Slippery Winds Lodge News
2008 Season
Brandon Lee with a trophy walleye
TUESDAY, MAY 20, 2008
Ice was out a little later than usual in Northwestern Ontario this spring. Our lakes, Straw, Yoke, Sucan, Bluffpoint, Crossroute and Sullivan were ice-free about May 3rd.
We arrived in camp on a rainy Saturday morning, May 10th. The camp had wintered well with no unexpected / unwanted visitors. Lake levels are on the high side, as May has been fairly wet in our area. The good news is there is no fire ban so far.
Our first guests, Randy Lee's group from the Twin Cities area, arrived the afternoon of Friday, May 16th. The group has been concentrating mainly on walleyes and have caught some great 'eyes, with bragging rights for the largest walleye going to Randy's grandson - Brandon, who caught a fat, 28-incher. The group has also been catching some nice smallmouth bass on Yoke Lake and good numbers of mid-sized walleyes on Straw Lake.
The other evening while fishing Yoke Lake Art Hancock threw out a muskie bucktail and attracted a 50-inch plus muskie, which followed his bait right up to the boat, but couldn't be convinced to bite.
The Lenahan party, who arrived on May 17th had great walleye action right in the bay in front of the lodge. The evening the group arrived was cool with winds of 30 kph, gusting to 50 kph, so they elected to just fish our bay. In a little over an hour's fishing they caught several dozen nice-sized walleye and a mid-30-iinch pike. The pike was caught within a stone's throw of the dock.
We have great news for our guests that just love to fish Bluffpoint. The major beaver dam was washed out by spring flooding so it is now much easier to get into Bluffpoint. There is a small beaver dam at the mouth of Bluffpoint Creek, where it runs into Straw Lake, and also the old small dam that is at the head of the pond upstream from where the big beaver dam used to be. We hardly had to get our boots wet pushing the boats over the beaver dams the other day.
The Lenahan's fished Bluffpoint today, catching several dozen lake trout in the 6 - 12 lb range and also catching numerous big largemouth bass in Bob's Bay at the north end of the lake.
SUNDAY, MAY 25, 2008
First-time guests, Jim and Larry Barton departed happy anglers after a short, 3-day trip. They had great success with the lakers on Bluffpoint, also catching a few nice largemouth. The Bartons caught all six species of sportfish that our lakes have to offer, but The highlight of the trip for Jim was his 42-inch muskie he caught the last evening in camp.
Tim Holschlag's flyfishing group has also been having great fun on Bluffpoint Lake catching lake trout and largemouth on flies. Warren and Ann Phillips have portaged into all three our our walk-in lakes and have caught all species with the exception of a muskie.
The flyfishers have begun a tradition of catching walleye on flies off our dock on Yoke Lake each evening at sunset.
FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 2008
We are still waiting for summer here in Northwestern Ontario. Daytime high temperatures have been 8 - 10 degrees F. below seasonal normals for the first two weeks of June. Lake levels are high as we are receiving doses of rain almost daily. There have been some spectacular lightning displays over the last week.
In spite of the inclement weather the fishing has been good. The bass are not as active as normal for this time of year, but our guests are still catching good numbers of both largemouth and smallmouth bass with excellent size. Dave Halverson caught a 20-inch largemouth on Straw Lake. Anglers are catching more good-sized largemouth on Straw this year. The spring flooding of Bluffpoint creek is washing some largemouth into Straw, where they are now thriving. Sucan is producing good numbers of mid-size walleye and smallmouth bass in the mid to high-teens.
Our largest walleye so far in June, a 28-incher, was caught June 4th on Yoke Lake by Bill Rueger. Mark Weers caught several walleye in the mid 20-inch range with two 27-inchers caught June 11th on Yoke Lake. The groups are complaining that they are having a hard time catching walleye that are small enough to keep for shorelunch. The Baxter Tate group had to release 15 walleye before they caught one under 18 inches that they could keep for shorelunch.
The muskie fishing has been very hot this spring. Guests have caught and released a couple of dozen muskie so far this season. The largest has been 43 inches. The most recent muskie caught and released was a 41-1/2 incher caught June 9th by Patrick Mulligan, who also caught a 25 inch walleye the same day. Novice muskie angler, Monty Bernadoni, hooked four muskie in the past several days and landing three of them. The largest was 38 inches.
Sullivan Lake has been producing some nice pike this spring. Seth Phillips caught a 35 inch muskie June 5th on Sullivan. His brother Wesley caught a 26 inch laker on Sullivan the same day.
Baxter Tate recorded catching and releasing a 23 inch smallmouth on Straw Lake June 10th. In the past week leeches have been the most effective bait for both the bass and walleye. Although the Tate group isn't catching as many bass as they normally do, they told us that this is the best walleye and pike fishing they have experienced on their Canadian fishing trips.
