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Please scroll the entire page for reports on walleye, northern and smallmouth.
 Walleye
Season's Final Report-Weeks of September 5-12 and 12-19
Fantastic weather, fantastic fishing! Not sure which was better to be honest. The weather the ENTIRE month of September (so far to the date of this update 9/24) has been exceptionally beautiful. Warm, light winds, hardly a cloud in the sky--absolutely gorgeous. The fishing pretty much followed suite, although I would say numbers were down slightly from "normal" September figures. What was lacking in numbers was more than made up for in quality fish these two weeks. In fact, it may have been the best two weeks of the season for trophy fish. Just a few examples from this two week period:
Tim Halstead 28 1/2" and 25" walleye
Ron Andon 28" walleye
Pete Barrett 28" and 24" walleye
Mark Smith 27" walleye
JC Hinshaw 26" and 24" walleye
And MANY more in the 18-23" range. Add to this excellent trophy fishing the ever present and abundant 14-17" great eaters Wabby is known for and you have a great combination. Lot's of good eaters brought in during this time also with fish fry's in camp still going on at 9pm under the cloudless starlit skys.
Pike fishing remained very good during this period also as the stable weather seemed to spur the pike's aggressiveness also. Some samples from the last two weeks:
Greg Leffert 39" pike
Brian Barrett 38" pike
Mark Smith 36" pike
Tony Schippers 35" and 32" pike
Week of August 29-September 5
Well it finally happened. After waiting 15 weeks for summer to finally show up it FINALLY did, unfortunately to the detriment of the fishing. In this case better never than late, would have been much more appropriate as starting the month of September with high temps in the 80's (heat index of 90), bluebird sky days and NO wind a couple of days was again (as the weather has been all season) very uncharacteristic. Regardless of the weather, the fishing simply could not continue forever on the pace it had been on the last two weeks anyway. So how bad was it? Well it was back to the everyone caught fish, ate plenty, took home limits kind of week. One hundred fish mornings or evenings of the past two weeks were replaced with 10-30 fish mornings or evenings. Two of our new groups this week, Keith Messenger's crew from Waterloo, IA and Earl Gransee's gang from the twin cities area both plan to return next season which I think is a testament to the fact that fishing was "decent" AND they could recognize the POTENTIAL for the incredible quality of fishing that is possible here on Wabby especially with some "normal" weather. They also commented about how clean the camp and boats were, how nice the motors were etc. and yes, lest I forget, my smiling face always helps bring 'em back too! LOL
I didn't get a lot of information this week from our guests regarding walleye releases as much of my time in September is split with bear baiting and taking care of our hunters, but Gary DeGrote did release an 18 1/2" walleye, and Leroy Lindeman released two 19" eyes, along with his partner Norbert Day who released 20, 19 and 18 1/2" walleyes.
Fish were scattered up and down breaks in anywhere from 16 to 40 fow although some of the flats had good fishing from 14-20 fow.
Week of August 22-August 29
Even better yet. It's hard for me to write it and almost harder to comprehend but it really is true. This week was even better than the absolutely fantastic week of walleye fishing we had last week. It's much easier for me to be objective when you have a couple of groups that are "multi-weekers", who were here for both weeks, and that I can solicit their honest opinions too. Overall consensus was "as good as last week was, this week was better yet." And to make it even sweeter, the weather was dryer and overall much nicer. Now for the details!
Keith and Esther Augustine were joined in the third week of their stay by their son Andy. On Sunday (8/23), roughly from 8:30-11:00 am they caught 57 walleyes and had three on at a time several times. That's a fish roughly every 2 1/2 minutes. I guess that is what 32 years experience fishing out of the same camp will do for you! But wait. Andy and Jim Slagter along with friends Brian Grimes and Judd VandeVoort were here for just their second time (actually Judd's first) and had one evening Jim told me where the four of them caught 100 walleyes in an hour almost within a stone's throw of camp. I'm not even gonna mention the "obscene" numbers of trophy fish they caught on their two trips back to Lost Lake. Suffice it to say they took 12 dozen minnows both times they went and used every one of them (some twice or more) Want more? Don Thompson's annual group of 8 or 10 or 12 (this year 8, including three "newbies") caught over 1,000 walleyes for the week including Jon Clark's 19 1/2" walleye, Kevin Trimble's 21" walleye, Mel Rowley who had walleye of 24", 23", and 21" and Jim Brading who had a 24 1/2" and a 22".
Other notable releases for the week were Keith Augustine's 24", 22" and two 20's. Dan Reynolds a 20" and Jim Flick a 20" and Andy Slagter a 22". No word whether or not this fish came on an "Andy Rig"?????? There were numerous other fished released by Jerry and Sally Lundy and Jim and Andrea Klett over 18" this week also as well as LeRoy Richards' family.
The "Birthday Bar" was absolutely smoking this week as well as about a dozen other spots around camp. Two main bites continued this week: The "flats" and weed edge bite in about 14-15 fow and the deeper structure bite anywhere from 20-32 fow. Trolling and jigging both produced many fish this week. Look for the weed edge bite to start tapering off in the next couple of weeks as walleyes will continue to transition to deeper structure and follow baitfish.
Week of August 15-August 22
In a word: FANTASTIC!! Hands down one of the best weeks of the entire season. Morning, late morning, mid-day, mid-afternoon, early evening, evening it really didn't matter. Walleye (almost) everywhere and on most everything. The key: Some consistent weather. Not necessarily good weather mind you, but at least it was consistent. Basically, it rained every day (with the exception of today-Friday), but it really settled the fish in. Besides great numbers of fish this week, we returned to the "August norm" of many trophy fish over 18" as we saw lot's of 20, 21,22's etc this week and a handful more in the 24-26" range too. Overall, a week that we often consider "typical" here on Wabaskang WHEN things are right, with many, many limits reported this week. Two very good bites continued this week with weed edge fishing being extremely productive in 12-14 fow and deeper structure producing fish in 20-32 fow. Jigs and minnows/crawlers were very good as well as lindy-rigged Little Joe's and other spinners.
