Summer is heating up....

Although the title refers somewhat to the weather, as it does continue to be a little on the warm side here, it mostly refers to the fishing. The walleye have been biting at an absolutely torrid pace this week and the same can pretty much be said for the northern too, including at least two monster 45" fish the past two weeks. With water temperatures still in the upper 70's here, you might expect the fish to be a little more sluggish but that simply hasn't been the case. Can't wait for some cooler nights and to see how much better the fishing gets as water temps dip back into the 60's.

We are coming off of our slowest week of the entire season guest wise and it felt really good to have a slower week in camp and recharge a bit. With just a little extra time on my hands, I did manage to get the girls back to Lost Lake for a half day adventure and let them experience what I hoped was going to be a few great hours of walleye fishing. Lost Lake didn't disappoint as we fished for three hours and released a total of 45 walleyes with almost every one between 17-22". Throw in a few pike in the upper 20 inch range and some "eye-popping" jumbo perch and it certainly was a trip to remember. Little did we know that as the week wore on, every group of guests that we sent back to Lost Lake would make our catch seem paltry by the numbers they caught. Always nice to complement some excellent fishing here on Wabaskang with a great adventure trip and lights out walleye fishing.



CJ heading to the FLW podium...looking good!

Some of you may remember previous Blog or fishing report entries mentioning CJ Holbrook. CJ is the teenager from Roann, IN that was diagnosed about 5 years ago (at the age of 13) with lymphoma and we were able to work with the Make-a-Wish foundation to make his Canadian fishing trip wish come true. We are very thankful  to update that CJ's cancer remains in remission and that his family will be making their third trip to camp in the summer of 2013. CJ is looking great, has a new girlfriend I am told, and has started to do some professional bass fishing on the FLW tour. Young, handsome, healthy, a pretty girlfriend AND some fishing on the FLW tour....the sky's the limit. Good Luck on the tour CJ!

Just in case any of those bass fishermen want to get in on some great smallmouth fishing....


Well August will soon be upon us, hope everyone is having a great (albeit probably very HOT) summer. Camp is booking up quickly for 2013 so don't wait too long to give us a call if you are thinking about a trip next summer. Until next time-Good Fishing!

Catching up.....

Well so much for being more diligent in getting the Blog done, eh? Lot's of shady excuses to offer though....camp is busy, the girls arrived for their 5 week summer visit etc. The best one however, and it's really not even an excuse, is that our internet (via satellite) has been experiencing some "issues" and has only been working well the past couple of weeks early in the morning and again late in the day. If you have noticed a delay in me responding to any of your emails, that is probably why. It is also why the photo gallery updates are way behind.

With the annual golfing festivities behind us, camp moved forward in "normal" fashion. While it has been on the very warm and dry side here, it has been nothing compared to the oppressive heat much of the States has been experiencing. If you are looking for an escape, give us a call as there are still a very few openings this summer.

Fishing despite the bright sunshine, heat and a large mayfly hatch has been decent and getting better and better especially so far this week as guests are finding aggressive walleye throughout the day and easily catching limits. Pike fishing has remained good throughout the period and the smallmouth bite has bordered on the fantastic side with any of our guests who have targeted them reporting very good success with almost all the fish in the 3-4 pound range, and some slightly larger. Perch fishing has been on again/off again, but for those diligent enough to continually poke the weedbeds we have seen some nice baskets of BIG perch the past couple of weeks.

The Bushwood Country Club founders-Vinnie and the boys from Appleton

With the new deck completed on the lodge, we have moved on to putting the siding on. Although we have been slowed by the heat of the afternoon, we continue to make good progress and it won't be long and the lodge will look like the rest of the camp.

Ray "Happy Gilmore" Lockyer with his home made driver

Here are a few pictures to enjoy from the past several weeks in case you haven't seen some of them in the photo gallery. Speaking of which, if you were in camp and have some photos to share, please e mail them to me and I will do my best to share them with everyone and get them on the website.



Brian Lux with a beautiful 26 1/2" walleye he released

The VandeGriend's show that triple plays aren't just for baseball

The minnows arrive via floatplane. Always a hit with guests in camp.

Back in the day when it USED to rain here!

Father and son with a smallie double (Scott and son Micah)

Cody Weaver is all smiles over this smallmouth

Micah VandeGriend with a dandy 'eye

Peffley's Camp a.k.a Bushwood Country Club

Well it's that time of year again, Vinnie and the boys from Appleton are in camp along with a full complement of other guests, and it's time for the annual long drive competition and closest to the pin contest. Big hitters and hacks alike will take their turn(s) for this year's bragging rights to see if they can unseat last year's champions. It's always a lot of fun with many laughs shared by all, and a great way to unwind after another great day of fishing. Of course this is all dependent upon the weather which we are promised is finally going to improve.

Speaking of the weather, that's been the story the past two weeks as abundant rains were upon us most of the early part of the week. We have had some relief yesterday (Tues) and although we have had very heavy cloud cover, so far today the rain has stayed away. The forecast for Friday thru next Tuesday is for sunshine and temps in the middle 70's which (if it holds up) will be a welcome relief, as finding even a small window to get on the lawn tractor and get the lawn mowed has been challenging. The lake continues to rise and is now up around two feet since the rains began a week and a half ago.

The rising lake level has also resulted in much cooler water temps as surface temps were approaching the mid-70's already just a short week and a half ago. Currently, surface temps are back in the low to mid 60's and although the water is a little dirtier than normal, fishing has been very good with many guests commenting "another great week".

Other projects around camp have been on hold with the frequent rains, but an improving forecast should get us back on schedule with this year's to-do list. Time permitting, I will try to post a few pictures of this year's golfing festivities.

