We left MN around noon on Thursday, May 20 for our annual fishing trip to Lac Seul. Riding up with me was Dawger and Nissan. The first day we drive to the birth place of the legendry Chris Pronger (that would be Dryden, Ontario if you live with your head in the sand) and stay over night in a hotel. On the way, we took our usual lunch stop at the Sawmill in lovely Virginia, MN. If you are ever driving through Virginia I highly recommend stopping at “The Mill.” You will get a great meal and fall in love all at the same place. We arrived in Dryden around 6 PM. Just in time for a couple beers and dinner. Wildlife sightings on the drive up included a deer and one black bear.We woke up early on Friday morning and finished the rest of the drive. We arrived at Sioux Lookout Floating Lodge in Hudson, Ontario shortly before 10 AM. Our house boat was steaming towards the whales tail at high noon. In 6 hours we would be let off the house boat to start our week of fishing. Below is a pic of a cow moose I took from the car while driving to Hudson on Friday morning.
5/21/10- We only got a couple hours of fishing the first night. Nissan, Dawger and I went “Okie” the first night. After talking over several spots Nissan and Al made the call to try the backside of “X-Point”. The first 15 to 20 minutes was fairly slow, but things gradually heated up as the sun started to set. Around 8:30 I made the call to switch spots on the lake. Nissan quickly talked me out of it and that ended up being the best call of the week. Just minutes later I set the hook on a 29 inch walleye. Once again Nissan had earned his lucky charm award. The 29 inch walleye ended up holding on to the biggest fish award for the entire week. “Man, I am a great fisherman!” Below is a pic of the big girl. Mexicutioner!
5/22/10- Day #2 found Nissan, Dawger and I in the boat together again. With the warm water we decided to head into South Bay. Dawger pulled out a chipper in the first couple of minutes and it was all down hill from there. We basically spent the next two hours catching no fish. After wearing me down, Dawger finally had our boat headed to the Rapidoes. For the 2nd time in as many days my boat boys had made a great call. We never landed any hogs up in the rapids, but spent the rest of the day pulling in walleyes. It was the best action we had in the rapids since the legendry year of 2005.
5/23/10- Day #3 I was in the boat with Pops and Nissan. We started the day casting for Pike down in the bay near Musky Rock. Other than a couple little guys, nothing wanted to play. Next we tried Banana Boat Island (Eagle Island for ladies on the trip). The waves where crashing into the west point of the island and the three of us pounded the walleyes for the next hour. Below is a pic of Nissan with one of the many fish we landed at Banana Island. Things slowed down and we moved on. Later that afternoon I ended up boating a 25 inch walleye (pic #2 below) but for the life of me I can't remember where it was caught. Len also had a huge walleye on earlier in the day, but horsed him and lost it. Dawger said it was shocking how badly that huge fish was horsed.
Later that evening Nissan and I fished Tity Point. Things where slow to start with but really heated up once the sun set. We moved into 5 feet of water and proceeded to pull fish after fish into the boat. We got to enjoy the romantic sunset below and a 26 inch walleye. It was a fun night of fishing.
5/24/10- Day #4- We woke up to some cloudy skies and weather off in the distance. I spent the day fishing with Denny and Pops. We started the day fishing the backside of “X-Point”. Action was steady, but nothing great. Next we moved on to Picnic Point. We did have some action at Picnic, but my two companions couldn’t keep their jigs out of the rocks. Jenkins would have been proud. Next we stopped at Dot Com and the action was hot. We had great luck until a squall moved in (the below pic is the squall right before its 40 MPH winds hit the Tin Boat).
Once the squall hit, we had 40 to 50 mph winds and had to take cover in a nearby cove. Rain and Lighting moved in and that was it for fishing on day #4. Below is a pic of Dawger and Nissan relaxing with a premixed and Corinita, listening to our Lac Seul Jukebox after another round of Yahtzee . Thanks again to Jacie for letting us use his waterproof Ipod Station.
5/25/10- Day #5- Nissan, Dawger and I where back in the boat together. This was Schmidts dream day of fishing, no clouds and 83 degrees. We headed way south into the narrows to try a couple spots Len and Carl had fished the day before. Thanks again to Len and Carl for not clearing their spots from the GPS, “Suckers!” Fishing was slow and other than watching my old man run Mike’s boat over a huge rock, nothing big happened. We headed back north and stopped at Banana Boat Island. Carl tipped us off to fishing the West side of the island (sand bar) and his tip really paid off. The three of us ended up boating 75 to 80 fish in one hour. Nothing of great size, but solid fish and great action. Below is a pic of Dawger with his biggest Fish of the trip. That fat little jumbo is sitting in my freezer waiting for Pete to stuff in his gullet. We stopped at Musky Rock for the last hour of the afternoon. We went from jigging for Walleye to casting for Pike after Dawger got a huge 40+ inch pike to follow a spoon right up to the boat. The fish was kind enough to lay right below the boat for a couple seconds before sinking back to the bottom of the lake. Dawger almost had a true Lac Seul giant.
That evening Dawger stayed on the houseboat and listened to 5 innings of the Twins vs. Yankees game. Nissan and I headed back to Tity Point and once again nailed the walleye in 5 to 6 feet of water from sunset until dark. We didn’t catch anything huge, but all good size fish.
5/26/10- Day #6- Nissan and I took a trip with the Lac Seul tour guide (Len). We started out down in South Bay casting for smallmouth bass. Nissan and I had more snags than smallies, but we did each land a smallie. Below is the pic of my bass.
We moved on to a couple of Len’s other south bay hot spots. We started at Z Rock where Nissan and I caught several post slot fish. Action was steady but not great. We also bumped into Carl and Dawger and found out that earlier in the day Dawger had landed a fat 26 ¾ inch walleye at the crab claw. A picture of Dawgers fish will hopefully follow later. It is now later and here is Dawgers picture.
After that, the three of us stopped at a couple other spots including Death Rock and some island near sea gull island. Although we did catch fish, nothing was big and numbers where low. I was able to snap a quick pic of Nissan playing the 'Walleye Guitar". Eat Ted Nuggent!
That evening three of our boats went down to Musky Rock. Nissan , Len and I braved the waves on the west side of the island and caught fish steadily all night. I ended up boating my 2nd biggest fish of the trip. A fat ole 26.5 inch walleye.
5/27/10- Day #7- The last day we only get to fish until 11 AM because our houseboat heads back for the dock at noon. Pops, Mike and I headed out for the morning fish. We stopped at a new spot on the way to Musky Rock. The night before Len had pointed the spot out and said it looked like it might be good. Fishing was steady the entire time we fished the new spot and Mike had a big girl on but lost her half way up, ‘School Boy!” We finished the day by fishing around Musky Rock and a new shoreline east of Musky Rock. Below is a pic of LJ and I with a double on the last morning.
2010 Yatzee Results…….
Week Long Champion- Scott E.
Elimi-Yatzee Champion- Carl K.
Overall it was a great trip and our week flew by. I am already looking forward to our 2011 trip. Hopefully spring will come a little later in Ontario and a few more big girls will still be active.
And Yes, the service at the Sawmill was just as good on the way home!
Lastly, Below is a picture of a Sauger that Dawger caught during the trip. Our best guess is the fish swam through the oil spill in the gulf of mexico as it migrated to Lac Seul. How else can you explain that?