You know it is a good sign for the fishery when some of your 30 year+ guests are saying that it was one of their best weeks ever on Wabaskang! Max Grady's group from the Milford, IN area were guests again this year after missing last year and had a great trip. A couple of new guys in the group but it didn't slow them down any as they caught a BUNCH of walleyes including releasing some really nice ones over 20". Gary Peske's crew from Wisconsin had another great trip with us catching a lot of walleye and perch. Stoney and Bert, Don Boyer and John Ball were just a part of the "Iowa Invasion" which included Keith and Esther Augustine (this was their second of a three week stay), and Rod and Reed Dowells group. Sure gonna miss the daily shore lunch with Stoney, Bert, Don and John!
As a final testament to the quality of fishing this week, I should mention that Jerry and Sally Lundy were guests in camp this week, and yes EVEN Jerry caught some fish! So if there were any remaining doubts as to JUST how good the fishing was this last week, it should be clear now. ;-)
Week of August 8-August 15
Well the weather continues to be the big story so far in late July/August. CRAZY! is about the best way to quickly sum it up. This week started with cloudy, cool (fortunately not rainy) on Saturday, had a couple of mid week days with highs in the upper 80's and high humidity and ended on Thursday and Friday with thunderstorms and rain overnight and in the morning but then beautiful by afternoon. Ironically, one of the best days of fishing the entire week was Friday after some heavy thunderstorms rolled through in the overnight hours Thursday. Go figure!
The walleye fishing was again a little on the "streaky" side this week. As an example, Paul DeJong's annual group of four from Pella, IA had a great day after arriving in camp early Saturday morning. The week started off on a great note with them catching over 100 walleyes for the day. Sunday through Thursday was tougher for them especially mid-day, but they still caught plenty to eat during this time. On Friday (after the storms) they caught another 75 or so walleye for the day. That's just the kind of week it was--sometimes great, sometimes good, sometimes slow--but then again that's fishing AND if this is as bad as it gets then I don't think we really have much to complain about.
Some first time groups in camp had good trips again this week including Geoff Fleenor and Dave Fuller who had a very good week of multi-species fishing. Not really "focusing" on anything but still catching a good mixed bag of walleye, perch, northern and smallies. Jeff Higgins crew of five also were first timers to camp and put together pretty solid numbers of fish given the conditions noted above for the week.
Most days the mid-day bite was still a little tougher, HOWEVER, a couple of groups did have some very impressive mid-day walleye catches during the week including first timers Geoff Fleenor and Dave Fuller that would indicate things are starting to "get back to normal" around Wabby. Mornings and evenings were again very hot as several of our weedbeds close to camp were on fire again the last hour and a half of daylight producing quick and easy limits of great eating 14-17" walleyes with some fish up to 22" taken.
Dave Getsfried's crew were the only ones to take advantage of the trophy action back at Lost Lake this week. They went twice and caught 35 walleye on their first trip and 27 the second time. Almost every fish caught was bigger than 18" and most were in the 20-24" range.
Both weedbeds (12-14 fow) and rocks (20-24 fow) produced fish this week with jigs/minnows and crawlers being good as well as lindy rigged floating jigs and spinners. One group did take advantage of some windblown shores by casting cranks and taking some nice fish over 18".
Week of August 1-August 8
Another crazy and very unseasonable week of weather around here again still had the walleye a little dazed and confused during the mid-day periods this week. Much like last week however, the evening bite (more often than not) was very hot, generally resulting in pretty easy limits of fish throughout the week. A couple of groups in camp did counter the tougher mid-day bite by dragging spinners in deeper water (20-25 ft) and did pretty well on mid-day eyes fishing deeper rock structure in Mean Lake and elsewhere. Otherwise, the best fishing seemed to continue to be around weed edges in about 12 fow. Both jigs/minnows and jig/crawlers and spinners produced fish.
Raphael and I got out Thursday night with Darren in Cabin 1 and after a little searching found a good pocket of hot fish just outside a weedbed in 12-15 fow in West Bay. From about 7:45-9:15 the three of us caught and mostly released about 30-40 walleyes fishing jigs and minnows. Many smaller fish in the mix, but a decent number of good eater size fish too.
Lost Lake as it has been most of the year provided several groups an excellent combination of both quality and quantity of fish as we had several groups go back and most were quite successful catching 30-50 fish a day most over 18" and many in the 20-24" range.
Week of July 25-August 1
Well at least something improved around here this week....but it certainly wasn't the weather. The FISHING (or should I say catching) however did! Despite continued cool temperatures, quite a bit of rain this week and just generally unstable weather patterns all week the walleye fishing did show signs of kicking back into high gear. The mid-day bite still remained a little tougher most days, BUT it was well compensated for by good numbers of aggressive and cooperative fish in the evenings. Not many folks in camp were up early enough this week to really make a statement about the morning bite which can be some of the best fishing of the day.
Lost Lake was absolutely incredible again this week with three different groups going back this week (one group went two days). Marty Tippin, his wife and kids (Amy and AJ) went back for a little additional wilderness adventure and were rewarded by catching 42 fish (mostly all walleyes over 18") including Amy catching the first fish of the day "in about 3 seconds fishing" a nice 22" walleye. Ron Lorman and his brothers Doug and Dave from Walkerton, IN also had a couple of great experiences back there this week including today when they reported a 100 fish day of which only about 3 walleyes were under 18" and the majority were in excess of 20".
