What a week of fishing on Wabaskang Lake it was! Outstanding walleye and pike fishing, excellent smallmouth bass and perch fishing and even a lake trout still caught above the Hobson Falls. Great multi-species fishing at it’s finest. Everyone in camp was a returning veteran ranging from our rookie groups of about 7 years with us to Bob Stromberg who was here for his 44th year with somewhere between 65-70 trips over that span. I am often asked “how is the fishing on Wabaskang today compared to long ago?” Well, if I use the Stromberg party’s 2015 results as a litmus test, I would have to conclude the answer to the question posed is “better than ever”. See, Bob’s crew of four, including one who had never fished Canada before, broke their all-time record for fish caught over Bob’s 44 years coming to camp. See back in 2009, the four guys set the bar with 1,222 fish caught over six days of fishing. This year with new guy (Tom) and apparently a lucky charm, they shattered the old record with 1.356 fish over the six days. That makes two groups so far this year that have boated well over a thousand fish for the week. Yes, the fishing on Wabaskang is doing very well thank you. Included in their catch were 11 northern pike over 30″ with the biggest being new guy Tom’s 41″ beauty. By the way, Tom left saying he sort of liked this Canada thing… Tom also had a 35″ pike that he released along with the monster 41″ fish.
Of course with that many veterans of camp in last week, the Stromberg party were certainly not the only ones to catch a lot of fish. Our Wisconsin crews (Tonn and Glime) spent a fair bit of their time chasing jumbo perch and did very well, complimenting some excellent pike, walleye and smallmouth fishing as Perry Tonn and son Alex found some aggressive smallies near camp and had a blast with them. Our three annual Iowa groups caught plenty of fish as they usually do, with Ron Bergfeld and his boat mate discovering, despite many previous trips to camp, just how incredible “the hotel” is, often catching 30-50 walleyes a night in about 2 hours of fishing. Our one Hoosier group also had a great trip which was topped off by about a 70 walleye effort back at Lost Lake and Bob’s surprise lake trout from above the falls.
The weedbeds are starting to come on now with green vegetation presenting itself in many areas. Surface water temps have risen to around 69-71 degrees depending where you are on the lake. The best walleye fishing continues to be around 7-10 fow, with many presentations and baits all producing fish. Week 5 is now underway and it appears that first cast magic is in the air as I spoke with two guests yesterday, one who told me their first cast yielded a 26 1/2″ walleye and the other guest in a different party caught a 24″ walleye on his first cast. I’m thinking week 5 is going to be a lot of fun around here just like the previous four!
Until next time, good fishing to all.
