3 months til Lac Seul

[Ia Guy]

Staying at a lodge close to Ear Falls, 2nd week of June. Going stir crazy down in here in KC. Any good stories or advice to make the wait more tolerable?

[GaGuy]

Find a woman you fool!!!!!!:P

[COGUY]

Your anxiety level will drop when you hear that it's well below 0 and there's over 3 feet of ice on the lake. I wouldn't pack up just yet! GaGuy's advice is good! You have a long wait ahead.

[Arkie eye jerker]

Sounds like you will be there the week before us. We are also at a lodge near Ear Falls the week of June 16th. If you get back in time before we leave let me know how the fishing was.

Thanks,

[CanEye]

One of the coldest winters on record. Late ice out for sure. Guessing third week of May.

[lunker99]

Will be at Golden Fawn the 2nd week of june. Can't wait either!

[Love Fishing]

I am from KC also and will be staying near Ear Falls. Will be there the last part of June first part of July. This will be my 4th trip and can not wait. Let me know how the fishing is when you get back.

[Bruceb]

Find a tavern near a Bass Pro Shop and have several beers. Then go in and shop for tackle. By the time you get done paying for all this it will be mid June and time to head north.... hope this helps...

Bruceb

[Canadian Nut]

We just had over 45" of snow with 50 clicks of wind, the roads are closed the school roof fell in, and the old lady is cranky. I am going to take the ice shack out to Bear Narrows and stay out of her hair for a couple of days.

[Jay]

I just wanted to stress to people the importance of the comments made by the writers above, with regard to the current winter in northwestern ontario. With the exception of a few warmer days, it has been bitterly cold since January (i.e. 0 degrees fahrenheit or below almost every night). In addition, we had very liitle snow until February, even though it was extremely cold. The result is very thick ice formation. With it now almost mid-March, we are still in the 10-20 degree fahrenheit range for daytime highs!!! If you are booked for the walleye opener anywhere further north than Lake of the Woods, you better be wishing for some very warm temperatures and wind over the next two months, or else be prepared to bring your ice gear. I guided guys on Lac Seul at the opener last year, and we were dodging ice sheets on the main lake. If things don't drastically change up here, expect the same or worse for the upcoming spring.
I don't want to bring anyone down, but just ensure everyone knows the state we are in up here. Permafrost just outside Thunder Bay is over six feet deep in places.

Jay

[Thumper]

Thanks for the reality check, Jay.

What was your experience like last year with ice still on Lac Suel? Were the walleye still in spawing mode, or had they finished up and headed back to deeper water by then?

- Rick

[mp3553]

Was up last year for 2 weeks starting @ the opener. As the previous post stated there was an abundance amount of ice on the lake. Navigation was very interesting expecially when the wind would shift and push the ice around. By Wed after the opener, the ice was small enough it didn't hender your progress. Once the ice starts to break up, it goes fairly fast expecially if the wind is a blowin. Like that doesn't happen on LS!
The fishing was just OK and wasn't really impress with the fishing. Caught fish but not like past years. We did better the second week. Weather was warmer and more stable. My guess is if the ice was out by the second week of May the opener would have been much better.
It is still very early to speculate... The worst day of fishing beats any day at work!
11 weeks to go.........

[Jay]

Thumper,

As stated above, the ice was on the main lake until about the Wednesday after opener last year. I started fishing the shallow back bays for pike about a week prior to that because they were ice-free first, but I had to bust through ice on more than one occasion after the sheets moved and blocked my return route; it was not fun. Remember, ice sunk the Titanic!

Lac Seul, because of its size, obviously has several populations of fish. The spawn-postspawn-early summer cycle for each population is different (i.e., they spawn and migrate at different times). I have found that a late ice out tends to further separate fish populations and their progression through this cycle. In other words, fishing can be tough at times, but if you land in the right spot at the right time you can really hammer them.

Last year, some of the perennial good locations for the opener on LS were alomst barren (a couple walleye/hour). Most of the fish had yet to spawn or were just starting. We did get some good action in the traditional post-spawn areas located closer to the main lake. The well-protected river mouths and shallow back bays actually seemed to have less fish. At the same time however, I caught a pre-spawn 29.5" walleye in an early-summer spot on opening day.

A few key things I think about with late ice-out:

*move, move, move (I know its cold on LS in May but you have to keep moving and trying other possibilities). Last year in the first week, 90% of the fish caught came from 10% of the places fished, during about 10% of the total fishing time. Essentially we would get on them for an hour in one small spot-on-spot, and then go three hours with one or two fish trying several spots. Have a solid plan of places you want to fish and be prepared to adapt with the introduction of new knowledge you gain throughout the day.

*don't place too much emphasis on water temperature when the warmest spot on the lake is only in the low-40's (compared to the high-30's or less everywhere else). Once the sun and weather have created a larger range in temperatures, start paying more attention.

*an important one. Remember the main lake spawners. All the fish on Lac Seul don't go up the rivers to spawn; quite a few actually spawn on main lake reefs with cobble or large gravel bottoms. We caught quite a few larger fish last year we believed were moving from main-lake spawning locations to the more traditional late-spring/early-summer spots. What porportion of the fish spawn in the main lake? I have no idea, but I gaurantee it's higher than most poeple think!

Jay

[BlackBear]

How goes it there fellas? Remember Last year in April we had 4 days of 80 to 90 degree weather in the midwest and up in Northwest ontario it was around 70. I talked to a local tackle shop in Red Lake and he said that the ice melted from 3 feet to a foot in those 3 or 4 days of hot weather. If we hit a nice warm up like last year we will ice out before opening season.