The wind started to pick up as Mark hooked into back to back walleyes, both nice eaters stretching to 17 inches on the estimation scale. As I looked around, I thought to myself there is no way we can still have hard water on any inland lake. A short time later, we wrapped up a fantastic first day of walleye fishing, and upon returning to Pasha Lake Cabins, I was astonished to see our little lake, still with a significant ice pack.
“Ok, I thought there is no way the ice will survive the night!” Then I woke up the next morning to get minnows, there it was. Like a stubborn head cold that won’t go away, ice pack was still bouncing off the shorelines, seemingly in no hurry to disappear.
Getting back from the minnow haul, I started thinking about the Swartz group from West Virginia. They had a pretty “rough go at” it the day before. When they arrived at their lake, it was still socked in with ice, yet they were able to skirt the edge and get to some soft water. That same wind that chilled Mark, his son Stephen and me on a different lake further to the north, ended up blowing the ice pack into the landing where the Swartz group was suppose to go. So with some ingenuity and perseverance, they literally broke a trail to shore, only they were forced to a completely different area, several hundred yards from the main access. With a brisk hike to get to their vehicles, everyone was safe and they headed back to Pasha Lake for the day. They were tired, windblown and a little nervous, but still managed to boat a couple of fish.
Then next day, memories of their adventure were still fresh in their head when I offered to take them fishing for the afternoon. After learning how well we did (limiting out and then some, the day before) they jumped at the opportunity.
Six of us headed to a new honey hole I stumbled on 24 hours earlier. In reality, it was near a mud flat I found years ago, one that has been a consistent producer for me in the spring. This year was different though, with the high water, we had to make some significant location changes to find active fish. In no time after arriving we laced into the first walleye and were rewarded handsomely for the rest of the day. The pattern revolved around 22 to 28fow, over mud, using bright colored jigs and mud minnows. My guess was they were feeding on bugs or bait balls of shiners, a hypothesis that was confirmed later that day when we cleaned fish. (It was the same thing in 2013.) About mid day, the northern pike figured out something was up and shouldered their way into our actively feeding walleyes. It took us a while to figure out the walleyes sought shelter in the adjacent deep water, while the toothy aggressors wreaked havoc on our jigs and minnows. At day’s end, our fish bag contained 6 limits of walleyes, some jumbo perch and a variety of eating size northern pike. The biggest fish of the day was landed by first time walleye fisherman Steven Swartz, a 12 year old native of West Virginia. It was a fitting end to the day, given his 13th birthday would be 24 hours later (see the attached picture).
Hard core doesn’t even begin to describe the Cody Broaddus group from the Cleona, Pennsylvania area. These guys are about as battle harden fisherman as you’ll find on the North American Continent. This was unmistakably clear as the scrolled through their phone pictures, showing me multiple species of trophy catfish, PA walleyes, musky, pike, white bass and fish I’d never seen or can’t even begin to pronounce. I tip my hat to these guys, they make my time on the water look like amateur hour.
Saturday May 17th when they arrived at Pasha Lake Cabins, there was no hope of accessing inland lakes, so I sent them to a little known river access. It was an area that has been friendly to some of Pasha Lake’s seasoned veterans in the past. Given the unusually high water, I was on the fence as to how well they’d do, but my options were pretty limited. I should’ve known better to doubt these guys, they came back with an impressive bag limit of better than average size walleyes, many they had photographed were upwards of 20”. They didn’t get a ton of them, but it sure kicked off their trip on a good note.
As the ice pack continued to recede on area lakes, I sent them on a test run to a trophy pike lake that I figured was ice free. I was wrong, it was still 75% covered! But when life hands you lemons, what do you do? Simple, you make trophy pike out of them. In the little water that was accessible, Jack started noticing logs near the shoreline. “Logs???” he thought. Nope, those were big female pike resting on their haunches, no doubt in recovery mode from the spawn. Seeing that, the fisherman started picking pike they’d cast to, trying to entice a reaction or feeding strike. And wouldn’t you know it? Jack finally got a big 40”er to bite, boating her after a short, but fierce battle. And with that little episode, the first Pasha Lake Cabins Trophy Club Hat of the 2014 season goes to none other than Mr. Jack Alt from Palmyra, PA. Add to their day several other respectable pike, given the circumstances; they had a very good day.
As if they weren’t happy with their adventures up to that point, yesterday the crew headed to a now ice free lake that treated them to bag limit, after bag limit of walleye. Most regular people would’ve been happy, but Jack just had to one up everything by landing a 28” blue walleye- one that will forever be displayed on the wall of his man cave back in PA. Nice job guys!
We are just days into the 2014 Pasha Lake Cabins open water fishing season, and, not surprisingly, things are starting to shape up for another block buster year. It’s hard not to appreciate the handy work of the good Lord!
For those of you who’ve read this far and are getting anxious wondering if I’ll mention ice conditions on Lake Nipigon, fret no more. The lake is still 95% frozen. The weather man is predicting 70 degree warmth, starting tomorrow and for the next 5 days. I’m no environmentalist, but I’d say heat like that will melt some ice out there. For those of you who continually force me to cough up a Nipigon ice out predication, I’d say Labor day would be a safe bet!
Finally we’ve arrived. We’re ice free, the fish are biting and the weather is fix’in to get gorgeous.
Stay tuned and of course, until next time…
Chad
Pictures – Tuesday ice on Pasha Lake and several fish from the last two days.