August 31st Report

Another day of strong winds out of the east caused us to reconsider our plans to fish the main channel around Keystone. Instead, we all traveled to Marsh Bay for a combination sight-seeing and bass fishing day.

Largemouth Bass were generally agreeable to chartreuse colored Terminator Spinnerbaits and Chatterbaits.

Ralph, Brad, and Mike caught their share of bass and small pike, making it a productive final day for the Daugstrups.

After lunch, and a lessening of the winds, had us out in the main channel casting for Musky, but the only fish I could muster was a strong 29” pike.

There’s still one day left for Sid and/or me to tie into a musky…

Water Level Update

As of August 28th the water level of Lake Nipissing/Upper French River was 195.64 meters. The lake level is about 8cm (3") below the long term average. The lake level is expected to decline during the next few days. Further change in lake level is dependent on the amount of inflows and precipitation.

Updates weekly.

Jay

August 30th Report

The morning started out great, even though strong east winds and near-frost conditions greeted us at the dock.

Motoring up river was cold and just a little damp, but once we got to our spot, we found it to be out of the wind, which allowed us to cast with confidence.

I was tossing a Top-Raider and hooked up with a fat 3.5 lb smallmouth.

Once the sun hit the treetops, I switched to a 10” Suick and nailed a 30”, 7 lb. northern.

After breakfast things were a little tough, but by switching to a curly tail grub (Texas-rigged) I managed two nice largemouth and yet another smallmouth.

We had no follows today, but the Ray’s caught what they reported to be a 42 lb. musky while trolling in the main channel. Their camera is a Polaroid – so you’ll have to trust me, I did see it (the picture, that is)!

Hello Tony

Nice job. Working overtime? There are some great photos of the Meric's fish on the Dell harddrive if you have time. I will be back in camp Wednesday night. By the way this is a photo of a nice fish the Tanner group caught a couple weeks ago.

August 29th Report

With bright skies and winds out of the east, the day didn’t hold much promise, but we went after it hard, anyway.

Sid scored early and regularly throughout the day on pike in the 24-28 inch range.

The Daugstrups hired Billy Commanda, and went out on a walleye excursion that netted 15 eyeballs. Several of them were used for what Ralph declared was “the best shore lunch I ever had”.

Meanwhile, I made up my mind to search for smallmouth bass, like this one!

Tomorrow’s another day, and the musky are still out there…

August 28th Report

The day began a little later than I like, but nonetheless we were on the water by 6am. We started out on what I call my morning milk run – from the Lunge Lodge rock, back to the lodge. Sid caught a hammer handle while I managed only a couple of little pike that swiped at the lure.

Once again, we tried acting as guides for the Daugstrups, taking them up to Satchel’s in an effort to help them find some walleyes – but, since I don’t spend much time looking for those toothy critters, we came up short, although Mike Daugstrup managed to catch a slot fish while trolling.

Meanwhile, once we started casting, I nailed a decent 30” 6#. pike on a 10” Suick, just minutes after Sid experienced a musky follow on his Jammer. I was so hoping it was Esox Mosquinongy instead of Esox Lucius – but hey, it fought great!

After lunch, Sid boated a fine 5 lb. pike while I followed it up with a 3 pounder off a reef in the main channel.

Later that evening, I too had a super nice follow that appeared to be at least a 45” fish on a black and orange top-walker.

It’s beginning to get exciting, stay tuned tomorrow…

August 27th Report

We woke up at 4:45am to misty rain, which naturally, didn’t stop Sid and me from venturing out in the darkness to give the ‘first hour of daylight’ a try.

Sid managed the only fish before we headed in for breakfast – a 10” smallmouth that bit his 8” shallow raider!

After breakfast we guided our party down five mile bay, where we drifted, trolled, and cast but came up nearly empty – just a few small pike and a bass for the effort.

By mid-day the sky was blue with fluffy clouds and temps around 75º, and the action continued to be spotty.

When we returned for dinner though, we learned that Jim Ober caught two muskies (43” and 42”) to go with the 44 incher Mike Ober caught the day before. Their lure choices were a Mepps Musky Killer and the very popular Leo. Unfortunately, the Ober’s don’t own a digital camera – so no pics to post!

Tomorrow’s another day; and the “positive musky attitude” is holding strong…

August 26th Report

We arrived at camp a little before 10 this morning, checked in, geared up, and ate lunch before hitting the water at 1pm. The sky started out blue with wispy clouds and temps in the mid-70’s. Winds were out of the south, a bit brisk at times, but manageable.

Sid and I hit our chosen spot for a while and I managed a nice 5lb pike on a Hi-Fin bucktail (gold blade, black/red/gold hair).

