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Low Water Tips from the Champ and ...
Who Let the Dogs Out ? - wuff wuff wuff wuff
....by Alan Cheeseman
First
off...what a week at Makok. Can you believe 62 Master Angler walleye? Wait 'til
you read Bernard and Meryl's report. That fishery is making Eli Baxter's
prediction - low water equals record fishing - come true. This
week, Chris Clemmons, Wilderness North long time guest, and winner of the 2009
Cabela's Team National Walleye Championship shares his plan for coming out to
Whitewater Lake.  This conversation - click here for the podcast - gives novice
and experienced anglers alike the insights of a champion on fishing strange
water with low levels. Now here
is a question from a reader: How well does the OFF "bug fan thingey" you wrote
about two weeks ago work? Well, we don't know. We have discovered that our low
water levels also mean very little standing water in the bush and therefore no
breeding pools for mosquitoes. We have literally been enjoying sitting on the
decks at night with NO BUGS. I afraid that will change soon! Then we try the
OFF" thingey!" Happy
belated Fathers Day. Three of our Master Angler stories this week include
father/son and father/daughter combos. Robert and Shane Glenn , David and Jake Martin and father/daughter
Bruce and Kim Luetzow . We love watching these combos
enjoy the genuine experience of the pure natural boreal creating memories that
last a lifetime. Mary
Groeneveld - a guest from Daggett, Michigan was visited by the Ministry of
Natural Resources conservation officers...and tells her story of the encounter on
the second of two podcasts - click here to listen. Mary tells us that the
officers now have a "sniffer dog" that participates in the "inspection." I always value hearing from you, and answering your questions, so drop me an e-mail by clicking here.
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 Temps Rise - So Does Walleye Count. Would you
believe 62 in a week?
...by Meryl and Bernard Carroll
Temperatures
are in the high twenties, hot - well summer did start this week. Better yet,
our Master Angler count is even hotter here at Makokibatan Lodge.
Last
week, we saw a whopping 62 Master Angler walleye registered. This seemed even
unbelievable to us, but we remember last year's big production. Big Makokibatan
Lake is proving to be Wilderness North's most productive walleye fishery. Maybe
it's the moon. Maybe the official start of summer. Maybe the experience of the
anglers. Maybe the proven "hot spots" we mark on maps. Maybe a combination of
all of the above. Anyway, here are the stories.
The
Ferris group from New Philadelphia, Ohio in their sixteenth return trip with us
recorded 33 Master Anglers, the most from any one group ever this past week.
Plus, Tom Ferris and a few of the boys took a trip with Eli Baxter our "eighty
something" Ojibway guide down the river and claim it was the best trip ever, catching fifteen brook trout.
Curt
Moore from Dover, Ohio and Marty Lang from Dover, Ohio have eight 26 inch plus
walleye each. Tom Ferris had seven, John Donohue of Hamilton, Ohio with five,
Ed Yacky of Strasburg, Ohio with one, Todd Westhafer of Clinton, Ohio with a 30
¼ inch beauty and Ron Westhafer of Dennison, Ohio with an almost master angler
of 25 3/4. The guys reported an unbelievable amount of fish in their stay with
us. These guys are thoroughly incredible, enjoyed hitting their favorite
hotspots all week and having great shore lunches daily. We look forward to
seeing them back here another year. By the way, most of the fish were reeled in
with bottom bouncers, jigs with twister tails.
The
John Nemec party of ten, reports that Doug Mahany of LaCrosse, Wisconsin caught
the largest, a trophy 28" walleye and the Tom Sharpnack party from Norwalk,
Ohio scored 19 walleye with Terry Feltner of Williard, Ohio catching ten of
them. However, all in the party were very proud fisherman.
Tom
Sharpnack took the river trip with Eli and describes it this way, "Eli was a
hoot. What will you do next year? The river trip was over the top! Sixteen
trout, several walleye over twenty four inches and two over twenty six inches."
Speaking
of Eli, he guided nine river trips in nine days and is taking some time off, he
said, " to give the fish a break!"
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 Masterful Angling at Striker's Point Lodge
...by Katelyn Johnson
It was another week of masterful angling here at Striker's Point Lodge in the heart of the Wabakimi Provincial Park.
Rob Dock from Duluth, Minnesota (second from top photo) caught and released a walleye just shy of 28" fishing in 18 feet of water with a pink jig and leech. Rob was under the impression that a Master Angler had to exceed 28", leaving him just 1/8 of an inch shy. He was floored when he found out that he had made it by nearly 2 inches! Rob's uncle, Jim Liston helped to net the fish. the group also caught an "unbelievable amount" of walleye - by just dropping their jigs just beside the boat.
