Lac Seul Reports?

Any fishing reports on Lac Seul?

Is the ice off???

Mark

Ice came off on Kejick Bay May 14 or so, a few days before we arrived to Mahkoon near Mahkwa. Fishing was excellent the full two weeks we were there, with warmer than usual weather. Got eyes everywhere we tried, including exploration areas. Started out a bit slow with a few fish in each area tried, but as the water warmed, numbers increased. Counted eyes boated a few days into it, and had 4 days in a row where 3 of us boated 125 to 160 eyes each day, not to mention a bunch of incidental pike and smallies. We estimated that 80 percent of our eyes were in the 20 to 27 inch range, with lots of 24 to 26 inch fish the first week. Changed to 60/40 as time went on. We pretty much only used plastics, until we needed a little rest, and dragged jig/leech or salted minnows for a bit. We did more exploring this year, and found some terrific new waters. Shoot me a pm if yo want some more detail.
Take a look at the Silver Water Wheel reports on their website. We always compare their week;y reports to our our own experience, and they are spot-on-accurate.

Anyone been in the Hudson area of Lac Seul lately? I’m heading up there in a week and looking for reports.

Thanks.

BP:

Interesting that you go to Hudson when you’re from Hudson… We were just at Mahkwa Lodge (July 16-21), when are ya going or have ya gone already???

Mark

Mark, what’s the bite like around Mahkwa in July? Bait, depth, structure, etc? Do you guys go into Vaughn, which is closed while we’re there for opener?

z-man:

The bite??? Well its fantastic!!! Minnows every day, all day, fishing depths of 10′- 12′ on the very shallow side and to as deep as 32′ – 35′. Fish appear on the screen deeper, but as in river fishing, its seems that you’d be killing fish and that’s not the idea.

Last year we had two boats, four guys, stopped in Ft. Frances on the way up and fished Rainy an afternoon into the evening, then off to Mahkwa for the next five days. Last year first point with wind on it, caught fish and that was how it was for the rest of the five days.

This year ten guys, was going with 5 boats, then had a problem with a truck water pump, so four boats… same point NW wind instead of SW and at a solid 10-20 mph more and it was brutal. Actually caught fish in the east bay of the resort, however big fish still came from the point.

Pretty much anytime you could find points of land or islands in the wind, if ya find fish, fish it and catch fish. If you don’t catch fish, mark it and come back. Humps topping out at 10′ – 20′ held fish as well.

Last year we had no problems with the mayfly hatch, this year I believe that there was still some effect going on as we were still seeing carcasses and clouds of blue in the water on the graphs that seemed to indicate it was still very much in progress. Also reports from and visual contact on Rainy indicated that there was still some of it going on South of us, so it made sense that it was still going on North.

We did however probably come close to averaging 70-100 fish in each boat every day. Fish averaged from 14″ – 19″ and while average size seemed to be down, there were still numbers of low 20’s up to 27″ of fish available.

Best story… the one boat with a clicker at 18 fish was in for late lunch, between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. and during the last four hours had a slayfest go on topping out at 136 for the day, pretty much a drop and catch scenario…

To answer your last question, we did not go into Vaughn, while we stayed at Silver Water Wheel for ten years, then opted out, considerd Vaughn, then came back to Lac Seul… we fished Bray last year and this year we got to Dominion Islands, we did not sneak into Bray… we also fished to the east almost to Fish Hook Point.

Any other questions, let me know…

Mark

We just got back yesterday from Lac Seul Resort near Hudson. 3 boats, 9 fishermen fished for 3-1/2 days. It was pretty solid. 582 total walleye. Wide range of sizes from cigars to nice eaters to slot fish to over the slot. Plenty of 21″-23″ fish, a few 24″, one 25″, and one 28″. We almost exclusively fished crawlers on a jig or bottom bouncer with spinner. Depths were 20′ – 30′. It was critical to watch your graph and find fish and then fish them. Blindly fishing spots was not as effective. It was also critical to move if you weren’t getting bit or you were catching cigars. Move until you found the nicer fish. Our stay at Lac Seul Resort was average. The cabins need some work. We are considering staying at Lost Island Resort or even try Mahkwa.

