Kipawa Lodge Aug. 4th-11th

[JMB]

This was our first trip to a Canadian Fishing Lodge and Wayne and Barb treated us like family and the food was very good to excellent.  Our cabin was right next to our dock and the boat set up was also very good with a 16 Foot Lund, a 15 hp 4 stroke outboard, swivel seats, a big net, navy anchor, and a depth finder. Gas and bait were also included. We had a good sized cabin with good screening and the bugs were only an issue at night and they were small mosquitoes. I supplemented our boat set up with a portable Fish Finder.

The first three days we explored the small lakes and passages and while we caught about 80 walleyes and some small pike, we figured out that they were not the place to fish because the water was too warm. Once we started fishing larger Lac Hunter our catch rate and the size of the fish went way up due to the cooler water. Mark and I caught about 100 walleyes the next two days. Unfortunately Mark got sick once we started refining our fishing patterns and I had to fish by myself the last day and a half. I still got about 100 walleyes a day mostly with finesse jig techniques on large flats about 20-25 feet deep. Some of our largest walleyes also came from the inside bends of major lake points and we had good success trolling deep diving crankbaits with white and pearl bellies at magic hour around 8:00 PM each evening. We ended up with over 380 walleyes and a good number of legal fish and fish over the legal size. All the fish were returned except for 8 the kitchen wanted for dinner.
We also got about 20 more pike including a very large one that engulfed a 14" walleye and refused to give it up.  Our largest walleye was just over 30".  We saw what looked like lots of lake trout below the thermocline on the fish finder, but we did not fish for them. The thermocline varied from 40 t0 30 foot deep due to the springs in Lac Hunter.


The lake system was truly beautiful and the loons often led us to some of our best fishing spots.


It was a great trip overall except we made the mistake of driving up through Toronto on a Saturday. Our trip back went great with no issues and we had zero border issue and breezed through each time with our passport cards.

[puckster_guy]

 Hi and welcome to Kipawa. You've now been spoiled and hopefully will be back. It's a huge lake and you've barely scratched the surface. Good job with the fishing. Most new comers don't usually do as well. Were you using live bait or mostly plastics? I tend to split my time between jigs and trolling, deep diving cranks in open water have worked for me too.

[JMB]

Thanks Puckster and you are a 100% right, we have only scratched the surface. 

Next time we plan to fish the upper part of the lake a lot more and the area called the river where there is the outflow for the lake. That area is absolutely beautiful and there are a lot more pike in that area. We tried a lot of lures for walleyes and while they were somewhat effective it was mostly during low light periods. We did get a few larger walleyes speed trolling during the day.

[Hodgey1]

Glad your first trip was so successful! Thanks for the report.

[limacharley]

Thanks for your report. Hope your buddy's illness wasn't self induced. Strong Canadian beer haha..
It truly is a beautiful lake. And especially near the lodge. Did you fish near the Canadian flag?

[JMB]

I wish it was the beer.

Unfortunately my buddy has challenges with vertigo and it seems to be getting worse as he gets older.  I think this was his last boat trip and he will be staying on terra firma from now on.

I will be back, but I may be coming by myself if I cant find a new partner. Mark is the last of my old fishing buds and the rest have either passed on or have major health issues. There have been many great trips with great friends over many years and that is what is important

[SgtCrabby]

Thanks for a great report!
Sounds like you had good success.   

I am sure you can find a new partner on this board if you need one next year (fingers crossed that your buddy can make it again)