Taggart Bay Lodge July 15 - 22

[BH]

Another trip in the books with my son Jack, who traveled from MN to enjoy the drive from NE Ohio to Laniel.  Set the destination on Apple maps to the Homewood Suites in North Bay on Friday.  Boarder crossing was easy and only had a three-car line to the entry.  Apple had us take a different route once we exited the ETR and we stayed off of the Hwy 400.  Had a few stop lights but we missed a lot of traffic.  Made it to North Bay and got dinner at The Boat then retired to watch the Friday Night Football CFL game.

Woke Saturday and visited Trapper Joe and picked up a 1/2 lb. of leaches and admired some of his furs.  A quick trip to the IGA in Temiscaming to pick-up the essentials and we were at TBL by 10:45 AM.  Lise and Yves had the cabin and boat ready, and we were unloaded and ready for fun.  Headed out at 1 PM.  Got to use the rain gear on the first day, which was just the first of many times.  Only one thunderstorm during the week that forced us off the water.  Highs for the week ranged from 21 - 24 (70 - 75) according to weather radio.

Had a good week of fishing.  Not as good as some previous years with the quantity of fish, but the quality of fish was great.  We came home with our limit of walleye sealed with the Food Saver and had a couple of walleyes measured, pictured and released at 26" and one at 29".  Incredible fun catching them!  Caught a few northern and bass.  Largest bass of the week was 18".  Fish seemed to be scattered.  We caught walleyes jigging (pink worked well!) and with slip bobbers in 15' - 16' with leaches.  Caught other walleyes trolling at 1 mph in 20' - 23' with 1 1/2 oz. bottom bouncer with a single hook worm (leach) harness.  Lost my anchor the first day in the rocks and used the camp anchor the rest of the week, which is a small piece railroad track.

Great seeing some friends again at the lodge and enjoyed catching up on what life has dealt over the past year.  Our equipment worked well and only lost a couple of jigs during the week.  Booked our next trip and plan to arrive July 13, 2024.  Trip home was uneventful, but the line at the boarder was longer and took about 20 minutes to get through.  Not too bad as compared to some years past.  Always a little sad unpacking and storing the gear, but the countdown has started!

[Jay Thomas]

Thanks for the trip report. Did you catch any walleyes on mid lake humps?

Jay

[BH]

That's where we did the trolling predominately.  The worm harness has a float, which helped a lot.

[bucknbull]

Sounds like you had an awesome trip. 👍

[Jig and drift]

Have to love a successful trip with the plan to return next year.

[Hodgey1]

Glad your trip was a good one BH. Your son made one heck of a trex.