Fishing Report 5/23-5/27

We arrived to VBL after a 17 hour drive. It was our first time here, and we were excited to see what the next 4 days held.

We got into our cabins (very nice) and headed out to see this huge body of water. 'Bama hooked into a nice smallie and we found a few pike and small walleye.

Ater dinner we headed back out to a spot Gord showed us, and began trolling for Walleye (and maybe a Lake Trout). On my first cast, I took 2 cranks, getting ready to troll, and there was a pull of the line and a swril 40' back. "Has to be a walleye to pull like that!". Ok, I was wrong. I found on this trip, NOTHING pulls like a Lake Trout. This was my first laker ever, and what a first one....32" & 11.5lbs. A lifetime fish for me (great story and lots of memories tied to catching it).

The trip was looking promising!

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Sunday found us heading to Sportsman Bay. We got into some Northern and had a great shore lunch. Later in the day, I was able to land a nice 24" walleye.

Eagle Lake really is a great body of water!

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Because Tuesday was suppose to be bad weather, we headed over to Clearwater on Monday. The channel had lot more curves in than Gord drew on the map, but we had fun driving through it. Within being there about 20 minutes we had 4 fish (Lakers / Northern). We also had a rain picking up pretty bay (I can believe Tuesday was going to be worse)! By 12:30 my boat was ready to go, but the other boat started to catch some lakers, so we thought we'd head over to them. After 4 hours, we were soaking wet, laughing at how much fun we were having, and sore from catching so many 20"+ lakers, 28"+ Northerns, Smallies, and Whitefish....this may be the most fun single day on the water in Canada, ever.

The rain was so hard we couldn't even get our cameras out for pictures, but we did manage 1 of 'Bama's 30" Northern. Luckly, we got a good shot back in the fish house. The ride back to camp was "interesting". Big waves....lots of spray.....what a great time!

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We decided to head back to Clearwater after lunch to see if lightning could strike twice. The weather was ALOT better on Tuesday (still glad we went Monday) but we had just as much fun. Lakers over 20" were in the dozens and we had the lake to ourself. I don't know if there is a spot for the place we fished (don't worry, I'm not going to describe it here), but we named it "Hoosier Highway" after the last two days! We brought our limit of Lakers back for the freezer and the trip home.

We fished so hard on Tuesday, that we ran out of gas on the way back to the lodge. So, we had a beer, a smoke, and reflected on the last two days while the other boat went and got us a full can.

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Wednesday was our last day...we were leaving after a day of fishing. 'Bama and I decided to head into Highrock Lake and check it out for a bit. We were going to meet Jon & Brad for shore lunch on Clearwater before a bit more fishing.
Highrock looks like a great lake. We didn't get to spend a lot of time there, but we each got a couple of Smallies. The pike fought much harder up there, and we had fun landing a nice 32" that made several dives near the boat, peeling line each time. We needed to get back to Clearwater, and we met the guys for lunch. We had a great shore lunch at a great spot, and then went fishing the Highway for some nice Pike to bring home. We caught a few and several lakers again.


Gord, Suzanne, Mike: Thanks for a GREAT trip! You guys really do run a first-class operation. We all were impressed how there was someone at the dock to meet us, how the boats were mopped out, and warmed up in the mornings for us. Your hospitality in the lodge was great and we had so much fun. I don't think I'll have a reason to ever go anywhere else!
Gord, I'm going to be sending you a CD with a bunch of pictures for you. It will be hitting the mail later this week!

Fishing update......

Here are a few pictures off my camera. Water temperatures are unusually cold still.....barely 50 degrees. I think we will still have good shallow water trout fishing for the upcoming week but temps are supposed to improve. This will get the walleye a little more active although we did pretty well once we located them. Maybe another week and the bass will hit the spawning beds. A trip to Caribou is something I will report back on.

Laker Action

I like the suggestion of posting some of the lakers from the fish board last year. It was an impressive year. However, let me be clear that these fish can be caught all year. It just becomes much more of a challenge and one has to venture out of the bay to find them later in the year. The early spring bite is appealing because the fish are shallow, they are close to the lodge, and one can use light tackle. All of the following lakers however were caught in very deep water in August (Yes, trout are the exception when it comes to adjusting their bladder but they do require some attention to release them back to deep water). Unlike the spring, you are not going to "accidentally" catch lakers in the fall. You have to be targeting them and not many people are doing that. Thus the board won't show as many lakers other then in the spring. Nothing is a guarantee. That's why they call it "fishing" rather than "catching". However for the last 3 years the professors gone wild have had great success with the day we set aside to catch lakers late in August.

