Besides bass, Roger and his crew did well on walleye for eats and northern pike for fun. They also caught some lake trout which made it for a supper date.
Not bad for August fishing on a clear water lake with temps hitting the low 30’sC some days. That is around the high 80’sF for those not on the Metric system yet.
Irene Lake never ceases to amaze me. It produces such nice fish. When walleye are not biting, the bass are awesome.
Roger and his friends were on Irene Lake the first part of August and managed to rather successful with smallies. They caught some nice trout, northern and walleye too, but that will be another post.
The stars must have lined up perfectly. I was able to go fishing again on the weekend. Mike and Care were visiting with our little Granddaughter and Jo and her boyfriend Dean were here as well. Mike and I took Dean for a little walleye experience. There was room on the plane when I dropped off a group at Metionga Lake on Sunday so Mike and Dean jumped on board.
Dean is from Newfoundland and is very familiar with fishing – cod, lobster, salmon, mussels and other saltwater fare. Admittedly, his walleye experience was embarrassingly limited. As evident in the picture, it wasn’t a great walleye day – no wind and very sunny – but even midday Mike and I were able to add walleye to Dean’s favorite fish list.
During the the last couple of seasons, we have been fighting an economic downturn on our largest market. While these things are frustrating, we have seen downturns before in our 25 years running Ignace Outposts.
We adjust and continue our best. One of our strategies is shutting down a couple of low utilization camps. This helps streamline our operation as well as rest the fisheries. We don’t abandon these sites since we know we’ll have them up and running again soon. Therefore we still maintain them ready to go.
At Gamble Lake Randy, Joey and I were there last week to redeck the dock. It was a big job but we had great weather and that combined with our ambition, the job was enjoyable.
Old deck
New stringers
New deck
Until Thursday last week Karen and I had not had a chance to go fishing. It is hard to believe that running one of the finest fly in fishing businesses in Canada, we don’t get much chance to enjoy the resources ourselves. This summer has been a little more work for us with less staff to counteract world economic factors.
But… we finally managed a few hours on Metionga Lake while making a service run. We got our work done and before we headed home took time to be sure our fishing skills were not degraded.
Lots of walleye went back into the lake and we had a feed of fresh walleye for supper.
Maybe we need to book ourselves a holiday.
Be sure to vote for Ignace as Canada’s Ultimate fishing town. First round of voting goes to Sept 1.
You can vote once every 12 hours.
Since we shut down our own maintenance facility, we’ve been bringing our aircraft to Nestor Falls for maintenance. We are fortunate their standards are as high as ours. We maintain our aircraft as though we are flying on them ourselves – since we do.
Maintenance and flight safety are of primary importance when operating in the the environment in which we do.
Our pilots are very well trained and extremely experienced.
The old saying is something about stopping to smell the roses.
I think it is also good to take a moment and reflect on other aspects of creation as well. There is certainly more to fishing than fishing.
Watching Discovery Channel in HD doesn’t come close to actually being there.
If you are a Facebook user, either click the link on the right side of our blog or click the logo below and join the folks who “like” us.
We will try to post stuff on Facebook fairly regularly too.
Our guests come across many interesting sites while visiting Canada. There is certainly more to a Canadian fishing trip than just fishing. Frank, his wife Sally, their two kids and another family make an annual Canadian Fishing trip up our way. On the way home they stopped to spend a moment watching a mother lynx and her kits. Sure beats a zoo to educate kids about nature.
“On our way back to MPLS from our Canadian fishing trip, we stumbled upon a Canada Lynx along side a remote roadway. After struggling to find a camera, Sally was able to snap a few pics. The cat was ~20-ft outside the passenger window on a rock ledge. We soon discovered why she was perched on the ledge; there were 2-kits between us and the female! The kits couldn't get up the rock face but eventually navigated around to the end of the rocks and slipped away into the woods...way too cool.
The cat was calm but certainly aware of our presence. It was quite a privileged viewing these cats for ~1-minute. It was amazing to see just how big and fluffy their paws are, especially on the kits.
Enjoy,”
Frank
There is no better way to see wild animals than in their natural habitat.
There is always a good reason to carry your camera while on an Ignace Outposts fishing trip.
Don’t get any ideas. Our couches are for inside the cabin and I really do prefer they stay there. We go to great lengths to make sure our cabins are comfy but boat seats will have to do for fishing.
Jeff and the guys were not going to let the new couch for Metionga Lake be put into the cabin untested. Since they helped unload it from the airplane it was only right that they would also make sure it was worthy of a fishing camp.
“Hi Brad and Karen,
Just wanted to thank you for a great week and attach a picture of the northern I caught. Thank you for your hospitality!!!!”
Mike Wilcox
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See you on Seseganaga Lake again next year Mike!
This morning we flew a group to Metionga Lake. There were 6 in the group. They are so far the best packers of the year. 6 people and 480 lbs of gear including beer, water and food. It can be done.
Seeing some of the loads that are brought up on a fly in, I believe some folks just pack until the car/trailer/truck is full. Then add a little more.
It is great to see groups that actually pack in an organized way communicating with each other rather than just throwing it all in just in case.
Weight really does matter on a fly in and kudos to those who stay under a 100 lbs per person.
Matt is not cold but is instead maintaining his fingers. As a cello player this is almost as much a priority as catching fish… thus the gloves.
Matt and his Dad joined a few others from Indiana on Flindt Lake in late July. Walleye and northern pike were the order of the day.
Either this was a “I’ve fallen and can’t get up” moment, or a creative perspective for a great photo. Who am I to judge?
Tom and his buddies – retired Chicago cops – make an annual trip to Seseganaga in mid July. They love to eat walleye but fighting northern pike are high on the list of things to do.
Bringing in a large northern must remind them of bringing in the bad guys when they were working.
