I understand ice went out unusually early this year, but what has happened in the last couple weeks? How is the weather trending? What is the status of the spawn? Pre, post, smack in the middle? What about water levels, temps? Particularly interested in Ear Falls area conditions. Gary, how are things over by Evergreen?

You may have to wait a bit for a report from Gary, I think he's on "minnow safari". Plus holding obedience classes for the new "Petey" aka "Willie".

Weather went cold this past week and the bait and fish took some time off. Bait is coming in slow but the quality is great. I think the walleye have taken a bit of time off from the spawn but weather took a turn for the better today. Water levels are real good, a bit above normal for the time of year; forcast for opener looks good. Willy is adjusting well to camp life and his first marks arrived today to learn the art of mooching from the guests.

Gary: What kind of a dog is he? Only 29 more days left for my gang. Can't wait!

Gary: What kind of a dog is he? Only 29 more days left for my gang. Can't wait!

Another Gorden, grandson of the old boy Pety. Going to be a big one.

Another Gorden, grandson of the old boy Pety. Going to be a big one.

btt

You can see the heredity is there, he learned that barking at the door, I'm here for breakfast real quick.

Rich J.

Whew!! Glad to hear that, I can't be blamed for this one. Now to get him a decent collar!

fishing was SLOW!!!!!

Could you please be a little more specific. Where did you fish?

From Chamberlain down to deception. Snowed on Sat. and was 85 degree's towards the end of the week. small one's up by Chamberlain and absolutley nothing in deception. one walleye in deception in 3 day's. The bay's are warming but we had to leave before anything got going

Plenty of walleye on the NW end, largest walleye released is 29" and a 44" pike was returned. Big girls are out of the back bays and are hitting well on the usual mid June windy points in the islands nearby. Plenty of shore lunch fish, can catch supper just out from camp, rain again today, water levels are real good for this time of yea. Water is warming quickly with temps at or very near 60.

Silver Water Wheel lodge weekly fishing report is up and posted on our website www.sww-lodge.com We will be posting weekly for the rest of the season.

Mike Willems

Fished out of goldpines at Ear Falls opening week. Our boat caught 801 eyes, lots of 14-15 inch fish and slot fish were good also, 16-18 inch fish were rare. Largest fish was 24.5, saw some larger fish caught by others.
Fished the mouth if the river mainly but that slowed later in the week, then fished points, others were fishing sawmill, lunker point and Herbs point, and did well too. Jiged with minnows and leaches mainly, berkley gulp did well also.
Good luck

Just got back from 4 days of fishing on Lac Seul. Two of us caught 284 Walleye.Biggest 29 1/2" , many nice slot fish, lots of 17" to 19".It was average fishing based on the last 12 years at the same time. Walleye were a little spread out because of warmer water. Caught fish all the way from 4' to 20' deep, best depths 12' to 16'. Fair share of fish were in summer pattern. Most fish jig/minnow, some worm/lindy.

My advice if standard spring patterns aren't working dont be afraid to move more towards summer patterns.

Good Luck

What part of Lac Seul were you fishing. We leave for Chamberlin Narrows on Friday so hopefully it will be back to normal weather by then.

Fished pickeral narrows for 2 days. caught 150 walleye trolling a 1 mph with copper spinner balde. Amazing. sizes from 12" to 28" stayed at andersons out post. made the trip from hudson. 2.25 hour ride. need a guide to get you there. hit the gps on way up. used it to get back. fun boat ride.

Do people really keep track of how many fish they catch in a week while in Canada? Sounds like a lot of work, guess I'm too busy drinking beer to worry about it.

>What part of Lac Seul were you fishing. We leave for
>Chamberlin Narrows on Friday so hopefully it will be back to
>normal weather by then.
sunday we fished fished near bear narrows(about 5 miles south of chamberlin- 1 hour boat ride from deception bay landing). fished the large point between bear narrows and 3 sisters reef. had an east wind blowing to the point and the eyes were stacked on the point andersons camp had 2 or 3 boats there all day and there were 2 other private boats there besides us. fished with 1/8 and 1/4 oz. jigs tipped with minnows, crawlers or gulp minnows. all worked equally well. caught several slot fish and about 10 over the slot with biggest at 26''. got chased out early though as two bad thunderstorms came through about 3pm.
fishing should be even better when you get there. you will not be disapointed!
spent friday in sen bay and that was a dissapointment as the walleyes have not migrated back down there yet. definetly a better summer spot.

How big of a boat did you have that took you 1 hour from Deception to Chamberlin? And do you think Sen Bay will be better fishing at the end of June? My group is thinking about making those long trips, just not sure if....we have one boat with a 125hp and one with a 40hp.

