July 09 Report

This is one crazy summer :)
Our musky fishermen are casting into shore near moving water with thier big ole musky plugs and catching monster walleye. The May fly hatch started about a week ago and the walleye are still hungry as heck. They are biting in the shallows and down deep.
The musky were very active last week but aren't quite as hungry this week. Lots spotted but not as many biters.
Bass are still not doing too much, they should be getting hungry soon. There have been a few pretty nice ones up to 18" caught in the last week but not fast and furious.
We've had a few days of some pretty good wind that turned over the lake late last week so the temp dropped a bit again but warming up with the strong sun.
Lake trout have been biting very well. Wayne was out at a couple of different lakes in the last week and did well every time. No lunkers but a couple smokers and some real nice eaters. I got out with him once and I couldn't believe how shallow they were for this time of the year. We caught most of them in 25-30 feet but I even caught one in 20 feet! What a blast!
We have a slow week this week so I am hoping to get out a couple of times so I have more first hand knowlege ;)

Happy Fishing!

Lydia

Thanks for the fishing report. Yes, it's crazy when your catching large walleyes on musky baits. What is the lake level? Hope the bass turn on soon. My son and I want to try using fly rods on them this year.Are there any weeds growing this year, I wonder what happened to all the weed beds.

Where is a good place to fish for big perch?

How has business been this year?

I will be making my way to Canyon Lake next summer for the first time and was wondering if anybody knows where I can get a map of the lake. Any info would be much appreciated.

You can definately get into the weeds out there and have heard some reports of the good cabbage stuff too. The weeds haven't surfaced yet that I know of though.
It has been a pretty busy summer for us with the exception of a couple of weeks, this being a slow one. There are bonuses to a slow week though- we decided to have our camp supper out on a near by trout lake. You don't get fish any fresher YUMMMM. We have a couple of young ladies in with thier family this week who got to come here as a high school graduation present- nice present eh?? This is the one young lady who was in our boat and caught her first two lake trout ever. She also lost three others right at the boat. We only got to fish for about 3 hours total and were rained out. They have been doing well with the walleye too.
If there is a hole out here with jumbo perch, we haven't found it yet. We have caught some bigger ones ice fishing but not really big ones. Sure would be nice to get some big perch out here but I guess you can't have it all.

Mike- You probably won't find any lake map out there other than printing your own off of google maps or getting one from one of the resorts on the lake. Its a pretty easy lake to navigate and only a couple of bad spots. What time of the year are you going to be here?

Lydia

Hi Canyon Lake Anglers!

We are very excited to be making our return trip to Canyon Lake this weekend. We begin our journey from Central Illlinois this Friday morning. We haven't been there since August of '97. Can you give us an idea of how the fishing has been this past week? Bait used? Walleye and muskie? We caught five muskie that week in August '97. That may be hard to beat, but we have been excited to read the latest reports about the walleye bite and the large size of walleye. Thanks for any info.

From everything I heard the walleye fishing has been outstanding. Getting lots of fish and big fish. I haven't heard much about musky, maybe the water is too cold yet. Talked to a buddy of mine that has a cabin on Canyon this morning. Weather is warming but the bugs are really bad, make sure you bring you bug dope. Where are you staying at? We leave early tomorrow morning and stay over night in Emo, ON. Good luck and maybe see you on the water.

We are leaving tomorrow morning also. Staying overnight in Virginia, MN and then arriving Saturday at North Country Lodge around noon probably. I called and talked to Wayne this morning. He told me that the walleyes have been very good with good size. He told me about a six year old boy that caught several walleye in the mid to upper 20's" off their dock this week. He also said that he thought they caught several muskies this week. Maybe we will see you there. Good luck!

Bugs have been doing very well. They are loving this weather and multiplying fast. I recommend anything with deet. It is strong stuff but works well.
Walleye have been great still and its nice to see the musky getting more active again. Bass still not as active but they are catching some.
That little guy catching fish off the dock is going to end up having his own fishing show someday i think. He caught his first walleye the first afternoon he was here (I believe it was 26") and he caught another one just a bit smaller a couple hours later. The next day he caught a 27 1/2" and the day after he caught a 27". That was incredible! He is totally hooked on fishing now. Wayne even had him filleting the fish. Not many people go home with a fish story like that no matter what age they are.
See you Saturday!

Lydia

Fishing the past week was Great for Walleye, Good for Musky and Fair for Small Mouth Bass. Weather was cool and overcast for most of the week. Few pretty good periods of rain followed by scattered clouds but never kept us off the lake.

Walleye were available in virtually any location on the lake and some were even taken on Topwater baits while fishing for Musky. Hard to believe. Glad I have it on film.

Large Walleye appear to be very stressed out. Main Lake Hump had very small fish this year, but virtually every shore line or mid lake hump or weed line had fish around it at 6-12 ft. Slip Bobber or jigs/ leech. Very productive all day long for 14-24 inch fish

Did not matter where you were at on the lake, pattern held true.

Musky were very interested in topwater this past week. After a full day of dragging bucktails with nothing...topwater was key to high interest follows and putting them in the net. No Giants this week in the boat but saw one that made me look twice before it disappeared. Our group of eleven guys caught and released over 50 Musky for the week. A little lower than normal for our group but we enjoyed it.

This was actually the first year in a decade that I did not have a Musky eat one of my 'eyes as I was reeling him in off the bottom. They must be eating well. Maybe another reason the Musky fishing is a little off... food is plentiful and they have full bellies.

Small Mouth didn't take the usual crankbait offering. This week they wanted jerkbaits. Rouges or Rapalas that suspended. All bites Came on a dead stick.

Several good ones were caught on yellow curly tail grubs as well.

Best tip for the week fish slow and stop your bait often and watch your line.

Truly was the case this past week of never knowing what was going to be on the hook.

Canyon Lake always gives you enough to bring you back again the next year and always creates a memory.

We had an absolute fantastic fishing trip to Canyon Lake this past week. (July 24th thru July 31st.) We lost count of how many walleye we caught most days we were catching and releasing well over 30 walleye per day. We only caught one musky on a jig with a leech all week. But the real story was that slip bobbers were deadly on the walleye with leeches and minnows. We also pulled in some big walleye 24" and 26" at times casting smaller bucktails for musky. The Camp supper was really special too with Corned Moose, Smoked Trout Chowder, and Perogies w/ Sour Cream! Great job Lydia!!! We had a ball all week!
(I'll email you some pics Lydia!) They are too large to post.

Camp supper is my favourite day of the week, its neat to get together with everyone. Thanks for the compliments!
Walleye fishing is still outstanding and i know I'm starting to sound like a broken record.
A few more bass were caught this week so lets hope that is a good sign they will be more active.
Musky slowed down a bit from what I've been told. There have been some sightings but not as many hits.
weather is still really unsettled with sun and rain but hey, I'd rather have this than what they are having on the west coast. (The glass is half full!)
Next week we slow down a bit so I'm hoping to get over to our ATV lake for jumbo perch. My mouth is watering!
Steve......my husband Wayne lost a walleye to a musky a few days ago but that only happened to him a couple of times this summer. A lot less reports of musky attacking stringers. It is pretty exciting when that happens but it sure isn't good when you have supper on the line!

Lydia