The day started out trying to figure out which direction would be best to go, Ord River or Jackfish Bay, based on ice location on the lake.  Yes, that is correct, we had ice on the lake for opening day and it is still here on Sunday morning.  The quality of ice is not very good and it is now small enough where a shoreline is open on one side of the lake whether it be East or West.  The interesting issue this morning is now fog.  If you look on the webcams you can see that we are completely fogged in.   Spring can be interesting to say the least.

However, you might be wondering how the fishing was yesterday.  I can only say that it was one of the best opening mornings we can remember in some time.   In fact, a comment made by one of our regular guests was "In the many years I have been fishing Perrault Lake at Manotak Lodge for opening week, we have never had better Walleye and Pike fishing, ever". 

We do have to admit that we thought the fishing was phenomenal but did not want to sound like boastful lodge owners so we just listened to what our guests had to say.  Another guest was very excited but frustrated at the same time.  Him and his buddy went out for about 3 hours in the early morning to get Walleyes for shorelunch and came back to the dock with just one fish.  They both have been to Manotak a number of years and I was slightly confused with their low catch.  They must have seen to look on my face when I looked in their livewell only to see one fish.  They told me that they had no problem eating something else for lunch because all of the close to 20 Walleyes they caught that morning were over 18 inches so they threw them all back.  I almost fell off the dock when they told me this. Their largest was 29 inch. 

Just to hit some of the highlights quickly: there were 6 Walleyes over 30 inches yesterday. Our first time guest Leroy, thought he was going to have the big fish of the day with a 31 inch Walleye only to get beat out by his wife, Judy's, 32 inch Walleye.  Leroy stated that it is probably best that it happened that way.  I told him I am staying out of that conversation.  Chuck, another regular guest for many years caught 2 Walleyes over 30 inches in about 2 hours time.  He actually seemed somewhat low key when he arrived at the dock and I told him that most people don't catch a 30 inch Walleye their whole lives.  He is just a modest kind of guy.

Pike were also on an eating binge or should I say buffet.  Over 50 Pike were caught yesterday with the largest being 38 inches.  This should continue for some time as the water is so cold that they will be hanging out chasing all of the Walleyes coming out of the spawning areas.

Well, you get the picture.  We will try and document fish reports on a regular basis as best we can. 

We also want to thank all of our guests for releasing Walleyes over 18 inches.  As you can tell, it is working out fantastic for the fisherie. 

I believe we may still have bugs to work out because it is taking me a bit of time for the cameras to load the videos but be patient.  We would like some feedback as to what issues you are experiencing so we can tackle (nice pun eh?) the right problems.

As you can see there is still ice on the lake but it is very black.  We are getting some rain as we speak so that will really help get rid of it.  There is still a week before opening season so we are confident that ice will be gone.  What that does mean is that we will be scrambling big time to get everything ready.  The paddle wheel and canoe are ready to go so first come first serve for them.

 Keep your posting/comments coming.  Hope you enjoy the webcams!

We were told early on in our lodge career that ice-out should be assumed around May 5 plus or minus a few days.  This actually has been fairly close in the past 13 years even considering that there have been afew extremes with one year very early and one year very late.  This year obviously will not be on the early side but we are confident that ice-out will come before August.  Just kidding.  The forecast is calling for warmer temps by this weekend and for rain.  Snow can melt very fast and that inturn starts to get the ice melting.

Linda and I are heading up to the lodge possibly end of this week and will put out a blog post on conditions at the lodge.  We all wanted lake levels to be higher this year and that looks like it will happen.

One thing that we are contemplating this year is to organize a photo contest for best pictures from Manotak Lodge vacations.   We are always looking for photos from our guests that we could use in our brochures and for our sportshow booths and on our website.  The details for the contest are not final yet but get your digital cameras ready.  Linda & I are not the most experienced camera people but we are going to try and put on our website some helpful tips for taking outdoor pictures such as people holding fish or beautiful Perrault Lake landscape.  Any suggestions are greatly appreciated so post to this blog or send me an email:   manotaklodge@gmail.com

That is all for now.

