Alwaki July 28 - Aug 4

[Hodgey1]

The fasted 7 days on the planet, what a week, what a blur and counting the days to do it all over again!

Our trip began Friday morning July 27 at 7:00 am, just south of Erie Pa. This year’s group was my son in-law Chad again and two friends Rick & Jamie, both newbies. The four of us made great time traveling north until we hit the 400. Geez, the older I get the more I hate traffic, I live in a bubble, where traffic is light normally and never anything like the QEW or 400. I'm schooled in the way of Traffic as my family lives in NJ, but even where they live, pales in comparison to that. We narrowly missed rear ending a car in front of us that went from 70 mph to 0 in 2 seconds. I had to bail to the berm to avoid a collision or boat launching. Next year I will leave earlier “5:00 am” to hopefully avoid some of the 400’s traffic heading north. Once north of Barrie, things thinned out a bit, but still heavy traffic till North Bay. Enough of that.

Our first stop in Quebec was the IGA for beer. I would think the cashiers would be used to, groups of men with full carts of beer and no food. Our cahier looked a bit shocked as we wheeled up and began unloading box after box of beer. $400 cad later we were off to Pro-Nature for licenses. We arrived at the Au-Bercail around 5:00, just in time to crack some brews with T-Bone and his crew from Ohio, what a riot! That is a great group of guys, they enhance what is already an awesome getaway and place to be. While having some beers with all the boys and catching up, I took a quick check of my truck and boat trailer to find one tire on the trailer with some cracks in the side wall. My pre-trip inspection showed no signs of cracks, so down the beer went and off to replace the tire with the spare. What a buzz kill, but I did not want to change the tire on our return or worse yet along the highway. Once the tire was changed, we were off to Tem Rose for dinner and early shut eye.

Quick Breakfast in the morning at the Tem, then off to Pro Nature to grab bait. We were loading our boat with gear and on the way to Alwaki by 9:30. Half of our group came in with the Alwaki boat with additional gear, showed later at 12:00. Chad and I arrived to the dock at Alwaki around 10:15, where Brian's very friendly & helpful grandson Sawyer was waiting to load our gear for transport to our cabin. We all spent most of that day getting situated at camp and relaxing before an early dinner of NY strips and then off to the evening bite. We hit the Shoal around 5:30 for simplicity sake and near guarantee of action. The fishing was strong once we found a depth they were biting at “23 feet“. My son-inlaw and I landed 20 or so with 3 keepers, not a bad start to the week! Next morning, we were all up at 5:00 am with coffee on the deck, then off to fish. The walleye fishing was strong all week long, with never an outing that didn't produce at least a keeper or two. The best news of the fishing was, that the two guys in our group that were new to Kipawa and new to walleye fishing, both caught lots of fish. The greenest of the group, Rick, caught our largest eye at 20.25" first pic. The hot fishing numbers seemed to rotate also, as everyone in our group had their day as the hot fisherman. My best day, I caught over 30 In a day with one at 18 5/8”. We caught fish in depths as low as 18.5’ all the way to 29’, with 20-23’ being our most productive.

This was my third trip in two years to Alwaki and Kipawa and I decided since I purchased my boat last year, that I would change things up this year and add in some Lake trout fishing. I installed two down riggers in the fall and received an immense amount of help from forum members. I got some real time help from member Ozzy, as he was at Alwaki for a few days while we were there and he took some Time to share some tips and places to fish.  I Especially want to thank Smitty, who took a lot of time to school me on the how's and where to's of Lake Trout fishing. I cannot thank him enough since we did what I would consider pretty darn good for a couple of Laker newbies. Our first catch was our largest of the week at over 26". We weren't setting world records on numbers or sizes, but we averaged 2 or 3 fish at each outing for a total of 12 fish. That was enough to keep us entertained and wanting to do it again each day, of which we would troll for a max of 3 hours in the mornings.

While sipping some beers with my group and Tbones, I revealed the secret beauty of Laker fishing “shhhh, don’t tell anyone” you don’t have to get up at 5:00 am to catch fish, lol. We Laker fished ever morning and got our jig on with the eye’s every evening, it was a great change up that I will continue. Funny note: while trolling, water depths as you all know change pretty dramatically at Kipawa at a second’s notice, even when going 2.0 mph. Chad was my up button on the riggers man, I would start shouting out the depths as they were coming up and he would react to the appropriate DR to raise. I thought we had done really well and missed any catastrophe’s, but while packing to leave, I removed my DR weights to reveal that the 12lb lead balls had many gashes all over the bottom of them from apparent contact with rocks………. Whoops. Must do better with that next time!

