Lac Seul - Canada

[rootdl]

I know this is early but we have a trip planned next year to Lac Seul. I have never fished the lake and looking for some advice. Can anyone give me some insight and what to plan for. We are taking out own boats.

Thanks in advance!

[Redlabel]

There is a lot of information in the Canada form if you do a search
good luck

[pjshorthorn]

What part of the lake system are you planning to fish, time of year,etc. ? Your post was pretty opened ended as far as looking for advice. I'm sure a lot of folks can help if you provide more details.

PjShorthorn

[jrock]

Yeah, are you staying on lake in houseboat, resort or staying at hotel in Sioux lookout and launching every day?

[rootdl]

We are going the second week of June and staying at the Mahkwa Lodge on the eastern side of Lac Seul. Like I said - we have never fished Lac Seul before but we have heard it can be great Walleye fishing. We normally fish Lake of the Woods, Rainey Lake, Mille Lacs and other larger Walleye lakes in MN. Thanks for help!

[Fisher-man]

Lac Seul doesn't hold many secrets....it is probably one of the more talked about lakes both here and on the Canada forum.

There isn't a reliable contour map card for your electronics, so be careful, there are rocks.

You will catch fish all over that eastern edge of the lake. Head up towards Pine Point, fish the deep edge from 30ft up to about 10 feet that time of year. Check every sandy bay. There won't be a lot of weeds yet, but enough to draw in the bait fish and the walleye. You could be fishing in 6-10 fow. Dragging a Lindy with a minnow or a leech is going to be your most effective presentation to hunt for fish...if you catch one stop and fish until they move on. Then you can too.

It is a great big, beautiful piece of water. Fished it many times. Never saw a mountie, but still be careful about beer in the boat....it is Canada...eh?

We are heading up mid June and find no information regarding perch fishing on this lake other than the few posts mentioning catching a few while walleye fishing. We are thinking of bringing back a few meals of perch in addition to our walleye, and just wanted to know if there are enough to make it worth while targeting them for a few hours during mid day.

[fishmanric]

I'll be fishing it the first time this July. I will report back after the trip. We will be using Lac Seul Floating Lodges and will be fishing the Holden Island area.

[rsdata]

I have fished Lac Suel from a camp just outside Hudson, which is about 15 miles WSW from Sioux. There are many, many places to fish on Lac Suel and after visiting for 15 years in a row starting in 1999, always from early June to mid-July I was never disappointed with catching fish there.

However, Lac Suel is a huge body of water, made of distinct lakes connected together and each can have distinct characteristics.

I was fortunate in that my friend that took me there year one, introduced me to several guides he had used. I employed a guide on a number of occasions during those 15 years, at a very reasonable price. The guides can show you spots to fish that you would never even think would hold fish. I had a map with me and GPS, and marked locations of where we fished. I then returned to those same spots for years. If one place didn't produce, then another place would. If we ever had a bad catch day, or two, then I would employ another guide... there are dozens, just ask around. Twice I took my late teens daughter and she had a blast fishing/catching there were so many fish.

The only time I had a guide tell me NOT to GPS, was a guide that we hired to locate Musky once. We had used him for walleye several times and that was not a problem... however Musky is different... people pay big bucks to catch this fish. I finally got my 53" fish one year, following a tip from a different walleye guide. We for several years used guides based out of Deerpath Lodge, about 1/2 way to Hudson off Rt 72.

So many fish to catch... ferocious fighting smallies, small and large walleye, Pike, Musky... you will catch perch but I never targeted them. Learn how to clean Pike... they are also excellent eating. I always tried to catch using artificial, jigs and curly tails, plus in-line spinners, but take minnows everyday if catching gets slow.

More often then not we used a ramp just east of Hudson for Lac Suel access... sometimes going west, sometimes going east. I probably have 30+ spots marked on a map of the area. We also fished Vermillion Lake for Smallmouth, Lake Trout and Musky. Caught a number of smaller Musky on Vermillion before getting my big one.

As someone mentioned, there are submerged rocks that can take out a motor big time in very unsuspecting places. Really nothing marked and depends on water depths at the time. Like I said, get a guide for at least a few days to take you out and to point out these bad boating areas. I think you will be in for the best fishing of your life...

Thanks for the info rsdata, I'm sure we will have a great time and catch a lot of fish. Unfortunately it appears there are no guides working around Chamberlin Narrows, as this is quite a distance from the closest boat launch. If someone does know of someone working this section, please advise. I have been told the dock hands have a very good knowledge of this section of water and will point us in the right direction. They say we will not require a guide, but it is always a great idea to use one on the first day. Four weeks to go.