Staff Tournament

Monday night we decided to hold our first weekly staff tournament. Each staff member got to select one fishing spot to visit, and tournament prize went to the largest walleye catch. The evening started off slow without much to report, but once we reached our second fishing hole things started to heat up. Todd and Mike both reeled in nice size walleyes at the same time, within minutes of anchoring. From then on we managed to pull in a few more walleye, a couple of bass and one real nice Pike, over 30 inches. Todd managed to grab top spot in the tournament with his 18 and a half inch walleye and the evening ended with beautiful skies for the ride back to camp.

Off to a great start!

As the summer season has begun to pick up, so has the fishing. While the small mouth bass and some pike were making an appearance, the walleye were scarce throughout opening week. Saturday and Sunday brought a little more action into camp when the Grupp group started catching more walleye than previous days. Jack's beautiful Saturday afternoon walley measured in at 28 inches and 8lbs. Nice catch Jack! With the right bait, some patience and a little bit of luck on your side, the river will surely provide any lodger with more photo opportunities like this one.

We would also like to extend a huge thank you to the workgroup that helped us open up camp over the last two weeks. Because of all your hard work we have started a very promising season on the right foot. Boats and motors were tuned and refurbished, docks have been renovated, porches built, and roofs re-shingled along with so many other repairs and updates. We couldn't have done it without you and we look forward to seeing all of you again throughout the season.

Last day (for this trip)

The week ended without a "wall hanger" class catch, but we had a great time. As usual, the weather was all over the board, but by continually modifying techniques, you can catch fish here everyday. This smallmouth... ...and this pike were typical of the regular catches we made all week.

Our thanks go out to Todd and Mike for maintaining the best lodge we've ever stayed at; and to the staff, Mary, Andrea, Morgan, Mark, Keith, and Ian. As usual, you guys are the best!

See you in August...

A reason to hide!

Here's a glimpse of some of the other kind of "wildlife" encountered at the Lunge:

Two reasons to get up early

There's nothing like a sunrise on the French...

...and every once in a while you get a glimpse of some fantastic wildlife.

Day 6

This day was unlike the previous days this week. The temperatures soared into the upper 80s with strong west winds. The fishing was slow for Michael and me, as fast-paced lures were not of their liking.

After dinner, Mike O'Neill took a well-deserved break and journeyed out with me to some weed beds (emerging reed stick-ups), where he demonstrated a technique he's found to be successful for finicky pike. Mike used a worm hook to walk a white plastic frog through the muck, nailing 4 decent northerns in what turned out to be some 'explosive' action.

Today is our last day, and already this morning, the temps are very warm and the winds are high...

Day 5

Well, the weather today was great; I thought I was in Florida. Temps in the mid 80s, sunshine, breezy.

The pike weren't as cooperative as we'd like, but we continued to catch smallies in droves.

Two days left, plenty of time to nail a 40 incher!

Reminder

Hi all,
Just a quick note for those of you fishing the Upper French/Nipissing watershed in the spring.
As with most waters in Ontario the Muskellunge season does not open until the third Saturday in June (June 16). It is Illegal to target (try to catch) musky before the season opener, catch and release has nothing to do with it. The Ministry has put this regulation in place for one reason and that is to protect Female musky that are recuperating from the rigors of spawn and are already stressed and vulnerable. It is important that musky are to be left alone at this time.

For anyone having specific questions on regulations or just want info on the fishery in general you can contact:

Scott Kaufman

Large Lake biologist

Nipissing district

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources

705-475-5537

Thanks, have a safe season.

Aspen complete

The porch and steps are complete - Aspen's looking good!

Day 4

The weather was perfect - overcast skies for most of the day with comfortable temperatures -and- no wind! We made regular catches of pike in the 20-28 inch range throughout the day.

The best catch today was this three pound smallmouth that hit a Fudally Stump Hawg, slow rolled in the rocks by the opening to Bob's Bay

Day 3

With improving weather (warmer temperatures and bright skies) the outlook improved. I caught a small pike before breakfast and several others in the afternoon in Twilight Bay where the emerging cabbage weeds are holding these fish.The smallmouth continue their feisty ways; this 4 pounder that fell for a Texas-rigged 4 inch grub, was my biggest yet this week.

Mike and Tony Day 2

Today was cold (30s) with east winds. We traveled to Satchel's and managed to raise two muskies and spot two others, but registered no catches of any kind until after dinner.

Mike struck first, nailing a hefty 30" pike.

I had luck with some big smallmouth right at dark; two of which weighed in at just over 3lbs.

Opening Day

My son Mike and I arrived mid-day Friday, not realizing that the start of the fishing season didn't began until today! We got out early, with bright blue skies and temps that reached into the 70s.

We started, as usual, looking for pike in the back bays, but water temperatures in the shallows are 60-62 degrees, and the big gals are probably out in the main channel now.

The smallmouth are thriving, and although not in season, are caught on the same medium sized spinnerbaits that we use for the northerns.



We spotted several musky cruising in the shallows, one of which showed a surprisingly hardy interest in my Terminator T-1 spinnerbait. What was probably the same fish (45+" class), followed Mike's candy spin on a figure 8, then came back again, only to swim off uninterested.


The evening temps cooled down considerably, with rain. Tomorrow's forecast calls for temps in the high 50s low 60s.


More reports to follow...

L-Dock Progress

Good progress is being made this week on replacing the old L-Dock!

Several of our regular guests from Buffalo are in camp performing a number of renovations.
L-Dock progression:

Phone Trouble

Mike got a message to me that the Pittsburgh phone line [(412) 364-1268] was suspended for the season, but now something has gone wrong with the voice mail on the Canada line.

Mary (hostess/cook/Maître d') is scheduled to arrive in camp Saturday morning, and she will be able to routinely answer the phone [(705) 763-2180].

There's always some unknown each new year, and phones are a routine problem. Mike and Todd apologize for the inconvenience, but they wanted everyone to know they are making good progress and expect the first guests to experience the usual amenities when they arrive Saturday morning!