Message from Wayne and Lydia at NCL

We are so pleased with the new format of the forum. No more spam messages! This is all thanks to Bob and the crew at Outdoor Network.

Hello to all of our regular forum followers and welcome to the newbies.
Unfortunately all of our posts from the last forum are gone which had some great info from Canyon Lake fishermen but this is a great fresh start.

Wayne and I own North Country Lodge and help to moderate all the information on here about Canyon Lake. There are three lodges on our lake and we welcome all guests to Canyon and property owners of the lake to join in.
Canyon Lake is 19 miles long and offers world class musky fishing, walleye, bass, perch and whitefish.

We also offer deer, moose, black bear, grouse and duck hunting so feel free to ask any questions about that you have.

If anyone wants to talk with us you can join in the forum, use the private message feature or call us at 1-800-989-7919.

Lydia and Wayne Lecot

Hi folks, I just signed on the new format. It looks good and hopefully will be helpful. We are excited to be visiting Canyon Lake again in July. See you then. Miked

How's the fishing been? Are the walleyes done spawning? How's the lake level? Even though I don't stay at you resort, I love Canyon Lake and theis message board.

I too will be coming up in July. There will be a group of 4 of us fishing the lake for the first time. We are trying to get a yearly trip started. We will be up July 5-12. Hopefully we can get into some fish. This long winter has been tough thinking about the trip.

Any advice on locations to catch fish are appreciated.

Fishing has slowed a bit because the walleye are just off the spawn but expect it to pick up by next week.
We plan on doing a bit of fishing this weekend if we have time so I will let you all know how we did.
Wayne and I have lived in this area our whole lives but hadn't fished Canyon (except for whitefish in the fall) until a bit before we bought the camp.
There are definately some different methods to fishing this lake. When its good you can throw out just about anything and catch a fish but when the walleye are finicky the best luck we have is with a chartreuse spinner and a minnow. This is a very clear lake so generally you will fish the bays and shallow reefs morning and evening and deeper humps during the day.
For musky the general rule is that smaller is better. Sometimes when people are having a hard time catching a musky they switch to bass and start banging the musky with their bass plugs. This surprises alot of people. Every musky hunter has their favourites but for the novice musky fisherman make sure you pack a couple of suicks (they have some great smaller ones now too) and defiantely a couple different bucktails and good surface baits. The best advice I have for beginner musky fisherman though is to listen to the veterans but don't believe everything they say. They have been known to lie before!
Bass are fairly typical. They aren't finicky too often but when they are just keep changing it up and you should get them going.
Good luck this summer!

Lydia

shmcboom---were are you staying at on Canyon Lake? It's a hard lake to learn to fish, listen to the resort owners. Another good tip is to watch other boats, how they are fishing, what they are using ect. I've fished Canyon for over 25 yrs. and learn something new every year. Good luck and if need anymore info., just let me know.

We fished Canyon Lake for the first time last year, and let me tell you this is a world class lake for Walleyes. The 3rd picture on Lydia and Wayne's last post is one of over a hundred fish we hammered last year. If you're looking for a trohpy to bring home or just enjoy the catch and release as we do then this is your destination. I'm lucky to be part of a group that travels yearly for great Canadian fishing. It doesn't matter if your fishing for quantity or quality this is the lake.

We are staying at Blyth's Resort. I am bring up 3 friends of mine and we are looking to catch fish. Keep a few small ones for the fry pan but hope to catch some bigger fish as well. Do you know anything about the outpost lakes that Blyth's can send visitors to? In the information that I have recieved there is another musky lake and a couple lakes with northerns and walleyes. We hope do do a little exploring while we are up.

I can't wait to get up fishing on the 5th of July.

Hello Everyone
My friends and I have been fishing the English River system north of Kenora for Walleyes for the past 5 years. We decided to venture to new waters this year. We are excited to try our luck with NCL on Canyon Lake. We will be coming up June 6-10. Any advice or tips for us newbies would be appreciated. We will share or results on the conclusion of the trip.

Tight lines. Cor

shmcbroom--Blyth's have several different outpost lakes that you can go to. There's Betsy, Eye, Tunnel, just to name a few. I have fished Eye, Tunnel and Betsy, but for the last 15 years haven't found a reason to leave Canyon. If you want to fish northerns, there's a place several miles from the resort that you can fish right from shore if the waters high enough. There's a culvert that runs from one lake into another and a few years ago, my son, wife and I went there on a windy day (couldn't get out on Canyon) and we caught 50+ northerns in a hour and half, lots of fun but not much for size. Some nice fish come out of there, but we didn't get any.

i've been going to canyon lake for 5 years now and part of a group who's gone for 15+ years. my experience is theres always walleyes to be caught with a little effort. my reason to go to NCL is muskies and walleyes are only a snack. any newbies looking for a little help send a message and i can rattle off a few productive spots for walleyes. i'm always looking for a little more help with what works well for muskies.
if the walleys arent biting NCL has hegaman lake for a small price its a cool atv ride and even better walleye fishing.

Deetch,
If you wouldn't mind sharing some spots for Walleyes I would appreciate it. We are fishing the lake for the first time. Our week vacation is from July 5-12.

We will do some musky fishing but my experience in the past has been we always catch more muskies when walleye fishing.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

Deetch,
I wouldn't mind some spots for Walleyes. We are fishing the lake for the first time. Our excursion starts June 6

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

Deetch

Our first couple of years we had tons of follows from musky, we threw small
large and every thing we had. Last year we out at after dark and had great
luck, with 47" being the largest. If you can get by the first hour of bugs, try
large bucktails and jerk baits. We are at Canyon the third week of July, try after dark and see how it works. Don't forget to bring lights for your boat.

