T-Bone's Trip 2 Report: Hot-N-Not

[T-Bone]

Well...the post-trip blues have subsided and I thought I'd give a quick trip report. We were at Alwaki, as always, July 27th looking forward to a great week. Ozzy was gracious enough to give us a ride into camp and by Noon we were back on his boat going for a laker cruise. It was warm...sunny...and a perfect Kipawa summer day. We got into many lakers that afternoon (the guy just knows how to find them and fish them) and many beers as well. Mattie and I marked tons of walleye over the next few days with few biters. Most were sitting at the bottom of shelfs in 39'-42' of water. We'd sit on them, jig them, but they were not eating. For the next couple days we tried every depth, structure, and presentation type on the lake...always could see the fish deep, very few "up and eating". We even went trolling a couple times...and when I'm doing that, we're in "Desperation Mode". Day after day, hot...still...nothing to change the pattern...so it was frustrating. Our best walleyes came out of very shallow water...like 6'. Between lakers, smallies, and the walleyes we did get (about 10% keeps, 80% unders, 10% overs) we satisfied our itch. I don't believe we caught over 40 walleye though all week...and that was a normal 2-hour session's take in May. Fickle lake. Unfortunately I was called back to USA for an important work meeting on Friday, so we left a day early and were home by Thursday evening. All in all, a safe trip (most important), and we had tons of fun with Ozzy and his family, Greg Mc. and his group, and Hodgey and his family. I suppose we caught enough fish, but I felt a bit cheated...feeling the need to get back up there once more this season...albeit unlikely.

So, put 2024 in the books. From feast in May to famine in July...it was still an epic year on Lake Kipawa. Can't wait for 2025 trip(s). Special shout-out to Brian and Tina at Alwaki Lodge...always so gracious and just great people to be around. Can't wait to see them again, as well.

Stay well all...and keep dreamin' those Kipawa dreams.

[ziggy6]

Thanks for your report.. amazing how someone that knows the lake as well as you can have a tough time getting the fish to bite.  Cant imagine how my crew would have done.   

[Jay Thomas]

Thanks for the trip report Todd. From a cursory look at the weather for that week, daily high temperatures were 80 degrees F or higher - not conducive for walleye fishing on many occasions. At least you had more success catching Lakers.

Jay

[Jow]

Thanks for the report! Going up in a couple weeks...hopefully the bite is on for us..

[BH]

Glad you got into the lakers and had a safe trip.  Challenging conditions for sure.  Conditions sounded just as challenging that week at the Northern end of the lake from what I heard. 
Start the countdown timer for 2025.