Trip Report 5/27/19 - 5/31/19

[MikeFromTheSouth]

We just made it back to South Florida from our Kipawa trip!  I think the three of us are all ready to turn around and go back.  We ended up on the river portion above Red Pine Chute the entire 4 days of actual fishing.  I will say the river on 5/27/19 was somewhere between 4-5ft above the water when we normally go opening week.  Pretty much all of the camp sites were underwater completely and a few cabins had for sure a little water in them.  Over the 9 years since I was last on the river section there are 4 more camps built but we did not see anyone else the entire time on the water.

We never sprayed a drop of mosquito spray however on Wednesday night it was warm an calm and I did throw on a mosquito net for about two hours while sitting away from the fire.  Black flies out but no bites.

Water temp on Monday was 47.6 degrees and 50.3 degrees when we left Friday on the river.  The fish did not bite well the first half day with mostly trolling as I think it was just to cold still.  The weather changed several times during the day from clear to overcast to rain sprinkles and back so it made changing up tactics a must.

By Tuesday evening the water was at 49 and Walleye and Pike were hitting well trolling (and casting at structure) on Yo Zuri Crystal Minnows, Cotton Cordell Big O and Stryker style lures.  All silver and black with the use of some gold and black and green and silver when it was overcast.  Trolling depth around 4-6ft in about 10-16ft of water.  The water also dropped a solid foot between Monday and Friday.  The stump on Horseshoe island (think that's what its called) that was completely underwater on Monday and sticking out a foot on Friday was our measuring stick.

I picked up 24 leaches in Kipawa as I wanted to try them out since i never had in all the previous trips but had a large container of 3" plastic Gulp Alive leeches so I was going to give that a try for the first time also.  I am good at jigging but never used a plastic leech while jigging but it all works the same it seems just not used to so much hook exposed.  The plastic leeches worked extremely well and durability is great cause they lasted on average about three fish or bottom snags before being lost.  Had a dozen Walleyes in the boat in no time.

On an overall trip basis the trolling/casting probably ended up with 50% less of the fish I caught jigging.  Jigging was also done about half the time as trolling so that would prove that jigging was more effective (at least on this trip).  I used large chartreus jig head with 3" plastic leech on 18" fluorocarbon leader and only lost 1 rig to the bottom monster but straightened a few hooks out.  I also used the Carolina rig with the live leeches.  With only 24 leeches caught 14 fish, lost 2 casting , tossed 5 overboard as they were pretty small, and lost 3 setting the hook into nothing   I did however catch many more smaller fish than the guys trolling did and the live leeches also netted smaller fish on average than the plastic leeches did.  I wish I would have had 5" plastic leeches but they did not have any at the North Bay Walmart (only 3" and the fishing selection was pretty much non existent compared to the way it was 9 years ago.  We will not stop there again (I knew I should have gotten them before I left the States as did not have time to look for them somewhere else).  Pike and Whitefish were also hitting the plastic leeches hard.

The fish were almost jumping in the boat by Friday with the warmer water.  We fished sunrise until about 10AM and then about 5PM until dark. 

50% male walleyes still milking but all females seemed to have spawned.

We were targeting Walleye but here is a run down of everything caught:  We have a tape measure stenciled on the top edge of the aluminum rail on both sides of the boat to get a quick measure before they are tossed back.

Average walleye size was about 18" with the smallest 14" and largest 25", 78 in the boat
Average Pike size about 20" with the smallest 18" and the largest 33", 43 in the boat
Whitefish probably about 12"-23", 5 in the boat (only measured the largest one).
4 days, about 7-8 hours of fishing each day.

Here are some pictures on the river:
Red Pine Chute looking downstream


Red Pine Chute Looking Up Stream


Kipawa River


Horseshoe Island underwater (picture from Wednesday with the stump right in middle of picture already several inches out of the water)


Everything worked out making for a great trip!

Mike

[Fort Wisers]

Awesome trip report and nice pictures!

[Jay Thomas]

Thanks for your trip report and pictures. Glad to read that you and your buddies enjoyed yourselves immensely. Pretty dedicated fishermen IMHO - approximately 3200 miles round trip. Wow! SgtCrabby is another dedicated fisherman in that he travels approximately 3700 miles round trip to fish the Kipawa area.