Retired college professor Robert Glenn (bottom photo) from Nixa, Missouri captured  a 44"
northern pike. He was fishing off the second rock island down river with a
Williams 7" Whitefish. The pike fought for over 20-minutes. Son Shane Glenn
helped to lift the fish out of the water (they didn't have a net with them.)
The pair also caught over 500 walleye on their trip, and found that the first
rock pile just off burnt island was an amazing spot for walleye fishing. Robert
was a professor of economics for 28 years at Missouri State University, and he
pointed out that "You are never too old, or too young, to have fun and catch
BIG fish at Wilderness North!" Well-said Professor!
Steve Arbaugh from Harbor Springs, (top photo) Michigan managed to bring in a 42" northern
on a fly rod just south of the Bay of Pigs. He was trolling in 3 feet of water
with an eight-wt fly rod. Steve also caught a 36" beauty! Hugh Ryan of
Williamsburg, Michigan came close to master angler status with a 23" walleye.
Hugh and Steve have been our guests for over ten years, and it's always good to
see them come back.
Jason Potthoff from Winamac, Indiana
caught a 40" northern just off Best Island
using a Husky Jerk Rapalla in 1.5 feet of water. Fred Wise (third photo from the top) from Delphi,
Indiana
reeled in a 40 incher just around the point down the river using a
Little Cleo.
Our youngest Master Angler of the week is 7-year-old Jake Martin from Cicero,
Indiana, who caught a 44" pike. When asked to describe his fish, Jake said, "It
was big!" And it w as big - longer than he is tall. Jake was fishing with his
great grandpa Fred, and his dad David. At first, David thought his son was
snagged. As he tried to free the snag, the monster fish surfaced, and Jake's first thought was "WOW!" It took Dad roughly 30 minutes to reel in the fish,
and Jake netted it with help from his great grandpa. The fish was so large that
it didn't entirely fit in the net, and Jake wasn't able to hold it by himself,
so he had to get some help from his dad.
Bruce Luetzow from Greendale, Wisconsin is also a Master Angler this week with
his catch - a 40-inch northern that he reeled in just off the second point down
river. He was fishing for walleye with his daughter, Kim, using a jig and minnow
when he caught a 15" walleye. As he was reeling it in, the monster pike grabbed
hold. Luckily, Bruce was able to net both fish.
Congratulations to all of our Master Anglers this week!
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Cracker Week at Miminiska
...by Tristan Yuswak
 So this
week has been a cracker at Miminiska Lodge, with the Tabasco group of 24 in
camp and some great new mates, the Kammerer group from Montgomery, Texas and
North Bay, Ontario We even had an absolutely amazing rainbow make an appearance
here that took our breath away. The boys
from the Tabasco Sauce and their guests arrived late Monday afternoon. They
were great mates and had a bloody good time fishing and eating, and...well you
know. Tuesday was the beginning of the fishing expedition with 14 boats on the
water. The walleye were hard to get to begin with, as the Shad-fly hatch was
well underway and the bays were quite full of the carcasses. But their patience
paid off and the walleye stepped up to the plate so a great day was had by all.  Craig
Barber of Nashville, Tennessee landed a bloody bonanza 39-inch pike using top
water lures and had the fight of his life bringing it into the boat. The rest
of the boys smashed the walleye all day and came back to the watering hole for
a drink and story-telling session. I really
enjoyed having these blokes at Miminiska; their spicy sauce was in every dish
and had us craving for more. Even though their spicy food is still here, they
took a spirit of mateship and camaraderie away with them that has become a part
of the Miminiska history. The
Kammerer group was here for ten days, and they had the time of their lives.
Mike and Bill are experienced fishermen and have never before come across the
quantity of walleye they found in Miminiska Lake. Their first visit was such a
delight with the shore lunches and a 27-inch Master Angler walleye brought up
on the last day of the trip. Bill and Mike were such good blokes and we had
such a great time with our new mates, we miss you guys already!! Hoo-roo
for this week and no worries mate!! Haha! |
Action at all the Remote Cabins
...by Joe Pichey
 I've been
buggerin' around putting shrimps on the Barbie all week. (Sorry about
that, I've been talking to Tristan too much out at Miminiska Lodge.) We
have had another great week at most remote cabins even though the fish have
gone deep looking for the cooler water due to the warming temps. We are
seeing days in the mid 80's recently with little to no wind on several
afternoons. As you all know, that combo is not ideal for great walleye fishing.
