Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Rain relief....finally!

Nothing puts me to sleep faster than the pitter patter of rain on the steel roof.  The hypnotic sound immediately clicks my brain into rest mode no matter what time of the day.  As I have mentioned in previous blogs, we have lacked any sort of moisture for the whole month of July.  However, August is a new month and some much needed rain has finally graced the Opasquia Provincial Park.  For the past 12 hours a steady saturating rain has fallen from the densely clouded skies.  While bailing the boats this morning I would guess we have received close to an inch of rain with this system thus far.  I know rain isn't a favorite condition for fishermen but this is surely welcomed by us camp operators; as forest fires were beginning to pop up all around NW Ontario.   This amount of rainfall should really dampen and/or extinguish the majority of our fires in the area.  I also expect to hear from the MNR in the next couple of days, lifting the fire ban in the park.

The past weeks weather has provided warm days and cool nights causing the water temperatures to drop to 70 degrees.  The water levels have remained steady and I would expect them to rise a bit after this dousing of rain.

Walleye 

Walleye have still been holding the same patterns as last week.  Most fish are holding from 12-20 feet of water.  Rock piles and wind blown points are the consistent spots.  Some weed edges are holding fish. Jigging still produces more fish than most other methods.  A 3/8 oz jig head with a 3-4" tail (black, white chartreuse, pink, orange, pumpkinseed) have all been deadly.  Worm harnesses have also been effective.  I had excellent luck Sunday while guiding, trolling a blue/silver Berkley Flicker Shad, while my boat mate used a Fire Tiger Shad Rap #7. We made 12 passes along a rocky point/mud flat and boated 16 fish in about 14-18 feet of water.

Northern

The pike have certainly turned on with the cloudy skies the last couple of days.  Top water presentations have been absolutely awesome.  Twitching Zara Spooks or retrieving Top Raiders have resulted in plenty of explosions.  Fish are holding tight in the weeds and have been extremely active when the skies cloud over.  When trying to battle lures through the slop I like to use braided line with Johnson silver minnows.  The braided line cuts through the weeds more effectively and the Silver Minnow is one of the best weedless lures out on the market in my opinion.

Some deeper fish have been located alongside walleye schools on the rock reefs.  Pitching Bull Dawgs, Depth Raiders and larger shad tail jigs are a great technique to catching pike in deeper water.  I have heard plenty of stories this week where pike have nailed walleye boat side.

Burnt
The planes ready to roll on a Saturday morning. 
The upper end of Burnt has been producing larger fish this past week.  Although, a 40" was boated on the reef just 1/4 mile south of the dock.  Walleye have been located on just about every wind blown point throughout the lake.

Central 
The west end of the lake has been producing the larger pike this week.  The guests have seen a ton of huge follows on the sunny days.  Husker Rock has been a notable spot for trophy fish.  Airplane Island and the NE side of Dump Island are still top spots for walleye.  Just about all the fish have moved away from the rapids.    


Cocos
The river has been consistently outproducing the main lake. Plenty of fish are still being caught in the rapids.  The SW section of the river has been tops for both species.  I haven't chatted with the guests but I expect the deeper bowls in the SE would be the go to spots in the river.

Lemonade/Favourable
The most productive area of Favorable has been around the camp.  Pike Alley and the three sisters have been the top two spots.  The islands just to the east of camp have produced some of the best walleye all summer. The north arm of the lake has been hot where the Severn starts to exit.  Lemonade is the usual, fish everywhere.

South
A South Lake sunset. 
Impressive walleye have been caught in 12-25 ft.  Mostly on rock points and reefs.  The narrows just south of camp produced a 29.5" fish last week.  I'll get a better report this Saturday from the current guests as they have been on the water when I have visited.


SW
Some really nice pike were boated this week.  A 38" and 39" pike were boated on the large weed bed in the north arm of the lake.  Tons of walleye are holding on the island just east of the camp.  The five of diamonds is still dominating for walleye.  Strange to see walleye holding so shallow on this lake.


West
The Horsehoe is the place for big pike.  Numerous 35-40" have been boated there.  Bucktails and top water have been the popular baits to use. The big walleye have been hanging on the deeper reefs in the north end of the lake.  The "fish bowl" has still be quiet the past week as water temperatures are still a bit warm.  The narrows entering the fish bowl however has been producing in the northern sections.

Good luck on the water everyone!
-Nathan
www.bighookcamps.com



No comments:

Post a Comment