In my 17 trips to Lake Kipawa, I always fished the northeast arm of the lake out of Three Season's Camp. Consequently, I know nothing about the south end of the lake or the Kipawa River. What depth of water did you experience in the river during your trip?

Jay

[MikeFromTheSouth]

The deepest point I ever saw when I was looking at the GPS was 61ft this trip but the water was unusually high by about 4-5ft.  Typical depths in river where we had interest in fishing were 10-20ft with a few spots around 30.  There are lake like areas on the river portion that have the deeper spots.  There are several spots in normal water levels that you have to be aware of prop busters but with the water being up so high we did not worry about anything and ran where we wanted to.  Over the years I have found there are a few really good spots with lots of rocks, depth changes and currents and then everything in between those areas does not produce much other than pike later in spring and into the fall.

In an interesting note, the water was so high that the where it comes into the Kipawa River from booth lake there is usually a little waterfall of a few feet high was the same level with the Kipawa river and you could pass through.  We did not go through but if my memory serves me there is another small waterfall right where the water comes out of booth lake at the road also which creates a small pond area cutoff from boat entry from above and below usually.  Maybe it is even coming through a road culvert pipe?  It has been 20 plus years since I have walked up the portage to booth.  The water was also a few degrees warmer coming out of Booth lake but found no real fish action and no bait fish around.

There is a small sucker creek we call it right below ragged chute and you could get back in a few hundred yards and the water was 60 degrees back there but also no fish action but lots of baitfish present.

Long answer to your question... lol

[Greg]

Awesome report.  Congrats on a successful (and very long) trip.

[BH]

Great report.  Looking forward to my July trip to TBL. 
Thanks

[SgtCrabby]

Great report and pictures!
I like that another southerner makes the trip too.

Jay Thomas must be reading my trip odometer.  His distance estimate is real good.   
I'm under 60 days until I start my trek north.

[smitty55]

Nice report and good photos. You need to post more pics.
That is so different from what I think of as Kipawa. I think of a huge uniquely shaped watershed with lot's of deep structure.  All my years up there except for one were spent in the hub area fishing primarily  for Lake Trout, that's why we went there, Walleye weren't even a target for the first few years and then slowly built up over the years for some of us.
Quick story. One year at Alwaki we had two cabins, 8 guys. So our little pot was $5 each for biggest of each. Well here comes Friday, and nobody has even fished for Pickerel, morning runs are for Greys and evenings tended to be more about partying and pigging out. So it was a beauty final evening outside and just as it got dark I grabbed a folding chair, a light spinning outfit with some jigs,plastics, salted minnows and a couple cans of brew and took a walk down to the main dock. Lights were on still, Carl left them on late for the weekends. I could see minnows in the water and the fish were there, I brought 5 back to the cabin over two pints on the dock by myself and collected $35 to boot.

So I guess what I find the most amazing is that you travel this far to visit a river section of this amazing waterway. You're not even on the lake system. Just goes to prove to me more and more how this area gets it's grip into you the more time you spend there. Amazing isn't it.

[Fort Wisers]

Nice report and good photos. You need to post more pics.
That is so different from what I think of as Kipawa. I think of a huge uniquely shaped watershed with lot's of deep structure.  All my years up there except for one were spent in the hub area fishing primarily  for Lake Trout, that's why we went there, Walleye weren't even a target for the first few years and then slowly built up over the years for some of us.
Quick story. One year at Alwaki we had two cabins, 8 guys. So our little pot was $5 each for biggest of each. Well here comes Friday, and nobody has even fished for Pickerel, morning runs are for Greys and evenings tended to be more about partying and pigging out. So it was a beauty final evening outside and just as it got dark I grabbed a folding chair, a light spinning outfit with some jigs,plastics, salted minnows and a couple cans of brew and took a walk down to the main dock. Lights were on still, Carl left them on late for the weekends. I could see minnows in the water and the fish were there, I brought 5 back to the cabin over two pints on the dock by myself and collected $35 to boot.

So I guess what I find the most amazing is that you travel this far to visit a river section of this amazing waterway. You're not even on the lake system. Just goes to prove to me more and more how this area gets it's grip into you the more time you spend there. Amazing isn't it.

Very well put....

