Canada Northerns & Walleye on Fly

[Docked Wages]

Spent 10 days at a very remote fly-in only lodge on Carol Lake in Northern Canada, 60 miles north of Lake LaRonge, Saskatchawaan. I am still relatively inexperienced with fly fishing and stopped by the Fishing Hole in Saskatchatoon on the way for some local flies. I ended up with two new species under my belt, Northern Pike and Walleye on fly.

Waterbase Inn (Seaplane departure docks)




Nasty weather forced us to miss several flights, both into Canada and into the lodge. Eventually we got out on a smaller plane in between storm squals.








Northern Pike, Walleye and Lake Trout where our targeted species.












The flight back from was in a much larger seaplane with more comfort and nicer weather:









The Lodge/campsight:

[thinfisher]

Nice report and great pics.....looks like loads of fun and the Pike reminds me of fishing the UP in Michigan with my Uncles and Grandfather. Thanks for bringing me back to those memories.

[deerfly]

Looks like a blast, weather and all. Nice to see a little variety here once in a while too.

tell us a bit about the technique/strategy? Seems the walleye's are mostly bottom huggers and the northern's structure and shorlines, etc, different approaches no?

[Docked Wages]

LOB will be posting a full report with lots of video in the EC region in the next day or so. (I will post a link here when it is posted) I was the only one fly fishing so this is a precurser to the full report with my focus on fly fishing. Being a saltwater guy primarily, a novice fly fisherman and the only fly fisherman in the group of three I had to figure it out as I went. As far as the technique and strategy we where fishing in a private lease roughly 13 square miles with 7 large lakes to fish each with 2 LUND boats and small 15/ 9.9 / 6 hp kickers. The Walleye where all caught on Stillborne Lake, Norhterns in all lakes and Lake trout in Boehm, Eldridge and Darieu.




The shore line in Stillborne lake went from land to 16 feet deep within 20 yards, sometimes 10 yards. I started out 50-60yards from shore then realized that the steep drop off close to shore, formed with large rocks, was the prime place to be for walleyes on this day. My fly rod is spooled with floating line so that was an issue. If you notice in one of the Northern pike pics you will see the fly of choice (recommended by the Fishing Hole in Saskatchatoon) with a split shot infront of the fly to get it down deeper. I also used a RIO "toothy critter" 20lb Bronze tippet leader, not wire but a braid type material. We where catching 50 plus walleye a day on jigs with almost the same number of pikes. (Our highest daily total was 94 walleye between 3 guys and another 30 plus pikes all on spinners, another day we landed 70 lake trout in one day plus our share of pikes as a by product) Needless to say this was a target rich environment and a good place to try the flyrod. My toughest challenge with the walleye was the hookset, you cant hookset a flyrod like a spinner, too much flex in the rod! It also took too long for the floating line to pull tight during a strike, even when stripping it??? This could be my lack of experience but very frustrating. ( I use a Fenwick 8 wt rod) I lost several walleye from them lipping the fly, they would also follow the fly all the way to the boat before lipping it or turning off. Eventually I landed two walleyes during my first fly fishing outing on Stillborne Lake.

Other areas that I specifically targeted Northerns on fly where grassy bottom shallow bays. The Northerns however where much more aggressive and easier hookup. I landed Northern on fly in both Stillborne and Carole Lakes with realitive ease. No heros, but decent size fish. BTW, the only fish that where filleted were what we could eat during our stay and only fish under 20 inches to leave the larger ones to breed. We also came across a Moose with a baby and came within 20' of a black bear during one of our portages. Pretty exciting time all around, thanks for the interest. I think I will be doing more salt water fly fishing now that I am back home and hopefully posting more reports in this section.

[sparse grey]

Nice report & interesting pics. Took me back to a trip my son & I tood 15 yrs or so ago to Northern Ontario for remote brook trout. It appears you had MUCH better accomodations. Many fond memories as I'm sure you will have also. Good luck with the fly BTW.

[razorreilly09]

Great report and pics! sent you an IM

[Docked Wages]

Here is a video of the trip put together by LOB

http://vimeo.com/25878097

And here a link the EC regional Report with more pics and info

http://forums.floridasportsman.com/s...-thru-the-26th

[Docked Wages]

Ok, its that time of the year again.


Leaving for Canada on Friday to do this trip again.

Plan on doing more fly fishing than I did last year and will post a new report when I return in early July.

Any recommendations on flies for Walley or Northerns would be appreciated.

[Shadowcast]

Enjoy the trip!

[saltybum]

Don't forget the sinking line AND camera! Looking forward to seeing the report.