New Lodge Record: Walleye 33 in.!
The previous lodge record walleye of 32.5 in. was held by my Mom for 25 years… but records are made to be broken.
This week Bryan Thomas with Senior Guide Jason Kennedy broke that record by landing a 33 in. walleye from a new spot.
All good guides love their home water, but guiding on Lac Seul is a different experience all together. It feels like we are still on the frontier and every year we fish new water, develop new patterns and presentations, and find new hot spots.
Season opener has been typical for May in northwest Ontario. The Saturday opener was windy and cold with wet snow all day. The week ended with beautiful clear skies and temps in the 60s. The official ice out date was May 13. It could have been a bit later, but we had highs in the 80s for multiple days before the opener that sped the thaw. That blast of hot weather resulted in the leaves popping out quickly and put us onto a Fire Ban.
The lake level is just a little bit above average for this time of year. At ice out, we were 1165.36 ft. above sea level and today we are just under 1166. We have seen a few back bays warm up into the low 60s, but most of the lake is between 47 and 52 degrees F. There are a few groups of pike and walleyes that are still spawning, but they will all be finished and on the move, very soon.
The cold front days were tough fishing, but when the sun came out the walleye fishing picked up quickly. Volume was normal for this time of year and guide sheets averaged 20 walleyes over 18 in. per day. For the week, we caught and released 23 walleyes over 27 in., including 5 – 28s, 3 29s, 1 – 30, and 1 giant 33!
Lighter jigs (1/8 – ¼ oz.) with live minnows were by far the top producing presentation.
Pike fishing was also very good this week although we were surprised by the variable timing of some of the bites in the shallow water bays. For the week we caught and released 35 pike over 37 in., including 5 – 40s, 6 – 41s, 2 – 42s, and 1 – 43.
Lighter spoons (Doktor spoons, Williams Whitefish, and Cabela’s spoons) were the most productive pattern this week. Husky Jerks and Jakes also turned some nice fish.
We did target a few smallmouth bass down deep on winter humps in the main lake. We also had quite a few incidentals caught while walleye fishing. For the week, we had 15 over 19 in., including 2 – 20s.
This next week is typically one of the most dramatic for changes that we see on the lake all year. The river run walleyes will be in the middle of their migration back to the main lake. The walleyes that spawn on the main lake will be finishing up and also moving on. Big pike will soon be leaving the shallowest spawning bays. And the smallmouth will be heading in the opposite direction towards the shallows.
The migration patterns remain generally the same, but we never run out of new locations and spots to try on Lac Seul as we put together the pieces of the puzzle on a new fishing season.
After a long winter, it is GREAT to be back on the water hunting for fish.