Sharp Hooks + Tight Knots + Good Friends (Net Man) = Memories!

Dave@Manotak

We are also excited to inform all of our guests that Earl & Patsy and Kenny & Dawn will be back this year to work for us again.  They do a great job for us and we hope they do a great job for all of you.

We want to thank all who have post comments regarding any ideas or suggestions to help our guests coming to Manotak Lodge.  They are great and we hope you keep them coming.

We also want to hear about any new baits or lures that you have come across that you might think will work for any specie on Perrault Lake.  We had great success on Muskies this past Fall on Suicks, Bobby baits, Grandma's and Jake Baits. We have come across a distributor that gave us a great price on Suicks so we will have plenty of them in various color patterns.  Let us know of any lures you like and we will see if we can find a supplier for the lodge.

We talked to a friend who lives in Dryden and it sounds like they still have quite a bit of snow and temps are still cold.  It appears that ice-out will be in the normal date range of May 5-10 unless the weather changes quickly.

That is all for now.  Keep those comments coming.

We just talked with a friend who lives in Dryden and they say they still have alot of snow and the weather temps are still quite cold.  We believe ice-out will be in the normal date range of May 5-10.

We want to thank everyone who has posted to the blog in the recent past regarding helpful ideas and tips for coming to Manotak Lodge for a fishing vacation.

If anyone has heard about any new baits that have recently come out on the market we are sure our guests would love to know about them.  Post them to this blog.   We had great success last year with larger Muskie baits in the Fall such as Suicks, Bobby Baits, Grandma's and Jake Baits.   We found a supplier that gave us a great price on Suicks so we will have a good selection at the lodge this coming summer for them.  Let us know about any bait for any specie that you like and maybe we can find a distributor to supply them at the lodge.

That is all for now.  Keep posting

You might be wondering about the title of this blog.  Linda and I have always tried to offer our guests all the advice we know of for a trip to Manotak Lodge to insure a great trip.   However, we know there are many great ideas that our guests know of that we may not hear about.   WE WANT TO HEAR ABOUT THEM!   If you know of an idea that you believe might help a guest with their fishing trip to our lodge then we want to hear about it.   It could be as simple as a way to pack your clothes efficiently, or how to pack your car better.  Or maybe it has to do with travel arrangements to the lodge.  Or maybe it relates to hotels in certain areas.  Or whatever?   We are always looking to improve the experience at Manotak and who better to ask then YOU!  Give us your thoughts by commenting to this blog or sending me an email at:  manotaklodge@gmail.com

We know we have mentioned this in the past but we are still looking for photos of your previous trips to Manotak Lodge.   Send them to my email.  Please make sure they are clear and good resolution.

We have talked to our guides in the past couple of weeks who live up near the lodge and they tell us that there is quite abit of snow so this will definitely help lift lake levels in the spring. 

FISHING IS GOING TO BE FANTASTIC.  ARE YOU READY?

Linda and I are currently travelling around on the Sportshow circuit and so far the crowds are out in full force. Manotak Lodge has already been to St. Louis and Chicago and now we are in Madison WI from Monday thru Wednesday then travel to Des Moines and then over to Green Bay(I don't even want to talk or think about the Packers, those shnocker heads).  We want to thank all of the new guests that have signed up at the shows and also to all of our current guests that have come out to the shows wearing all of their Manotak clothing. 

We want to remind everyone that has signed up but maybe has forgotten to send a deposit that we are selling cabins very quickly and cannot hold your cabin so give us a call and talk with Linda.  We don't want to be the bad guys but this is the time when everyone is looking to book their fishing vacation and we do not want to give your cabin away if you still want it for this upcoming summer.

We are thinking about designing a new booth backdrop banner for sportshows and need fishing pictures.  We know many of you have sent pictures of your previous trips to Manotak in the past but if by chance you have maybe forgot, well this is your chance to possibly be a star and have your picture, or video enshrined in our booth.  We need high resolution, very clear pics or videos.  We prefer they be of you with a fish in your hands but scenery pics might be ok also.  You can send them to the following email:   manotaklodge@gmail.com 

Please keep the comments coming.  We enjoy hearing from you.

