Hey all! Just signed onto this forum today. One of my good friends that I actually met at Alwaki Lodge a few years ago, is always talking about the forum, so I figured I'd jump on and see what all the fuss is about. I'm a 27 year old living in Kitchener Ontario and I'm actually heading to kipawa with Greg on saturday morning. It'll take me some time to get the hang of how to use the forum especially from my cell phone. But I'll make sure I post some pics of the fish from our trip!
Thanks for the introduction.
Good luck on your trip and looking forward to some reports from some new blood.
Greg who??
LOL... can't wait to see you tomorrow - the time is finally here... maybe others experience the same thing (?), but I am a chronic over-packer... and food, I have enough for a small village! And it is just us two for 5 days!! Oh well. If I count the different packages of meat alone, I have bacon, hamburgers, hot-dogs, big dinner sausages, breakfast sausages, a salami, chicken breasts, and steak. OMG!!! Epic week ahead!
Good Luck Guys - have a blast - and leave a few fish! (3 weeks for me)
Welcome Rippinalip89, We love when people post pics and videos... or like RHYBAK movies, so it will be fun having you aboard!
600 miles north is where I'd rather be!
Brad
Welcome!
Thanks for introducing yourself.
I'll be looking forward to your picts.
Crabby
Welcome to the fun....
Enjoy your trip!
Brent
443 am we were on the road! Woooooo!
Have a fun and safe trip.
Glad to have you
We just got back a couple of hours ago and I just finished unpacking... more detailed trip report and photos are coming (Eric took hundreds), but we had a fantastic time...
Weather was good - one or two days of serious wind, one evening night of rain
Bugs - not great - lots of bug spray and head nets helped
Water Temperature was always between 68.? and 74.? depending on area of the lake and depth - shallow bays were always warmer, we swam every day but the rainy day.
Trip highlights:
- always staying at Alwaki for sure...
- the laughs/company, we had so many gut-busting moments... I am still sore...
- visiting the old church in Hunters point - very cool (never been to that area of the lake)
- the food - we made some epic meals - I still feel full
and finally.... ready for this...???.... catching a 2 lb small mouth bass while jigging early one morning by Sunnyside.... never caught a bass in Kipawa before (as I have not been up to the norther area of the lake)... migration south discussion pending!!!
Fantastic time, can't wait for next year.
Quote from: Greg on July 20, 2016, 07:51:01 PM
.. catching a 2 lb small mouth bass while jigging early one morning by Sunnyside.... never caught a bass in Kipawa before (as I have not been up to the norther area of the lake)...
Well there you go. Nothing more to say about that. (Actually tons)...
Love smallies...but if catch one when we're up there at Alwaki in a few days I won't celebrate.
9...
Is that the Sunniside in Grindstone where you found that bass?
Hey T-Bone - ya, the bass, I was more shocked than celebrating and I wasn't unhappy - they put up a great little fight where ever you catch them. I don't know what bass would do (if anything) to the walleye population - it was just a first for me in 10 years of fishing Kipawa. Just curious.. whats your take... you won't celebrate meaning you don't want bass in Kipawa? or are concerned about the walleye population? or...?
Puckster_guy - the Sunnyside I was referring to is right near Alwaki lodge (Thompson Island) and north west slightly (only 2 or 3 km away from Alwaki), it is about half way to Corbeau island - definately not in Grindstone - I was down in Grindstone last summer and it is about a 45 minute wide open throttle ride away. Hope that helps.
Hi Greg. I'm following the spread of Bass thru the chain of lakes that make up Kip. They're slowly advancing east in the lake. It's only a matter of time before they get to the red pine area. My understanding is they were around Corbeau. I'm curious how long till they invade Hunter Lake. I don't care one way or the other of they show up or not. I doubt they'll displace the walleye population. Seems to me there's plenty of food to go around. They also eat each other so it'll set up an interesting dynamic. I spent almost 20 yrs fishing for them on Georgian Bay. Almost miss them. I do plan on spending a day or two fishing for them towards Alwaki later this summer. They are fun to catch and not bad eating too.
WOW, bass at sunnyside....boy have things changed.....
My favorite video from our trip - Eric took this on his phone, great quality - shows the line to take when going through the chute and ditch (this is returning from Turtle island area going back to Alwaki).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrNQbZimFmc&feature=youtu.be (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrNQbZimFmc&feature=youtu.be)
This was done in my boat this weekend, going about 45km/hr - great video to learn the line (wish I had this 10 years ago when I started going through the chute)
Caution - loud wind noise most of the time and maybe a bad word spoken - its OK (recommended) to turn off your speakers :-X
Awesome video! Thanks for sharing Greg
Fun to watch... glad I wasn't in the boat! LOL You had to be scrapping a few places there! :o :o
in your video, as you come out of the second narrows, one is looking at the backside of the island that sits Alwaki Lodge ....correct?
No, not really, when you come out of the 2nd narrows, you are in a bay where you need to slightly turn right, speed out of the bay for about 3 or 4 minutes.
Once you exit the bay into the main channel (basically between Sunnyside/sandbanks to your right about 5 minutes and the entrance to hunter lake will be about 5 minutes to your left), then Thompson island (Alwaki), will be on your right at approximately a 45 degree angle - it will take another 3 or 4 minutes from the opening of the bay to Thompson island (doing about 45 or 50km/hr in my boat).
That make sense?
moving along in that boat.
Going through the chute like that you must have had your "chute " squeezed a wee bit !!
That was a fun video Greg. Tks. I watched it 3 times in a row lol. I've only ever been up the chute twice, even though I mostly stayed at Alwaki. One thing I do remember is that for bigger boats you better be on plane when you go through. I recall one afternoon a 20 ft inboard being towed back from there and they stopped in at Alwaki on the way back. Lower unit was totally wrecked. He went through too slow.
That was a long time back so no doubt things may have changed. Was the water high? For some reason I seem to remember that wooden wall on the east side being higher up. Plus I thought there was a big boulder right at the top of the chute but you zipped right through. Btw the holy fk comment and laugh going down through was perfect.
Cheers
You definitely have to be going fast and up on plane and trim your motor up as far as you can - just to keep the prop as high as you can... the water was not high - maybe a few inches higher than usual, but nothing substantial. In 10 years going to Kipawa, there was only one year where the water was so low that the rocks were above water level and the chute was "closed". In the video, as you are approaching the chute (2nd narrow part) - you can see the water surface changing, and the current is running, and the water level actually appears to drop a couple of inches - I think it has to be at least 12 inches deep there.
I was warned my first year by my friend who introduced me to Kipawa to not get scared and DO NOT back off the throttle - it will make the back of your boat drop and you will take off the bottom end of your engine - as you witnessed years ago. Every year, my first time through makes my hart skip a couple beats, but I get more and more comfortable - by day three... it's almost full throttle...
...toooo much fun...
Great video Greg. Thanks. It was fun watching it more than once.
Jay
Older post but add my input.
90% of my fishing is around Corbeau, I have yet to see a bass.
I love bass, can't wait till we can catch them off the docks.
Solid! I wish I could do that. I gotta try that. So much lake...so little time. Retirement in 30 months and counting.....