September 9, 2011

September 12th, 2011 by Silver Water Wheel Lodge

It is amazing to think that today is September 9th and for the third day in a row the temperature was in the 90s. After a powerful cold front and a big blow we saw the temperatures skyrocket throughout the week, moving water temps from the 65 to the 75 range by the late afternoons, and moving fish around as well. Before the front came we saw an improvement in the walleye bite. Both volume and size increased and the boys had a couple of very good days up in the west end of the lake. After the front blew through there was a tough bite for a day or two and then things began to level out. With the exception of the giant walleye scattering and playing a disappearing act for a couple days, it has been a good week of fishing up here.

For the week we had 10 walleyes over 27 inches. Most of them came up before the cold front moved in. Only today did we finally see some larger fish returning to out spots, with a number of 26s and a 27 caught out of the 30 foot range. For the most part, the walleye bite has been steady off both the big sand structures and off the deep rock, and we saw our volume increased substantially this week. The daily guide sheets averaged around 35 walleyes per day, and a few days the guys managed to fill the back of their sheets (60 fish over 18 inches!). The highest volume day produced 82 fish over 18 inches, which is as good as you can get – whether it be the early spring or mid-summer bite. Averaged depths remained steady around 30 ft. but we are seeing a trend towards fish feeding in the 20-25 foot range as well. In general the most success was seen fishing localized pods of fish with a jig and minnow, and less production came by moving fast with gulp.

The pike fishing has also been great. We saw 10 pike over 37 inches this week, with 3-38s, 1-39, 1-40, and 1-41. The warm weather has put a stall on the giant fall pike moving into their typical spots, but we are managing to keep up our numbers up by targeting main lake points that have both rock and weeds, and other suitable structure that is adjacent to deep water. We are also targeting existing primary weed-beds that remain intact, and usually manage to produce plenty of action as well as decent fish in the 30 -35 inch rage consistently. But again, we are all still holding our breath for the next turn in weather, and anticipating the arrival of the true Lac Seul giants to come roaming in for the fall feed.

From a personal note, I feel as confused as some of those big walleye must feel with these extended summer conditions in the place of what is usually our most temperamental season. It was clear that fall went on pause this week, even the trees lost their momentum in changing colour. I saw fish surfacing and jumping all day today, basking on top in the sun. I saw an eagle grab one right off the top, and I was reminded what an incredible wilderness we have up here, what an amazing fishery we are fishing on, and what a great job guiding is (especially when the weather is like this!).

That’s all for this week folks. Hope the week is treating you well and look forward to seeing you soon!

Jesse Wright

Senior Guide

Silver Water Wheel Lodge

September 2, 2011

September 3rd, 2011 by Silver Water Wheel Lodge

Another beautiful week up here at the Wheel. The weather has been stable for the most part, and I feel like there are only so many of these nice, sunny, end-of-summer days left. There were a few systems that made their way through bringing rain and thunderstorms overnight and in the early morning, which affected the fishing here and there, but overall a very nice week on the lake. Fall continues to creep in though, with the leaves on the trees changing little by little and the nights and mornings becoming nice and cool.

The team has shrunk to its final skeleton state, about 8 of us now (plus a celebrity guide appearance from Graham Coulombe who is in camp for the week). We have equally divided ourselves between the bear hunt, walleye fishing, and pike fishing. The bear hunters have been doing well, and this week there was a new SWWL record bear brought in that tipped the scales at well over 400 lbs. Some guys have been pike fishing in the afternoons when the walleye bite becomes tough. As for me, I am plugging away at the walleye fishing with some of my favourite hardcore guests – Bill J. and Joel.

For the week we had 13 walleye over 27, with 11-27’s, 1-28, and 1 huge 30 inch walleye. Those big fish numbers line-up well when considering the angling effort, about 1/3 of the guided days we have at our peak times. The best walleye bites were still coming off of deep sand and rock, and average depths were anywhere from 20 – 35 ft. Some of our local A spots are still steady and reliable, while others seem to be vacant. Again, another sign that fish are on the move. Hopefully that transition will come easily and we’ll be stacking fish in shallow water and hunting monsters out deep.