Gotta run.   Madison show is starting.

We hope your holidays are joyous and safe and that everyone gives and recieves lots of fishing tackle for Christmas.  We would like to take this time to thank everyone who fished with us this past summer and also for all the fisherman who will be with us next summer.  We would also like to mention that our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the Conn. tragedy.  Our Christmas wish and hope is to have everyone think and do more about fishing related topics than on such tragic displays of violence.

Reservations for next year are ahead of schedule so if you are contemplating a fishing trip to Manotak Lodge we encourage you to give us a call and we would more than happy to discuss all details.  We have mentioned this before about late summer fishing and this past September was nothing short of incredible.  We are offering our FALL SPECIAL again this September with the first fisherman at full price and the second fisherman at HALF PRICE.

Our sportshow season is just around the corner and we enjoy our guests visiting with us in our booth especially when you wear your Manotak Lodge clothing.  Potential new guests love hearing your fishing stories so come out and see us.  Our sportshow schedule is posted on the website under Activities.

If you have not signed up for our newsletter and gotten your email on our mailing list, please sign up today.  We will be sending out periodical emails from now until the season opener of new information that will help  you with your trip to Manotak.

That is all for now.  Happy Holidays!

Dave & Linda

Manotak Lodge

1-800-541-3431

If there is a time stamp on this blog, you will notice that I am writing this in the wee hours of the morning because I just kept thinking about the stupid Green Bay Packer game that played out earlier tonight and could not sleep.  I know, I know, you may call me a sore loser but "C'MON MAN!  Do you think Pete Carrol is a stand up guy and will give up the win and hand it to the rightful owners of the game?  Just a thought.   OK, I am off the soapbox.

I have to say from a personal standpoint that the fishing at the end of the season was nothing short of amazing.  I know what you are thinking, that here goes another lodge owner bragging about their fishing again.  But let me tell you some numbers and then you can decide on your own.  We usually start talking about Walleyes but this is all about TOOTHIE CRITTERS.  Don't get me wrong, Walleye fishing was extremely good at the end and as an example we had one Father/Son group catch 32 Eyes their last morning in acouple of hours.  Size ranged from small of 10 inches to medium of 24 inches.  So this does not seem too bad, does it?

However, I believe the amazing fishing came on Pike & Muskie.  There were many Pike in the 30-38 inch range the last few weeks of the season but the last week was something else.  My good friend Mark started out with a 40 inch Pike right away in the beginning of the week on Saturday.  Big John then catches a monster 51 1/2 inch Muskie on Sunday that was a real hog.  But it did not end there.   Mark (same Mark) caught a 52 inch Muskie within an hour of Big John's entirely across the lake from each other.  Wait, I am not done.  Mark (same Mark) then goes out and catches another 52 inch Muskie two days later with the same bait no less.   Now if your counting, that is 1 Pike at 40 inches and 3 Muskies at 52 inches.  That alone is an incredible few days fishing if you ask me.  But, I am STILL not done.   Mark has proceeded to catch 3 more Pike between 40 & 42 inches all in the past 3 days.   The final count is 4 Pike at or over 40 inches and 3 Muskies near 51 to 52 inches all within 7 days of fishing.  Ok, am done now and will let you decide if this is good fishing.  And, there are pictures!

Linda, our staff, and myself again want to thank all of the fishermen and women who chose Manotak Lodge for their fishing vacation and we hope it gave you some great memories.  We look forward to your return in 2013.

Pike are also active but the big guys were slightly scarce.  We had quite a few in the low to mid 30's but nothing over 40 inches.  It is hard to beat the previous weeks Pike fishing with young Matt catching  38", 43" & 44" Pike all within a few days of each other.  That is in addition to many in the 30 to 36 inch range also.  There seems to be 2 patterns emerging for Pike.  The first one is fairly traditional and that is to cast weedlines with spinner baits, rattle trap type baits and spoons.  The second method is to troll our reefs or humps with slightly larger stick baits like Bucher shallow raiders, grandma baits, Jake baits or Thunder Sticks.   The first method can produce big fish but there is no doubt it will show more numbers of fish.  The second trolling method might not produce alot of numbers of fish but it appears to bring up the bigger fish.