More rain is forecast for the next couple of days, but then we are supposed to get some sunshine and warmer temperatures. If you are still thinking about a fishing trip this summer check out our SPECIALS page. Also, give us a call toll-free at 1-888-244-7453 (or call me at the lodge @ 807-226-1212) and ask us about our ridiculously low priced July 4th specials on 3, 4 & 5-day American-Plan fishing trips. Space is limited, so it is first-come-first-booked.
For guests that didn't like coming across other boats on Yoke Lake, we have some news. Happy Landings Lodge on Pipestone Lake, with which we share Yoke, Straw and Sucan Lakes, was destroyed by fire the morning of May 11th. They have shifted their operations to their lodge on Manitou, so Slippery Winds guests have Yoke Lake all to themselves this summer.
FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 2008
Well, the weather gods have finally smiled on us and brought warm weather - but not without thunderstorms! The Williams party of father Orvylle and his two sons Rick and Jeff enjoyed some excellent walleye fishing during their five days at Slippery Winds catching several 25 inch walleye, a 26, a couple of 27's, a 28 and a 29 inch walleye fishing Yoke Lake. In addition to these trophy quality walleye they caught numerous walleye in the low to mid 2-inch range.
The Berley group also enjoyed great walleye fishing on Sucan Lake - catching numerous fish in the hig teens. Steve Berley caught and released a 20 inch largemouth on Crossroute Lake and first-time guest Mike Minalga landed a 37 inch muskie on Yoke Lake.
Ginny Riege, who just arrived today with husband Bob, reported a 35 inch northern pike on Yoke Lake in their first couple of hours fishing. After waiting out a thunderstorm in the lodge everyone is back out on the lakes enjoying the sunny, warm weather.
FRIDAY, JULY 4TH
We celebrated two holidays this week - Canada Day on July 1st and U.S. Independence Day on July 4th, as well as celebrating one of our staff's 20th birthday on July 3rd.
Temperatures were finally starting to creep up during the period from June 20th to July 4th, although we were still experiencing some cold nights. The overnight low on July 1st dipped down to 37 degrees F. With the heat came thunderstorms. The night of July 3rd the skies opened up with one heck of a hail storm. Hail up to golf-ball sized pellets fell on the lodge for about 20 minutes. When the storm had passed we were left with almost 6 inches deep of the white stuff on our decks.
The fishing on Yoke Lake ws a little tough during the day, but evening walleye fishing was very productive both on Yoke and Straw Lakes. Guests trekking into the portage lakes reported some great fishing with good numbers of largemouth bass caught on Crossroute, Sullivan and Bluffpoint.
Some of the notable fish caught during the week were a 30 inch lake trout caught by Forrest Garland on Sullivan Lake, a 35 inch walleye caught on Yoke Lake by Andy Weichert. Andy also caught a 27 inch walleye on Yoke Lake the next day.
We started our mid-summer break on July 4th, so there won't be anything to report for the next couple of weeks as far as fishing goes. Once the guests are back in camp we'll resume our reports.
For current photos of some of the great fish that our guests have caught and released - including that 35 inch walleye, check out the photo album on our web site.
SATURDAY, JULY 12, 2008
There isn't much to report from the lodge as we have been "closed" for guests the past week, which has allowed some of our staff to get out of camp and take a well-deserved break and also let us get caught-up on some of the construction and maintenance we have been doing this season. Our new building to replace the water treatment, the boat house and the storage buildings is almost finished. We are just waiting for some parts for our backhoe so that we can use it to move some of the larger, heavier equipment into the building before we sheet the end wall and finish things off.
Guests will be back in camp the end of July, so we should have more exciting news to report then.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2008
The first three weeks of August were fairly quiet with only a few guests booked into the lodge. This did give us a chance to make good progress on our construction projects.
Bev and I have left camp as I'm on my way north to Kaska Goose Lodge, located on the Hudson Bay Coast. My partner, Fred Tully has replaced me as on-site manager and our Red Seal chef from Minor Bay Lodge, Ron Worrall, has taken over the kitchen operations.
The summer's heat finally arrived for the first few weeks of August. The days were sunny and calm with day time highs in the high 80's and low 90's, although evening temperatures cooled down to the low 50's. We did witness some awesome evening electrical storms brought on by the day's heat. Some nice smallmouth were caught during the "dog days of summer" along with a 38 inch muskie. Sean Ellis reported having a monster muskie, well over 40 inches, on his line on August 14th, but with only using 6 lb test line and no leader, the muskie was the ultimate winner of this contest.
Stay tuned for more as I'll be updating this page weekly.
Wishing you tight lines and fair winds!