The pike fishing has had consistent attention this week, with 2-3 guides working most afternoons on hunting down a big one. Again there is plenty of pike action to be found out there, and consistent mid-30s getting caught by anyone slinging baits, but the big ones are doing a lot of following and not a lot of committing. Reports of monster pike being seen and raised are encouraging, and soon we should see that big pike explosion we are all waiting for. Pike numbers for the week include 3-37s and one monster 42.5.

That’s all for now folks! Hope your week is well and to see you soon!

Jesse Wright

Senior Guide

SWWL

August 26, 2011

August 28th, 2011 by Silver Water Wheel Lodge

It is officially fall here at SWWL as the “changing of the guard” has occurred. MW is out and several guides have headed back to school, leaving room at the guide table to finally stretch out the elbows a little bit. This also means lots of room to spread out on the water, and more walleyes for me!

Some rather blustery conditions limited our ability to charge around in the big water this week, but we still managed to keep up our big fish numbers, although volume suffered a bit. For the week we had 28 walleyes over 27 in. including 7 – 28s, 1 – 29, and one monster 30. Guide sheets averaged around 25 walleye over 18 in. per day. Those big fish numbers are impressive considering there were only 5-6 guides on the water each day.

The big gulp bite is still working as a pattern to produce good fish, but more success was seen with a ‘geared down approach’ on the windy days. Averaged depths were normal for late summer on Lac Seul, with the majority of good bites occurring in 20-35 ft., and the deeper rock bite (30-35ft.) turning a noticeable amount of the bigger fish. It does feel like fish are beginning to be on the move a bit, and with some of the weed beds beginning to die off, we are watching out for shallow pulses of fish that have historically occurred in past fall seasons.

The big pike fishing is on the cusp as well. Lots of big follows this week and consistent mid-30s fish are being turned on days when pike are being targeted. For the week we saw 5 pike over 37 in. with 1 – 40, 1 – 41, and 1 – 42. That being said, there are a lot of pike still deep and being caught incidentally while walleye fishing. Soon there will be monsters-a-plenty in the shallows, and the boys will be slinging away.

My lesson of the week occurred when fishing with Al and Babs Debes. Former resort owners on Leech Lake and very experienced walleye anglers, they taught me a few important things, most notably that I am a spoiled Lac Seul fishing guide. When I suggested we change spots after only catching 5 fish for the sheet in about an hour, they looked at me with (wise) surprise and said, “Jesse, this is not slow. This is fantastic!” Soon after that, Al managed to catch his personal best walleye of his life – a monster 27.5 that outweighed most 29s I have seen. As guides we sometimes forget what an incredible fishery we are on and begin to take for granted what we manage to produce day in and day out.

That’s all for this week folks. Thanks for checking in and we hope to see you up here soon!

Jesse Wright

Senior Guide

SWWL

August 19, 2011

August 21st, 2011 by Silver Water Wheel Lodge

Sunday is my last fishing guiding day for the season. How does the summer go by so fast? Like so many others this year, this past week was overall very good for both big walleyes and volume. Our walleye count did drop off a bit, largely due to volatile weather. We had thunderstorms, heavy rain, fronts, and several days of very high winds. The conditions were tough, but the guides consistently found not only big walleyes, but also an astounding number of 23 – 25 inchers. Chris Fluke personally caught 16 walleyes over 24 in. in one day including 3 over 27 inches.

It was another week with holes in the schedule. There were 59 guided days this week with an average of 9 guides on the water each day. The openings did allow us to have friends and family join us at the lodge to celebrate my parent’s 50th Wedding Anniversary. It was great to see everyone.

The “big jig Gulp Alive” pattern still produced good walleyes this week, but there were more conditions that called for lighter jigs and minnows. Most walleyes were caught between 20 and 35 ft. Both main lake sand and rock were productive. For the week we had 40 walleyes over 27 in., including 3 – 28s, and 2 – 29s. Guide reports averaged just a little over 30 walleyes per boat over 18 in. per day.

There was very limited effort put into pike fishing this week, but that will all change very soon. Nights are cool, surface temps are dropping down into the high 60s, and the weed beds are starting to fall apart. This past week’s high winds tore up some weed beds and there are random pieces floating around in the lake right now. There are still a few spots available for small groups looking to book a trip to chase big pike the first two weeks of Sept.

