Summer revisits.....

Well as predicted, summer has in fact returned to NW Ontario. Last Tuesday, the mercury hit 95 degrees here in camp and most of this week has dealt us a dead calm lake with temps in the mid to upper 80's with high humidity. Tough fishing conditions in terms of comfort, but still well worth it as the hot bite continues here in camp regardless of weather patterns. Granted, with the excessive heat this week, I would have to admit the early and late bite have been better....BUT I have also seen some pretty impressive catches come into camp from the mid-day fishermen also.

In other camp news, it finally happened. I have been expecting this every trip across the lake in the cargo/work boat for the past three years, but after 13 years of pushing GRUELING loads of weight 12 miles out to camp across Wabaskang Lake, the old Yamaha 150 hp VMax finally pushed her last load on Saturday. This boat has hauled fuel, propane, lumber, trash, people etc. faithfully for many, many years, but it's finally time for a new engine. As you all know, she's not the prettiest boat on Wabby, but this camp doesn't run without her! She will soon be equipped with some new power and be back in service.

One thing that we have heard almost unanimously this year from our guests is the great shape Wabaskang Lake is in as a fishery, as we have followed up a terrific 2012 season with another fantastic year of BOTH quality fish and good numbers in 2013. Further, it appears the pipeline is well stocked as in addition to tremendous numbers of 15-18" eater walleye we have seen this year AND the number of releases of fish over 20", we have also heard many guests talking about all the 10-13" walleye they are catching in many spots all over the lake. Looks like things are in good shape for future years, and with your continued support of catch and release, it will only get better.

Hopefully, many of you have been following our close to daily highlight reel of fishing photos on our Facebook page, but in case you've missed a few of our recent posts, here are a few recent photos and a few I just got from earlier this year.

Jerry Lundy's monster 30" walleye from last week about to be released.

Dale Vos swears this is the same northern he caught last year during August only a little bigger...

Sally Lundy holds a fine stringer of walleye...not hard to see why August is a popular month in camp.

Jerry's crew from June, yeah the fishing was ok!

Jim Klett a.k.a. Chief OneFeather, with a good pike from his spring trip

Allison Peffley is getting quite a reputation around camp for being a pretty darn good fishergirl. At 11 years old she probably is a few years out from guiding, but I got to admit she's a pretty accomplished walleye angler for her age.

Perch two at a time!

Opening week fishing was so good Bill literally collapsed on the boat!

Weather warming up...Fishing still HOT!

As we start into the second half of August, it appears summer is trying to make a comeback. After spending the second half of July and early August struggling to get out of the 60's and 70's this week's forecast highs are back into the 80's possibly approaching 90.

Regardless of the air temperatures, the one thing during this stretch that has been consistently HOT is the fishing, Very aggressive fish of all species are really making this a fun summer stretch in camp.

We did have a little excitement in camp a couple of weeks ago outside of the fishing. An heirloom gold wedding band found it's way off a finger and to the bottom of the lake. Very fortunately it happened right at the docks and in shallow (4 feet or so) of water. Unfortunately, the first attempt at retrieval stirred the lake bottom just enough to not make it visible. Time for Plan B as they say.  Using a fishing pole to GENTLY and SLOWLY move the top layer of silt on the lake bottom, I was able to uncover the band. Carefully using the fishing pole I was able to gently "hook" the band on the tip of the rod and get it back to our guest. Tears, hugs and relief all at once! It reminded me of playing the old kid's game "Operation"....only underwater and with a lot more at stake. We are just happy it ended well and we are looking forward to hearing the reaction from the granddaughter when she receives the ring as a gift making her the third generation to wear it.

It's hard to believe that after this week only four weeks will remain in the 2013 season. I know I say this all the time, but WOW! how fast it flies by. Having great guests week in and week out really makes the summer enjoyable and go by fast. We are blessed to have had the opportunity to host so many of you again this summer, whether it was your first time here or like Don Strafford your 53rd, please know that we appreciate your business, friendship and loyalty.

Sorry no pictures this time around....will try to snap a few for the next update.

August is rockin'

Wow! What a start to the month, as the first week of August produced some absolutely fantastic fishing for all species except lake trout which no one targeted. The walleye have definitely put the feed bags on as it was pretty much an all day feed with big numbers of good sized 16-18" eater walleyes and many in the 20-22" range with a handful even bigger as I can recall 3-25" fish caught during the week and at least 2-24" walleye.

The same can be said for the jumbo perch. Although it helps to have some crews in camp that will legitimately target them, they have really turned on big time the last two weeks with a lot of 10" plus perch being caught.

Lake water temperatures continue to hover in the 65-68 degree range and water levels are excellent for this time of year as a little extra rain in late July and so far in August have helped to maintain the water level. A little bit of a warm up is forecast most of this week with temps returning to the upper 70's. All in all it has been a great summer of comfortable temperatures combined with excellent fishing.

It won't be long and our first bear hunters will be arriving so we are pulling for the cooler temperatures to hang around. With a little painting and staining still on the project list, some cool and dry weather would fit nicely with that too.

Here are a few pictures from the last couple of weeks until next time.

Looks like a nice day for a swim!

CJ with a girlfriend as cute as yours I hope you aren't planning to kiss that fish!

Adam and his Dad with a nice mixed bag of walleye and pike. What a great trip they had!

Loretta kicked off her week by landing this beast Saturday night. None of the guys even came close to topping this one!

Tom  while not catching a monster pike last year, sure showed that in just a couple of years he's figured out how to catch those 'eyes.

Anthony Cellantani with a basket full of walleye he caught with his father Tom.

Julie  with the pike that got her admitted into the Northern Slayer club. Now, what say we head to Margaritaville Jules to celebrate?

Weather cools down....Fishing HEATS up!

The recent string of unseasonably cool weather (highs in the upper 60's to mid 70's), in addition to being very pleasant for working and sleeping at night, has also resulted in the lake water temperatures dropping about 8 degrees from it's July high temp of around 75 degrees. With the cooling water fishing has been bordering on fantastic this week with everyone in camp finding very aggressive walleye, pike, perch and some smallmouth bass. It looks like the second half of the season is off to a great start!

During July we were very fortunate to be able to host a number of military veterans who took advantage of the 20% July discount we continue to offer to qualifying current military and retired military personnel. The freedoms we enjoy came at a price, and we continue to appreciate the sacrifices of military personnel and hopefully making a fishing trip to Canada a little more affordable is an adequate way to begin to express our appreciation.

We also had some great new family groups in camp during July which is always a treat for all of us. Of course, our girls enjoy the opportunity to make new friends in camp and we enjoy the opportunity to introduce the entire family to the beauty of the Canadian wilderness and everything that goes into making it a great trip beyond just the number of fish that you catch.

The Anishinabi Falls

The Anishinabi River- what a beautiful site

For those who's trip is still approaching we look forward to seeing you all soon, and if you weren't in camp this season, it's never too early to start thinking about 2014!

In case you missed this one from our Facebook page....Wow, heaven on earth!