It is easy to say that Smallmouth Bass fishing is at an all time high right now.  I know I mentioned in previous reports that Bass fishing was really good but what is better than really good?  I know, really really good.   We had one couple, Dave & Cheryl, tell us this week that this was by far the best Walleye and Bass fishing they have had in years in coming to Manotak Lodge.  I was glad to hear that they caught alot of fish because it softened the blow of Dave losing his new St Croix rod that Cheryl gave him for Christmas.   We need to teach Dave how to hold the pee can and the St. Croix at the same time.  Leeches are by far the bait of choice but we are still getting quite a few Bass on cranks, and spinners.

Muskie fishing has slowed somewhat in the past week or two.  We have caught afew on the smaller side but Big John who has been here 4 weeks so far pulled in a 46 incher the other day.  He has seen a few nice fish but nothing monster hooked as of yet.

Perch fishing is about on the same par as the past few weeks.  Not great but not bad either.   If you work at it you can get your limit of big slab Perch but you will catch 5 to 10 times the number of fish for what you will end up keeping.  In other words, you will catch 20 Perch but only keep 3-5 of the bigger 10-13 inchers.  You have to travel many spots around the lake as we have not caught the larger guys in one particular spot.  One of the better days were the Smith's who caught 48 monster Perch on their last day here to finish their limit.

On a seperate note, we have our pet duck Lunch back at our dock again after a long hiatus.  She brought along her girlfriend we call Decoy and they are eating us out of alot of bread at the moment.  It is good to have her back.

We hope you are enjoying our webcams and we also hope they are easier to view with the many changes we have made recently.   We know there are still a few times when they will not load but we believe they are better than in the past.

The weather has turned cool today with rain showers or misting for most of the day.  It is supposed to be sunny tomorrow and in the 70's for temps.  This is perect weather in my opinion.

That is all for now.  Keep submitting your comments or questions. 

For about the past 2-3 weeks we have had very warm temps and not much rain to speak of.  We know it has been very warm back in the States so we are not complaing too much.  The evenings have been cooling down somewhat so it is not all that bad.  The great news is that the fishing has been extremely good.  We thought all fish would start to go deep especially Walleyes but we are still catching Eyes in the range of 12-16 feet.  Surface temp of the water is around 75 degrees which is considerably higher for this time of year so we think everything should go deeper fairly quickly.  The Mayfly hatch is over which is putting the fish bite back on a normal sequence.  It was not a bad year for Mayflies and we believe the 2 days of higher winds about a week ago helped decrease the effects.   During the hatch, Walleyes were tougher to catch during the day with morning and evening being better.  Now, it is back to normal with Walleyes biting all day long.  Cranking for Eyes is still working but there is no doubt that live bait is producing the majority of the fish.  Nightcrawlers and Leeches are working the best for Walleyes but Minnows are a close second.   Most all of our reefs are producing fish but some deeper points are still active.  The Sandbar is in full swing for Walleyes and Pike with many Eyes over 20 inches.  Our secret lure is still catching the majority of Walleyes so we are sticking to what works.  One theme that is standing out considerably is that the size of Walleyes are bigger than ever.  Many 18-24 inch fish are being caught with acouple over 30' boated.   We greatly appreciate all of our guests throwing back all Walleyes over 18 inches and we know this is making Perrault Lake one of the best fisheries in Northwest Ontario.  We know there are times when it is tough to find the smaller Eyes for a shorelunch but this is a problem we are willing to accept.

