2018 Wilderness Report #5

A nice pike from Husker Rock at Central

A Happy Canada Day to all! Today, July 1st, marks Canada's 151st year of independence. I tell you what, nothing screams Canada like a fly-in fishing trip, shore lunch, Labatt Blue, walleye....I could go on and on.  Here at Big Hook we try to get inventive with our festivities on this day.  Our activities include moose yodeling, waterskiing behind the plane, and playing tag the wolverine, only kidding. All joking aside, Canada Day usually involves a walleye fishing contest amongst the friends and family here at Central. Winner gets bragging rights (and maybe a beer or two after the day is over), while the losing parties get to fillet the fish and wash dishes.

New floater for Cocos Lake

 The weather was hot hot hot last week, with plenty of sunshine and minimal rain.  Conditions once again are super dry as we have only received 1 millimeter of rain in the past 17 days here at Central. I can only ask everyone to be super careful with outdoor fires.  Dad, Ryan and I took advantage of the warm weather and built a new (and bigger) floating dock at Cocos. However, today a cold front has descended upon NW Ontario and plummeted temperatures into the high 50's with heavy SW winds. It looks to remain cool for several days before once again heating up.

Another Husker rock beauty 

Fishing reports last week were superb.  The stable weather conditions made the fish quite predictable.  However, the fisherman's nemesis starting hatching last week Wednesday. That's right, the mayflies have begun.  Last Friday was a pretty intense hatch as mayflies littered the surface of Central, Cocos, and Burnt when I visited.  The hatch should only last a day or two more and conditions should return to normal. 

Walleye have started to move a little deeper, with the bulk of the schools holding in 10 feet of water.  Vertical jigging 1/4 oz jigs near weed edges, rock piles or windy shorelines boated the most fish. Trolling shad raps. flicker shad, or reefs runners along mud flats and weed edges was also effective.  I'll mention again the Berkley Ripple shad is outperforming the Gulp.  I think Gulp has changed their formula as the tails fall apart after maybe one or two fish. 

Northern were active last week.  The favorite baits were silver spoons and Johnson silver minnows tipped with a twister tail. Topwater action was great on calm days.  Lots of reports of 30-40" pike poured in from the outposts this week.  Casting windblown weeds or rocky points was effective for bigger fish. 

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