Lady Evelyn Lake anyone?

[lost marbles]

Long time reader,first time poster. I am going to Lady Evelyn Lake in mid-June. I would really appreciate any info anyone has on fishing spots, or lure selections. Hopefully I can find someone going two weeks before me to tell me how it was. I will make sure to write a full report when I get back! Are Stingers allowed in Canada? Also a lodge owner told me that leeches are not a popular bait there. I may agree that they may not be popular. but I still think in right conditions they could be killers! Thanks in advance

[GR8WTHUNTER]

Which camp are you fishing with?

[lost marbles]

I will be staying at Garden-Island lodge.

[GR8WTHUNTER]

I was at Lady E 2 years ago with my wife and daughter 2 years ago. This was not a hard core fishing trip like it would have been if I was with the guys. We stayed at Red Pine, great hosts and fantastic food. The lake is devided by a narrows and I believe Garden is the only camp on the far side. We didn't do bad, but we also didn't set teh world on fire. This was mostly because of my wife's "I'm on vacation" attitude to everything. I'm not complaining, I just don't want to paint the wrong picture. We didn't hit the lake once at the crack of dawn and were in the cabin at dark. We still did as well or slightly better than others we talked to from ours and other camps. Every one seemed to be heading to the same "hot spots", dropping anchor and dinking. We caught fish virtually every where else. The key seemed to be finding weed beds/humps/points in about 8-10 feet of water with deeper water close. Trolling cranks gave us the best numbers and sizes. ripplin redfins, walleye divers, tail dancers husky jerks and rouges were the hot plugs. We didn't get into any big eyes, 2-3 pounds were the norm. The pike were easy to catch. Spinner baits into the shallow weeks or timber showed us a bunch of fish. The better pike were in 8-15 ft of water whith weeds on the bottom. We didn't hit any 20 pounders. My wife and daughter both fought and lost what looked to be 12-15 pounders. I didn't get anything over 8 but i was just driving and netting most of the time. I never ventured through the narrows to Gardens side of the lake. My outfitter told me that the better smallie fishing is on that end of the lake. I pulled my own boat and was glad I did. When the wind kicked up the main lake got some nasty rollers that were stacked. I wouldn't think the other end will get as bad. Hope this helps and have a good trip. Rich

[duckfish]

did u take your own boat up there and if so how did u get to the lake.

[Rich B]

Been up to the lake to both the Red Pine Camp as well as Island 10 a number of times,
and taken my boat(s) in.....there's a ramp on the river where you're picked up by your
camp, and you drive up to the dam where folks trailer your rig around the dam (they
normally use a multi-tiered bunk trailer and then drop you into the lake on the other
side of the dam. Then you follow the camp boat(s) back to the camp/lodge.

Fishing over the years has been OK, but can't say great....caught alot of "wallperch" as
a buddy calls them - a lot of 12" to 14/15" eyes, though have caught a 7+ lb'r when I
took my Dad up one year, and my son caught one about the same size another year.

Some guys bring in larger minnows for the bigger eyes (and the lake has them). Ask
the camp about "4 corners" where a river feeds into the lake - bigger fish tend to stack
up on a hump at this area and as well up the river.

Beautiful area, and it will be a neat experience going up the river and around the dam.

Rich B

[SkeeterJeff]

My wife caught a 32", 11.75# 'eye fishing out of Garden Island last year. Big Walleye for the camp for the 2009 season. Her name is on the front page of their web site. She also had 3 27.5" 'eyes and I had one 27.5" eye. The last three years we have caught fish between 27.5 and 33", my biggest being 29.75 in back to back years. We fish flats near deep water, 17-25'.

What lodge owner told you that leeches don't do well on that lake? We quit fishing crawlers and have fished leeches under 1/8" jigs exclusively for the last three years. Sometimes when the bite is slow or non existant we throw a crawler on for kicks, but it didn't seem to make a difference. We go up with my brother in law and sister in law in July every year. This will be year #8 for us. Can't beat Garden Island. Yes, they are the only camp west of the narrows.

-Jeff

Picture of her Walleye can be seen here:

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s305/SkeeterJeff/Canada_2009/Canada09013.jpg

[micropterus]

Take lots of hooks and sinkers for live bait (crawlers and leeches). Mid June is before smalley season. I had success with dropshot rigs last year. Joe will tell you where to fish. My spots are:censored:

[fourize]

My wife caught a 32", 11.75# 'eye fishing out of Garden Island last year. Big Walleye for the camp for the 2009 season. Her name is on the front page of their web site. She also had 3 27.5" 'eyes and I had one 27.5" eye. The last three years we have caught fish between 27.5 and 33", my biggest being 29.75 in back to back years. We fish flats near deep water, 17-25'.

What lodge owner told you that leeches don't do well on that lake? We quit fishing crawlers and have fished leeches under 1/8" jigs exclusively for the last three years. Sometimes when the bite is slow or non existant we throw a crawler on for kicks, but it didn't seem to make a difference. We go up with my brother in law and sister in law in July every year. This will be year #8 for us. Can't beat Garden Island. Yes, they are the only camp west of the narrows.

-Jeff

Picture of her Walleye can be seen here:

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s305/SkeeterJeff/Canada_2009/Canada09013.jpg

WOW! Nice fish. My Dad and I go to a lodge near Gowganda, and pass Lady Evelyn on highway 11 on our way. The owner is putting the lodge up for sale and we'll be looking for new water. I've read nothing but good reports about Lady Evelyn, and it is on top of our list for our next lodge.