Week of July 18-July 25
Unstable weather again this week, combined with the continuing hatch of mayflys made this one of our tougher weeks for walleye all season. Of course, "tougher" means everyone caught plenty of walleye to eat this week and take home limits if they chose to, but compared to the numbers of fish caught in the previous weeks it was slower. Ron Lemke's group from Hampton, IA was with us for the first time and they mentioned that they easily caught enough fish to eat every day. Fred Vargo caught a 20" walleye from the docks again this week and Tom Bauters family from Akron, IN had a great trip (first timers) and caught plenty of walleye to eat this week and take home their 7 person limit and at last count were over 200 perch to go home. For the first time all year, I could honestly say worms outproduced minnows this week AND spinners seemed to be more effective than jigs. Best water depths remain around 12-14 fow, but on wind blow shorelines the bite was often in less than 10 fow.
Week of July 11-July 18
The weather towards the end of the week really started to hinder the hours on the water for guests this week as strong winds and quite a bit of rain started to move in on Tuesday and stayed around. We are so fortunate to have good fishing close to camp that even in conditions such as these guests are able to get out, fish and actually still catch a lot of fish. The narrows continue to be a close and very productive spot for us for walleye, northern and now of course those big smallies! For a few folks in camp the "fishing close to camp" was even better, as my nephew Joel caught and released a 19" walleye from the docks, lost another one he estimated to be in the 20" range and Mark Bullard from Milwaukee told me on Weds he dropped a jig and crawler over the side of the boat as they pulled into their slip and he caught a 17" walleye. Maybe I should eliminate boats and motors from the fishing packages?? Ok, maybe not!
Wifey and I got out again for a couple of hours on Monday night this week, and the fishing for us continues to make me believe this is one of the best years we have had on Wabby ever and I have been fishing this lake since 1992. We went out to one of my favorite Mean Lake spots that I hadn't fished all year and started fishing jigs and minnows in 9-12 fow at 8:10. At 8:50, I put the eighth walleye (all between 16-18") on the stringer for our limit. During that time we also released another 4-5 walleye. We stayed and fished until 9:30, releasing another 25 walleye during that time. This was all within about a 200 foot stretch of shoreline and one of us almost constantly had a fish on during the evening with three doubleheaders to boot. As the mayfly's were hatching around us, I was thinking to myself...." and I offer a 10% discount in July because the fishing is "slower" yea right! This night at least fishing was as good or better than any night in May, June, August or September.
No one in camp had any trouble this week filling out their limits on walleye. Mark Bullard's crew of three had as Mark mentioned during the week "some of the best fishing they have ever had anywhere" including one afternoon where they actually caught and released about 25 smallies from under the docks. They did very well on walleye, big perch and smallies for a crew that had never fished on Wabby before. My brother and his three sons were up (a couple for the first time) and also did very well. At last count they had 94 jumbo perch to take home, plenty of walleye, and absolutely tore up the smallies a couple of days. Trevor, the youngest (13) caught about a dozen right from below the docks.
Jeff Norman's crew of seven from Arizona and Wisconsin caught a bunch of northern (as they usually do) including several in the 40" class and Bob and Karen Stutzman probably win the award for the most hours on the water (rain or shine) as you couldn't keep those two off the water for anything.
Week of July 4-July 11
Fishing this week overall remained very good. Probably a little slower than previous weeks, but at the same time several groups in camp would report to me in the morning about catching 20-40 walleyes the night before at various hotspots on the north end of the lake near camp. Two groups returned to fish with us again this year after missing the 2007 & 2008 seasons and both had excellent trips and caught a lot of fish. The Schum group mentioned they caught even more fish (especially walleye) on this their second trip to camp. The Pyka group also reported very good fishing throughout the week. Steve and Julie Morgan had another fantastic week in camp with us again this year and since Julie didn't listen to me when I told her to STOP outfishing her hubby, now she isn't invited along next year and Steve is coming with a group of six guys! Can't say I didn't tell you so Jules! Oh, just so Julie doesn't get all the accolades for the week--Steve did catch and release a hog 29" walleye this week too. Way to go Steve!
The weedbeds around the lake continue to develop now after a very slow start this spring/summer and are producing good numbers of walleyes for those drifting, trolling or jigging on the edges around 12 fow. Bigger walleye seem to be a little deeper around more classic rock structure and were susceptible to the same presentations although a couple of guys in camp had some success with deep diving cranks and blade baits.
Week of June 27-July 4
On the heels of last week, any report is going to pale by comparison--but suffice it to say walleye fishing was still very good at the least. A little slower in camp this week, so not as much fishing pressure to begin with but we still saw a lot of fish caught and brought into camp. My wife, Milissa and stepdaughter Sara (9) arrived on June 22nd and we got out for just a couple of hours in the narrows and easily limited out in about an hour and a half. Sara did most of the damage, outfishing both Mom and me about 3 to 1 as it seemed like she almost constantly had a fish on. Not to be outdone, I quickly figured out a way to "eliminate" the competition and Milissa and I went back out on Friday July 3rd and in about an hour had 8 very nice eater walleye on the stringer and in the next hour caught and released about another 25 'eyes including four times where we both had fish on at the same time. What a blast that was and a great reminder of when it's right here on Wabby it can be as good as anywhere.
Other groups in camp included former camp owner John Morgan, a couple of his sons, grandson Pat Moss and family friend. Pat told me he was telling himself all the way up to "not expect the fishing to be as good as last year's terrific trip". Well by Wednesday, he was telling me it was better than the fishing last year! These guys fish HARD, but caught a lot of fish of every species including some trophy fish of all species, including their day back at Lost Lake where they caught and released about 100 trophy walleyes for the day.
A couple of new groups to camp included Frank Macknick and his boys from South Bend, IN and Wisconsin who had a great trip and caught a lot of fish for first timers including the biggest walleyes they ever caught. One of the adult boys also mentioned that they caught more fish in a couple of days here than their entire week trip last year.
Scott, Wes and Andy Huber from West Lafayette, IN were also with us for the first time this year and had a great trip.