[Jay Thomas]

The deepest point I ever saw when I was looking at the GPS was 61ft this trip but the water was unusually high by about 4-5ft.  Typical depths in river where we had interest in fishing were 10-20ft with a few spots around 30.  There are lake like areas on the river portion that have the deeper spots.  There are several spots in normal water levels that you have to be aware of prop busters but with the water being up so high we did not worry about anything and ran where we wanted to.  Over the years I have found there are a few really good spots with lots of rocks, depth changes and currents and then everything in between those areas does not produce much other than pike later in spring and into the fall. In an interesting note, the water was so high that the where it comes into the Kipawa River from booth lake there is usually a little waterfall of a few feet high was the same level with the Kipawa river and you could pass through.  We did not go through but if my memory serves me there is another small waterfall right where the water comes out of booth lake at the road also which creates a small pond area cutoff from boat entry from above and below usually.  Maybe it is even coming through a road culvert pipe?  It has been 20 plus years since I have walked up the portage to booth.  The water was also a few degrees warmer coming out of Booth lake but found no real fish action and no bait fish around.  There is a small sucker creek we call it right below ragged chute and you could get back in a few hundred yards and the water was 60 degrees back there but also no fish action but lots of baitfish present. Long answer to your question... lol

Thanks Mike.

Jay

[MikeFromTheSouth]

I am waiting on some fish pictures.  I was just using my smart phone for all these pictures and was not the one taking fish pictures so I don't really have any good ones.. As soon as I get some I will add a few if they look ok.  But here are some more river pictures in the meantime...

Ragged Chute up close and personal...


Ragged Chute looking down river...


Sunset the first night...


River Shot...


River Shot with reflection...


Another river shot...


Pines because we don't have these in South Florida where I am...


Always need a warm campfire on a chilly Kipawa night...


What I always called the Sucker Creek...


Of course have to post probably the only surviving snow from a plow pile as we definitely don't have that and I did throw a few snowballs...


Hope you enjoy!

[MikeFromTheSouth]

3,780 miles round trip shortest route...

[Greg]

I will never whine about my 5 hour drive again!

Respect Mike.

[T-Bone]

Thanks for the report Mike...great read and wonderful pics. I've never thought about Kipawa on that "scale" before, but I guess it was a river before it was a lake.

I will say this; I love Kipawa and think it holds a special charm as a destination, but there's NO WAY I would find the value in it if I had to drive from south-south-south Florida to get there. Fly in to Toronto and drive from there? Maybe. Heck, I think about doing that now from central Ohio. You definitely get props for re-committing to the trip. At the same time...from my perspective...you have to be a little on the crazy side to do it. You and Sgt. Crabby have a depth of passion I just don't think mine could measure up to. Then again, I hate driving...I'd fly across town to my office if I had a small plane.

Thanks again...

52...

[MikeFromTheSouth]

Haha.. I ride my bike to work.. its only 2 miles away and have a bike lane the whole way...

I will let a cat out of the bag.. I did fly to Pittsburgh this trip and then drive the rest of the way.  My fishing buddies were from NJ and Maryland so that was the rendezvous point.  I have driven this trip though from home many times before.  Kipawa is more of the memories.. I am the third generation in my family to go to the lake but have moved the farthest from it.  Soon I will have the 4th generation coming with me.

If it was about the fishing I would just stick a pole out the back door in the Ocean here in Florida as I would definitely catch more fish in a shorter period of time with much-much bigger size.

I envy those that are closer as I would make it a twice a year trip as it was before I moved from Pennsylvania.  As of now I am just hoping to get it back into a every year or every few years trip.

Also, where else can you go that you will not be swarmed by other fishermen or are not crowded in a campsite with a dozen or more other families in the US?  That experience can be fun also when that's what your looking for but if your looking to relax and get away a bit Kipawa is the only place I know of but I am sure that there are many other places in Canada where this can be accomplished.  I get stressed out fishing in Florida as so many people buy boats and don't have the first clue what they are doing and the boat ramps are always crowded and largely amateur hour. 

Actually if anyone has ideas of places like the Kipawa experience in the US let me know.. I am guessing maybe Minnesota, Montana or Wyoming?  Heck even my Alaska salmon fishing trip there were dozens of other anglers around and it was hours from the nearest town. 

Got a few pictures emailed to me so I am going to share.. Not exactly what I was expecting but pretty cool anyway!   He purchased the Go Pro a few days before the trip so not fully up to speed but as you can see the potential is endless...






If anything you get an idea of the 3 main baits used

Enjoy!