I am happy, no, let me rephrase that, I am completely AMPED when it comes to comparing this week with that of the not so weather friendly previous week.
Saturday the skies opened up, and for the first time in a long time, the sun warmed our faces as new guests flooded in. All of them with hi hopes of what the fishing week would bring.
Sunday was my first official day out on Lake Nipigon. I was honored to be accompanied by Dave and Julie from Mount Pleasant, NY who chose Pasha Lake Cabins as the venue for their wedding anniversary. We were in hot pursuit of brook trout and headed to one of my favorite locations to kick the season off right. Unfortunately, as we motored in on our hunting grounds, we were forced to start dodging ice bergs. And then we noticed, and couldn’t believe, that most of the shorelines were completely iced in. Yikes!
Not to be deterred, we fished the only open water we could find, but quickly realized we’d have to change our game plan. After a couple hours of dodging ice and scouting for warm water, I tabled an idea for chasing big pike. Julie pounced on it lake a walleye crushes a B Fish N tackle paddle tail on a beetle spin. So onward we went.
Once we arrived at our new location, it didn’t take long to start spotting pike in the shallows. It took even less time to start catching them. At one point, we were boating pike at will, with Julie landing the biggest of the day, a trophy 38”er that gave her a reel run for her money. She fought it like a pro, while I chased it around the lake with the trolling motor. Eventually the old girl wore down and I was able to slip her in the boat for a couple of pictures. And Dave? Well, Dave kept busy in the stern of the boat and one point he leaned toward us grumbling about how all the pike had “bent my hook”. Dave – welcome to fishing big gators on Lake Nipigon!
“Hootch” is his name. He’s a gentleman that tells me he’s known “Jimmy” Holst since he was in diapers. James in diapers? I thought he came out of the womb full grown with a fishing pole in his hand! Anyways, Hootch put on a brook trout clinic this past week, fishing all over creation and landing some very impressive fish. It sounds like he’s been at it for a while, and the fruits of his experience are proof in his pictures. Nice fish this past week Hootch, it was fun to talk fishing with you!
So what about walleyes? Well, depends on who you talk to. The Pasha veterans are finding them all over the water column, with the most active fish continuing to be in rivers. It doesn’t appear they’ve started to school up in big numbers yet, but we are seeing signs the bite is getting better daily in the lakes. In fact, one only needs to ask Jeanne Trudel, who landed a 29.5in, 9.5lbs walleye on a lake just over the hill from here. It was her biggest walleye ever and she’s officially been inducted into the Pasha Lake Trophy Club. Congrats Jeanne!
Looking forward to next week, the weather man continues to bless us with favorable weather, although we’re in for some cooler temps early on. I’ll be on Nipigon pretty much all week and should have the juicy details come this time next week.
Until next time…
Nice stringer of inland lake walleyes
Joel’s 41″er
Scotty’s inland lake lake trout – check out how dark it is
Again with the beetle spin huh…….i’ll have to try this beetle spin contraption in about….3wks on the nose.
wow
Oh to the Nipigon
Last one, I promise
No really, last one
That’s a brookie? Whoa!
Thanks for the report. What a fishery to have that many species going at once.
Joel
IT is true, I’ve know Hootch since I was too short to look over the counter at his bait shop in Austin, MN called the White Whale. Good to see he’s still going strong and terrorizing the trout!