Randy Duvell
Ice was out a little later than usual in Northwestern Ontario this spring. Our lakes, Straw, Yoke, Sucan, Bluffpoint, Crossroute and Sullivan were ice-free about May 3rd.
We arrived in camp on a rainy Saturday morning, May 10th. The camp had wintered well with no unexpected / unwanted visitors. Lake levels are on the high side, as May has been fairly wet in our area. The good news is there is no fire ban so far.
Our first guests, Randy Lee's group from the Twin Cities area, arrived the afternoon of Friday, May 16th. The group has been concentrating mainly on walleyes and have caught some great 'eyes, with bragging rights for the largest walleye going to Randy's grandson - Brandon, who caught a fat, 28-incher. The group has also been catching some nice smallmouth bass on Yoke Lake and good numbers of mid-sized walleyes on Straw Lake.
The other evening while fishing Yoke Lake Art Hancock threw out a muskie bucktail and attracted a 50-inch plus muskie, which followed his bait right up to the boat, but couldn't be convinced to bite.
The Lenahan party, who arrived on May 17th had great walleye action right in the bay in front of the lodge. The evening the group arrived was cool with winds of 30 kph, gusting to 50 kph, so they elected to just fish our bay. In a little over an hour's fishing they caught several dozen nice-sized walleye and a mid-30-iinch pike. The pike was caught within a stone's throw of the dock.
We have great news for our guests that just love to fish Bluffpoint. The major beaver dam was washed out by spring flooding so it is now much easier to get into Bluffpoint. There is a small beaver dam at the mouth of Bluffpoint Creek, where it runs into Straw Lake, and also the old small dam that is at the head of the pond upstream from where the big beaver dam used to be. We hardly had to get our boots wet pushing the boats over the beaver dams the other day.
The Lenahan's fished Bluffpoint today, catching several dozen lake trout in the 6 - 12 lb range and also catching numerous big largemouth bass in Bob's Bay at the north end of the lake.
SUNDAY, MAY 25, 2008
First-time guests, Jim and Larry Barton departed happy anglers after a short, 3-day trip. They had great success with the lakers on Bluffpoint, also catching a few nice largemouth. The Bartons caught all six species of sportfish that our lakes have to offer, but The highlight of the trip for Jim was his 42-inch muskie he caught the last evening in camp.
Tim Holschlag's flyfishing group has also been having great fun on Bluffpoint Lake catching lake trout and largemouth on flies. Warren and Ann Phillips have portaged into all three our our walk-in lakes and have caught all species with the exception of a muskie.
The flyfishers have begun a tradition of catching walleye on flies off our dock on Yoke Lake each evening at sunset.
FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 2008
We are still waiting for summer here in Northwestern Ontario. Daytime high temperatures have been 8 - 10 degrees F. below seasonal normals for the first two weeks of June. Lake levels are high as we are receiving doses of rain almost daily. There have been some spectacular lightning displays over the last week.
In spite of the inclement weather the fishing has been good. The bass are not as active as normal for this time of year, but our guests are still catching good numbers of both largemouth and smallmouth bass with excellent size. Dave Halverson caught a 20-inch largemouth on Straw Lake. Anglers are catching more good-sized largemouth on Straw this year. The spring flooding of Bluffpoint creek is washing some largemouth into Straw, where they are now thriving. Sucan is producing good numbers of mid-size walleye and smallmouth bass in the mid to high-teens.
Our largest walleye so far in June, a 28-incher, was caught June 4th on Yoke Lake by Bill Rueger. Mark Weers caught several walleye in the mid 20-inch range with two 27-inchers caught June 11th on Yoke Lake. The groups are complaining that they are having a hard time catching walleye that are small enough to keep for shorelunch. The Baxter Tate group had to release 15 walleye before they caught one under 18 inches that they could keep for shorelunch.
The muskie fishing has been very hot this spring. Guests have caught and released a couple of dozen muskie so far this season. The largest has been 43 inches. The most recent muskie caught and released was a 41-1/2 incher caught June 9th by Patrick Mulligan, who also caught a 25 inch walleye the same day. Novice muskie angler, Monty Bernadoni, hooked four muskie in the past several days and landing three of them. The largest was 38 inches.
Sullivan Lake has been producing some nice pike this spring. Seth Phillips caught a 35 inch muskie June 5th on Sullivan. His brother Wesley caught a 26 inch laker on Sullivan the same day.
Baxter Tate recorded catching and releasing a 23 inch smallmouth on Straw Lake June 10th. In the past week leeches have been the most effective bait for both the bass and walleye. Although the Tate group isn't catching as many bass as they normally do, they told us that this is the best walleye and pike fishing they have experienced on their Canadian fishing trips.