Special mention goes out to Chris and Rita Szweda who first of all had the patience again this year to bring my daughters (Megan, Emily and Ally) up from Northern Indiana, and who secondly just caught the living heck out of fish while they were here. Rita of course outfished Chris about 6 to 1 during the trip, but I have to admit Chris stayed a good sport about the whole thing including some pretty crummy weather this week which didn't seem to slow these two down one bit. I actually stood in the kitchen one night with the binoculars watching them fish the narrows out in front of camp one evening in some northeast winds about 20-25 mph and just HAMMER walleyes. One of only a couple of groups to go back to Lost Lake this week, Chris and Rita went back for a little over a half day and caught 33 beautiful walleye of which Chris said 3 were under 18" and most everything else was 20"+.
Week of June 20-June 27
Well this certainly isn't the report I expected to be writing for the last week of June but here it is on the straight and skinny. This may very well have been the best week of fishing we have had the entire year so far and seeing as how several of the previous weeks were outstanding that is really saying a lot. Walleye this week were absolutely abundant again with several of our groups in camp commenting that this was one of if not their best year ever fishing Wabby. Bob Stromberg (one of the camps nearly 40 year veterans) group of four caught 1,222 fish for the week! This includes walleye, northern, smallmouth and perch however the number is comprised primarily of walleye and northern. From their daily fish count sheet:
June 20-155 fish
June 21-193 fish
June 22-306 fish
June 23-190 fish
June 24-133 fish
June 25-141 fish
June 26-104 fish
Every fish in this total was caught on Wabaskang, less than 15 minutes from camp and also included 10 walleyes over 20", 5 northern over 30" and according to Bob a "bunch more" walleyes over 18". Not bad fishing for a week that saw lots of sunshine and very warm temperatures.
Cory Dauner's group of six from the Ada, MN/Twin Cities area also had an incredible week of fishing and said this was their groups best fishing ever on Wabby. These guys had a couple of 100 walleye mornings or afternoons and also gave me what they considered to be a conservative fish count for the week of between 1200-1400 fish for the six in their group including two first timers to Wabby.
A couple of new groups also did very well last week as Garth Holcomb, his father "Buzz" and brother Lowell caught quite a few fish for "first-timers" and overall were very favorably impressed with how clean and efficient the camp is run in addition to the quality fishing. These guys
also loaded up on some nice perch too. Nathan Earhart from Delafield, Wi was in camp this week with his father Chuck who used to fish out of this camp back in the 80's. Apparently Chuck didn't forget much about fishing Wabaskang as these guys including Nathan's seven year old son had a great trip and caught a bunch of fish too.
Best water depths varied anywhere from 8-14 feet and I was amazed how many good walleye we got this week in about 8-9 fow. Jigs were very productive this week again, but spinners had their best week of the year so far I would say and for the first time all year I would also say plastics caught as many or more fish than live bait did. Funny this week how the bite really alternated back and forth between minnows and crawlers according to the Dauner group who fished both with great success, but noted how different times and different conditions would cause one to heat up and the other to go cold.
Week of June 13-June 20
Before the fishing report, I want to mention that Ron Goodin was the winner of the Peffley's Wilderness Camp (aka Bushwood Country Club) third annual long drive contest this week. Nearly the whole camp participated again this year in this event with a pretty noticeable range of skill levels. Thanks again to Mike "Vinnie" Vindhurst, Brian Lux and the rest of the crew for the laughs as a great time was had by all participants. Gotta go practice my swing! I will try to get a few pictures posted in the Camp Photos album later.
If you have ever been in camp with us you have heard me say it a zillion times: "The worse the weather is for the fishermen/women the better it is for the fishing". Unfortunately the opposite holds true too. Summer arrived this week (not sure what happened to Spring) in full force with LOT's of sunshine and temperatures in the upper 70's to mid-80's with a heat index some days around 90. Even with the dramatic weather swing and water temps rising from about 55 degrees on June 12th to around 67 degrees by June 16th, the fishing was still actually pretty good for the guys in camp that were willing to work a little harder for them. Granted the mid-day bite was slower, but early mornings and evenings remained for the most part very productive this week. Ron Goodin's annual group of eight limited out (again) on walleye and northern, Warren Tester's group noted the fishing was slower this year (especially early in the week) than previous years, but had their best night ever with us June 17th out in Gawley's Bay when the walleyes were very cooperative. Overall I would say the fish have adjusted to the dramatic change in the weather and are picking back up again. Best fishing remains in 12-14 fow, with jig/minnow combos doing well with lindy-rigged crawler harnesses also taking fish. Live bait definitely outproduced artificials again this week with minnows being best and worms (just my honest opinion) being a pretty close second. The new groups in camp this week also put together some very good trips with plenty of walleyes to eat and take home. As has been the trend all season long we continue to have guests reporting the release of a lot of trophy fish over 18" and many again this week in the 20-24" range from the main lake. Ron Goodin had the big walleye of the week, a very nice 28" beauty which he released.
Pat Dudding and son Joe attended camp from the St. Joseph, Mi area with a couple of friends this week also and had a fantastic trip. This trip was a high school graduation present for Joe and did he ever make the most of it. All told, this first time group of four caught and released over 30 walleyes in excess of 20" and Joe also released a 35" northern.
Wes Zimmerman's crew of seven, including his son Ryan worked hard and caught plenty of fish on Wabby, but the highlight of their trip had to be their second walk to portage adventure to Lost Lake. Here's why we call it fishing: On Monday, Wes and Ryan went over to Lost Lake (fish still adjusting to the sunniest, warmest weather of the year) and caught 4 walleyes from this catch and release gem of a lake. They returned to Lost Lake on Wednesday around 11 am and proceeded to run out of minnows after catching and releasing 63 trophy walleye between them. They walked the trail back to their camp boat (in 8 minutes incidentally--think they wanted to get back on the fish?) returned to camp for a bunch more minnows and to retrieve the rest of their crew to go back to Lost Lake. Wes and Ryan stopped their boat count at 100 trophy walleye, while the other 5 guys proceeded to catch over 100 walleyes themselves! All told for the day they caught and released over 200 walleyes, almost all of which were over 18" and many between 20-24" including eight year old Cody Weaver who caught almost 30 walleyes himself with a best of 24". Way to go Cody!!!!! This is twice in two weeks guests have come back from Lost Lake claiming "that was the best day of fishing I have ever had in my life".