To wrap up this ridiculously long report “sorry”, I will close with the highs and lows of our trip. Highs: Lots O fish, Lakers, Tbones group, weather, beer, friends, food, weather, Alwaki, pan fried walleye, morning coffee on the porch, beer on the porch, and my favorite “no cell service!” The lows: tire issues, traffic, electric hand driers at gas stations, wifi being available at lodge, oh and them pesky skeeters at dusk!

That’s a wrap and like I said, the fasted 7 days on the planet!

[Jay Thomas]

Thanks Hodgey1 for a great trip report. Glad to hear that you and your colleagues had such a great time. Four of us depart next Wed for our kick at the cat for a week.

Jay

[Greg]

Great report Hodgey,   a tire issue, in the big scheme of things, isn't that horrific... glad you made it back all safe an sound with no issues related to the forest fires!

Greg

[Oarin]

Thanks for the great report and pictures. Glad you had a fun time, and you guys eat well too! Hodgey, Jon and I leave upstate NY at 5:00. If you can get to Barrie before 10:00 you'll beat most of the horrible traffic. We learned that the hard way. The 400 can be brutal after that. Can't wait for next year's trip!

[smitty55]

Way to go Chris. Great to hear you did alright on the Lakers. I could have tons of questions, but I'll limit it to just a few lol.
What lures did you find most effective? I take it you didn't try the gang trolls, seeing as you mentioned 2mph.
Hopefully some of those runs I marked up worked out for you.  In particular I wondered how the Corbeau runs and that one particular run on Hunters as well as that earlier morning run I suggested.
Sounds like you kept close to structure too. Did you try any any open water runs?
What depth was the thermocline at?  Did you pick up your Greys closer to bottom or were you mostly targeting suspending fish around the thermocline?
Did you try any new Walleye spots? Too bad you didn't get any over 20" but at least your numbers were good.

Glad you had a great trip. Like you said, time flies and all to soon it's time to leave.

Cheers

[fishtildark]

Great report Hodgey and glad you had the kind of fishing that everyone hopes for on these trips and all the planning paid off. Did you get any pike?
Also, just an observation.. the Trout seem to be darker in color than where I fish and I wonder if any theories on that . also, the ones that are reported seem to be  much more numerous but generally smaller . I am questioning if there is a baitfish shortage already that everyone is worried will be caused by the smallmouth . Anyway, I am very envious that you get to go try it again soon. thanks for the report.
Sam

[GregL]

Great report, glad you guys got into the lakers!!

[Ozzy30]

Great report Hodgey, and was really good to meet you this year.

[Hodgey1]

@Jay Thomas enjoy your trip!

@Greg Yea, the tire was a breeze, just a buzz kill! 4hour detour for forest fire would really suck!

@Oarin Your photos of Jambalaya inspired me to make it this year, so thanks! We all gained weight last week.

@smitty55 I sent a PM with details and answers. You are a great help!!

@fishtildark I did not target Pike this trip, two of my guys did with very limited success. Trip 2 just days away!

@GregL Thanks, it was fun to change things up a bit. I have lots to learn.

@Ozzy30 Thanks again for the tips and suggestions OZ! Remember, you hold the keys to the monster!

[limacharley]

Thanks for the great report Hodgey.

I went by Alwaki Saturday evening (28) on my way to camp but couldn't stop to meet you guys as I was with my wife, her parents and my 6 year old nephew.
I'll make it a point to stop in someday and meet you guys.

[Hodgey1]

I'll make it a point to stop in someday and meet you guys.

We'll have a cold one ready!

[WillageD]

Thanks for the report and pictures Hodgey. Looks like you guys did very well! Glad to hear you found some success laker fishing. One of my favourite things about Kipawa is mid-day laker fishing!

[Hodgey1]

@WillageD we really enjoyed the limited amount of laker fishing we did and hope to improve our techniques with some more time on the water. I think adding a fish finder with chart plotting capabilities will definitely help us at Kipawa. I struggled with the depth changes a bit, with scars on rigger weights as proof. The day time laker fishing was also a nice change up, as opposed to getting up before first light to walleye fish. We got up early everyday, but most days that time was spent drinking coffee on the deck. 

[Hodgey1]

I forgot to report that while fishing the Alwaki part of Kipawa this trip, I caught a walleye with a serious Blue hue. Mostly in the dorsal fin, where it showed the most, but also on other areas of the fish. Curious  I heard of Blue Pike, is that what I caught? It was 100% walleye shaped, only the coloring was different?

[T-Bone]

“Blue Walleye”...we caught a handful also...maybe 4-5 myself. It’s a ph thing in thier slime...but its a walleye. Probably caused by the smallmouth infiltration. 😳 [just kidding on smallie comment]