Greetings everyone! Well the 2018 season is underway and week 1 is in the books, and what a week it was! Honestly, one of the best opening weeks I can remember in some time. Lots of walleyes, pike, smallmouth and whitefish although the perch fishing (while not targeted much) was a little tougher. The cool, rainy weather early in the week was gone by Saturday noonish and most of the rest of the week consisted of HOT, dry, cloudless, windless days. Temps in the middle 80’s most of the remainder of the week saw most main lake area water temps rise by almost 20 degrees from 45-47 degrees just before the opener to nearly 65 by weeks end! Despite the less than ideal weather conditions, the fishing was nothing short of fantastic.
Most of the damage was done by the camp veterans, but a couple of our new (and newer) groups also did pretty darn well. The Logansport guys using 2 of the 12 minnows they purchased during the week, boated a lot of walleye using crankbaits and blade baits. Seventy-six walleye >18″ were released by this group of three never fishing more than 15 minutes from camp- top fish honors going to George Voltz who released a beautiful 27″ ‘eye. When a guy whose come to camp for over 35 years (close to 70 trips in total, as many years came to camp multiple times) says he had one of the best days EVER on the lake here, it says a lot. Thanks JC!
Steve Strafford a camp veteran in his own right found fishing to be a little tougher but still caught plenty of fish with his buddy Brian and his son. Tony Lause was in camp for his second time, and for self-proclaimed “rookies”, he and buddy Darryl after a slow beginning, started putting walleye in the boat pretty consistently. Good guys, who took a little direction and coaching from me and quickly found that it paid off with good results. Much the same can be said for the Peru, IN crew of Bill Strahlem. After a slower start Saturday, a pep talk and some guidance had them taking pictures of stringers full of walleyes by Sunday noon. Many pike and some great smallmouth fishing had these guys ready for more every morning.
Ken’s crew from Mishawaka spent little time getting re-acclimated to the lake. Every other year guys, this crew caught boatloads of walleyes including a few of their “rookies” who were experiencing Canada for the first time. When a guy like Ken (whose been fishing Canada in many places for nearly 30 years) tells you he had the best (or ok, possibly the second best) day he’s ever had fishing Canada, that’s a pretty good testimonial! Danny D. had a 40″ northern in their crew, several more over 32″ were released and Ken had a couple of 26″ walleyes with many more between 20-25″
Chris Bowen’s group of four, while not walleye guys sure had to trouble catching a bunch of pike they targeted all week. Great guys, good fishermen and the pike slime in their boats by weeks end was a good confirmation that yes indeed they caught plenty of northern. Frank Lade was also back in camp after missing a number of years. About as “lade” back as they come, Frank was happy to be back, caught some pike he targeted and was generally happy to be back in camp again. Always good to see old friends who have missed a few years with us in camp!
Week 2 is underway and despite continued HOT, dry, calm weather the bite continues to roll on. Gar’s crew of 6 had 98 walleye on Saturday in about 3/4 day of fishing and with a three new guys who have never fished here before. The smallies are starting to spawn already with the warm water and guys are excited about the 4-5 lb bruisers they are doing battle with before releasing them. Looking forward to a strong finish to week 2, stay tuned for next weeks wrap. When/if I get some more pics from last week, I will get them posted on our FB page.