Mike Vindhurst's party of six had a similar experience to Lost Lake yesterday (Thurs) and one of our new groups from around the Grand Rapids, Mi area had a great day back there today (Friday).
Week of June 6-June 13
Despite some pretty crummy weather again this week (rain, cool temps and winds from the East) it was actually another very good week for the walleye fishing. In fact, we had a couple of new groups this week that had excellent trips and I would say even outfished some of our veteran groups. Russ, Woody and Mark Glime from the Green Bay area had an excellent trip with us (their first) and caught many fish including a number of lakers back at the falls and a fantastic 100 walleye day back at Lost Lake. (unfortunately they told me a couple of the walleyes they caught there were under 18" :-) ) Dan Smith, his son Justin and his friend Lucas along with Garth Merrick had a very good first time experience with us also and they too had an outstanding day back on Lost Lake (in excess of 75 fish for the day) in addition to catching a lot of fish here on the main lake.
Water temps continue to "hover" around 55 degrees, still cooler than normal for this time of year, making minnows the bait of choice. Worms did catch some fish this week, but minnows were by far the best producer. Best fishing remains in around 12 fow with classic structure starting to hold fish now in bigger numbers. I even got out for a couple of hours last week myself with Jerry Lundy and we caught and released about 35-40 walleyes out in Mean Lake in about 2 1/2 hours. The big lake bite is still a little behind schedule with the late Spring, but Mean Lake and Gawleys Bay are producing pretty consistently. Jigs still are outproducing spinners, but a couple of groups pulled spinners and caught fish too of course. Smaller profiles and slower presentations still seem to be working best, BUT I had a couple of walleyes the other night when I was out literally try to rip the rod out of my hands so that is a good sign of the 'eyes becoming increasingly aggressive as the water begins to warm.
Week of May 30-June 6
And the beat goes on. Another fantastic week of fishing on Wabaskang for most guests in camp this week. After some colder weather (and resultant dip in water temps AGAIN), the sunshine returned to warm both the fishermen and the water to around 55 degrees in most areas. The walleye bite fluctuated some with the variable weather but overall it was a very strong consistent bite this week. Several new groups in camp this week most of whom did very well, albeit after a couple of days to "figure it out". In fact two groups from Northern Indiana had incredible weeks! The Palen group from South Bend (first time ever to Canada) caught a bunch of fish this week including James Palen Jr's 39" northern and his dad Jim senior's 27 1/2" walleye both caught within 10 minutes of camp. Ken Sherry's group of four from the South Bend area also had a great trip. Veteran's of many fly in trips out of Red Lake, these guys were very very favorably impressed with the camp and the QUALITY of fishing here on Wabby. Jon Earll and his dad Dave, from the Madison area also had a great experience to camp and caught a lot of fish.
The walleye bite remained best on jig/minnow combos, although slip bobbering was very effective for some guys this week too. Some spinners took fish also as well as cranks, but the most consistent bite was on jig/minnow combos fished in around 10 fow. Our evening hotspot was absolutely SMOKIN' this week as boats were coming into camp reporting 20-50 fish per boat in just a couple of hours. Overall, the size of the walleye again this week was very impressive with lot's of guys releasing many fish caught close to camp over 20" including many 22, 24, 26 and Jim Palen's 27 1/2" walleye.
Week of May 23-30
Wow what a difference a week makes. Two days of sunshine last weekend resulted in a water temp rise from about 44 degrees in most main lake areas to anywhere from 51-54 degrees in just two days! Talk about lighting a fire under the fish, things really took off this week. Walleye fishing was fantastic with the warming water, fish are starting to re-group post spawn dispersal and becoming more aggressive with each passing day. Everyone in camp this week had excellent walleye fishing (and as usual within 10 minutes from camp) primarily on jig/minnows however casting cranks to shallow points and old weed/reed edges were taking fish also. A couple new groups in camp this week and they have done excellent for first timers to Wabby including the father/son foursome from the Milwaukee area that are enjoying their fourth Canadian fishing trip together who were telling me they have never experienced such good walleye fishing with so many fish in excess of 18". This has been a good week for numbers and good size fish to boot as we have seen many over 20" caught (most released) this week including one group that caught and released twelve walleye over 24". On a related note, perch fishing for a couple groups in camp remained excellent again this week too with many fish around 12".
Week of May 16-23
The Saturday opener greeted us with about 3" of fresh snow and obviously cold temperatures. Throw in some pretty strong winds, and suffice it to say conditions were less than optimal for the walleye opener. The weather showed glimpses throughout the week of improving, but overall the weather conditions were pretty tough the entire week. Water temps on Wabaskang dropped from around 45 degrees prior to opening week to about 40 degrees on the opener. The weather and cold water did put a damper on big numbers of walleye coming into camp, but everyone in camp did eat fish every day and took home their limits. The walleye are post-spawn, but not grouped up in great numbers yet, so catches mainly consisted of a fish or three here, a fish or three there etc. Jig fishermen did well by fishing jig/minnows very, very slow with casting and jigging definitely taking more fish than trolling. An alternative that seemed to work well for our annual group from Logansport, IN was to fish blade baits, swimbaits and cranks faster and they did well on fish over 18" with this approach complaining at one point during the week that they couldn't catch any walleye small enough to eat. With some stable weather and warmer water, the walleye fishing is in my opinion very close to being on fire.
 Northern Pike
Week of August 29-September 5
Nothing real big this week on northern, lot's of eaters with some bigger fish released including Don Rink's 40" northern, Greg Murphy released 35" and 33" northerns, Gary DeGrote a 33" northern, Leroy Lindeman a 33" northern and George Pondo a 30" northern.