Fishing update.......

Water temps are cool and lake trout are hot. As was last spring, the trout are shallow and scattered. Walleye are scattered as well with the exception of some shore line spawning activity in the evening and early morning. These are very localized and top secret locations, but loaded with aggresive fish. I'm hoping with some warming water temperatures the walleye will begin to concentrate in their more "normal" early spring locations. The perch queens are holding off on their perch quest till things heat up a bit..............stay tuned.

VBL Tourney Time........

Toronto Artist Charles Weiss did a great job of creating hand carved wood replica take home trophys for this years Walleye Madness Week (July 25- Aug 1) and the Muskie Madness Week (Sept 12-19). I had a cancellation for the Walleye Madness week and have one (2 bedroom) cabin still available for that week. Still have a few left for the Muskie Week. Lots of fun....be sure and give it a shot!

The Mystery of "The Professor's Hand"....

While we bide our time till the first fishing reports roll in let's consider this picture. A man, on Eagle lake, in a boat, with a walleye, white socks*, a sly smile, and a prosthetic hand. The mystery of the "green glove". Has anyone actually seen the Professors hand? Note how the supposed "limb" actually extends further than normal......and at an unnatural angle. Perhaps the walleye is a fake as well? Really, who is the Professor....and why is this picture so disturbing?

*Sung to the tune "White socks, Red neck & Blue Ribbon beer".....

What a difference a day makes!

It was looking grim for opening day.......not for the faint of heart. Things have turned around in 24 hours and the outlook looks great into next week.

The Spring of '09....

Here's a shot from just up the road........Red Lake snowed in. Fortunately we are only getting rain and howling winds down here in the banana belt of Vermilion Bay. The highway to Red Lake was closed today due to snow. The snow plow equipment was put away for the summer. Merry Fishing to all......and to all a good night.......

Wood boat restoration.....

Here's a few shots of some of the work on the cedar-strip boat. So far we've done a little sanding on the bottom and removed a section of the center keel (top photo.....the metal strip is still there plus the screws that were holding the old keel in place). Also some work is happening on the transom with replacing some of the peeling fibre-glass. Once the bottom is done we can put it on the trailer and do the upper sides and top.

There's a Muskie on my Roof!

We're in the midst of doing some work on the ol' boathouse. For those of you who have been here before you might notice the back of the building that used to house the walk-in freezer is gone and has been replaced by the covered deck. There is also the addition of a muskie wind-vane that my brother-in-law John gave me. This should point the direction to the "big one".....we'll see.

My plan is to put a boat in and catch a lake trout for Mother's Day. I will report back on my success or failure. Stay tuned.......

It's Official......Ice Out, May 7, 2009

The Bay is ice free as of this morning! Congratulations to Ed Perkis for predicting correctly and thank you to all the rest who participated.

I know that certain, sceptical guests may claim that there is ice shown in the picture (behind the flag pole). Sorry Joe, those are ducks.

And The Ice Out Winner Is.......

..........not anybody who guessed May 6th!

Ice Sheet On The Ropes.....Comeback Unlikely.

Here's a few shots from yesterday. Off in the distance towards Round Island you can see the open water as the south wind pushes the ice onto the north shore. The government dock shown on the last picture is taking the brunt of the ice action. It's going quick....will May 6 be the day? Stay tuned!!

The Ice Out Continues......

The ice is starting to show some dramatic changes and the wind continues to blow. I've added a few different perspectives..........a shot from the lodge window......overlooking the lake from the BBQ deck..........and the usual, a shot from the deck at the lodge.

Melting into May.........

Well, it may not be looking too good for those of you predicting a late April, early May ice out. What is not too obvious in the May 2nd photo is the ice starting to pile up on Gull Rock from wind shifting the ice sheet. Also, if you are really astute, you might see a couple Canada geese in the photo as well.