Root Bay with Slate Falls Outposts report

[stjoeguy]

Our trip last week to the Root Bay cabin of Slate Falls Outposts was a great success. Going through the border at Int. Falls/Ft. Frances was easy. The hardest part was scheduling the covid test 72 hours ahead and entering the info on the ArriveCan app. The actual border crossing was fairly simple. We waited in line about 25 minutes and then spent about 10 minutes with the border agent. His procedure was to look at the passports, then ask us to put our masks on, look at vaccination cards and then the covid test results. After that there were the usual questions about where we’re from, where we’re going, any weapons, how much booze, etc. Coming back the US questions were where have you been, where do you live, how do you know each other and welcome home.

Since we left home earlier in case the border was backed up, we got to Sioux Lookout about 3:30 and were able to fly in Friday afternoon rather than spend the night at the Slate Falls Outposts bunk house, which was great. We flew in on a twin engine Beechcraft 18. On the way out a Beaver arrived a half hour early and took all our gear out. Then a storm came through and the winds got very strong, so we had to wait 2.5 hours for a Cessna 208 Caravan to pick us up. It was a very bumpy ride back to Sioux Lookout and we landed in big rolling whitecaps. The wind was so strong that the pilot didn't turn the plane around to head back to the dock. Between drifting with the wind and the pilot adjusting the throttle and prop pitch, we backed up down the bay to the Slate Falls dock. I’ve never seen a pilot looking back over his shoulder while parallel parking a plane before.

The fishing was great! The “pin cushion” where the Root River flows out of Lake St. Joseph was excellent. Between the current flowing downstream and a fairly strong wind blowing upstream you pretty much stayed in one spot with slight adjustments. There were a lot of doubles there. That afternoon we went down the river for 35 minutes to a dam, parked the boats and walked a couple hundred yards through some tall grass to the other side of the dam. There you could stand on shore and pitch jigs out just beyond the rapids and get walleyes on just about every cast. We didn't get any big walleyes on the trip, with a 25” and a couple 24” being the largest, but we definitely caught a lot of fish. As usual, we didn’t fish northerns but caught some and had a lot of bite-offs. We landed some big ones, however, with a 35”, a 36” and a large one that went right through a hole in the bottom of the net. I hooked a monster that made a half dozen runs. We tried to net it once, but it was obvious that the net was only going to get the first 1/3 of the fish. I played it along the boat and my fishing partner tried to get a hand under the jaw. He was just getting a grip when a final flip cut the line. It was much bigger than the others and had to be 40+”.

The cabin is very comfortable with a huge deck that must have been about 20x16. The deck had a grill, a 3 burner cook stove, a big table, 8 deck chairs and is the best deck I've seen on a cabin.

It was a great trip and I’d love to go back again.

[Eckohlt]

Originally Posted by stjoeguy

Our trip last week to the Root Bay cabin of Slate Falls Outposts was a great success. Going through the border at Int. Falls/Ft. Frances was easy. The hardest part was scheduling the covid test 72 hours ahead and entering the info on the ArriveCan app. The actual border crossing was fairly simple. We waited in line about 25 minutes and then spent about 10 minutes with the border agent. His procedure was to look at the passports, then ask us to put our masks on, look at vaccination cards and then the covid test results. After that there were the usual questions about where we’re from, where we’re going, any weapons, how much booze, etc. Coming back the US questions were where have you been, where do you live, how do you know each other and welcome home.

Since we left home earlier in case the border was backed up, we got to Sioux Lookout about 3:30 and were able to fly in Friday afternoon rather than spend the night at the Slate Falls Outposts bunk house, which was great. We flew in on a twin engine Beechcraft 18. On the way out a Beaver arrived a half hour early and took all our gear out. Then a storm came through and the winds got very strong, so we had to wait 2.5 hours for a Cessna 208 Caravan to pick us up. It was a very bumpy ride back to Sioux Lookout and we landed in big rolling whitecaps. The wind was so strong that the pilot didn't turn the plane around to head back to the dock. Between drifting with the wind and the pilot adjusting the throttle and prop pitch, we backed up down the bay to the Slate Falls dock. I’ve never seen a pilot looking back over his shoulder while parallel parking a plane before.