Week of August 22-August 29
Pushed to the "back burner" somewhat due to the incredible walleye fishing again this week, the pike still made their presence felt. Outside of the Augustine's several other big pike were recorded this week including Dom Eramo's (part of Don Thompson's group) 40" he caught on his first day in camp on his first trip ever to Canada and Mel Rowley's 36" pike. Now for the Augustine report. Keith stayed for three weeks and caught 32 northerns over 30" this year. Not one of the best years by far, but not terrible either. Included in the count were 2-41", 3-38", 3-37", 2-36" and 3-35" pike. Andy (only here for one week) had 1-41", 1-35", 1-32", 2-30" pike.
Week of August 15-August 22
Pike fishing continued to be excellent again this week too as guests reported lot's of action on great eating fish up to the slot size of 27.5" mostly while jigging for walleye or pulling spinners. Frank Lade and his fishing partner did a lot of casting for northern and also did very well on numbers. Big fish for the week was John Niebuhr's 40" northern, while Reed Dowell had a 38" northern, Sid Dowell had a 36" northern and Bert Stonoff caught a 34" northern. (all released)
At last count Keith Augustine about mid-week of his second week in camp reported his count was 21 northern so far over 30", numbers
hampered no doubt by the amount of time capitalizing on the excellent walleye fishing this week. Keith's son, Andy will be in next week to join his parents so their pike numbers should rise.
Week of August 8-August 15
Most of the fishing effort this week was directed to walleye fishing but there were still a handful of pike over 30" caught this week. Ed Gerwels caught a 34" pike, Geoff Fleenor had a 35" pike, Dave Fuller had a 30" pike, Joe Reid had a 34" pike and Keith Augustine caught six fish between 30-39" on Friday alone.
If this weather stabilizes just a little, I really expect things to get even better for both walleye and northern fishermen.
Week of August 1-August 8
I had mentioned a couple weeks ago that some of the best big pike fishing of the season was soon to be upon us and it really started up strong this week. Excellent action this week on pike overall and most certainly our best week so far of the year with big fish. Best fish of the week was Dave Faeth's giant 45" northern. His wife Carol also caught and released a 36" and 30" northern. Bob Pellow has a good week with big fish catching two 39 1/2" northern (thanks Bob for being honest- I would have called them 40's)!, a 35" northern and three 29's. Starr Hartson and his son Nick each had 36" northern, Harold Ehrenreich had a 36" fish and several other guests too reported fish in the 30-35" range. All in all a very good week.
Deeper weed edges in about 16 fow seemed to be the ticket for bigger fish although some big roamers were found fishing off shore structure (rocks) for walleye.
Week of July 25-August 1
Lots and lots of pike again this week with several in the 30-35" range this week. Only one group in camp spent much time dedicated to pike fishing however.
Week of July 18-July 25
Absolutely plentiful again this week were the good eater pike up to 27.5" (slot). Very aggressive around weedbeds for both walleye fishermen with jigs or pulling spinners and susceptible to crankbaits, spoons and spinners casted or trolled over the weedtops or edges. Several fish in the 30-35" range were taken this week in addition to the smaller eaters. Big fish for the week was Kathy Dummer's beautiful 40" northern. This was one of the healthiest, well fed northerns I have seen all year--very impressive fish. See photo here.The best big northern fishing of the year should be upon us soon for those guests who target them.
Week of July 11-July 18
Despite the weather which made it tough going the second half of the week, the pike bite remained pretty good this week. Jeff Norman's crew spent a lot of time casting for northern and were rewarded with several fish around the 40" mark. Jeff said prior to the weather turning bad they were on pace to surpass last years pike totals, but again the weather cut into everyones fishing time this week. Cabbage weeds are the key in locating northern right now, as any bay, flat etc. with cabbage basically has some pike around it including some of the bigger fish.
Week of July 4-July 11
Dave McCullough (part of the Schum group) who resides in Albuquerque, NM had a good week fishing for pike with the biggest being a 35" and a 38" which he released. Several other fish in the 30-35" range were also caught and released this week by guests. Big crankbaits fished on the outside edges of the emerging cabbage weeds continue to be the best for the bigger northern-although the "lucky' walleye jig fishermen continue to catch a lot of northern too including some in the 30"+ range.
Week of June 27-July 4
The unpredictable weather last week slowed up the pike fishing some this week especially for the bigger fish. John Morgan's crew with grandson Pat Moss did catch several pike in the 35-39" range however. Most other guests caught some fish up to 30" with a lot of action on the normal eaters.
Week of June 20-June 27
Pike, as they have been all season, were plentiful again this week with lot's of action for groups who were primarily targeting walleye. Extremely aggressive this week, the pike could be found just about anywhere emerging cabbage was present. I expect some of the best BIG pike fishing of the season is just ahead as the weedbeds finally begin to fill out around the lake.
Week of June 13-June 20
Well the arrival of summer sure did nothing to slow down the northern fishing this week as it was fantastic again. Another week where they just seemed to be everywhere and willing to strike most anything you threw in the water to them. Very good catches of under slot size eater fish again this week and also some very good trophy fish over 30" including a couple released by part of Tom Foley's crew from the Granger, IN area. Scott Foley had a 32" northern he released and Tate Foley had a 33" northern this week. In addition to some others, Ron Goodin also released a 38" northern and first timer Dave Smit released a very nice 40" northern this week.
Week of June 6-June 13
Pike fishing remained very good also this week. Not as good as the previous week I would say as they really feasted a week ago, but still good. A lot of good eater pike this week, but Ron Bergfeld caught and released a 36" northern and Woody Glime had a nice 34" northern he released. Most of the effort this week was on groups concentrating on walleyes so the pike catches were incidental. Stoney and Burt had plenty of eater pike for us for the daily shore lunch they do here in camp as well as a good mess of walleyes for lunch too.
