Open Season

After a late opener, we are well underway into the Big Hook Camps 2014 fishing season.  With plenty of ice still on the lake, I arrived into Central late Friday night on the 23rd of May.  Over half the lake was still iced up, this required some crafty iceberg dodging upon landing and taxiing.  My camp hand Tyrol and I made landfall after pushing some heavy ice chunks around. And thus, the season began.

Upon first arrival, we immediately noticed a black bear had destroyed our fish cleaning house in search of some spring food. Thankfully, that and a downed internet dish was the extent of the damage Central Lake received over a long and harsh winter.  With little time to soak in the Canadian wilderness, Ty and I had to promptly begin opening camp.  Our time frame was limited considering we had to open six camps in seven days.  Mom, Dad and Shadow arrived with some more help the next day and we hit the ground running.

Fortunately, Mother Nature was on our side, granting us favourable weather to accomplish our task at hand. The whole week of May 23rd to May 31st temperatures hung in the high 60's to mid 70's with ample sunshine.  Flying from sunup to sundown, we were able to open all of the outposts just in the nick of time.  The biggest issues we've encountered from the harsh winter thus far is a couple of cracked solar batteries at West Lake, a chewed up water line at South West and the dock at Burnt Lake pushed a couple feet from the ice.  

Fishing 

Now that the guests have arrived and have had a couple of days of fishing under their belts, I can provide a better fishing report. I unfortunately, have yet to cast a line but have had a chance to chat with a number of people.

44" on a Killer Eel

The pike have been the talk of the town here at Central Lake.  So far, over 30+ fish have been boated and released over 30" topping at 44".  The magic lure has been the Delong Killer Eel.  The big fish have been passing over just about every other bait and favoring the slow presentation of the Killer Eel.  The only problem.....Delong went out of business and they are no longer manufactured.

As the water temperatures warm, the pike will become more aggressive and hit quicker moving baits. The shallow bays have warmed to roughly 50 degrees and it has been crucial finding those warmer water temps for fish.  Not a lot of fish have been found near the rapids yet, even though suckers have been spotted spawning.

Walleye fishing started off the week very slow.  Male walleye were being caught with lots of milt.  This tells me that the walleye spawn occurred earlier this week.  However, some big females are now getting boated and released the past two days.  After chatting with the boys at South Lake yesterday, the fishing is improving every day, which is another sign that the fish are coming out of the post spawn.  Small jigs 1/8oz and 1/4 oz with white tails have been most effective thus far.  Areas with moving water and narrows have been the best locations for walleye.

The water levels are about average for springtime conditions, a little higher than normal. I expect them to drop over the next couple of weeks as the winter runoff is depleted.

Looking forward to a great season and seeing everyone soon.
-Nathan
www.bighookcamps.com