Message from Wayne and Lydia at NCL

[Russ]

I fish every beaver house I can you just never know what you'll catch by them, walleye, bass or musky. I have some favorites and they are all over the lake, Outlet Bay, Canyon Bay, pass the Narrows and also some on the main lake. Some produce better than others, depends on time of day and depth of water out in front of them.

[MikeGRB]

We arrived on Sat. with water temps close to 80F, muskies were really active and netted a 34 and 35.5 and several 50+ follows Sat. ..............and then the weather kicked in with wind shifts for the first 5 days and the water temp cratered down about 8-10F with muskie fishing going along with it. We have found that muskie fishing is phenomenal when water temps are > 75F on this lake. Walleyes are finding something else to eat or are not biting. We spent too much time on them trying to get enough for 3 fish fries and a conservation limit of 12-13" fish during the week. This was our first time back in 3 yrs and walleye fishing is in serious decline and was a great disappointment, we went to this lake for 5 yrs straight from 2003 to 2008 and every night, regardless of weather, you would get sick of catching 30 or more 20-27" fish, my nephew caught 6 26" fish in two hours one night. We would have 3 on at once and would just pitch them in the boat with the net, a total gas! 3 people would go through 2# of leeches in 5 days. There is something going on in the lake and we couldn't figure it out. We had our best luck gunning beaver houses and fallen trees. We didn't catch one fish over 15"! Normally, we have a difficult time getting enough eater size fish (<20") during the week and will keep none larger in the interest of keeping this lake the great fishery it is ( or was). I did notice Mayflies for the first time on the dock, not in great numbers, some never the less.

We had the great pleasure to cross paths with Russ and Kathy, whom we had gotten to know over the years. If Russ isn't catching walleyes, somethings wrong! Great people!

I'm sure some folks did better and were more adaptable but we really didn't see or hear of anyone crowing about how great the walleye fishing was. Bass (not in great numbers) would only take a vertical jig with leech usually off the beaver houses and trees but showed no interest in artificials. I'm sure the weather shifts played a role in our luck. I hope we hear some more positive news going forward as this is an awesome lake. Looking to see what Russ posts as he will be up there until mid Aug.

[MikeGRB]

One of the lodge owners on the lake stated that two years ago the water was very low and the gulls had a field day eating the rusty crabs. We also noted that there was a marked decline in rusty numbers this year, my kids would be up half the night in years past when they were younger catching buckets of them for a boil. My theory, based on some research on rusty crab life cycle and experience with some northern WI Lakes, is that the crash in the rusty population has allowed the native bait fish populations to explode due to lack of predation by the rustys. I am no liminologist nor do I have a degree in freshwater ecology, just an engineer. I suspect that the walleyes, now, do not have to work hard to find food and are feeding on suspended baitfish at will all day long. It will be interesting to see, over time, if there is direct correlation to rusty crab population and the quality of walleye fishing in the lake. I just hope we don't have to wait too long! I sure hope all those 20+" fish we caught and released are still there and reproducing. There were many nights out there when we had to have chicken for supper as everything was over 20".

[mattyz32]

Mike,

We are heading up to Canyon this Saturday and this will be my 19th year fishing that lake with the last 10 fishing nothing but musky. If the water was in the 80's last week of July, I have a feeling it should be in the 74-77 range when we arrive, which is prime time..You had a couple nice catches and some 50's follow. Any particular spots you saw the 50's...

Was it the tunnel? Was it the island before the tunnel? The 3rd Island rock reef? All of these are pretty significant spots where we always see & catch them.

Were you pounding shallows or fishing vertical structure & rock reefs w/ access to deep water?

[tptoy]

coming up Sept. 10th for second trip this year. Any Walleye info, would be greatly appreciated! Bringing my 81 year old dad. His first trip in 30 years! Musky and smallie info would be great also.
Thanks.