I am looking forward to seeing a full recap of the final stats for the year. The one trend that I know is going to be prominent is the extraordinary number of 23 – 25 inch walleyes caught during the 2011 season. The other significant change this past summer is the development and refinement of our “Big Jig and Gulp Alive Crazy Legs Jerk Shad” pattern fished at speed down deep. This technique has dramatically improved our search speed and allowed us to effectively study much, much more water than when we relied primarily on electronics to find and dead stick fish on the graph. The bottom line is, the more tools we have and the more comfortable a guide staff is at using them, the easier it is for us to figure out what the fish are doing when they change up their patterns and locations. I credit the consistent number of weeks with 30 or more walleyes over 27 in. across the 2011 season to SWWL guide crew team work and performance. It has been a great fishing year and we look forward to 2012.

I will be chasing muskies with good buddy and Guide Ben Beattie on the East side of Lac Seul on my way home to Iowa. I will be guiding deer hunts for the next 3 months and then we will be right back to SWWL bookings and shows. Until next year…. MW – Gone South!

August 12, 2011

August 15th, 2011 by Silver Water Wheel Lodge

A major weather system moved through northwest Ontario this week. After seeing virtually no rain in the months of July and the early part of August, the skies opened up yesterday and we had a month’s worth of rain in about an hour and a half. Yesterday was a wild ride on Lac Seul and the smart guides were close to camp when it all cut loose. For the record, when you see a cloud coming towards you turn a shade of turquoise blue and sink, it is time to get off the lake. We had 40 mph winds and hail and more rain than the ground could hold. It was the kind of sky that people take pictures of before the storm hits.

We had another round of serious cancellations this week. In fact, I only had 56 guide sheets this week, which means that there was an average of 7 guides on the lake instead of 13. Despite the decreased pressure, production remained very strong. I did not find my share of big walleyes this week, but the boys made up for me with 30 over 27in., including 4-28s. Volume was very good with guide sheets averaging 40 walleyes over 18 in. per day. The highest daily total was 56.

We have continued to rely heavily on the 5 in. Gulp Alive Crazy legs Jerk shad with ½ – ¾ oz. jigs pulled fast in deeper water. It is a great search system when you have a few active walleyes spread out on a flat and it also helps to locate pods of walleyes. We may only pick up one or two with the big plastics, but we can mark the group and go back and work that spot over with lighter jigs and minnows. The most difficult time for guides to locate fish is when they are moving back and forth between shallower or deeper locations. This system saves hours of search time and gets us on big walleyes fast whether they are active or not.

Years ago when we were in the middle of a huge big walleye peak, I failed to point out to my groups that we were experiencing an anomaly that would not continue into the future. For the tenth time this week, I have been told how surprised guests were by the number of 23+ inch walleyes we see every day. When a guide boat catches 15 walleyes over 24 inches in one day it should shock people. It does not faze SWWL guides. They appreciate it and understand that it is awesome, but it is happening more and more often these days.

There was very little effort spent chasing big pike this week, but Bob Ernst did chase down a giant 42.75 in. giant on a Poppa doc spoon.

Nights have been cooling down into the 50s this week and there has been fog on the lake the last 2 mornings in a row. Water temps are just starting to cool by a few degrees, and there is just a hint of Fall on the way.

August 5, 2011

August 7th, 2011 by Silver Water Wheel Lodge

Overall, it was another very stable and strong week for walleye fishing on the southern main lake basins of Lac Seul. We had a few wimpy showers, but we are still incredibly dry and are still seeing smoke on the water every other day. The fires continue to burn to the north and you can see the dry conditions beginning to affect the forest, especially on the islands. The trees close to the water line are starting turn yellow and the grasses on the granite slopes are also starting fade.

There were some minor changes in the weather, but it almost feels like the smoky conditions have had a dampening effect on the dramatic weather shifts. There were a couple of tough bites on a few of the afternoons, but overall, the walleye fishing was very good for both size and numbers. We continued to see very high numbers of 22 – 25 in. walleyes again this week. Even though we had 3 cabin spots open this week due to cancellations and many guides off the water, we still managed to catch and release 37 walleyes over 27 in., including 2 – 28s. Walleye volume continued to be very good with guide sheets reporting an average of 35 walleyes over 18 in. per boat per day.

