This was an annual trip with a bunch of my sibs, to fish for walleye in NW Ontario. Our fourth trip with this outfitter, which has a number of very isolated outpost cabins in the vicinity of Sioux Lookout. We were the only cabin on this 12 mile chain of lakes.
Our fish #s were down from previous years, probably due to squirrelly weather and being later in the summer than usual. That said, the four of us who fish a bit more seriously still managed ~300 walleye for the week averaging probably 17-19", plus countless & uncounted northern pike bycatch, mostly in the 24-30" range. The 'eyes were deep this time, around 30 ft, so I didn't bother with the fly rod except to throw poppers for pike now & then. Almost all walleye were on jigs & plastics. (I had tied up some bunny jigs, but the pike liked those A LOT, and kept biting them off)
Be warned - not a ton of fish pics; walleye are pretty uniform looking!
The fly-in: endless miles of roadless, lake-filled Canadian Shield
Morning art from the resident dock spiders
Mornings were foggy
Double wallys in the net!
Smallish northern on the fly, in the light of a golden sunrise, fishing in my pj's, lol!
And the reason I didn't have time to get dressed before jumping in the boat? Heard some splashing from the dock, spotted momma moose, and grabbed my sister to get some pics (she got much better shots with her DSLR - I'll add them when I get them!)
My BIL's excellent filleting skills, and the resulting dinner. Mmmmmmm!
My brother & I canoed up the little marsh creek behind the cabin until it petered out after a few hundred yards. Had some fun throwing poppers and watching the pike waking their way through the foot-deep water to crash them! Had to go backwards most of the way out
Hilarious watching my sister catch a decent pike on this ridiculous giant, splashing, Temu hornet monstrosity
The Ontario wilderness is my happy place; the cries of loons never get old.
I really need to take a fly-only trip up there one of these days. June would be cold, but targeting the big pike when they're up shallow would be a blast!
Our fish #s were down from previous years, probably due to squirrelly weather and being later in the summer than usual. That said, the four of us who fish a bit more seriously still managed ~300 walleye for the week averaging probably 17-19", plus countless & uncounted northern pike bycatch, mostly in the 24-30" range. The 'eyes were deep this time, around 30 ft, so I didn't bother with the fly rod except to throw poppers for pike now & then. Almost all walleye were on jigs & plastics. (I had tied up some bunny jigs, but the pike liked those A LOT, and kept biting them off)
Be warned - not a ton of fish pics; walleye are pretty uniform looking!
The fly-in: endless miles of roadless, lake-filled Canadian Shield
Morning art from the resident dock spiders
Mornings were foggy
Double wallys in the net!
Smallish northern on the fly, in the light of a golden sunrise, fishing in my pj's, lol!
And the reason I didn't have time to get dressed before jumping in the boat? Heard some splashing from the dock, spotted momma moose, and grabbed my sister to get some pics (she got much better shots with her DSLR - I'll add them when I get them!)
My BIL's excellent filleting skills, and the resulting dinner. Mmmmmmm!
My brother & I canoed up the little marsh creek behind the cabin until it petered out after a few hundred yards. Had some fun throwing poppers and watching the pike waking their way through the foot-deep water to crash them! Had to go backwards most of the way out
Hilarious watching my sister catch a decent pike on this ridiculous giant, splashing, Temu hornet monstrosity
The Ontario wilderness is my happy place; the cries of loons never get old.
I really need to take a fly-only trip up there one of these days. June would be cold, but targeting the big pike when they're up shallow would be a blast!
