Summer is here and the cabbage weeds are topped out:
It felt like Summer at the Wheel this week. There were some flat calm warm days, there were some sunny days with wind, and there were a few cool mornings. We did have a thunder shower or two and one of them started a forest fire within a couple of miles of the lodge. The fire was spotted quickly, reported, and within an hour there were spotter planes, helicopters, and water bombers. The water bombers filled up in Route Bay and hit the fire in Burntwood Bay. Specifically, it was a 5-hectare (12.35 acre) fire between Goderich Creek and 47 point. There is a ground crew out there now putting out the remainder of the burn. The speed and timing of the response was extremely impressive.
The walleye fishing this week was like the weather, some good and some meh. The round table reports had a common theme. To simplify it, there are basically 2 groups of fish out there doing entirely different things. Some walleyes have moved out onto the main lake and are using that 16 – 25 ft. zone on both rock and sand. More rock than sand. At the same time, we had groups of walleyes pulse shallow into the weeds. But not all weed beds held fish. The first waves were smaller fish, but now we are starting to see 5s, 6s, and 7s moving shallower. The tilt of the balance changed every day based on the weather. Every guide on staff checked out both types of bites every day.
For the week, we caught and released 43 walleyes over 27 in., including 7 – 28s, 4 – 29s, and 1 – 31. Guide sheets averaged 35 walleyes over 18 in. per boat each day, but there was a great deal of time spent fishing for pike in the afternoons. Guides tried the entire spectrum of presentations from big jigs and 6 in. plastics all the way down to drop shotting minnows on a dead stick. There was never a clear choice, but usually a combination of small wins on many different spots to get the win for the day.
The pike fishing improved this week and the weeds are impressive this year. Especially on flat calm afternoons, the guides spent a great deal of time slinging for pike. For the week we caught and released 23 over 37 in., including 4 – 38s, 1 – 39, 2 – 40, 1 – 41, 1 – 42, and 1 – 43. Spoons were the name of the game. One of the discussions that came up more than once at round table was how thick the cabbage weeds are this year and how do we coach our guests to fish them more effectively. If you have weeds on your spoon, the pike won’t hit. The most common strategy was to coach guests to engage the retrieve quickly. That spoon should be moving when it hits the water. For guests that had a harder time, another solution was spinnerbaits or Johnson silver minnows with a curly tail on the back.
Bass season is officially over.
I am going to conclude with a heart felt Thank you to the fire crews that responded to the forest fire near the lodge this week. I cannot explain what it feels like to see that plume of smoke rise up near the lodge when you are guiding 10 miles out. The fires are usually farther away than they appear, but this one wasn’t. Watching a professional organization manage air and ground crews to quickly control a major threat was both impressive and a relief. Thank you.