[speckeye]

Greetings Walleye Faithful-- I've got high hopes for shallow fish- my boat partner and I have good patience for jigging slow if we need to,and a few diving plugs to find em on the troll.It seems the jig-n-leech or Road Runner and leech are major go-to baits for sows up there at Lady Evelyn,does this jibe with you guys' experience?My trip is the last week of May,on the full moon,and I'm pretty used to lots of wind and bad weather,so I'm wondering if nice fish are conveniently shallow and spread out early season so a guy might get em in the lee of a shoreline or is it more the rule(early on) to get better fish in more specific locations such as the one mentioned previously,where you have to buck the swells and take spray?I'm imagining that the fish are pretty active at that time--that weather's the biggest wild card.I'll be prepared to fish deep if that's called for.Oh well,I hear they feed you well up there....Thanks for any insight---Chris

[markmiko]

Another new member here and new to walleye fishing.

After 15 years of (2xtimes a year) trips to Canada and bass/pike fishing
I decided to try something else.

Read a lot of good things of Walleye fishing on Lady Evelyn Lake so me and my buddy booked a week (starting June 26, 2010) at Ellen Island Camp - Lady Evelyn Lake.

Wondering if anyone here have ever been at that camp and can share
his/her experience there.

Also any more recent fishing reports from Lady Evelyn Lake including Walleye, Bass and Pike would be greatly appreciated.

[ladyofthelake]

I've been to Lady Evelyn Lake for 18 years now. Our group goes up in June and back in August. We've stayed at all camps. If I were rating them Ellen Island would be last out of the four camps. The best would be Red Pine, Garden Island and then Island 10 based on the people running the resorts.

[adempsey]

I have only stayed at Garden Island and Island 10 on this lake.

However, I met the owners of Ellen Island at a recent sportsman show and they seemed quite pleasant. I wouldn't hesitate to try it out, especially if I were going for a housekeeping package. I also met the a few of the people that work at Red Pine at various sportsman shows, they were also quite pleasant.

I think all the lodges on the lake have their positives and negatives, but I wouldn't hesitate to stay at any of the four.

I never fished near Ellen Island as it is quite far east of where I stayed.

We caught most of our walleye primarily jigging in 10-15 FOW throughout the day (although, it was overcast our whole trip) on any reefs, channels, drop offs near bays and island saddles. Other groups trolled cranks/harnesses in 15-20FOW midday for larger walleyes. As expected, most action was early morning/evenings.

We didn't target bass or pike much, but again we fished typical structure when we did. We caught bass on rock piles/reefs and pike along weed edges/shoreline. However, I found that rock piles and weeds were not as abundant and harder to find in the areas I fished. The lake has more trees/stumps and reefs. The back bays had more weeds.

[bouncers]

If I was choosing a camp to stay at, it would be ellen island camp, all the cottages are new, housekeeping, which is what we do, we like to eat when we want too!, been going up there for 40 years, you don't have to go far from camp to catch fish, there's sand flats, rocky shoals and weed beds within sight of the camp. owners and operators are very friendly also. Good luck.

[captnzero]

I've fished the area a lot over the past few years. What I've found works the best for us is to slow troll orange and black victor spoons with minniows and night crawlers later in the year along the 8 to 12 foot drops. Key is let lots of line out 75 -100 yds behind the boat

[gary2242]

I have fished the lake a few times and here is what I know.

- Top baits are leaches and salted minnows on a black jig head

- Walleyes in this lake avoid any artificial scents or rubbers with artificial scents. Wash your lures before you come.

- Walleyes only hit lures that are perch colour or have gold, orange, black and green together. We have tried many colour combinations at different times of year and the perch colour is the only thing that they hit consistently. Trolling with lures is not effective during the day in the summer but early morning and late evening they bring in the big ones. Trolling along the shore is very effective in the spring.

- The walleyes do not feed at night on this lake but they do feed like crazy right before dark and at first light. I am sure there are a few that feed at night but generally everything shuts right down at night.

- There are some pike and smallmouth bass in the lake but the dominant species is Walleye. If you are looking for pike and bass go somewhere else. This is a Walleye fanatic's lake.

- Walleye in this lake get huge. In a week of fishing you should bring in a few walleyes over 30 inches. Last year, we had a problem catching walleyes small enough to eat. The average size is 4 pounds. We caught a 30 and a 32 inch walleye right off shore in front of our camp. That was the end of May.

- Right now, the very end of May, is when the May Flies start hatching. If you are fishing at the end of May, there may be a day or two when the fishing really slows down because the walleyes are stuffed with May Flies. It only last a day or so and it mainly affects your ability to catch small Walleyes. The big Walleyes don't really seem effected by the May Flies as much as the smaller walleyes.

- There are portages off of Lady Evelyn that will get you into some fantastic Lake Trout and Brook Trout Lakes. If you are staying at a lodge, they will most likely have a boat cache on a few of the portage lakes.

- In the summer, you have to be quiet and jig very slowly. Many times leave the jig and leach right on the bottom and give it slow tiny jigs once in a while. In the summer the Walleyes are not as aggressive and you have to let your jig sit on bottom for them to look at for a few seconds. If you jig aggressively they will not have the will to go after it because there is just so much food for them to go after that does not use up energy.

- If you are camping on LadyEvelynLake, all the rules of a provincial park still apply. No bottles and no cans. Non-residents have to buy a camping permit, which is around $10 per night. They may have raised that a little since last year.


Gary
www.walleyeheaven.com (http://www.walleyeheaven.com/)