Two Moon Lodge June 24 - July 1, 2023

[BigChief]

Upon our arrival at Two Moon it was hot and smoky but we were just glad to be there with the recent closures.
Air temps in the low 80's and water temp was 76. All in all an up/down weather week. Water temps got down to 67 at one point when we had some north winds but then back up to 72 by Friday.

We weren't sure what to expect so we headed out to one of our favorite spots in a deep shallow bay.
We caught 12 eyes that night but the biggest was 16".
We were sitting in 6 FOW with slips sets at 3'.

Nothing but bass caught the next morning with water temp around 74.
That evening we headed to the same spot.
Another 6 around 16" but kept them for our first fish fry on Monday. Our other boat caught nothing in another deep shallow bay.
Since all were juvenile, we suspect just leftovers hanging around that did not leave with the schools.

Monday brought a water temp of 71.
Our other boat caught some nice keepers and a 27" pike trolling harnesses behind the island across from Two Moon.
The afternoon was when we first got some too large throwbacks sitting off a point of an island in the narrows.
We were in about 15FOW with slips at 6-8'. We also got 7 keepers in the 19-20" range.
The evening at the same spot brought some smaller eyes.

Tuesday water was now 70.
Since we found a good spot our boat went back to the same point.
Caught several more keepers. My son hooked a 26 1/4" eye and a 19 3/4" bass. Both held as biggest for most of the week.
Our other boat caught 4 nice keepers and a 25" throwback at their same spot from the day before.
Water dropped to 69 for the evening. Neither boat did well at their same spots.
We headed to Smith to fish the island and caught several 16" and under.

Wednesday brought a water temp of 68 in the morning.
Nothing to be had that morning.
That afternoon the water was back up to 70.
We took a trip to Smith to check out an area where we saw several boats hanging out the night before.
This proved to be a great trip.
Drifting the back of Smith we caught 8 keepers in the 18-20 3/4" range along with quite a few smaller ones. We also had two 23" throwbacks.
That evening while we still had the wind we got 3 more nice keepers in the 18-20" range with some smaller ones and a 22" throwback.
For this drift we were in about 12-15 FOW of water with slips at anywhere from 6-8'.

Thursday morning water was 67, the lowest point of the week.
Neither boat caught anything worthwhile that morning.
The afternoon brought a southern wind for the first time of the week.
We caught a few more decent eyes drifting between the islands in Smith.
In the evening we hit a nice point just outside the Narrows.
We got 5 more nice keepers in the 17-18" range. The largest of the week was caught here at 27 1/2" for the week.
We were sitting in about 15FOW with slips at 6-8'.

Friday morning brought a water temp of 72.
We closed out our 5 man limit with a couple 18-20" eyes drifting the southern wind into Snake Bay.
The afternoon was spent packing and getting ready to come home.
That night we hit the same point outside the narrows and did well throwing everything back because we were closed out.

We are used to fishing the shallow bays but it seems the early hot weather has changed that pattern early. But we did find a lot more new spots now that they seem to have transitioned to the mid-July fishing a little early.

All in all a great week with some crazy weather. Our group of 5 boated well over 100 eyes total. We also caught more bass than ever before.
It may be even more than all of our years combined.
Two Moon Lodge was great, Dave/Julie took care of us well. Highly recommend it for anyone fishing that part of the lake
Feel free to hit me up with any questions.

[BigChief]

Plus it was great to see @PETERBFLY  there to bounce ideas off of for finding them.

[PETERBFLY]

Yeah man, was great fishing with you guys also. What an interesting but fun week.  Never caught so many big Walleye.  We had a 29.5 inch, a 29 inch, 4 27 inch fish and a few between 22-26 inches also.  Two slammer Pike also.  What week are you booked for next year? We are doing June 22-29. 

[Jay Thomas]

Very gratifying to read some trip reports again. Thanks.

Jay

[Chumy77]

Nice report Big Chief, will be hitting there the first week of September. Thanks for the report/ tips good for newbies......Chumy

[BigChief]

@PETERBFLY we are booked for 29June-6July as we are waiting for a military buddy to be back from deployment. But I may be adding on your week if I can talk a couple in to doing two weeks.

[NortonJoe]

Really enjoyed the trip report! Gets me excited to be leaving in...GOSH 18 days!!!

[Oarin]

Thanks, BigChief. Nice report. Less than three weeks until our trip to TBL Outpost. Hope we do as well as you guys did.

[BH]

Thanks for sharing Chief!  I wondered if the heat was pushing up the movement of walleye to deeper water sooner than anticipated.  I broke out my maps and tried to locate your locations.  12 days and counting my son and I will be at TBL.  Can't wait!

[puckster_guy]

  Great report Chief. I have never been to that end of the lake. lots of glowing reports about the area. I wanna make the trip but it's almost 3 hours from Red Pine. Gotta be an overnighter. The drive there may be the best part. Some day...

[Jay Thomas]

Hi Puckster_guy,

If you ever visit the northeast corner of Lake Kipawa from Red Pine, make sure you travel by boat. The scenery during a road trip doesn't come close to the beauty that it there to see from the water. Throw a small tent, a sleeping bag and some food and coffee into your boat and make a 3 or 4 day trip of it.

Jay

[puckster_guy]

Hi Puckster_guy,

If you ever visit the northeast corner of Lake Kipawa from Red Pine, make sure you travel by boat. The scenery during a road trip doesn't come close to the beauty that it there to see from the water. Throw a small tent, a sleeping bag and some food and coffee into your boat and make a 3 or 4 day trip of it.

Jay

Hi Jay I've been to Sunniside a couple of times by boat. Got that part down pat. The rest shouldn't be too difficult. It's a gorgeous trip that far. I like trolling the narrows into hunter got a few good fish there.