Delayed (again)

Sorry for the lateness in getting a new blog entry out here. I had drafted one for the week of June 2-9, entitled "High Pressure, NO Stress" mentioning the incredible high pressure system we had that week that brought abundant sunshine, warm weather and an extremely calm lake almost all week. Problem is, I never got back to finishing it, and after this weeks weather (June 9-16) it sure isn't appropriate any more. Regardless, despite high pressure weather, it was low pressure fishing as we had another excellent week of fishing.

This past week, HOWEVER, saw low pressure systems one after another, move into the area bringing us abundant rainshowers. Not sure how much rain we got exactly, but enough to cause the lake to rise about 14" this week. So you get the idea. When a 15,000 acre body of water rises 14" in about 5 days--you've gotten quite a bit of rain. Other than being a pain in the butt to deal with it, it really didn't hurt the fishing much this week until about Tuesday-Wednesday when finally the rapidly rising lake and dirtier water from the downpours did start to damper the fishing. Even at that, guests complained very little about the weather, indicating to me that overall the fishing held up very well! Case in point-veteran camp guest Bob Stromberg had one of his worst "catching" trips ever in over 40 years of coming to the camp, yet his crew of four still managed to boat 357 walleye and northern for the week, despite losing a fair bit of fishing time to the weather.

We really needed the water for the lake levels so it's hard to complain too much, but now that we are "sitting pretty" water level wise, we are hoping the next couple of weeks will be significantly drier. Long-term forecasts however are indicating differently.

Die hard smallmouth fishermen, these guys were with us for only their second year ( in fact two of the guys were first timers) and had a smallmouth fishing trip bordering on unbelievable. In one day alone, the group of six intercepted smallmouth taking advantage of rapidly rising lake temperatures to get on their beds, and caught over 200 fish in one day! That's right, one day! Of course many of them were the 17-19" bronzeback bruiser variety with their big fish for the week a 19 1/2" gem. There are lots of new photos in the photo gallery, as I have had a little time to "catch up" on posting pictures, including many new photos submitted by several group even from opening week.

One of my favorite pics from the "smallmouth smashers".....

Too many smallmouth, not enough hands?

Will try to be a little more diligent in getting the blog done next time! Until then, goodbye from the distant shores of Wabaskang Lake.



Still May in Ontario

Although a lot of the midwest (including back home in Indiana) is experiencing weather much more like July with temperatures in the 90's, I can assure you this week it still feels like May here. Lot's of rain, stronger winds, and today a few snow flakes mixed in for good measure have so far been the story of the week. Bet the guys from last week are glad they were here for the opener!  While pretty uncomfortable conditions for our guests while fishing, the walleye, pike and smallmouth really haven't seemed to notice. Despite limited time on the water, guests are continuing to do extremely well with fish. Fortunately for us a 5 or 10 minute boat ride has them on excellent spots and they can fish a couple hours, limit out and be back to the warmth of their cabins.

One of our favorite pictures from opening week. Dylan Quiggle, Tony Wieczorek and Mason McGowan are all smiles with a limit of walleyes they helped their Dads catch. This is what it's all about!

The weather has also slowed our ability to get many outdoor projects done so far this week. We did manage to get the rest of the treated lumber into camp yesterday to finish the new deck being built onto the lodge. Now if the weather will cooperate maybe we can actually use it. I will try to get a few more pictures from last week on the website soon and if you were in camp last week and have some email them to me and I will get them posted.

Until next time,

No really, it is Opening Day...

Very mild temperatures (low 70's), mixed with high humidity sure didn't make it feel like opening day yesterday however. The walleye sure didn't mind as cloudy skies, intermittent rain showers and enough wind for a good "walleye chop" on the water made for ideal conditions for opening day and the fish responded accordingly. Excellent fishing was par for most of the day with a lot of walleye caught and many guests releasing fish from 18-24 inches. Numerous pike in the 30"+ range were also caught throughout the day and several guys reported having HUGE pike follow their hooked walleyes right to the boat. By late afternoon, a front was upon us which brought some more rain and unfortunately stronger winds and a dramatic cool down. Most everyone reported that the walleye bite remained "on" but not nearly to the extent of the incredible action previous to the fronts arrival. All in all a great way to open the season and the action so far today has been just as good. Looking forward to seeing you all in camp soon and having you get in on the action! Be sure to watch the website for new pictures in the photo gallery.





There I was.....

back in the wild again, and I felt right at home where I belong. I had that feeling coming over me again, just like it happened so many times before....The spirit of the woods is like an old good friend, makes me feel warm and good inside....

For those not adept at playing name that tune... it's "Fred Bear" from Ted Nugent and a pretty appropriate theme for me after I've made my way back to camp. At the same time, it remains difficult to leave Milissa and the girls behind to finish school, military assignments et al..... but it's a dance we have grown accustomed to.

I made it into camp Monday afternoon, not quite beating a rain shower, but it could have been much worse had it been raining hard. The lake level looks to be about the same as it was in October when we shut down the camp and came home. However, I understand in the past couple of weeks it has come up about 7 inches to get to this level!

Camp looks good overall, especially now that she got a new haircut yesterday, as the mild weather really had the lawn at an accelerated state of growth. Water pump quit working yesterday after two days of working perfectly, but that's just the way things roll here in the wild. Think it's an electrical issue, but should have it resolved today so no need to bring extra pails to fetch water from the lake!

Ray and Marilyn will arrive in Dryden on Friday (May 11), so by Saturday morning it will be full steam ahead with camp opening and trust me there is still plenty to do. Looking forward to seeing everyone again soon!