Week of May 30-June 6
As good as the walleye fishing was this week, I think I still have to give the nod to the best fishing to the pike. Unbelievable action this week reported from guests on these toothy eating machines! I should have know it was gonna be a good week when within about an hour of arriving in camp on Saturday, Ryan Paruch caught a 12 pound northern while fishing from "Welcome Rock" right here in camp. Not a bad way to kick off your 2009 trip! According to the guests this week, "you can't find a spot on this lake, where you can't catch northern". Although not all "trophy" fish, there were a lot of very healthy, fat just under slot fish in the 25-27.5 inch range caught for eating. In addition, a number of trophy fish over 30" were caught again this week including several in the 33-40" range including James Palen Jr's 39" northern and Eric Wroblewski's 40" northern and Tom VanHeesbeke had a 39: northern he released also. Ironically, the biggest fish this week were caught by walleye fishermen on jigs, bobbers etc.
Week of May 23-30
Similar to the walleye report, pike fishing was also excellent this week and they seem to be just about everywhere you fish. Lot's of casting this week for northern with cranks and spoons, but walleye fishermen reported plenty of northern on jigs/minnows too. Lot's of fish to eat under slot and real good numbers this week of fish over 30" also including several in the 35-40" range.
Week of May 16-23
As usual the pike seemed to be unaffected by the adverse weather with good action reported pretty much all week on northerns. Fishing much of the same water as the walleye fishermen--we saw good numbers of pike in excess of 30" this week including two 35's, a 38" and a couple 40's. In addition the eater pike were abundant also with good numbers of fish in the 4-10 lb range this week also.
 Smallmouth Bass
Week of August 15-August 22
Not much effort from guests this week in targeting smallmouth. Max Grady's group did catch a handful of smallies, but otherwise not much time spent fishing for them this week.
Week of August 8-August 15
Not a lot of real heavy pressure on the smallies this week, but a few guys in camp couldn't resist dedicating some effort towards them. Mike Gerwels spent some time most every morning and evening targeting them, and I never got around to asking Mike how many he caught for the week, but every morning he had a big smile on his face and a couple of stories about some great topwater smallie action. Geoff Fleenor and Dave Fuller found some cooperative smallies too during the week and everyone who got a few of them all agreed on one thing: "these smallies are huge!" Big, fat, healthy and mean does a pretty good job of describing the smallmouth and they provide a great way to supplement our excellent walleye and pike fishing. Topwater baits fished tight to reed beds, minnow crankbaits and tube jigs all took fish this week as the smallies are still in fairly shallow water (<8 ft) relating to reed beds and rocks located in the reeds.
Week of August 1-August 8
Just about every fish caught this week was 17" and better although not many folks spent a lot of time for smallies those who did were rewarded with some excellent action and certainly some incredible fights. Darren Backen probably fished the hardest for smallies (which was still a fairly limited amount) and caught 15-20 fish for the week. Other guests tinkered with the smallies some and although didn't catch fish in numbers, did catch as I mentioned quality fish.
Week of July 25-August 1
The smallies are starting to spread out a little bit more now resulting in the numbers being down a little this week from the previous few weeks. However, what was lacking in quantity this week was certainly made up for in quality as guests were reporting fish over 18" being caught and released this week and some "near misses" on fish estimated even bigger.
Week of July 18-July 25
Again, incredible smallmouth fishing. If it isn't the action on 2-4 pounders right under the camp docks, its pounding 3-5 pound fish within a 10 minute boat ride from camp. Baits and colors almost seem unimportant as the smallies are just MAD. Put it in front of them (if they haven't been terribly pressured) and it is FISH ON! Some really big fish again this week, most guests releasing them. Mike Dummer had the big smallie for the week, a very nice 20" fish! The Peffley girls probably caught about 10 of them this week from under the docks on live crawlers and slip bobbers--what fun that is for a kid! Okay, okay--Dad got a kick out of helping them wrestle these bruisers too.
Week of July 11-July 18
Another incredible week of smallie fishing around the north end of Wabby. Besides all the hogs caught from under the docks, most guests last week reported catching good numbers of smallmouth in many of the reed/rock hotspots close to camp. Casting crankbaits was good for smallies as well as plastic tubes, grubs, worms etc. Just about everything last week was 16"+ with quite a few fish in the 19-20" range including Sean Chesterfield's 19 1/2" smallie.
Week of July 4-July 11
Well if I didn't own a calendar, I could tell you July is here simply from the incredible smallmouth bite that happens from right under the camp docks every year beginning right around the first week of July. This year is no exception although they were just beginning to show up in numbers by weeks end. This should provide kids (young and old alike) some great fun for the next week or two before they move on as they usually do. In the meantime, guests have a ball fighting these hogs and putting them back for someone else to wrestle with later in the week or next.
Week of June 27-July 4
Several groups in camp tied into some smallmouth this week (sort of by accident) with fish up to 19" reported. Again, John Morgan's family crew had one excellent day of smallmouth fishing catching many smallies up to 19".
Week of June 13-June 20
Wes Zimmerman's crew (after terrorizing the Lost Lake walleye) spent their last night in camp out in Gawley's Bay pitching rubber leaches to smallmouth and found about 20 very cooperative bronzebacks that made a nice topper to another great week in camp. Eight year old Cody Weaver also got in on the action with Wes and BOTH of his grandfathers and caught several including an 18" beauty.
Week of June 6-June 13
Another week with very limited pressure on smallmouth. Did have a couple of guests report catching a couple of nice fish in the 18-19" range by accident, but no dedicated effort again for this species this week. The smallmouth should be very close to their spawn now (especially with warmer weather and sunshine in the forecast) to warm the water, so I look for the post spawn bite to pick up and get going here very soon.
Week of May 30-June 6
With the tremendous walleye and pike fishing this week, the smallmouth were given a much needed (after the pounding last week) rest. No one in camp really went out and targeted the smallies consistently this week, but several guys in camp did get a few fish ranging from 16-19" mostly on crankbaits and around the rock shelves we fish here on the north end of the lake.