More rain is forecast for the next couple of days, but then we are supposed to get some sunshine and warmer temperatures. If you are still thinking about a fishing trip this summer check out our SPECIALS page. Also, give us a call toll-free at 1-888-244-7453 (or call me at the lodge @ 807-226-1212) and ask us about our ridiculously low priced July 4th specials on 3, 4 & 5-day American-Plan fishing trips. Space is limited, so it is first-come-first-booked.
For guests that didn't like coming across other boats on Yoke Lake, we have some news. Happy Landings Lodge on Pipestone Lake, with which we share Yoke, Straw and Sucan Lakes, was destroyed by fire the morning of May 11th. They have shifted their operations to their lodge on Manitou, so Slippery Winds guests have Yoke Lake all to themselves this summer.
FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 2008
Well, the weather gods have finally smiled on us and brought warm weather - but not without thunderstorms! The Williams party of father Orvylle and his two sons Rick and Jeff enjoyed some excellent walleye fishing during their five days at Slippery Winds catching several 25 inch walleye, a 26, a couple of 27's, a 28 and a 29 inch walleye fishing Yoke Lake. In addition to these trophy quality walleye they caught numerous walleye in the low to mid 2-inch range.
The Berley group also enjoyed great walleye fishing on Sucan Lake - catching numerous fish in the hig teens. Steve Berley caught and released a 20 inch largemouth on Crossroute Lake and first-time guest Mike Minalga landed a 37 inch muskie on Yoke Lake.
Ginny Riege, who just arrived today with husband Bob, reported a 35 inch northern pike on Yoke Lake in their first couple of hours fishing. After waiting out a thunderstorm in the lodge everyone is back out on the lakes enjoying the sunny, warm weather.
FRIDAY, JULY 4TH
We celebrated two holidays this week - Canada Day on July 1st and U.S. Independence Day on July 4th, as well as celebrating one of our staff's 20th birthday on July 3rd.
Temperatures were finally starting to creep up during the period from June 20th to July 4th, although we were still experiencing some cold nights. The overnight low on July 1st dipped down to 37 degrees F. With the heat came thunderstorms. The night of July 3rd the skies opened up with one heck of a hail storm. Hail up to golf-ball sized pellets fell on the lodge for about 20 minutes. When the storm had passed we were left with almost 6 inches deep of the white stuff on our decks.
The fishing on Yoke Lake ws a little tough during the day, but evening walleye fishing was very productive both on Yoke and Straw Lakes. Guests trekking into the portage lakes reported some great fishing with good numbers of largemouth bass caught on Crossroute, Sullivan and Bluffpoint.
Some of the notable fish caught during the week were a 30 inch lake trout caught by Forrest Garland on Sullivan Lake, a 35 inch walleye caught on Yoke Lake by Andy Weichert. Andy also caught a 27 inch walleye on Yoke Lake the next day.
We started our mid-summer break on July 4th, so there won't be anything to report for the next couple of weeks as far as fishing goes. Once the guests are back in camp we'll resume our reports.
For current photos of some of the great fish that our guests have caught and released - including that 35 inch walleye, check out the photo album on our web site.
SATURDAY, JULY 12, 2008
There isn't much to report from the lodge as we have been "closed" for guests the past week, which has allowed some of our staff to get out of camp and take a well-deserved break and also let us get caught-up on some of the construction and maintenance we have been doing this season. Our new building to replace the water treatment, the boat house and the storage buildings is almost finished. We are just waiting for some parts for our backhoe so that we can use it to move some of the larger, heavier equipment into the building before we sheet the end wall and finish things off.
Guests will be back in camp the end of July, so we should have more exciting news to report then.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2008
The first three weeks of August were fairly quiet with only a few guests booked into the lodge. This did give us a chance to make good progress on our construction projects.
Bev and I have left camp as I'm on my way north to Kaska Goose Lodge, located on the Hudson Bay Coast. My partner, Fred Tully has replaced me as on-site manager and our Red Seal chef from Minor Bay Lodge, Ron Worrall, has taken over the kitchen operations.
The summer's heat finally arrived for the first few weeks of August. The days were sunny and calm with day time highs in the high 80's and low 90's, although evening temperatures cooled down to the low 50's. We did witness some awesome evening electrical storms brought on by the day's heat. Some nice smallmouth were caught during the "dog days of summer" along with a 38 inch muskie. Sean Ellis reported having a monster muskie, well over 40 inches, on his line on August 14th, but with only using 6 lb test line and no leader, the muskie was the ultimate winner of this contest.
Stay tuned for more as I'll be updating this page weekly.
Wishing you tight lines and fair winds!
Randy Duvell
Log of big fish caught to date by Slippery Winds guests SWWR-Trophies-2008.pdf
Jim Barton's 42-inch muskie
