June 2-9 Alwaki Lodge

[JohnPK]

Ok so as promised here is our report. 7 of us left sw Ontario early Friday morning, arrived in Temiskaming for breakfast around 10 am. We usually fill up the boats with gas and pick up our licenses at the gas station at the corner of hwy 101 and the road to Kipawa…well it’s gone ! …so back down 101 for fill up at the gas station on corner just after coming across into Quebec….of course they don’t sell licenses so we get beer there and back to ProNature for our licenses. btw...60 case of Bud cans was $71 cdn...pretty good deal compared to Ontario.
After getting all our gear and supplies loaded at the Kipawa launch and the 30 or so minute boat ride to Alwaki we are back in a heaven for a week.
Surface temp was 54F Friday...coldest I can remember for early June on our arrival.
Friday evening fishing was relatively good…probably 10-15 fish caught. Some in slot kept for the first fish fry. Fish were not in our standard spots. Many in around 28-30 feet, and many of the males still had milk running out.
Saturday morning fishing was pretty good also…many fish in the 13-15 inch range.
As the week progressed, the weather shifted from cold northeast wind with rain a couple of days, to a high of 80F on the Thursday…Surface temp climbed to 65F in area around Alwaki and in talking to someone with his kids, he made a trip to Hunter Lake and his girls were swimming in 70F water there !
As I said, many of our “spots” didn’t produce  like previous years. It was hit and miss many times. My strategy on Kipawa is …if I don’t mark fish when I hit a spot, I move along until I find some.
Some fish were caught on jigs with leeches, a few on floating jigs while drifting  in deeper water with bottom bouncers but most of our fish were on a small hook with a slip sinker and leech. We have found when the bite is slow that is our go to method.
7 of us brought home our limit and we ate fish as often as we wanted while there, largest fish contest winner was only a 20.75 inch eye….usually a much larger fish takes the cash !
Two of us in our boat ended up with 134 walleye over the week, 1 - 24 inch laker  on a leech while anchored and a couple of pike break offs. All in all a good week, certainly not our best on Kipawa but no complaints. We never actually ran into where you cast and each time you get a bite or catch a fish, which usually happens on Kipawa…it was a waiting game.
Certain spots produced…some just didn’t. A rather funny story about one day on the water. We passed by one of our better spots to try a new spot as there weren’t any other boats out that morning. Fished for an hour catching a few fish, then we see this boat coming around the corner  of Corbeau…figured it was a local and they headed right toward “our” other spot…so I said…we need to beat them there and pull anchor and high tail it out…so we arrived at “our” spot first ! Yeah ! lol Well…the other boat was the Ministry, lol, I think they figured we were making a run for it ! Anyways, bottom line was, checked our licenses, 3 nice fish in the box (which he had to measure to make sure it was over slot size), which it wasn’t…and off they went. Nice guys actually, I could communicate with easily, unlike sometimes.
One group at Alwaki boated a 9lb 4 oz eye during the week….released of course.
This was the first year I just gutted my fish and cut the heads off to bring home. Too much pain and grief filleting leaving all the fins on. Will fillet here at home out of the freezer.
Cost estimate  per fish…..$5.23 per fish caught…worth every penny !
Of course Alwaki was great as always…Brian and Tina run a great lodge, would recommend it to anyone.
Sorry no pictures, I try to enjoy the time there without messing around with my phone taking pictures.
Bug report...not bad at all, was cool enough early in the week. Black flies were actually worst at the boat launch in Kipawa on our way out ! Mosquitoes were just starting.

[Greg]

Great report!  sounds like you had fun!

A little over a month and I will be headed up to Alwaki - can't wait!

Greg

[T-Bone]

Thanks for the report...love to read about recent happenings in the area we visit. Would like to share notes with you on 'spots' as I'd bet we overlap in a lot of areas. We have a Top 10, then the 2nd tier has about 5-7, then there are the others. We always seem to find one or two per year that bump a few of the lower-tier spots off the list. Our approach is similar, but we really don't rely on electronics to "mark fish". Most times we show nothing and are catching them hand over fist. We do employ the "give it a quick try, then if nothing, move on". If they're biting, we stay and fine tune. If not, next spot.

I'll give you an "AMEN!' on Alwaki Lodge...Brian and Tina are great...we love the location, we love the setting, we always have a great camaraderie with other guests in camp the same week we are, and the cabins and facilities get better every year. This year our cabin got a new deck overlooking the lake. Can't wait to post-up on that baby with a few cold Bleues and my buddies for an afternoon of BS'ing and laughing until we cry. Simply can't wait!!!

46...

[JohnPK]

No doubt T-Bone some of our spots overlap...
This year was the first time we have seen boats fishing and catching along the south shore to the west of Thompson Island...we caught some along there.
We only went east of Alwaki twice...Hunters didn't produce very well.
North by the lighthouse has always been good for us...this year nothing...I am sure fish are around just timing is the key to success.
I did talk to someone at camp who had gone to Hunter lake and did well. Not sure if it is true but long time back I heard fish are to the east..Hunters, back through Butney narrows early then migrate westerly down to Alwaki area...we have never had a problem getting plenty of fish without heading all that way. Possibly should have this year.
Islands off Dead Bear Bay did produce fish and up around Denis narrows..but hit and miss. I think the weather was a factor in them relocating and not stabilizing in an area. One year we had to bottom bounce in 40 feet of water to get more fish, which works well unless wind is pushing too strong.
All in all...a great trip. Good luck on yours. I always figure half the fun is the anticipation prior to going and the other half is the going itself.

[GregL]

Great report! Thanks.. I am desperately trying to get back up before our September trip!

[SgtCrabby]

Thanks for a great report!
Sounds like a great trip. Even checked by the ministry. . .