Usually at this time of year 95% of our walleyes are caught using ¼ ounce jigs tipped with minnows. Occasionally we would gear down to 1/8s for really difficult fish and “dead stick them.” We did catch fish with jigs and minnows this week, but we also did very well again with big jigs and plastics on deep sand flats. Years ago, we would have fished bouncers and harnesses to chase these walleyes, but recently we have had better overall success with ½ – ¾ oz. jigs and 5 in. Gulp Alive crazy legs jerk shads. With this big bait you can cover water quickly to locate active fish while you are watching your graph and locating pods of less aggressive fish that you can go back to and work with smaller jigs and minnows later. It is just another very efficient technique that we have been working on over the course of the season and now we are comfortable fishing this system down to 30 ft. and deeper. Many of our big walleyes this week were caught on the big plastics.

There was very little effort put into chasing big pike this week and when we did, results were very modest.

Of Note:

Wendi and Keith Dickerson brought their boys Josh and Logan up for the first time to fish with us this week. Every one caught at least a 27 in. walleye and Josh and Logan each caught their personal best walleye at 27.5 in.

July 31, 2011

August 2nd, 2011 by Silver Water Wheel Lodge

And just like that, it turned back into a normal summer. The fire ban ended even though it is still quite dry and the lake remains about 1.5 ft. below average. The walleyes returned to deeper water “normal” summer rock and sand locations on the main lake and the bite was good with high volume and big fish in the mix.

Both deep water sand and deeper water rock produced equally well this week and the most consistent depths were 18 – 32ft. You can still find a few fish in shallow water, but the vast majority of our production came from the main lake basins. Jigs and minnows produced most fish, but the guides have also successfully been experimenting with big jigs and plastics moving fast in deep water. Tipped with minnows, we primarily used ¼ oz. and occasionally dropped down to 1/8 oz. jigs for stubborn fish marked on the graph. But especially on the deep water sand flats, jigs in 3/8 to ½ oz. or more worked well when backtrolled at .5 – .8 mph with 5 in. Gulp Alive crazy legs jerk shads in white. This presentation just looks like a smelt and the big profile often triggers bigger fish. Chuck Willmott caught his personal best walleye at 28 in. “dredging” the sand with a big jig and a “crazy legs Gulp.”

For the week we caught and released 35 walleyes over 27 in., including 6- 28s. Volume was very good with guide sheets reporting an average of 35 walleyes over 18 in. per boat per day. The highest daily total was 62. As we have moved into deeper water, we are seeing an increase in the number of medium to large walleyes. There were a total of 272 walleyes over 25 in. caught and released last week. Many boats had strong catches for walleyes over 24 in. and the highest daily total was 20. Overall, it was a very good walleye fishing week.

There was very little pike fishing effort and we ended the week with just one big one at 42 in.

The Kicker:

Guest: You got a good one?

Guide: No, just a little one.

Guest: Where I come from, an 18 – 21 inch slot walleye is Not a Little one.

July 22, 2011

July 23rd, 2011 by Silver Water Wheel Lodge

It is Northwest Ontario and we are very accustomed to dramatic weather changes. In fact, we expect them, but this past week has been one that will not soon be forgotten.

By Saturday we were well into a heat wave with over 100 wildfires burning north of the lodge. The first half of the week was dominated by light winds, blazing sunshine, day time highs over 90 degrees and humidity index values over 100. There were days with light north winds that blanketed the area with smoke. I have never seen smoke on the lake so thick that it reduced visibility to less than ¼ of a mile. Guides navigated by GPS. Water bombers flew almost every day. We were on a severe thunder storm watch on Wednesday, and we spent the day ready to go to shore, but every storm that built up went north, south, or just blew itself out. About 30 drops of rain hit the lodge and the front went through that night dry. The weather forecast for Thursday neglected to mention that the wind was going to blow 30 – 40 mph all day. And finally today it felt like September as north winds and a low cloud deck settled in with a few showers. We have shut all of the windows in the lodge and we lit fires in cabins tonight for guests. The low tonight is forecast to be in the high 40s. It really feels like September and yet the fire ban is still in effect. If this paragraph was tough to follow, then think what it did to the walleyes.