The fishing was great! The “pin cushion” where the Root River flows out of Lake St. Joseph was excellent. Between the current flowing downstream and a fairly strong wind blowing upstream you pretty much stayed in one spot with slight adjustments. There were a lot of doubles there. That afternoon we went down the river for 35 minutes to a dam, parked the boats and walked a couple hundred yards through some tall grass to the other side of the dam. There you could stand on shore and pitch jigs out just beyond the rapids and get walleyes on just about every cast. We didn't get any big walleyes on the trip, with a 25” and a couple 24” being the largest, but we definitely caught a lot of fish. As usual, we didn’t fish northerns but caught some and had a lot of bite-offs. We landed some big ones, however, with a 35”, a 36” and a large one that went right through a hole in the bottom of the net. I hooked a monster that made a half dozen runs. We tried to net it once, but it was obvious that the net was only going to get the first 1/3 of the fish. I played it along the boat and my fishing partner tried to get a hand under the jaw. He was just getting a grip when a final flip cut the line. It was much bigger than the others and had to be 40+”.

The cabin is very comfortable with a huge deck that must have been about 20x16. The deck had a grill, a 3 burner cook stove, a big table, 8 deck chairs and is the best deck I've seen on a cabin.

It was a great trip and I’d love to go back again.

Nice job on that report!big wind n small planes don’t mix very well.

[Lovetofish]

Originally Posted by stjoeguy

Our trip last week to the Root Bay cabin of Slate Falls Outposts was a great success. Going through the border at Int. Falls/Ft. Frances was easy. The hardest part was scheduling the covid test 72 hours ahead and entering the info on the ArriveCan app. The actual border crossing was fairly simple. We waited in line about 25 minutes and then spent about 10 minutes with the border agent. His procedure was to look at the passports, then ask us to put our masks on, look at vaccination cards and then the covid test results. After that there were the usual questions about where we’re from, where we’re going, any weapons, how much booze, etc. Coming back the US questions were where have you been, where do you live, how do you know each other and welcome home.

Since we left home earlier in case the border was backed up, we got to Sioux Lookout about 3:30 and were able to fly in Friday afternoon rather than spend the night at the Slate Falls Outposts bunk house, which was great. We flew in on a twin engine Beechcraft 18. On the way out a Beaver arrived a half hour early and took all our gear out. Then a storm came through and the winds got very strong, so we had to wait 2.5 hours for a Cessna 208 Caravan to pick us up. It was a very bumpy ride back to Sioux Lookout and we landed in big rolling whitecaps. The wind was so strong that the pilot didn't turn the plane around to head back to the dock. Between drifting with the wind and the pilot adjusting the throttle and prop pitch, we backed up down the bay to the Slate Falls dock. I’ve never seen a pilot looking back over his shoulder while parallel parking a plane before.

The fishing was great! The “pin cushion” where the Root River flows out of Lake St. Joseph was excellent. Between the current flowing downstream and a fairly strong wind blowing upstream you pretty much stayed in one spot with slight adjustments. There were a lot of doubles there. That afternoon we went down the river for 35 minutes to a dam, parked the boats and walked a couple hundred yards through some tall grass to the other side of the dam. There you could stand on shore and pitch jigs out just beyond the rapids and get walleyes on just about every cast. We didn't get any big walleyes on the trip, with a 25” and a couple 24” being the largest, but we definitely caught a lot of fish. As usual, we didn’t fish northerns but caught some and had a lot of bite-offs. We landed some big ones, however, with a 35”, a 36” and a large one that went right through a hole in the bottom of the net. I hooked a monster that made a half dozen runs. We tried to net it once, but it was obvious that the net was only going to get the first 1/3 of the fish. I played it along the boat and my fishing partner tried to get a hand under the jaw. He was just getting a grip when a final flip cut the line. It was much bigger than the others and had to be 40+”.

The cabin is very comfortable with a huge deck that must have been about 20x16. The deck had a grill, a 3 burner cook stove, a big table, 8 deck chairs and is the best deck I've seen on a cabin.

