Message from Wayne and Lydia at NCL

[North Country Lodge]

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

[miked]

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

[Russ]

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.

[shmcbroom]

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.

[North Country Lodge]

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

[Russ]

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.

[RAS]

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.

[shmcbroom]

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.

[goldeye]

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

[Russ]

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.

[deetch]

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.

[shmcbroom]

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

[goldeye]

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

[BobC]

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

[deetch]

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

[BobC]

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

[shmcbroom]

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

[Russ]

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

[BobC]

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

[Russ]

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

[kipwinkleman]

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.

[Russ]

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.

[shmcbroom]

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.

[pfessor]

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

[shmcbroom]

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

[pfessor]

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

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

[shmcbroom]

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!

[pfessor]

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

[Sharks8]

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.

[mikeuwl]

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?

[North Country Lodge]

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

[mikeuwl]

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

[Russ]

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.

[North Country Lodge]

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

[mikeuwl]

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

[Russ]

2 years ago some guys from Wis. had good luck with the blue ones with silver blades. Try some top water also, it's exciting.

[mikeuwl]

Only about two weeks to go until we head up to Canyon Lake! So how has the fishing been lately? Any updates would be appreciated. Thanks!
Mike

[Russ]

Hope your going to North Country Logde or you might not get any info. I e-mailed the other day and they e-mail back that they didn't have time for people that don't come to there resort.

[shmcbroom]

We were up last week fishing Canyan and the walleyes weren't biting for us. We had a group of not so experienced walleye fisherman and they were suspended over deep water and we didn't have the know how to catch them. A walleye here and a walleye there was all we could muster. One guy in the group caught a nice walleye each time he went to the spillway but after catching one fish that was all that would be caught. Hopefully the fishing picks up for your trip.
Highlight of the week was a 42 inch musky.

Good Luck

[mikeuwl]

Well not quite the fishing report I was hoping to hear but hopefully things pick up again. But just getting out on the water will be good enough for me either way.
Russ-I am staying at Blyth's. Have you gone up yet or when is your trip?

[Doc Spoon]

We were also there last week. In years past, 24-28" walleyes were very common in 20-25' of water. This year.......we lost patience after a dozen or so 12-13" were caught. The bigger fish all seem to be suspended and feeding quite nicely on baitfish just like shmcbroom mentioned. Trolling didn't produce anything but frustration for us.

Early ice out didn't seem to be a real good thing for the fish "catching" activity. My friend has a Cabin on the lake and it has been pretty slow all summer!

The big weed bed was thicker, but still not real productive. Tunnel Bay was packed with baitfish and suspended fish below them. I would suggest dynamite could be your best bet for dredging those fish up!

They should be some real hogs next year though!

[Russ]

mikeuwl---send my an e-mail. My e-mail address is: minker@butler-bremer.com and we'll talk fishing. I don't mind telling people where to fish on Canyon or what I have had luck using.

Russ

[McDonald Anglers]

We fished Canyon Lake last week and stayed with our wonderful hosts, Wayne and Lydia. We always have a great time! The Smoked Trout Chowder was sensational! The whole camp meal was great for that matter!
Fishing wasn't the same as last year...but we always caught between 15 to 23 walleye every night. I would recommend slip bobbers in 11' to 12' foot of water. We did better with leeches, but minnows worked also. They really start biting in the evening between 8:30pm to 9:45pm. Daytime fishing was tough. We had many musky follows and only caught one, but the follows were very exciting. Most of our fish were caught up Outlet Bay. Trolling Lindy Rigs can also be very productive in the evening. The key is the 11' to 12' foot depth for walleyes. We rarely caught anything any deeper. As for big fish, we caught one 27" 7lb walleye our first afternoon around 3:00pm. Most of our other walleye were 14" to 20" and caught in the evening. This was my 3rd time at Canyon and my father's 4th time, so we know the lake fairly well. Good luck to all...it's a great lake, but you have to work at it some time.

[pfessor]

[QUOTE=Russ;.Don't overlook the beaver house for both bass and walleyes.
QUOTE]

Russ,
You mention the Beaver house. Are you speaking about a specific beaver house or just beaver houses in general. I've fished Canyon the past 3 years and trying to learn as much about the lake as possible. If you are talking about a specific one, would you share the location. All help appreciated.
pfessor

[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.

[Russ]

My wife and I were up at Canyon for approx. 26 days and the fishing was a lot better this year than last. We caught quite a few walleyes, biggest was 21" and many nice bass, biggest was 18". Our best fishing wasn't until the first week of Aug. but then again the first week we didn't fish a lot, just kicked back and relaxed. We caught our walleyes in anywhere from 11' of water to 21' and all on leeches or night crawlers and a lot of the time using a slip bobber. We caught very few fish around the beaver houses and other years they are good for both walleyes and bass. I did notice that when I cleaned some walleyes this year they were full of crayfish and I haven't seen that before and I don't know why with so many minnows in the lake. The best morning I had on walleyes I was in 21' of water and I caught 34 with out moving, I was anchored and I had a ball. That's 34 walleyes that I got in the boat not counting the ones I lost and I missed many. I also noticed that a lot of the old spots weren't paying off this year and I also caught fish were I have never fished before so if one spot doesnt' produce, keep tryin different ones, different depths until you find them.

[BarbaraTIX]

I was hoping Siegel Gallagher which runs Reef Point in Racine was going to take over Northpoint. Its tough to envision positives coming from anything in bed with the city of Chicago

[BethanyNeido]

Sounds like fun indeed

Im not sure we can come up with more than two maps since we dont have more than three "mappers" and one of them is inactive at the moment.
Ive got no problem with driving more maps during the scrim though.

That "No speccing"-rule is going to be hard to monitor.
I think it should be ok as long ask you ask first.

I spoke to Hecker about it and we agreed that it would be a good idea to start the scrim on a Friday and end it on Sunday the week after. That way its not too long and you still get two weekends of driving.
Some of us has a job you know...

[BarbaraTIX]

To add to Mark, yes it should be a block. Assuming from your boat number you got new, the block is supplied loose and needs fitting.

Paul