Just before 3, the sky covered over with thicker clouds and the air got much cooler, so we made a run to a location Sid has raised a particular musky several times in past trips.

I was throwing a Fudally Stump Hawg (tandem), black w/red blades, grinding through the milfoil when a fat 8 ½ pound, 34” pike nailed it at boatside.

After dinner, we buzzed the surface with an assortment of topwater lures, jointed crankbaits, and spinnerbaits, with Sid picking up a pike.

Meanwhile our cohorts, Ralph, Brad, and Mike Daugstrup scored on bass and a pike trolling through the weeds in Sand Bay.

As usual, I plan to hit the water before 6am tomorrow. Stay tuned, it’s early in the week…

Photos from August 23rd Report

Jason Merics supplied the following photos in addition to his August 23rd report.

August 23

-Jason and Roger Meric arrived in camp on the 19th and continue to crush the pike. Their pike are averaging 30inches with Roger's big pike weighting in at 17lbs on Sunday. Mike commented that it was "one of the most impressive pike to come out of the French River" (photos to arrive shortly). By the way, the pike was caught on a copper colored Tikki Spoon. Roger continued his impressive week with two muskies measuring 42 and 38 inches. Both were caught on a Grandma Lure, Northern Pike color. Roger's son Jason was robbed of a huge pike at the boat tonight, but managed to land a fat 42 inch muskie on a Big Game in a jailbird finish.
-The large group associated with hockey coach Jim Black are in camp for the week and are beginning to catch some nice fish. This just in, Ryan Cole, age 10, nabbed a girthy 27 inch pike off the front dock of the lodge.
-Tom Sherwin also caught a 28 inch pike and his son Phil scored a 20 inch walleye. Phil is currently the leader in the group's walleye derby. More results will be posted as the week progresses.

This Week's Improvements

-The hill cabins that were rented only on occasion, have recently been receiving some attention. The cabins have been freshly painted, landscaping is currently underway and new boardwalks have been built over the old ground paths. The cabins are being rented more frequently and the improvements have been made to meet booking demands.
-In case we forgot to mention, there is now a brand new pier to accomodate the Dogwood and Aspen cabins.

News from August 22

-Today Brian Kelly, with the Harshberger group, caught and released a stellar 5 lb. smallmouth bass on a Firetiger-Grimreaper, location unknown.
-Zane Harshberger, amateur boxer, managed to land five pike as well as a 5lb. smallmouth bass. The "nice pike" that were harvested, were caught on a Shallow Invader Jailbird.
-The Rohde family, longtime Lunge Lodge guests, caught a 43-inch Muskie, and also hooked and lost two muskies.
Larry and Bonnie Rea had a good bass day, fishing with jigs and worms in 16ft. waters in front of cabbage weed.
-Just a special note, guide Bill Clark will be available to guide for walleye or muskie for the remainder of the season. Contact Mike for details.

August 12 - 19 Report from John

Hello Lunge Lodge lovers!

My good friend Dave and I spent the week at Lunge Lodge from August 12 - 19. This was our first trip to the lodge. What a great place! Not only were the staff very friendly, helpful and enjoyable to be around, but so were all the guests. We were amazed at the instant camaraderie.

The fishing was not fast and furious, but this was as we expected for a warm week in the dog days of August. Dave and I love to fish for big Pike, but we found it difficult to entice the big ones to bite. Our best luck with pike was as you would expect, on the deep weed edges, usually along coontail weeds. We did not do as well in the cabbage-type weeds. My best luck was with an erractic retrieve with a Strike King Bleeding Spinnerbait.

We fished off and on for Musky and did have 4 follows during the week. One fish that I saw was in the 50 inch class. He followed my chartreuse Storm Dawg. Each of the musky we saw was in the mouth of a cove or channel, typically coming from one of the points.

Although we didn't fish for Walleye, I did catch a 23 inch fish the first evening. It was caught and released on a 4 inch clown-colored Rapala Husky Jerk. The fish was caught late in the evening next to the small island out in front of the lodge. This is the island with the marker where the river splits into the Little French and the Five Mile Bay channel. Another walleye was lost on the same lure that evening and we noticed a lot of folks fishing that area every evening.

Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass fishing was also tougher than in the spring or fall, although we did manage many small fish, several in the 2lb range, two 3lb fish, and one 4lb 3oz. fish. We tried a variety of lures, and even resorted to fishing nightcrawlers, something we typically don't like to do. Most were caught on lures, the 2lber on a nightcrawler, one 3lber on a silver-blue Rapala X-Rap, and the other 3lber on a spinnerbait, and the 4lber was caught on a two-tone Yamamoto Senko. Probably the most fun was the last evening, in the Bob's Bay area, fishing a red-white Heddon Zara Spook. In the last half-hour of sunlight, I managed to land and release 7 smallies and 1 pike. In addition, Dave and I missed a number of other fish, with Dave raising an especially large fish.

