to our return next spring!”
Tight lines to all!