Pike have been quite active but the monsters have been elusive.  We are catching many in the low to mid 30 inch range, but the over 40's have been scarce.  We are seeing a few big fish follow baits but they are not biting.  Normally, I would not think that higher water temps would effect Pike but it might be.  We are changing our tactics slightly by targeting our deeper reefs to see if we can entice some of the hogs to bite.  This is starting to work as two different parties this past week caught larger Pike and even Muskies on the reefs.  The first Father/Son group fished mostly reefs yesterday with a Bucher Shallow Raider and boated 5 Pike all over 30 inches.  The second group was fishing another deeper reef and had a Muskie come and follow there jerk bait around the boat for about 5 minutes.  It would literally just swim around the bait and nudge it with its nose.  They have it on video which we will try and post.

Bass have been on an absolute phenomenal run at the moment.  Guests are consistently coming in saying they are catching 16-19 inch Bass.  On a daily basis fisherman will tell us that it is nothing to catch 15-30 Bass in one fishing session with quite a few being 18 inches.  Leeches are "killin' Bass but Rattle Traps & Mepps Spinners are also working very well.   Some plastics are working but Leeches will definitely outfish any rubber bait.  Go figure.

Without a doubt, this is the best year ever for numbers of Muskies caught.  I believe it is safe to say that almost every day a fisherman tells us they have caught a Muskie.  While most of the fish have been on the smaller size, the number of fish caught tells us it will be a great future for the toothy critters.  I can even go one step further for the higher numbers of Muskie this year.  I was at the dock last evening when Chris, one of our guests, caught about a 22 inch Muskie right off one of our floater docks.  It was an absolute beautiful fish and actually put up a pretty good fight.  In our 12 years at Manotak Lodge, this is the first Muskie we have caught off our dock.  We have caught alot of fish off the dock but never a Musky.  Chris's wife Jean has been coming to Manotak Lodge since 1959 starting as a little girl with her family and she believes this is the first Muskie off they dock.  It could not have happened to a nicer guy than Chris.

We are still working on our webcams to get them more effecient so please be patient.  It is becoming evident that trying to send this much live streaming video through our remote internet service is no doubt stretching the limits of the service available.  Keep watching and we will wave every now and then.

We have had quite a few guests venture over to our remote Walleye lake and the end result is a day of countless, large Walleyes & Pike caught.  This is an adventure that we hope everyone does because we know it will make a memory that you will never forget.  Where can you walk through the bush to a remote lake, to fish all by yourself and catch monster Walleye?   This is Canada at its best.

Linda wanted me to remind everyone that if you are thinking of a Fall September trip, you might want to give her a call or email.  There are only a few spots left.  September fishing is my favorite time of year and can produce some great fishing stories.  It also helps that we are running a September Special with the first guest at regular price and the second at HALF PRICE!  Try to find this good of a deal at any other lodge and still have the fishing like Perrault Lake.

Gotta go.  We hope you enjoy this blog.   We want to remind everyone to send us your pictures of your trip to Manotak Lodge.  We are still learning how to work our new website but if we do not have your pictures, we cannot share your memories.  So please send pictures to my email at:   manotaklodge@gmail.com      I might not be able to post all pics but will try and post a few.   As a note, we are working with our website designer to possibly have a new Facebook page that our guests can enter their own pictures so you would not have to wait for us to post them.   We have been spending alot of time at the dock taking care of trophy fish which leaves us little time to spend on the computer. (ok, ok, this might be stretching the truth alittle bit but not that much).

Linda and I want to thank all of our guests that have visited Manotak Lodge so far this year and also to the groups that are currently reserved for the rest of the summer.   We have said it many times that Manotak Lodge has some of the best guests in all of Northwest Ontario.  We are very fortunate to have the life we live and it is all because of you.

Stay tuned for another fishing report update soon.  We are sure there will be more stories to tell.

In regards to the weekly fishing report it is always difficult for a lodge owner to judge overall what the weeks fishing quality was really like because it involves many fisherman's statements.  I have said this many times that while one person believes the fishing was unbelievably fantastic, another thinks it was average.  Which one is correct?  Everyone this week caught very good fish and the theme was that alot of fish are over "slot" size making them too big to keep.   I will always try to be as honest as I can so you get a very good idea as to what is happening on Perrault Lake and then you can make your own judgement when you arrive to fish with us.  The one thing we will say is that everyone should have a good time based on the fact that you are on vacation at Manotak Lodge and not at work.

