Greetings from Jim and Julie’s Wabaskang Camp. I’m a bit late with the week 12 update but here is all the details. We had another week of relatively dry weather, one evening of thunder and lightning but not much rain. We are still experiencing some smoky days here, especially on days when the wind is coming from the western prairies. The water level is low but still manageable everywhere on the lake.
The walleye bite has been picking up for ester sized fish between 16” and 18”, many trophies are also being caught and released every day. Our guests are having good success using spinner rigs and minnows or worms. Green or blue spinner blades were especially hot. White jigs tipped with a minnow also caught a fair number of walleyes. The fish are in a transitional mode right now and are slowly moving to deeper water. Mike Stark caught a chunky 24” fish, Logan Wuethrich found enough time between munching on snacks and sleeping in the boat to catch and release a beautiful 25 1/2” walleye, Brian Hall released his 25” beauty. The biggest walleye of the week was caught and released by Indiana outcast Tim Wuethrich, he released a chunky 25” and 26” walleye to proudly take top honors in camp for the week.
Northern fishing was hot this week with plenty of monster fish being caught and released. Large musky baits and soft plastics caught the majority of the trophies. Vicki Zender started things off by releasing a pair of 34” pike, her husband Charlie was so proud. Eddie Taylor fished all by himself this week but he loves trolling the deep open water for giant pike and he caught several with his biggest released trophy being 35”, nice fish Eddie. Joe Reese released his 37” trophy after a quick picture. Brian Hall caught and released a beautiful 36” pike. Rita Esterl released her 37” brute and got a big thumbs up from husband Tom. Gene Katzung has been coming to camp for over 40 years and he always catches his fish on the lures he makes himself, his 33″ pike is swimming around in the lake waiting for Gene to come back again next season. Kyle McNeil had to expedite his passport just to come see us this season, but he did manage to catch and release a fat 39″ trophy northern, his personal best. The biggest northern this week was caught by Tim Wuethrich, he caught two 39″, a 40″,41″, and a giant 43″ northern, he released all his trophies of course and once again left camp with top honors and a free hat.
Bass fishing was really good for our guests that went out early in the morning or fished the last hour of daylight in the evening. Top water baits were the way to go with plenty of heart pounding action. Kyle McNeil still tries to beat father-in-law Tim Wuethrich but his released 17″ bass fell short, too bad so sad Kyle. Tyler Maas caught a chunky 17″ bass this week, Lill Katzung landed and released a fat 18″ bass from the end of our dock. Tim Wuethrich loves fishing for bass but the biggest bass he released this week was only a measly 19″. The big bass winner this week was our second-year superstar Brian Hall, he fished long hours with wife Natalie and it really paid off. Brian released a pair of 19″ brutes plus a gigantic 20″ fish to easily take home the free hat and bragging rights until at least next season.
Crappie fishing was slow but Mike Stark did catch a fat 13″ crappie but Lill Katzung came along and snatched the winners hat right out of his hand when she caught a chunky 13 1/4″ crappie.
We had a beautiful 33″ trout caught this week by Logan Wuethrich, it is the second biggest trout caught by our guests this season so far.
Once again, the name Tim Wuethrich comes to mind, he released a magnificent 39″ musky this week while bass fishing top-water baits for giant bass, great catch Tim.
Please be diligent about having clean and dry boats and live wells when coming into Ontario to help prevent the spread of invasive species. Remember to get your license before arriving in camp and bring us a copy as well or we can copy yours when you get here. Dutchies General Store sells licenses along with bait, groceries, souvenirs, and adult beverages so if you need something just run up the road another two miles past our driveway and check the store out. The Whiskey Jack Restaurant is open Wednesday through Sunday and can fix you up with a great meal when you’re tired of eating your own cooking and realize you’re on vacation and you should treat yourself or your family to a great home cooked meal.
That’s about all for now, this is Jim from Wabaskang.
