Here we are already down to the last two weeks of the season. Here at Jim and Julie’s Wabaskang Camp the fish are still biting and the sunsets are still spectacular. The lake continues to drop with the absence of substantial rain but with only a few weeks left and a small number of guests each week we should be able to finish things out and hopefully see higher water levels in May when the snow melts and rain comes.
We had a veteran group of walleye anglers last week and had numerous trophy walleye released by our guests. It seems a jig and minnow or Lindy Rig and minnow was the way to go for most of our guests. The optimal depth seemed to be around 22′ with some fish being caught a little bit deeper. My friend Mike Dufel makes me spaghetti so that’s why I call him my friend, anyway he released a pair of 23″ beauties his first day on the water. Chad Duckworth released his 25 1/2″ trophy after a quick picture. Kip Elm and his fishing buddy Larry Pencook each caught chunky 26″ walleyes. Keith Stough made his first trip to camp; he is from my neighborhood back in Waverly so I shouldn’t be surprised he released a beautiful 26″ walleye. The biggest walleye of the week was caught by Roger Graney his 26 3/4″ trophy made buddies Kevin and Steve green with envy.
Northern fishing was decent for anglers fishing with Lindy Rigs and anglers casting giant wood baits. Deep weed edges still held giant northern as well as deeper water wherever huge schools of baitfish could be found. Chad Duckworth released a beautiful 37 1/2″ northern that but his fish was dwarfed by his buddy Steve Young who caught and released a monster 39″ brute. Richard Zender keeps coming back to camp year after year no matter how much abuse he takes from his three brothers and my wife Julie. Rich managed to release a nice 36″ northern that will keep the boys quiet until next season. The biggest northern of the week was caught by Larry Pencook, he caught his 42″ pike using a Lindy Rig and giant minnow, great job Larry.
Bass fishing has slowed this week but I believe the bass are deeper now and most of our guests were not really interested in catching them. A few bass were caught when our guests were casting boulder piles or weed edges but the fish were typically running small. We had one big bass reported this week by camp “fixture” Charle Zender, he released a chunky 18″ bass to claim top honors and the free hat for the week, Charlie also reported he released a 20″ musky as well.
Crappie fishing picked up this week in a big way. Our guests were fishing on the south end of the lake and caught crappies using minnows, worms, tube jigs. Or even small Rapalas. The fish were usually in 20′ of water and at times on the bottom and at times about halfway down, the best fishing was from sunrise to about 9:00 am then things shut down. Kevin Irish brought in a fat 13 3/4″ crappie that he was very proud of but his fish was crushed when Jeremy Bilharz landed his 15 1/2″ monster crappie, his fish is probably the biggest one we have seen this season.
Remember to get your license before you arrive in camp, also if you’re bringing your private boat be sure the plug is out and the boat and live well is clean and dry as the border agents are concerned about invasive species entering Ontario waterways. That’s all for week 17, this is Jim from Wabaskang.