The week of fishing was interesting for Walleyes as they started out the week very good and then became somewhat elusive during the middle of the day as the week went on.  We had our Mayfly hatch which we know contributes to the Walleye bite slowing down for a few days.  Early morning and evening were very good with our secret lure still working fantastic.  The great news is that the infamous Sandbar is kicking in big time and that is like music to my ears.  We are still catching Eyes in about 10-16 feet of water and live bait seems to be the best for catching numbers of fish.  Minnows, Leeches & Crawlers are all working with maybe Crawlers being slightly better during the middle of the day.  Minnows always work better early and late evening.  There is still some cranking going on for Walleyes but this seems to be best in early evening.  Wanted to mention about Merles 31 inch Walleye he caught in the middle of the day yesterday along with the other 33 Eyes him and his future son-in-law caught.  They believe the fishing this week was fantastic.    When Merle sends me the picture we will post it on our site.

Pike fishing was maybe average to slightly above average for the week.   There were some large fish caught but numbers were down slightly in my estimation.  Don't get me wrong, you can still catch quite a few Pike during the day but we have such fantastic fishing for the toothy critters that we get alittle bit spoiled.    The normal baits that you think will work for Pike are all working:   Rattle Traps, Mepps Spinners, Buzz baits, Spoons.  While casting in the preferred method most of the time, trolling can still produce alot of action.

Bass are in full swing now that they are done spawning.  Large Bass are still the norm as 16-18 inchers are common.   Leeches and crawlers are strarting to be the number one choice for Bass but the standard Tube or rubber tail type baits are still working.   Small cranks are also good such as fat raps and shad raps.  Topwater is still going strong and we hope this lasts as it is one of the best ways to make memories.   There is nothing like a big Bass boiling the water at your lure.  Everyone's heart starts pounding faster when this happens.

Muskie have slowed down from the previous few weeks but a few were caught this week.  All we need to do is ask Patrick from Chicago how the Muskie action is.  Patrick caught a 42 inch brute on light tackle while he was Walleye fishing.   Based on all of the stories from the other fishernan that were close by and could hear all of the excitement, it sounds like Patrick got alittle bit excited during the event.  Who wouldn't eh?

Perch fishing has been on the slow side for us.  We are picking up a few bigger ones in the 10-13 inch range but nothing in large numbers.  We thought the sunny days would really turn them on but they seem to have either gone deep or are gorging on Mayflies.  It has not been a big Mayfly hatch so Perch should get back to normal where lots of numbers can be caught.

On other news, our remote Walleye & Pike lake has really produced some phenomenal fishing this summer.  This can be some of the best fishing you will experience in your life so we hope all with give it a try while they are here at Manotak Lodge.  Our remote Musky lake is also seeing some good catches this week.   The Father & Son team of Rod & Art caught 3 Muskies yesterday in a short periond of time.   There are not many lakes that will produce 3  or more Muskies in one day so this lake is very special to us and we are very fortunate to have fishing rights to this lake.

We are still waiting for our pet Hen Mallard "Lunch" to show up with her young ducklings.  She has not been around for over a week so she should be showing off her new family very soon.   We really enjoy the comments on our blog from our guests and we hope it continues.   By all means share your stories or fishing experiences from your Manotak Lodge vacation.  If you have any questions I would be more than happy to try and answer them.

Thats all for now.  Off to the dock to shove off our "Crack of Noon" bunch for their day of fishing.

Dave @ Manotak

Now on to the latest fishing report.  I usually like to start out talking about what fish were caught, where they were caught and what they were caught on.  This time it makes more sense to start out talking about the weather because that is making big headlines.   It started raining about 10 days ago and it really has not stopped.   We have short periods during the day that we get a reprieve but it has either rained, drizzled or thunderstormed each day for the most part.  The lake was quite low in water level but has since come up about 10-12 inches.  We still would like the lake to come up another 6 inches to give us a comfortable margin for the rest of the summer.