Let's hope for a little cloud cover and some chop in the coming weeks. These
less than ideal" conditions have not deterred our outpost guests over the last
week as several have reported great days on the water. Roy
Renfro and his boys from Mills, Wyoming came up for the first time and had some
very productive days at Dawn Lake. After spending a day with us a base camp and
helping with some kitchen duties and a little yard work, the Renfro guys headed
out for some R and R. Good daily numbers of 20 to 22 inch walleye were common
as well as solid pike numbers. While no "trophy" fish were landed, several
monsters were hooked and "released early" (wink wink). We've all had that happen a time or
two. The
Colvin group from Canyon Lake, Texas had another good trip, this time into
Musgrave Lake remote cabin. The fish were plentiful each day, but seemed to go deep
around midweek. This father/sons group is already looking forward to coming
back next season and landing that elusive 45 plus inch "toothy critter." We had
some first time visitors in the Tanis group from Dover, Delaware. They went out
to Opichuan remote cabin and caught some nice thick fish with solid numbers
each day along with a nice 26 inch fat and tasty walleye. Keith Tanis of Viola,
Delaware was able to tease her with a Williams Whitefish spoon. Doesn't she
know that spoon is reserved for the 40-inch pike? The
Heubner group from Woodstock, Georgia headed back into Ogoki Lake and found a
few master anglers along the way. David Robinson from Acworth, Georgia came
across a nice 42-inch northern using the ol' daredevle spoon as his bunk mate
Lee Heubner tricked a 41-incher with the Rapala X-rap. The Price
group invaded Butland Outpost again and Mary Groeneveld of Daggett, Michigan
landed a nice 26-inch "goldeneye" on a yellow twister tail. The
Shissler boys of Topeka, Illinois took a shot at Ogoki and netted "tons" of
walleyes including a 26 1/4 walleye. Many of the groups reported that it was hard to keep track of the numbers of walleye caught each day. The big ones have gone deep and
require some extra work, but they are worth it!! The Hedlund
group from New Richmond, Wisconsin opened Machawaian and reported great numbers
throughout the week, but did not boat any trophies. "The sun drove them deep on
a few days" reported a few in the group, but everyone had a great time. The
Madden group from Ft. Wayne, Indiana returned this year and headed out to Makok Outpost and had
a great time "getting away and relaxing." Larry Madden boated a 26.5 inch
walleye and lost one "that was easily over 30 inches" at the side of the boat.
His son James also landed a 26 incher during their trip. Brent Sowders of
Ft. Belvoir, Virginia came along just a week after returning from Afghanistan.
We thank Brent for his service and look forward to seeing him again soon! Let's hope the clouds
and chop come back for a while so these big fish move up a bit. Feel free to
contact me with any questions and I will get back to you as soon as I
can. I look forward to seeing everyone soon! |
 It's Officially ... Summer!
...by Graham Saunders
Seasonal
temperatures, considerable sunshine and mainly light winds were common during
the last week. Showers were widely scattered and potential problems with wind
conditions were rare.
Thunderstorms
were widespread overnight and today will feature mainly cloudy skies and some
thunderstorms, although rain amounts are likely less than overnight. Most
locations will see clearing skies later today, followed by mainly sunny
conditions and afternoon temperatures in 70s F (21 to 26 C).
This year's Summer Solstice took place on Monday, June 21st. It was the
"longest day" of 2010, although long daylight hours have been happening for
weeks. The change to less daylight is a gentle transition. Canada Day (July 1)
and the US Independence Day (July 4) have only about five fewer minutes of daylight
when compared to today. And, for those who dread the approach of winter - the
heat of summer, if we pay attention to averages, is still four weeks in the
future. In any case, enjoy the light!
All this light can frustrate astronomers! It is possible to glimpse Comet
McNaught in the coming week. It is near the bright star Capella in the
northeast sky, but "seeing conditions" are compromised by light. In Wilderness
North locations on the Albany and Ogoki River systems the overnight sky
features civil, then nautical, then astronomical twilights. In other words, the
sky never becomes pitch black. The darkest skies happen around 2 a.m. That's when bears roam a bit looking for a bedtime snack as well. HMMM?
Wilderness North Weatherman Graham Saunders teaches weather at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, and writes a weather column for the Thunder Bay Chronicle.
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