Week of May 23-30
Smallmouth like the rest of the fishery really came to life this week with the warming water. Incredible catches reported by several groups in camp this week and some real good fish too. Several boats reported catching 20,30,40 smallies a day some days this week in some of our hotspots around camp mostly on crankbaits, but plastics took some fish too. Lots of smallmouth over 16" this week and many in the 18-20" range also. Lot's of excited fishermen this week who were thrilled to be able to supplement their outstanding walleye and northern fishing with some excellent action from these scrappy fella's. Our annual group from the Wichita, KS area left our smallmouth with some aching mouths by weeks end as they caught and released over 200 smallies during the week!
Week of May 16-23
Only one group in camp targeting the smallies this week, and on a limited basis at that, but they did very well on these Wabby footballs. I will try to get some pictures posted soon.
Lake Trout and Perch
Week of August 15-August 22
Like the smallmouth, not much effort from guests this week on perch with the exception of Gary Peske's crew from Wisconsin who did very well a couple of days on big jumbo perch fishing areas close to camp.
Week of August 8-August 15
Like the smallies, not as heavily pressured this week although Geoff Fleenor and Dave Fuller caught quite a few during the week and some really nice ones at that as well as Jeff Higgins crew. Slip bobbers and small jigs tipped with crawlers or a minnow were the ticket.
Week of August 1-August 8
Despite some incredible catches on perch the last few weeks, most guests this week passed on doing much perch fishing so they would have a chance to recuperate. We did have a few guests who fished perch and did decent on numbers catching 25-50 fish for the week.
Week of July 25-August 1
Perch fishing remains absolutely fantastic for those dedicating some effort towards them and showing just a little bit of patience. Perch, like all other fish will turn on and off and move around too. Ron Lorman's family of four who were with us for their third year did have to show some patience, move around a little etc. but Ron stated they easily caught over 1,000 perch this week! Of course not all of them were the great big ones, but they went home with their 200 perch of which almost all were between 9-13". Another group in camp mentioned some excellent perch fishing when the sun (what little of it we saw this week) dipped behind the clouds and basically a non-existent bite when the sun was out.
Week of July 18-July 25
The perch fishing which was outstanding last week, I think was even better this week for those who tried for them. As mentioned earlier, Tom Bauter's family had over 200 to take home at last count including some absolute hogs in the 12-13" range. A couple of other groups "tinkered" with the perch and easily caught 30-75 fish. Small jigs tipped with minnows or crawler pieces fished on flat line or bobber was good although the Bauters were trolling with crawler harnesses this week and just tearing them up. Best water depth for the perch remains in 3-6 feet.
Week of July 11-July 18
Similar to the smallmouth fishing, the perch fishing was also outstanding (again given the crummy weather from Tues on). Many groups spent a few hours here and there targeting perch and did well taking home anywhere from 50-150 of these great eating 9-13" jumbos. Crawler pieces fished on small jigs and slip bobbers seemed to be the best around reed beds and cabbage in 3-6 fow.
Week of June 27-July 4
Pretty much every group in camp had some success on perch this week some without spending much effort at it to be honest. Catches of 12-20 big jumbos were pretty easy to come by this week with some better numbers for those more specifically targeting the perch. Chris and Rita Szweda spent a couple of hours each day perch fishing, sorted thru a handful of smaller fish and typically would come in with around 30-40 real nice perch in the 10"+ range with many around 12". Weedbeds in about 5-6 fow were the ticket with small jigs tipped with minnows being the best bait.
Week of June 20-June 27
Again a couple of groups spent some time targeting perch this week and were rewarded with some fine catches of big jumbo perch. Greg Tonn's group filled their 200 fish limit with some HUGE perch this week many over 12" long and almost 4" top to bottom. Other groups did well with slip bobbers and small jigs fished with minnows or a small piece of crawler and caught between 50-100 fish outside of their walleye and pike fishing. Perch fishing remained best in around 6-8 fow.
Week of June 13-June 20
The perch fishing for a couple of groups in camp again this week was excellent although only a couple of groups made an effort for them. Actually had two groups in camp this week that brought some cane poles and had an absolute ball with them catching not only perch, but walleye and northern too! The quickly warming water finally drove the lake trout deeper so the action back at the falls is probably over again until late fall. Fishing deeper now, one group in camp did have some success finding suspending lakers this week.
Week of June 6-June 13
I don't recall us ever getting lakers into week four of the season still fishing above Hobson Falls, but again we had several caught this week including a nice 28" laker by first time guest Russ Glime. The perch bite was good for at least one group in camp this week back on the flats in Mean Lake as they reported catching about 50 of them in short order all being very nice 10" + fish.
Week of May 30-June 6
Still catching some lakers shallow this week with the unseasonably cool water temps near camp. In fact, Pete Paruch caught and released a very nice 31" laker this week as well as keeping a smaller laker to eat (which incidentally he shared with me after grilling it in camp, and it was fabulous!). Perch seemed to have scattered some this week, leading me to believe that most of them are now post-spawn, as guests this week were struggling to find them in numbers. The ones they were catching this week were as usual big jumbos.
Week of May 23-30
Despite the warming water, good lake trout fishing was still happening in the shallow waters near camp. Several groups took advantage of the shallow lakers by casting spoons and jigs and doing well for the limited man hours spent targeting this species. I know one member of a new group to camp from Kansas caught five lakers alone in one afternoon and several other guys/groups in camp reported good lake trout fishing also when they targeted them.
Week of May 16-23
Although the fishing for other species was slowed somewhat by the colder water, the same CANNOT be said for the lake trout and perch fishing which remained excellent all week long for those braving the weather. Good numbers of lakers in the 4-8 lb range this week with a best for the week of 10 pounds caught by JC Hinshaw. The perch fishing was excellent too, with good catches coming in less than six feet of water around old weedbeds fishing small jigs tipped with minnows or a piece of nightcrawler.
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