Walleyes have been fantastic and are biting on all live baits and some artificials.  Crank baits such as Hot N Tots and Shad raps are catching Walleyes in the evening while live bait such as minnows, leeches and worms are working all day long.  The average size of Walleyes is up also with 20-24 being common.   Our secret lure iss till working unbelieveably well and guests are impressed at its success.

Pike are also on a good bite right now.  One of our guests, Chris, was fishing with his dad this week and hooked into a 39 inch brute.  We are starting to hear that the fish might be gaining in inches as the week is progressing.   We told him the general rule that fish usually grow one inch per 100 miles on the drive home.  He thought that would work for his fish.

Sorry to cut this short but gotta run.  Big fish were caught and need to get to the dock to hear all of the tales.

Will update again very soon.  Somebody needs to send some sun.  Our grass will need to be baled.

One of the main issues that we are currently working on is the reliability of our webcams to stay active.  We know that they are not working all of the time and we have some options that we believe will help resolve this.  The cameras take up alot of bandwidth to be able to upload live streaming video so we are working on an entire new system dedicated solely for the webcams.  We know they are a big hit as we see alot of hits everyday so we appreciate your patience.

We cannot believe that we are already into our 4th week of the fishing season.  As most of you have read from our previous blog post the winter and spring periods were very warm and dry.   The lake levels were considerably lower than normal for this time of year which warmed our lake temps up higher than normal.  The weather the past couple of weeks have really been quite opposite in terms of temps and humidity.  Last week was very hot, dry and calm where as this week it is very cool, wet and windy.   Fishing also was very different the past couple of weeks.  Last week Walleyes were active very early in the morning and then again in the evening but were almost none existent during the day.  This week they are on a more normal pattern and are biting all day long.  In fact, Walleye fishing has been very good this week with size of Eyes being on the larger size.   Our secret lure continues to dominate for Walleyes.  Each week we are converting more guests over to our new lure for Walleyes and they are convinced they stand out.  Even our guides are warming up to our new secret even though I am fairly confident they can catch Walleyes with a piece of a Walmart shopping bag tied to a jig.

Most of the Walleyes have been in 6-14 feet and are still on most rock points.  Our reefs are starting to kick in with alot of the larger ones being taken there.  Crank baits have been very popular but live bait is definitely outfishing artificial which is no surprise.  Many guests have heard me say that I would rather eat a real apple compared to a wax apple anytime.  Walleyes are the same way, they like live bait over artificial most of the time.

Bass & Pike have been absolutely fantastic right from the start of the season.  Bass came up from the deep very early this year which allowed our fisherman to crank for them with rattle traps and the like.  Flukes, Tubes, & Bass Assassins are also killin'em on the rocks.  It has been common to hear guests talk about catching 25-40 Bass in one particular outing.  They have been on the beds the past few days and we beleive they are just done spawning.  Many Bass in the 16-19 inch range are being caught on a regular basis.  Topwater is in full force also which personally I think is some of the most fun fishing you can experience.   We are very lucky to not only have incredible Wallaye fishing but also have some of the best Smallmouth Bass fishing in North America.

Pike have really been on the larger size this year so far.   Live suckers have been the most effective method for the big critters but trolling or casting Rattle Traps or larger type stick baits has also produced some great fish.   We have seem thousands of small Perch Fry at our dock so we know Pike are on a feeding binge and we are taking advantage of it.

We have seen more Muskies caught this year at this time than any other season.   The largest caught was 48 inches and was caught on 6 pound test line.  The season is not officially open so all of the Muskie caught were by accident and on light tackle.  This makes for all the more fun when a big monster grabs your small bait and takes you for a ride.

I think I better stop writing for now and get back to the dock. 

Comments to this blog are greatly appreciated.  Don't be shy.  We think this is a great way for our guests to communicate and tell everyone about there experiences at Manotak Lodge.

Dave @ Manotak