Bob

bobc
last year rigged up a tractor light to a 2x4 and bolted it to a rod holder works awsome. wondering if you had any luck with topwater seemed to be most productive for me. and by jerkbaits do you mean the jake.

thaks deetch

Deetch,

Jake or a Suick are a good choice. Also top water works fine, any thing thats make a lot of noise. A large bucktail like a cowgirl works the best got us.

Bob

How is the fishing on Canyon lately? The countdown is on. We are heading up on July 5th.

What color of cowgirls did you use? I have great luck with topwater for musky, I love to see the water explode!!!!!!

Russ,

We used a silver and blue one last year. But I bought a new orange and black one that we are going to try this year. I agree I like the topwater the best. We will save some of the big ones for you late comers!

Bob

Put a red X on the water where you see the big one or where you are catching the walleyes!!!!!!

This name is for you deetch. lol. If someone could please tell me what a cowgirl is that would be greatly appreciated. I need to outfish deetch, he has had big muskie for the past four years and im tired of listening to that big trap rattle on. Also and good walleye hotspots or rigs would be helpfull for the evening.

A cowgirl is a big bucktail (flashabou tail) made by Musky Mayhem Tackle. It's a big bait and it's been really "HOT" the last couple of years up in Canada. The one that has been the best from everything I've seen and heard is the double cowgirl, it has double #10 blades on it. You can get them from Rollie & Helen's Musky Shop or order on-line. They are rather exspensive, but cheaper in the States than in Canada.

Does anyone have a report from this last week? Is there any particular jigs/lures to bring for fishing walleyes.
Only a couple weeks before my trip.

shmcbroom,
Just got back from Canyon lake.
The Walleyes were hitting anything that looked like a minnow.
Jigs with live minnows, leeches, mister twisters, etc. Walleyes were most active after 5:00 PM. The Bass weren't doing much until about Thursday and a couple of groups started getting them along the rocky shorelines.
The water temperture had finally gotten slightly above 60 degrees (F) by Thursday. This next week should be great for bass.
The muskeys were showing up chasing the walleyes and a few were caught
(and released immediately) by various groups.
Hope this helps,
pfessor

Thank you for the update. Has anything happened with the Mayflies yet? How much does this affect the fishing on Canyon?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by shmcbroom

Thank you for the update. Has anything happened with the Mayflies yet? How much does this affect the fishing on Canyon?

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I Can't answer that. I am definately a novice on fishing walleye and that was my first time at Canyon.
Sorry.
pfessor

Thanks for the response. Did you stay at North County Lodge? We are staying at Blyth's. Did you have any problems getting around on the lake or was there always protected water on windy days?

Thanks for your responses.
If you can't tell, I can't wait to get on the water!

We stayed at North Country Lodge about 200 yards away from Blyth's.
Only one day was too windy to enjoy the lake. Even then some boats went out. I think it was Sunday when the weather got too rough for me. The rest of the week was fine. There are some bays you can get into to help shelter you from the winds a little. Keep in mind there aren't any mountains within miles to block the wind from any direction. With the weather warming I'm sure you'll be fine.
pfessor

I am also looking forward to a July Canyon Lake trip.

Since this will be our 3rd visit, I am hopeful that we will encounter some larger muskies. Not yet convinced that smaller baits is the answer.

If not, I am confident that big walleyes will again hit trolled Depth Raiders, after the sun has set. Those are kind of an added bonus, although kind of a mismatch against 65 lb Power Pro.

FYI, I was in the Red Lake vacinity for the walleye opener. We don't expect ideal weather the 3rd Saturday in May, but this year, 12-14 inches of snow was hard to believe. Had to sit in Ear Falls for most of the afternoon, awaiting snow plows summoned from Dryden. And, then, it got cold. Fortunately, big walleyes were the rule.

At least, we can leave the down jackets at home in July.

Hey Everyone,
Love the forum you have here. Going to be staying at Blyths in early August, anybody know what the fishing is like that time of year? Any tips on walleye and musky would be greatly appreciated. Looks like night fishing is popular for musky, any worries with navigational hazards such as large rocks?

With the early spring everything seems to be ahead of schedule. I am expecting in August for the musky and walleye to be deeper as usual though. A little harder to find but definitely worth it once you find the honey hole. Try the reefs and drop offs.
Bruce and Joan should be able to let you know the hazards. Like any lake, don't go wide open right close to shore and there are a couple other reefs to worry about but overall it is pretty good.
Good luck this summer!

Lydia

Thanks Lydia,
What types of baits do people use that time of year as well? Are they using live bait for walleyes or crankbaits?

Mike

I've fished Canyon Lake for the last 28 years and always go the last week of July and first week of Aug. We have always had great fishing, infact the walleye fishing gets better every year. We use mainly live bait for walleyes, leeches and night crawler and fish mainly in the bays and on the reefs. You can get the leeches in Vermillion Bay, can't bring them across the boarder anymore, I always bring my crawlers from home. Don't overlook the beaver house for both bass and walleyes, had great luck with slip bobbers around them. Musky is always exciting, I like to use topwater baits for them, I love to see the water explode. The cowgirl baits have really been hot the last few years, if you going to buy them, do it in the states, they are exspensive in Canada. Try using topwate for sm. bass also, it's a blast.

Last year lot's of people were catching big walleye on crank baits too while musky and bass fishing but that is not the norm. They sure had fun with it though!
BTW....Wayne and I were out for walleye last evening and did well but nothing big. Lots of May flies around now. A report from a friend said the May fly hatch started a couple nights ago so I knew it would happen right away.

Lydia

I was checking out the double cowgirl on-line, any colors seem to work better on canyon? I think I am going to pick up a few to try them out. Once again thanks for the info....August can't come soon enough!

Mike