Thanks!


>sunday we fished fished near bear narrows(about 5 miles south
>of chamberlin- 1 hour boat ride from deception bay landing).
>fished the large point between bear narrows and 3 sisters
>reef. had an east wind blowing to the point and the eyes were
>stacked on the point andersons camp had 2 or 3 boats there all
>day and there were 2 other private boats there besides us.
>fished with 1/8 and 1/4 oz. jigs tipped with minnows, crawlers
>or gulp minnows. all worked equally well. caught several slot
>fish and about 10 over the slot with biggest at 26''. got
>chased out early though as two bad thunderstorms came through
>about 3pm.
>fishing should be even better when you get there. you will not
>be disapointed!
>spent friday in sen bay and that was a dissapointment as the
>walleyes have not migrated back down there yet. definetly a
>better summer spot.

Canadian Club, We fished the area south and west of Chamberlain Narrows north of Deception Bay. Chamberlain area should be great. I would think that Scaler Lake which is south and east of Chamberlain should produce fish (It normally does)

Good Luck

I've had too many people call me a liar when i tell them how many fish we catch and release. a golf counter is nothing more than a click when you boat the fish, takes only a second to do. Drinking is done later, been checked on the water for alcohol, not for fish or license, only for alcohol by the OPP, the didn't care abot license or fish just booze.
Be safe and good fishing

Fished out of Mahkwa Lodge May 21-26. Fished from 2 feet to 12 feet in creeks or shoreline shallows. Never really tried early summer locations.
Fishing was excellant, as good as any year. All the walleyes we caught were post spawn. Biggest was 28". Caught a 40" Northern in 4' of water on a leech and 6 lb test. Smallmouth up to 19". Seemed like the walleyes we fished preferred minnows versus leeches.:-)

I heard there was potentially a change to the Vaughn Lake closure areas, did you hear anything? I heard it covers a much larger area. The guy I heard it from is pretty much full of it, so I dont really believe it. Any update? We will be fishing out of Mahkwa on Saturday.

I haven't heard anything about changing the off-limits area. The regs haven't changed. Vaughan is still closed through the 14th of June. You can call the Sioux Lookout office of the MNR to be sure though. Number and address is listed below.

Sioux Lookout MNR
49 Prince Street
Box 309 P8T 1A6
(807) 737-1140

Regards,

Thank you very much, I just called them and they confirmed no changes.

whew.

Heard nothing about expanding the closed areas (Vaughn or anywhere else)when I was up there last week.
The closed area was the same as in previous years.

We fished out of Mahkwa Lodge May 26-May 31. We focused on pike this year. Between the three of us we caught 250 pike (one in our party was only there 3 days). This was the first trip to Canada for my youngest son and he caught he largest pike -- 41.5 inches on a spoon. The pike were congregated in the shallow bays. One day we caught 15 over 30 inches.

The walleye fishing was excellent, too, when we focused on it, which was in the evenings. We caught 150 walleye and three of the five evenings we were confined to our cabin because of severe storms and/or wind. We continue to have great success with walleye on night crawlers on 1/8 ounce jigs or lindy rigs with crawlers. The other party in our group used minnows and we actually did better than them.

We did a shore lunch on our last day and it was fantastic. We saw 2 moose, a bear with 2 cubs and many, many bald eagles. It was a great trip for dad (me) and my 2 sons (26 and 24).

Water levels were 1 foot lower than last year, but still higher than normal. Water temperature was 60-65 in the bays and high 50s to low 60s on the main lake.

Food at Mahwka was great as usual.

NE Piker

I forgot to add that the bass fishing just gets better. This year we caught 30 bass incidental to fishing for walleye and pike. We caught many in the 16-18 inch range and I caught 1 19 incher. We caught them on everything we used; spoons, jigs, rapalas.

NE Piker

Just returned from Lac Seul. Fishing was great. We caught lots of Walleye and lots of them 20" to 25" fish. Biggest was 28 1/2". Had our best luck with crawlers on BB or lindy and jig/ crawler or minnow. Soft plastic was fair but didnt hold up against live bait.

6' to 12' depths, windy points and sandbars.

We fished the south west / south central part of lake.Out of Scout.

will be up there on the 23rd--would appreciate any reports anyone has to offer-- will be staying at onaway lodge--four of us-- blair said fishing has be exceptional.

Will be heading up to Hudson/Lost Lake area this weekend? Any reports from this end of Lac Seul?

Ditto, heading up one week from today! Let's hear it boys!

