Alwaki Aug 30 - Sept 6

[Hodgey1]

This September makes three years in a row that I have been fortunate enough, to take two trips to Kipawa in one season. I met a nice retired fellow in the IGA parking lot from PA, that came over to say hi when he saw my PA plate. He and his wife were just heading home after two weeks at Kipawa Lodge. He said he had 50 years coming to Kipawa area. Since I am now counting the years till I can retire, I would love to end my career, by spending two solid weeks.


One of the more beautiful days.

This trip is a fall relaxer with my wife, with a main focus more towards chilling than fishing, though my wife has become quit the competitive fisher person She has also become very good at catching walleye and I'm certain she caught as many as I did this year. She had me purchase umpire type, click counters for each of us to keep track of fish counts! Every time she caught a fish, she’d yell to my end of the boat “THERE’S ANOTHER CLICK!” Don’t tell her, but I double clicked mine once LOL.



Our trip began with a slightly flawed plan, to travel straight through to camp and skip the overnighter in Timiskaming. My wife has a newer job, vacation days are short, so the plan looked good on paper, leave at 3:30a, what could be wrong with that?  I was up at 2:30a loading the cooler with all our food, shower and a quick cup of coffee, last minute loading into my truck and down the driveway by 3:30a. The entire 480 miles traveling up were extremely smooth sailing, including: Boarder crossing  "5 min", QEW, 400N, 11 and on to Kipawa. That part of the plan was an A+. We arrived at the Timiscaming IGA at around 11:00am in record time. We grabbed our beers for the week, Leeches from Kipawa Bait and into the water near noon.


Loaded and ready to go.

The weather was on the cool side, overcast and pretty windy, which made the 22-mile trip to Alwaki take a bit longer than normal and wetter  . Our path to Alwaki, took us mostly into the wind and waves which made for more difficult travel and wave spray on to us and gear.


My poor wife, she is a real trooper!


We were unloaded & into camp by 1:30 and I felt like I’d been run over by a bus. The early departure and the near 12 straight hours of on the go and travel had caught up with me  . Since the weather was spitting rain and I was spent, I did something I rarely do.....Took a nap. I wake up to my wife shaking me, saying “OMG it's 6:00!”.  A 4-hour nap? Gezz, I guess the 2:30am had bit me in the A. So, a rough start to the first day of fishing got worse, when we start heading out to a favorite fishing spot and can see a wall of rain heading our way. Day 1 = no fishing, but it did turn out to be a great night for a fire in the cabin, cocktails, a relaxing dinner and early shut eye. The next morning, we were on the water at day break, caught 30 fish, with 6 nice keepers.


Grilled chicken breasts, veggies and Mexican style street corn.

The weather and fishing for the week, was way more difficult than the previous two Septembers. Much of the week was windy, cool and very late fall like. There were some days of sun and warmth and others of cool misty rain and lake waters too rough to fish. We got out every day, by hiding on the protected sides of islands when it was rough. There were other days, when conditions were perfect and we were rewarded with many fish and smooth waters. Since fishing is only part of why we are there, I’d call the weeks catch pretty darn good considering the weather.


One of our better catches, walleye are so good to eat!

We had at least 3 occasions that we ate delicious walleye, once for dinner and twice as an awesome appetizer.  On the food topic, we were at Alwaki with forum member @GregL all week and very much enjoyed his crew’s company for the 2nd Sept in a row. His wife, brother & sister in-law are great folks. We had food, cocktails and laughs nearly every night. One of those nights Greg prepared Walleye, with a light breading called “Fish Crisp”, man is that ever tasty. I’ve been a firm seasoned flour guy for years, now I’m rethinking that while I continue to consume the bag of Fish Crisp, they gave me to take home. Thanks Guys!! Oh, I also have developed a taste for Canadian Whiskey…….I ordered a bottle soon as I got home. Thanks Greg!


One fine whiskey! Loved it over ice.


I know this isn’t the Kipawa Beer Forum, but as some of you may know, La Fin du Monde by Unibroue is one of my favorite beers and its made in Quebec. For those that like that, please try their Trois Pistoles its just as good.


IGA has this cold, emm.


Lamb chops yum!

Lake Trout fishing this trip produced just a few fish. Of our 4 or 5 outings trolling for Lakers, we boated only 2 or 3 fish. Part of the reason was, I think I was running too shallow, playing it safe around structure. The water temps “Fish Hawk” showed I needed to be deeper, but I didn’t want any snag potential stress, with my wife on board.  I purchased a new Garmin with the ability to map the lake as you go “Quick Draw” and spent much of my time trolling our lines for trout at a safe depth, while mapping. Next season my mapping will be way better for some structure trolling. I also think I am going to give jigging for Lakers a try, since I now have an iPilot and also know better where those buggers like to hide.


This was the largest at 22.5"

Ah, the iPilot. This is the single best upgrade to my boat, hands down, it cannot be beat. Push spot lock and you’re anchored, even in rougher conditions, it worked famously. One windy rough day it kept us within a few feet of a marked spot even with the trolling motor coming in and out of the water. It also has six different memory positions, so you can recall any of those spots and it will troll you right back to the exact location.



As for Alwaki, just the same ole, same ole, great. It hits the perfect sweet spot for me between Luxury and roughing it. It is a very nice, well-oiled machine, always running like a fine-tuned engine. Thanks for all you do Brian and Tina, you deserve the winter off!


View from our deck.

As for our travel home to the States, it was flawless heading back early on a Friday, not one hiccup besides the, rude/soft talker border agent. Grrr. Be nice darn it! I’m a balding, red head with freckles, not a crazed jihadist, honest. LOL. I know they’re doing their job and I thank them for it, but some are just plain grumpy.

All in all this was another great trip, enough so, that my wife has agreed to another trip next Sept!



Note: We had a crazy encounter with a loon "excuse the pun" I recount it here in reply 19 http://kipawafishingforum.net/index.php?topic=1138.msg13369#msg13369

[GregL]

Was great evenings tell'n fish stories and whiskey Man did we eat!! LOL!

Was a beautiful week for sure!

Glad you guys got home safe!

[T-Bone]

Great report Chris...sounds like a good week. As for the need for a nap, I get it. Like my Dad used to tell me..."You're not as young as you used to be."

Thanks for sharing...great read.

T. 

[Jay Thomas]

Great report and wonderful pics. Thanks for sharing Chris. Looks like your kitchen table was graced with lots of good food. I'm going to give those Unibroue beers a try next year.

Jay

[smitty55]

Great report Chris, glad you had a good time despite the weather. And not to be that guy, but 22 miles gets you to Kipawa lodge, Alwaki is 14 miles.
Just wondering at what depth did you find 50° water? Was the thermocline still set up well?

Cheers

[CaptainCrappie]

Beautiful scenery, good fishing, good eats, shared with a loved one. It doesn't get any better than that.

C.C.

[Oarin]

Great report and pictures! Nice looking boat and it looks like you've got the food thing down pat!

[Greg]

Great report hodgey!!

Greg

[RHYBAK]

Nice Report
Thanks for sharing

[JLG]

Great Report n thanks for sharing!

[Hodgey1]

Thanks everyone for the kind comments. I wish I was at Kipawa right now. If the weather there is half as nice as its been here all week it must be spectacular.