It was a great trip and I’d love to go back again.

Nice report, thanks. So how low was the water?

[gordy28]

Awesome report!
We were there in 2020 and also loved it. We spent a lot of time at the Pin cushion and did the trip to the dam - both were incredible spots for walleye
Cheers
Andrew

[prov1800]

Originally Posted by stjoeguy

Our trip last week to the Root Bay cabin of Slate Falls Outposts was a great success. Going through the border at Int. Falls/Ft. Frances was easy. The hardest part was scheduling the covid test 72 hours ahead and entering the info on the ArriveCan app. The actual border crossing was fairly simple. We waited in line about 25 minutes and then spent about 10 minutes with the border agent. His procedure was to look at the passports, then ask us to put our masks on, look at vaccination cards and then the covid test results. After that there were the usual questions about where we’re from, where we’re going, any weapons, how much booze, etc. Coming back the US questions were where have you been, where do you live, how do you know each other and welcome home.

Since we left home earlier in case the border was backed up, we got to Sioux Lookout about 3:30 and were able to fly in Friday afternoon rather than spend the night at the Slate Falls Outposts bunk house, which was great. We flew in on a twin engine Beechcraft 18. On the way out a Beaver arrived a half hour early and took all our gear out. Then a storm came through and the winds got very strong, so we had to wait 2.5 hours for a Cessna 208 Caravan to pick us up. It was a very bumpy ride back to Sioux Lookout and we landed in big rolling whitecaps. The wind was so strong that the pilot didn't turn the plane around to head back to the dock. Between drifting with the wind and the pilot adjusting the throttle and prop pitch, we backed up down the bay to the Slate Falls dock. I’ve never seen a pilot looking back over his shoulder while parallel parking a plane before.

The fishing was great! The “pin cushion” where the Root River flows out of Lake St. Joseph was excellent. Between the current flowing downstream and a fairly strong wind blowing upstream you pretty much stayed in one spot with slight adjustments. There were a lot of doubles there. That afternoon we went down the river for 35 minutes to a dam, parked the boats and walked a couple hundred yards through some tall grass to the other side of the dam. There you could stand on shore and pitch jigs out just beyond the rapids and get walleyes on just about every cast. We didn't get any big walleyes on the trip, with a 25” and a couple 24” being the largest, but we definitely caught a lot of fish. As usual, we didn’t fish northerns but caught some and had a lot of bite-offs. We landed some big ones, however, with a 35”, a 36” and a large one that went right through a hole in the bottom of the net. I hooked a monster that made a half dozen runs. We tried to net it once, but it was obvious that the net was only going to get the first 1/3 of the fish. I played it along the boat and my fishing partner tried to get a hand under the jaw. He was just getting a grip when a final flip cut the line. It was much bigger than the others and had to be 40+”.

The cabin is very comfortable with a huge deck that must have been about 20x16. The deck had a grill, a 3 burner cook stove, a big table, 8 deck chairs and is the best deck I've seen on a cabin.

It was a great trip and I’d love to go back again.

Sounds like a great time

[pjshorthorn]

Glad you had a great trip. I hope to get a to Lake St. Joe one day. I’m sure it was relaxing and scenic. I’m counting the days for my next adventure.....30 days and counting. One of the best parts will be the drive along the north shore of Lake Superior. I’ll drive that part of the trip during the daytime in order to enjoy its full beauty.

PjShorthorn

[stjoeguy]

Originally Posted by Lovetofish

Nice report, thanks. So how low was the water?

I haven't been to that part of the lake before, so I have nothing to compare to, but the LCBW historical graphs indicate that it's about a half foot higher than the record low in 1981 for this time of year. Our pilot on the way out commented that he's never seen it so low.

[SweetD]

Thanks St Joe Guy, headed up to Arc Lake with Slate Falls next week. To say we are excited would be an understatement! Sat, 9/4-Mon, 9/13 should cure the “fix”.

[ziggyzag]

Thanks for the report!

[18Alaskan]

Awesome, Heading to Eagle Island in a couple weeks.