I just got back a few hours ago. Tried the Sawmill area and did OK but never great. Herbs point was good if the wind blew into it. Couple days there was NO wind and fish shut down. Shoreline straight across Herbs point at a rock sticking out of the water was producing a ton of fish for the boats that got there early and never left. I never fished it because I did not want to crowd them but saw lots of nets pulled out there. These areas I did better at about 6 to 10 feet.

Tons of shorelunch fish on the southeast side of Goose island, and on the points on the islands to the southeast of Goose Island. Went to Steamboat Narrows, the shoreline to the left, and the three small islands and the big ones are there. I had a streak of 7 fish in a row all over 22. Could not get one over 26 but got a lot over slot fish. After going through Steamboat, stay to your left and head to the three islands. There is this one red rock wall that you see before the end of the point that leads to the three islands that had fish stacked on it. These areas I did better at 10 to 14 feet.

1/4 ounce chartreuse jig, Gulp chartreuse twister tail with 1/2 a nightcrawler outperformed my boatmates who were jig/minnow fishing. They both stopped using minnows the last two days and switched to Gulp/crawler combo.

Thanks for the update, sounds like you had a great time. Can you give a bit more info. on where those locations are? IE, I've never heard of Sawmill, Herbs Point and Steamboat Narrows - are they on the big part of the lake, N-NW of Sen Bay??

Thanks!

>I just got back a few hours ago. Tried the Sawmill area and
>did OK but never great. Herbs point was good if the wind blew
>into it. Couple days there was NO wind and fish shut down.
>Shoreline straight across Herbs point at a rock sticking out
>of the water was producing a ton of fish for the boats that
>got there early and never left. I never fished it because I
>did not want to crowd them but saw lots of nets pulled out
>there. These areas I did better at about 6 to 10 feet.
>
> Tons of shorelunch fish on the southeast side of Goose
>island, and on the points on the islands to the southeast of
>Goose Island. Went to Steamboat Narrows, the shoreline to the
>left, and the three small islands and the big ones are there.
> I had a streak of 7 fish in a row all over 22. Could not get
>one over 26 but got a lot over slot fish. After going
>through Steamboat, stay to your left and head to the three
>islands. There is this one red rock wall that you see before
>the end of the point that leads to the three islands that had
>fish stacked on it. These areas I did better at 10 to 14
>feet.
>
>1/4 ounce chartreuse jig, Gulp chartreuse twister tail with
>1/2 a nightcrawler outperformed my boatmates who were
>jig/minnow fishing. They both stopped using minnows the last
>two days and switched to Gulp/crawler combo.

mnhooksetter, we will be staying at the same resort as you during the same timeframe. I can't believe how awsome it will be to know somebody else at the resort. we will be driving a red pick-em-up truck with a green fishing boat and silver motors (200hp). come over and say hi. it is going to be fun

The areas he was referring to are on the NW side of the lake.
Herbs point is in McKenzie Bay, otherwise the rest of the spots are closer to Ear Falls.

Herbs point has produced a GOOD number of fish in the past few years.

Let em big ones go....
Plenty of eaters!
Let a 31"+ go last year....
Thanks to the rest of you who let her go over the past years
She is waiting for you!
Still get wood thinking about it...
Yeeeeehha
Be doin it again in 2 weeks!!

Mp3553

Herbs point is at the entrance to Sawmill, near Ear Falls area.

I did not get down there to McKenzie, but the cabin next to me fished the back bay of McKenzie and had huge success. One day they were in 4 feet of water casting shad raps and killing them midday. If you are heading to the end of McKenzie, there is an island that sits right in the middle. Do not go past the island, but fish the bay and point to the right. And then on the left there is a point just before the island with a downed tree that should be hit. I have a rental boat with a 50, so McKenzie was a hour++ to get to so I stayed nearby and did well.

Also forgot about Lunkers Point. I did not fish this as there were 7 boats there, but it was producing. Too big a lake for me to see another boat when I fish.

First year that I hit Gulp hard and I was very impressed. Not sure if I needed the half of crawler, but it was working and I never wanted to experiment.

i was up there last september and shanty narrows and ghost narrows hit very well, will be back sometime in august or first of september at evergreen to do it again

Just got back from a GREAT week on Lac Seul. Seven of us caught 1858 Walleye in 5 1/2 days of fishing. We have never seen such a high percentage of our fish be in the slot and above 80% +, it was awesome. Many ,many fish in the 4 to 5 lb range. The biggest was 28" but many of the fish challenged the 25" to 27" range. we caught them on jig/minnow/worm or leech with the best depths being 5' to 14'.

One of the guys caught a 43 1/2" Pike on his first drop in the water with a jig/minnow.

Big Thanks to Dan McDonald at Lac Seul Lodge for his great hospitatility.

