Trip report #2 - Alwaki Lodge - July 17 to July 23

[Greg]

Another trip report from me... I returned to Kipawa on Saturday July 17th, but a very different vacation.  My wife, my son, his girlfriend and a good friend of my sons and his wife planned a trip and it turned out fantastic.

I had never stayed in the hilltop cottage before, it was home to my wife and I for the week and it was great.  My son and his GF and their friends stayed in the boat house.  Their friends returned to the Toronto area after 4 full days on Wednesday - not really avid fishermen, I set them up with jigging and trolling rods and they really enjoyed their trip.

We had a blast.   After arriving and unpacking on Saturday, it was very hot and muggy... we swam, then ate and fished the evening.

Sunday was fantastic weather, hardly any wind, warm and sunny.  A little haze was everywhere (very light smoke from forest fires) but still enjoyable.  We planned Sunday to be our boating, show everyone around the lake - we loaded up my boat and headed to Canal bay, the beach on the island by Canal bay for a couple hours and then went through the Chute and all the way up to the old Church at Hunters Point.  A great tour, beautiful day and lots of fun.  We also swam at a small beach on the way back from the church.

Monday... lets fish!!... we caught bass and walleye fairly frequently, however, the lake trout were not biting - we actually didn't get any lake trout until the last day (Thursday afternoon we finally got 3 in the boat).

We had an amazing storm roll in Monday with lots of thunder & lightning and heavy rain which lasted all night into Tuesday morning.   It cleared up and allowed us to go fishing in great conditions on Tuesday evening.

Wednesday morning, my son accompanied me and we dropped his friends back at the Kipawa dock and they headed home.  I had intended to hope over to the gas station and fill up my boat before we headed back to Alwaki however the gas station on the water does not have the water-side pumps operational.  I didn't bring my empty cans (they were sitting back on the island at Alwaki) so I was out of luck.  The entire area is under serious construction with lots of new docks being installed... it looks like it is going to be a huge new operation when done!  Looking forward to seeing it next year.

Due to the boarder still being closed, several cottages at Alwaki were not occupied - we had a nice quiet week, great fishing (a couple of late night fish fries) and relaxing time. 

I got up early one morning and was fishing on a familiar shoal by 6am with the sun already rising.  I got a few nice walleye but as soon as the sun was higher and bright, all I could get into was bass - of all different sizes.  Still enjoyable and fun - it was a beautiful sunrise, calm waters and total peace - nobody else was on the lake the entire morning I fished.

Thursday evening was also great conditions, I tried a little shoal off an island point I drove over once and noticed but never fished, and three of us in the boat got several keeper walleye - we had a great fish fry - always nice on our final night of vacation.

Friday morning, we loaded the boat, cleaned the cottage and we safely returned to the Kipawa dock before 10am and loaded the boat and then drove home to Ottawa before 4pm on Friday afternoon, unpacked, cleaned up and relaxed the rest of the night.

Alwaki was great as always, great weather overall (lots of swimming this trip), some good fishing and lots of boating/touring. 

It has been three days back at work already and I am still trying to get my brain back in gear for work - that means it was a great shut down time.

Looking forward to my next trip already.

Cheers,
Greg

[Jay Thomas]

I very much enjoyed reading your trip report Greg. Thanks for sharing.

Jay

[NortonJoe]

Great report! I can't wait to add one next year...reading the reports keeps me going! 

[Oarin]

Thanks, Greg. Glad you had a great trip.

[GregL]

Nice report.. THANKS!!!

[Ozzy30]

Sounds like a good trip Greg.  We have a short trip this weekend and hope to enjoy as much as you have

[SgtCrabby]

Great Report, thanks for sharing.

Wish I could be there, maybe next year.

SgtCrabby

[tbayboy]

Great report, thanks for sharing!

[Hodgey1]

Great to see trip reports. Sounds like a perfect trip Greg.

[TBIRD]

Great Report Greg  - my Favorite area on the Lake. Thanks.

[Erin]

Sounds like it was a wonderful trip.
Stu and I were up the same week as you ( Sunnyside )
I am sure he has posted before, if you see the Lund at our dock, stop in for a cold beverage, we really enjoying meeting new friends on the lake

[Ozzy30]

I can attest to that offer.  Thanks for the hospitality this weekend Erin and Stew.  The place is coming along nicely.

[Greg]

Erin, I was wondering if you were there, I saw your previous posts and on that rainy Tuesday, I saw lots of people walking around and heard a chainsaw so I new there was work going on.  I jigged for a while and trolled right by a couple of times and thought "if someone is on the dock, I'll yell out"... missed opportunity.

I headed back on Sept 24th, maybe then!

Greg

[Erin]

Erin, I was wondering if you were there, I saw your previous posts and on that rainy Tuesday, I saw lots of people walking around and heard a chainsaw so I new there was work going on.  I jigged for a while and trolled right by a couple of times and thought "if someone is on the dock, I'll yell out"... missed opportunity.

I headed back on Sept 24th, maybe then!

Greg

We worked all day in the rain clearing and burning, it was a fun day, too bad we didn't get to have you on shore, next time for sure Greg !

[Erin]

I can attest to that offer.  Thanks for the hospitality this weekend Erin and Stew.  The place is coming along nicely.

It was wonderful meeting you and your wife, we hope to see you again in the future !