BP:

I would submit that cabins are not that much of an upgrade at Mahkwa, you are getting basics. I am not sure how that translates to price… but if you are looking at a bare ones trip, you get one square room, all beds are in the same room, so all in your group better be not worried about late night conversations while trying to sleep, or early risers… We paid approx. $65 per night per guy for the luxury of sleeping with the pine squirrels, although they only found their way in while we were gone…

As for your fishing report, pretty much spot on to ours. Where is LSR and which major geographic locations were ya fishing???

Mark

Lac Seul Resort is about 1 mile from the public launch near Hudson. It’s also near Lost Island Resort.

I’m not interested in 1-room cabins like you reference at Mahkwa. Separate bedrooms are important in case a few guys want to stay up late and others want to sleep.

We fished a number of different areas around Lac Seul Resort……Italian Bay, Webster Bay, Pelican Rapids. Also just fished random islands and points near the resort. Caught fish in all of these areas.

Mark,
We heard years ago that Bray holds some lakers, and have been in there a couple times over the years, but no dice on lakers. Ever get any in there?
Does Silver Water wheel offer housekeeping plans, or did you go with American plan?

As for Lac Seul resort, the cabins do need some work, but John has been the manager for a long time. He’s funny and very responsive to emails and phone calls. We used to stay there each year till we switched to Mahkwa area to fish new waters. The harbor is well protected from winds. Stayed there for a week 3 years ago when our 2 week reservation at Mahkons got goofed up.
Lost Island Lodge is definitely a class act, as we stayed there before switching to Lac Seul Resort but only downsides from my viewpoint is the fact that you have to boat your stuff in after leaving vehicles in a private parking area, and shared bathrooms outside your cabin. We just prefer driving to our destination, rather than doing the boat shuttle exercise.
Lots of choices on Lac Seul.

BP:

They do have American plan cabins that could be way nicer, but I am not sure of that answer… The new camp mamager is Chris, a nice gent who is continuing to make upgrades to the camp. I am sure that he has to run under some kind of budget contraint, perhaps z-man can help with his out look on the cabins as perhaps he has stayed on the American plan side. They had a huge group of Ranger boats in the day we were leaving so there are possibilities…

z-man, we have not caught lakers in Bray, although I remember the guides when asked have tried to fish for them on their days off for shits and giggles, but I also think that they were fishing main lake areas north of the lodge. I believe they may be the grey ghost of Lac Seul. I have to tell ya marking fish in 50′ – 100′ of water makes wonder though!!! I have been told when researching muskies that if ya want to fish lakers, you’re better off fishing other area lakes with the Vermillions and Minnitaki being mentioned.

As for Silver Water Wheel (SWW), I believe all of their stuff is on the American Plan… you are treated like a kings/queens, brought juice and coffee to the cabin before breakfast, fed ya three square a day and busted their backsides to put ya on fish from their boats… but you pay for that service!!! I would highly recommend SWW though, great staff and those services, second to none in my Canadian experience!!!

Mark

Reviving last years thread. Anyone been up to lac suel yet? We go to fisherman’s cover yearly on North west corner of the lake near Ear falls. I will report my trip when I get back I will be there the 14th-22nd.

I got back on the 27th, fished for the most in Sen Bay. Fished with crawlers on a spinner rig in 6 to 12 FOW. Water temp. ranged from 62 to 65 degrees.
Fishing was steady with a lot of fish boated; best fish for the week was a 27 inch walleye and a 36 inch Northern.

Had a buddy just get back from their annual Lac Suel trip and sounds like they had an above average trip. They caught 8 over 27″, mainly on jigs/plastics, w some lindys and lead during lulls.

Heading up to the Northwest section a week from today. Any recent reports?