Cedar Valley Lodge. Aug 12 - 19

[Kill Switch]

Headed up to CVL and visited Neno and his lovely wife Mirijana. Joining me was my son and a buddy with his son. Fishing was nothing short of fantastic.
The weather was unpredictable.  We arrived Saturday later in the day by about 5pm.
By the time we fished reminiscing with Neno and setting up our rods it was time to hit the sack.

We don't kill ourselves to get up early. Sunday we were on the water by 8:30am. We fished until 11:30am. My son and I fished "Rockman". at first the bite was on and we landed 5 fish in the 16" to 18" range. also brought in a couple of hammer handles (Pike).
back out that evening at about 5pm and fished the lake side of Smith Bay. The action was furious. With a small chop we picked up about 20 fish in a two hour span. All on jig and worm. I tried everything else but worms was what they were calling for. Size was small, 15" average but they seemed a little skinny.

Monday started off partly cloudy.  We trolled in about 18 FOW just south of the bay entrance of CVL. My son picked up one small pike and another at 36". he was thrilled.
Thanks to the Navionics link provided by Rhybak I was able to use my Etch-A-Sketch of a depth finder and fish many of the shelves in Hay Bay. Also thanks to T-Bone and Jay for the friendly pointers. So with info in hand I hit "Seagull Island". At least I think it was Seagull Island. There were a bunch of visible rocks. One had rebar with a sign that had the number 3 on it. We drifted and jigged in about 20-25 FOW on the lakeside of the rocks. Again we brought in a few more decent Walleye, this time in the 18"-20" range.  About 10:45am I had the hit of my life. At first I thought it was a lake trout because the thing kept on sounding. Then finally I saw the white tip of the tale! It was the catch of a lifetime (for me at least at Kipawa). We landed 32 inch walleye. We didn't have a measuring tape so I used our oar for reference and took a picture. We measured the oar back at camp. The estimated weight was 8lbs as this was a fat female. The gold colouring looked hand painted. We took good care of her and made sure she recuperated and off she swam to make more Kipawa walleye for future generations. I still need to get the photo off my sons camera.

The rest of the week was crazy weather. Crazy in that one minute it would be sunny, then the next minute thunder or rain. One day all we ha was mist.
As the week went on the wind picked up.

Wednesday saw us fish a shelf in Hay Bay from about 6:30pm to sundown (I prefer evening fishing). Thanks T-Bone and Jay T again. This shelf produced 50 fish between my son and I. We kept enough to bring some home in the freezer and released the rest. Average size was 18 inches with a couple breaking 20" or 21". Depth was exactly 19 feet. If we veered off to 21 feet the bite stopped. I think the rock pile down below was key.

The rest of the week we hit our usual haunts and did OK. I decided to keep working the Navionics map and my Etch-A-Sketch to find more mid lake drop offs. When we found the drop offs, we found fish in 19 feet of water. This year there seemed to be no point in fishing closer to shore and their drop off points.

As mentioned later in the week the chop picked up. Fish near the bottom were smaller (15 inches). Larger fish became suspended at about the 10 foot mark with a solid walleye chop on the water. We trolled hot n tots and wally divers with some success.

Jigging plastics hardly produced, the walleye wanted worms.

I can type forever about this trip and I am happy to answer any questions as it seems not very many people head up to CVL. For the week we caught (my son and I) about 400 fish. Mainly walleye with some pike and small-mouth mixed in.

I worry about the small-mouth and how they will coexist with the walleye over the next few years. I keep catching more and more, huge ones too.
Lastly, this year I made the switch to braid on my jigging rod. What the heck was I waiting for?!?!?!?!?! I am now a convert. We use a fluoro leader, but you don;t need to. My son broke off his fluoro and tied his jig directly to his braid and caught just as much. Perhaps the green colour helped.

Apologies for the lengthy post. Writing has me reminiscing in my head.

Tight lines!

[Hodgey1]

Apologies for the lengthy post. Writing has me reminiscing in my head.

Nice report! The reminiscing is completely understandable. If I could snap my fingers and be anywhere I wanted to be, right now, it would be fishing in Kipawa.

[limacharley]

Nice report 289. Thank you for releasing the big ones.

[T-Bone]

Nice report...and that read like a Cliff's Notes (for those of you that know what that is) compared to some other verbose reports out here. 

Sounds like you had a great week of fishing and catching...and I'm glad to offer any insights at any time...I'm glad they worked.

On the braid conversion; I have trouble tying braid...must be a secret to it or something. And honestly, we snag-up so much with our style of fishing that braid would be "too strong" and likely become a bigger headache than it's worth.

[Jay Thomas]

Thanks very much for posting your fishing report. Your report flooded my mind with memories (17 trips plying much of the same water). The CVL location is about as good as it gets - central to every where. And a big CONGRATs on that 32 inch walleye - a dream come true I'm sure.

Jay

[smitty55]

Great report, but you do yourself a big disservice on your estimate of a fat 32" Walleye. There is no chance it weighs 8 pounds, that's like a 28" one.  My largest Walleye ever was registered at Corbeau lodge the next morning as I caught it later at night. I forget the exact stats, but over 31" and well over 11 pounds. This was mid summer and was the lodge's biggest of the year so far and I made good coin in the weekly lodge derby. hehehe

So your fish has to be pushing 12 lbs. That's the fish of a lifetime that even the best fishermen may never equal in those waters. Big Congrats. I had mine mounted, still my fish of a lifetime. I still remember the blue slime on my fingers after handling it.

Cheers

[Kill Switch]

I'll take that Smitty...lol
Looking at that fish all I could think of was how big the cheeks were and how tasty they would have been.
I would love to say it was 12 pounds.
According to this chart: http://walleyesearchers.org/Weight-Conversion-Chart.php
it says 12 pounds but I think length and weight will vary by region. The further north you go the skinnier the fish (IMO). This is one time I am willing to be wrong..lol

T-Bone: I hear ya for tying braid. I like the 10 feet of fluoro for snag purposes. I became a unit to uni knot master by the end of the week. It was the hook set that got me convinced.

[GregL]

Great report! Wow 32" eye Thats huge!

You would be lucky to catch that at Quinte! I would love to see it if you have any pics

Congrats!! Absolutely awesome that you released it!

That truly is a fish of a lifetime!