Mike Kansas

I leave Friday for Evergreen and Lac Seul. Are any of your spots near where we will be fishin? Sawmill, Steamboat, Lunke? Glad you had a great trip.

Hump, Sorry we fish the Central part of the lake which is probably 30 miles from Evergreen. We have fished out of Evergreen in the past and have done very well in that area. Gary at Evergreen will put you on fish.

From what I have read and heard from others Lac Seul fishing is having a great year. Im sure that you will do fine.

Good Luck, Mike Kansas

I just returned from Onaway on June 6th.

Fishing was very good, especially in South Bay at the entrance of the Inlet on the sand beach. Also on the reef north of Manitoba point. Say hi to Blair and Kathy

I just returned from Onaway on June 6th.

Fishing was very good, especially in South Bay at the entrance of the Inlet on the sand beach. Also on the reef north of Manitoba point. Say hi to Blair and Kathy

Jayhawker,

I lied. Our boat had only 63 releases the last half day not 64. I hope I'll be allowed back next year.

Not a chance.

How was walleye bite on Lac Suel. Went thru fish check on fryday rangers said very few had limits and those that did were all small.

Where was the stop? What time

Saturday morn along 105 south of wabby. Same place it always is

I thought you said Friday. Sorry. I come home on Friday.

Filled the boat up with Bullheads. Got them on my Mickey Mouse Bobber and worms. Also ran my bank lines and got two nice Carp and one big fat Gar.

Fish Fry Saturday....yum yum

Just returned from 3 days on the Ear Falls end of Lac Seul. Fishing was okay. The worst bite we have had in 5 years, but still okay. Nothing over 25 inches, but very few fish under the slot, it seemed that everything was 18"-25". The may flies hatched just before we showed up and that may have had an effect, or else we are just losing our touch. Bottom bouncers and spinners with leeches or minnows seemed the best bet.

stumcfar

Thanks for the fish report. We will be fishing around the Ear Falls area next week. If you don't mind me asking would you be able to shed a little light on how deep you fished and possibly a good place to catch some shorelunch. I would appreciate any help or direction you could offer.


North Bound

Best of luck fishing

We had about same luck. Walleys were on the weeds and weeds only. Must have been concentrating on that Mayfly hatch. Found worms were better than minnows. Pikes were on rocks everyone we cleaned was full of crayfish. Fished 9-12 ft for walleys.

We couldn't find the concentrations of fish like other years. I hope my directions are correct, but if you go around Lunker point to the east, the sand bank area always seems to produce fish. Keep going east and the stumps and Herb's point usually hold fish if the wind is blowing into them. They were not very good for us, but they are always worth a stop. We fished McKenzie Bay one day and concentrated on wind swept points and rock piles, nothing specific. I think any point or rock pile will produce some fish if the wind is blowing into them. 8' to 16' seemed to be our most consistant depth. We didn't try crawlers, but I wish we would have. On Monday the best bite was leeches. Good luck, you will do fine!

Any suggestion on where to try for Pike if a guy was coming out on the main lake(out of Onaway Lodge)?

Heading out in 10 hours, will report when I get back on 6/29. Good luck to all.

Find some weed beds with wind blowing in on them. Try spinner baits and Johnson minnows right in the weeds. Also fish the perimeters and deeper water in front with some deep divers. Long shallow points can produce also. Vary your retrieve speed and work each angle possible.

ttt. how was it last week boys? heading up in a couple of weeks and would like to keep this thread going.

Bite was decent last week. We caught most of our Walleye on Bottom bouncers with worms or minnows in 6' to 16' of water. Did good in the afternoon sun flipping jigs into sunny shorelines with rock.

Overall fishing was average for our group when compared to the last 9 years.

Leaving this afternoon for Ear Falls. I can taste the walleyes in the frying pan.

Our group was up on the week of the 23rd - 30th. Despite the warm weather and the fact that the lake was as flat as a pancake 5 out of 7 days, our fishing was great once again. Came close to the 30 incher but that is was next year is for.

Best of luck to all fishing!

North Bound

WAs on Lac Suel 7/1 thru 7/5 weather was not good. The days precedeing our trip were very warm. The weather then changed to cold and N Nw 20 mph + sustained winds 24 hours a day. Water temp dropped 5 degrees to 69 in the main lake. The fish responded to bottom bouncer with worms or minnows in 15 ft on sand flats near a deep break. Other wise fish were scattered on other structure some near weeds and some 25 to 35 feet. Our overall fish number were down but the quality was good with many fish in the 20 to 25 inch range. Bottom bouncers with small chartreuse blade or silver blade at 1.2 to 1.4 mph were key. Some in our group had no way to gauge speed and they had poor luck. The last day it started to warm a little and increasing the speed to 1.7 to 2 mph made a huge difference. I also was using the Navionic's Canadien Premium chip in my Intelli map. It was very usefull in the extreme wind not having to dig out map while exploring. IT worked very well but do not rely on it for depth reading or marking all hazards. I found it worth the price although and was glad I have it. We were at Mahkwa Lodge and reupped for next year. Can't wait to get back.