Overall, we had hoped to catch more fish. But, exactly when has anyone not hoped to catch more fish? For the dog days of August, we were satisfied with our catch and thrilled with the new folks we met. Our records show that we caught 22 largemouth bass, 21 smallmouth bass, 24 pike, 1 walleye, and had 4 musky follows. All fish were released so that some of you folks could catch them again.

Let me just finish my report of our first visit to Lunge Lodge by saying that it will not be the last visit. The staff is great, the food is awesome, the boats are outstanding, and the scenery is absolutely amazing. You could not ask to meet a better group of people than the folks at Lunge Lodge.

If you would like to see a slideshow of some of my photos from our trip, click here.

Take care,
~ John

August 21 report

Chatterbaits and Buchertails have been the ticket for Leon Winkowski, who has “done real well on pike” according to Mike. Leon has been concentrating on deep weed edges and isolated rocks.

The camp is totally full this week, which prompted Mike and Justin to stay behind while the rest of the O’Neill family packed it in for the season. This report is a bit light, as Mike was rushing to get them on the road.

Given a decent internet connection, reports will be published right from camp next week – I’m taking a crew of 5 to the ‘Lunge from the 25th to the 2nd of September. It should be prime time for musky action – although the moon phases are in the minor stage! Stay tuned…

Just arrived!

Jay Whittaker's 50" musky, caught and released in mid-June on a 4-inch Yo-zuri minnow!

August 18th Report

Tom Majeski’s son, Matt caught a beautiful 5lb. smallmouth on one of Jimmy Houston’s favorites, the Rebel Pop-R. He followed that up the next evening by catching a 4 pounder! Nice job, Matt!

Ken Boyer’s been catching some nice pike on a variety of musky baits. Unfortunately for Ken, he’s been unable to convert any of the 15 musky follows he’s reported this week!

The popular navigational map of the Upper French, CA6036(A) and CA6036(B), is available at BigWoodSports.com.

Late Breaking News

At 5:49, today (8/14) Mike called back to report that the John Tanner group, returning for dinner, caught and released three muskies (46-, 44-, and 36 inchers) in addition to raising a "big" 50, all in a 3-hour period! A cold front blew through during the early afternoon, which apparently appealed to the mighty Esox! "Ideal musky conditions", as Mike called it - cloudy with a slight chop on the water. Two of the fish were caught on a Leo-Musky Dawg, with John boating one of the beasts himself.

August 14th Report

“Satchel’s is HOT – I had my best day yet” is how Mike began the call today. In just a little more than two hours time, anchored at a shore lunch spot in the large bay, he totaled 6 walleyes, 16 small-mouthed bass, 2 Pike, and a bonus 8 lb ‘Silver Bass’! The smallmouth averaged about 2 lbs, while the largest walleye measured 26” (~6 lbs.). One of the walleyes also had a blue tinge to it, reminiscent of the supposedly extinct “blue pike”. The area was thick cabbage weed, with the walleyes at the bottom in 22’ and the bass hovering above them in approximately 16’.

In other news, the Chiefo family did well on ‘eyes in the channel between Twighlight and Bob’s. Tom Hansberger, who left camp this past Saturday, reported catching a half-dozen 4-5 lb smallmouths.


Ken Boyer reported that out of 4 musky follows, he did hook up with one for a short time. Dale Wesley, searching for muskies, and fishing just before dark, caught a 36” Northern on a Top-Raider.

Mike noted that Rattlin’ Raps (and probably other Rat-L-Trap-like lures) seem to be magnets for pike and smallmouth. The blue-back, silver-side in 3/8 oz. (2”) the most preferred.

The first Canadian cold front arrived last week, which brought along with it a morning low of 3ºC (37ºF), causing surface temps to fall to 72º.

August 4th report

Mike says that with surface temperatures stable and hovering around 78°, walleyes are being found around the outside edges of major weedbeds in bays like Hardy’s and Five Mile. Depths of 16’ seem to be ideal, and small jigs tipped with worms – a consistent pattern since late spring – is the best way to catch them. George Bush, Jr., still in camp, caught and released a five-pounder in the Five Mile Bay location.

Jim Mariano, also still in camp, was once again bested by two separate muskies in the Bob’s Bay area. He stayed with his Leo Jerkbait, and found the big fish interested, but not quite ready for a photo op!

The Folino family from Strongsville, OH caught a number of large and small-mouthed bass, a couple of which topped out at close to 5 lbs., in Marsh and Hardy Bay. Their lure of choice was an unnamed, ‘secret’ white crankbait.