Walleye fishing is most challenging when the fish are spread out and the bite is off. We began the week smashing large numbers of walleyes, including big ones, in the shallows. Depths ranged from 4 – 12 ft. and sand flats in front of cabbage weed beds were the key. Saturday through Wednesday, the deep water sand and rock were absolutely empty of forage and walleyes. Everything was either suspended in the top 10 ft. or in the shallows. Everything changed when the weather broke. You could see the baitfish on your graph spread out and mix through the entire water column. Shallow water sand flats that held enough walleyes to keep several boats busy all day emptied and produced fewer than 1 fish per hour. We found some walleyes moving out to deep water sand flats on breaks between 20 – 25 ft. with ¼ oz. jigs and minnows, there were semi-suspended fish caught on wind blown rock sand transitions in 14 – 20 ft. moving quickly (.5 to 1 mph) with big jigs and gulp, and there were still a few walleyes caught on shallow water spots (8 – 12 ft.) as long as the wind was blowing. The shallow fish changed activity levels quickly and would prefer triggering type baits like fast plastics at times, but then later on that day in the same spot, you would have to gear down to light jigs and minnows to scratch a few out. To consistently catch fish this week, you had to shift gears and aggressively hunt dramatically different water with various presentations all day, every day.

Despite the challenging and changing conditions, the guide crew managed to stay on fish and to turn surprisingly good results. For the week, we caught and released 45 walleyes over 27 in., including 9 – 28s. Guide sheets averaged 35 walleyes over 18 in. per boat per day and the highest daily total was 68.

There were a few groups that spent time chasing big pike this week with mixed results. The big pike caught were found primarily on main lake weedbeds closer to deeper water. There were 3 – 41s caught this week and Don Holton caught his personal best at 44 inches.

The Kicker:

At a check out last night, a guest asked me what I was going to say in this week’s fishing report and I gave him a brief description of what is written above.

Guest response: “Wow, we didn’t think it was that tough… our guides just kept moving until we found the next bunch of fish…. It was great.”

July 15, 2011

July 16th, 2011 by Silver Water Wheel Lodge

MNR water bombers flew over Lac Seul all week working on suppressing dozens of fires burning north of the Lake. It has been warm and dry and we begin our first fire ban tonight at midnight. We also had our first round of significant cancellations this week and the stats suffered for it. Overall the fishing was very good for both walleyes and big pike. With 2 cabins open and guides off, we had 40% less angling effort on the water than usual.

The walleyes began the week on shallow sand and as we ended the week, we found many groups of fish moving deeper onto main lake summer sand structure. I would say that we are still in a transitional phase as there are still many walleyes in 8 – 14 ft. of water. It is significant to note that the percentage of small fish is increasing in the shallows and the big fish are increasing in the 18 – 30 ft. zone. When the fish were shallow and aggressive, the Gulp bite was strong, but as the bigger walleyes have moved deeper, it has become more of a ¼ oz. jig and minnow bite.

For the week, we had 24 walleyes over 27 in., including 4 – 28s. Guide sheets averaged around 40 walleyes over 18 in. per boat per day. The highest daily total was 76. With very high temps forecast for the coming week, it is a 50/50 guess as to whether the walleyes will trend deeper onto main lake sand or reverse course and head back to shallow water and the deep side of the weed beds. We will aggressively plan to check both.

The big pike bite was good for the week, but inconsistent for patterns. The big fish were caught from cabbage weeds on main lake points, transition bays, and we still caught some big ones in what would be considered deeper water spring time locations. Spoons and big in line spinners worked best through the weeds. For the week we had 17 over 37 in., including 2 – 40s, 2 – 41s, 2 – 42s, and 1 – 43.

The Kicker:

Guest: Mike, we had our best walleye fishing ever….. We had 24 walleyes over 24 in. in one day.

MW: That’s awesome big fish action… I just wish I had all of my guides on the water.