Mwal

Hi,

Headed up to lac seul on the 14th. What spinner blades work the best? Hatchet, regular colorado or willow? And what size bottom bouncers in general? Is it worth bringing any cranks? And if so which types and colors. Going to have a bunch of guys in the boat and i don't want to have a lot of extra stuff i don't need.
thanks

For bottom bouncer I use 2oz and 3 oz if over 25 foot or faster than 2mph. I like to know exactly where my rig is. My buddies that use lighter bouncers have a hard time knowing where their rig is and repeating sucessfull speeds etc. I use small and medium indiana blades I like chartreuse with orange on edge of blade. Hamered silver and brass and the Northland baitfish that have the silver sticker on them as they are really flashy. I use large colorado blades in hammered silver and brass. I haven't used many crank baits up there. It takes to long to unhook and get the next fish. Don't discount jigs in the shallows even in later summer. We have caught fish shallow on windy points etc in 3 ft of water. Be versitale.

Mwal

Just returned from a 2 weeker> 7/1-7/15 (Ear Falls area)
Steamboat bay produced very nice quanities of fish the first week
Sat 7/8 was probally the best day of the whole trip for quanity of quality fish. Sunday 7/9 a major cold front came in and wacked the fishing for 1 1/2 days. The rest of the week it progressively got warmer and many days with little wind. Second week McKenzie Bay was the prefered area. Wind was the key to catching fish. Get into the wind! This was the best trip for "slot" fish with not many big fish.
Biggest in the 2 weeks was a 28" walleye.
The last week when the wind wasn't a factor> reefs really turned on
in the 11-30' range. Fish were really scattered!
Some days found them in weeds 2-8' and breaks in 7-30'
Jig bite was good if you could hold in the wind otherwise cranks or spinner rigs worked well. Somedays the fish prefered 1 method over another ie> spinners vs jigs.
1/4 oz Chartruse and hunter orange jigs/ #4 indiana chartruse, hunter orange and gold spinners worked the best for me.
Reef Runners, Hot N Tots and Walleye Divers for cranks.
Overall, compared to the past 13+ years was an average year with a great number of slot fish but scattered thru the water column.
Water is about normal levels and water temps 71-73 degrees
Wish I were still there
Have fun....

On July 12 a 321/2 inch walleye caught and released by Brian Floen.
With in 10 miles to camp.

will be at evergreen aug 12th -18th. ive seen all the posts for mackenzie and steamboat.. how far from the river.. will be with my kids so dont know if i want to travel all too far. anyone there that week?? looking for depths and spots for that time of year. will probably take guide a day or two. any detailed lac seul maps online?? would like to do a little research before we leave. good luck everyone. my son just got his license, so the ride will be a little less taxing than last year!! if you are there that week post a message and i will see you there... jig out

To McKenzie your looking @ approx 25 miles and 8 miles to Steamboat.
Lac Suel maps> 4 Seasons or Smitties in Ear Falls.
Think I saw em @ the ESSO station in Vermillion Bay @ intersection with HWY 105.
A guide is nice to have for those not comfortable with the lake or what presentations to use. Have them show you where to catch fish closer to camp. The lake can get VERY rough and you probally don't want to spend 2+ hours a day riding to/from Mckenzie.
Wish I were heading back....

FISHED THE LAKE FOR 6 DAYS ENDING 7/31/2006 FROM GRASSY AREA TO CHAMBERLAIN NARROWS, EYES ARE ON REEFS FROM 18-30 FT DEPENDING ON WIND AND WERE THE BAIT FISH ARE WATER TEMP IS 73, ALL BAITS WORK, SPINNERS AT .8 MILES PER HOUR IS ABOUT THE RIGHT SPEED, MANY DAYS WALLEYES WERE SUSPENDED WE TROLLED REEF RUNNERS 160 FT OUT AND LARGE HUSKY JERKS 225FT OUT THIS PRODUCED MANY LARGE FISH AND WE COULD FIGURE WHAT POSITION ON THE STRUCTURE THE FISH WERE RELATING TOO. BEST REEFS WERE IN THE MIDDLE OF VERY DEEP WATER TOPING AT 16FT.

HAVE FUN KEEP THE SMALL ONES