Walleye season opened on Saturday. This year has been peculiar in the early ice out, low water and warm spring temperatures. We were not sure what to expect for opener of walleye. Word about town(other drive in resorts and local anglers) is that fishing is really slow. But… this is not from Ignace Outposts…
I was at Irene Lake yesterday and the 4 guys in there reported few walleye, but fantastic lake trout and bass fishing. These fellows have fished Irene Lake in the spring before and said this was the best lake trout fishing ever. They just couldn’t keep them off their hooks regardless of the bait they tried. The few walleye they caught were much too large to keep. Irene Lake is not known for numbers of walleye but instead for very large walleye. The walleye they caught were all just at dark. They reported great bass fishing on virtually every reef they tried. It is early for the bass to be heading to the reefs but ice out was 4 weeks early this year.
The Metionga Lake reports are mixed. As usual, walleye and northern are being caught. As John reports 50 to 70 per day is not bad but not like the numbers we see some springs. The fish are hitting extremely light. On fisherman likened the light hits to “feels almost like your jig is just running through some very light weeds.” Without careful attention to the hit, the fish would be missed. The good news is that more minnows had to brought in already after only 2 days. The walleye sizes were mostly either very small or too large to keep. Of course there are plenty of eaters but just not the numbers we normally see this time of year. Northern are still around the river. One guy’s first fish of the year was a 38 inch northern at the rapids moments after dropping his jig. Gets the blood flowing doing that.
John said some walleye were caught in 3 to 4 feet of water and when they tried 30 to 35 feet they caught walleye there too. It may be a week or two before the fish stabilize in their summer patterns.
When our groups switch over later in the week I will try to acquire some photos. I really wish I could be on the lakes getting first hand reports and photos all summer – there’s just too much to do getting things ready. We will be checking on Hilltop lake later in the week and Flindt Lake will have folks in tomorrow. I’ll find out from Joe how Ses is doing as well. He did drop a few hints this morning by telling me his new fillet knife does an admirable job.
Stay tuned. We are expecting a great summer of fishing at Ignace Outposts. I hope you plan to join us.
