Blue Bird Days

Central Lake sunset 

Summer heat has arrived early here in the north woods.  Mother Nature has brought plenty of warmth and sunshine this past week.  Temperatures have hovered in the mid to high 70's, with yesterday (6/6/17) topping out at a sweltering 86 degrees.  Hot temperatures this early in the season have happened before but are uncommon.   Conditions throughout the area are dry and as nice as it is to see the sun, we really really could use some rain.

The water temperature has spiked the last couple days with all the sunshine.  Yesterday, the surface temperature was almost 70 degrees already in shallow back bays.  The fish are enjoying the sudden warmth and have flocked to the shallow mud flats.  Both pike and walleye are located in about 2-6 feet of water in muddy bays or areas with current.  Weed growth has just begun on the bottom of some shallow bays; only a matter of time before the cabbage weeds start.

The walleye have been slamming small jigs and are very active.  1/8 oz heads, color doesn't seem to matter, with 3 inch twister tails have been the hot combo.  White, yellow, pumpkinseed, flouro orange and pink have been great tail colors.  Smaller, shallow diving crank baits seem to be more effective lately.  The classic three inch Rapala, Shad Rap SR5 or small perch hot N tot are great casting cranks in the shallows for walleye.  As mentioned before, focus on the mud flats or locations near rapids for most walleye.  If you do find walleye close to the rapids, back away about 100-200 yards. Walleye will hang around on the flats until the May Fly hatch occurs, which I expect to see early this year.

Sometimes you just have to enjoy the moment. 

The hot still days have caused the big pike to become cautious and many casts result in follows vs strikes.  With the high sun and calm water the pike can see us as easy and we can see them.  Customers have noticed pike being more aggressive early in the morning or late in the afternoon/evening.  Shallow diving stick baits such as a Rapala F18 perch, silver minnows with white twister tails, and shallow or surface twitch baits are great for tossing in areas with little water.  Keep your rod tip high to avoid weeds laying on the bottom. Yesterday, I witnessed some pike hanging in as little as 18" of water soaking up the sunshine.

I haven't been able to chat with the customers much this week to obtain a quality fishing report from the outposts.  Can't blame the guys for enjoying the weather.

Good luck on the water everyone!
_Nathan
www.bighookcamps.com

A Good Start

We are off and running here at Big Hook Camps.  The Hartle family and company made land fall in the Opasquia Provincial Park on May 18th and have been frantically opening up main camp along with all of the outposts.  In comparison, we arrived last year on May 9th.  Aside from today, we have been fortunate to have some terrific weather for start up.  Sunny skies with highs in the 70's have warmed the water considerably.  Just yesterday some black flies popped out to annoy us during our projects and we even witnessed pollen blowing off the trees which is earlier than normal.  

Aside from numerous fallen trees at Central and one malfunctioning windmill, everything weathered the winter rather well.  I have spent most days hauling considerable amounts of necessary freight back and forth from Sandy Lake. Last Thursday, with the help of Showalters Beech 18 we moved around 8,800 pounds of goods to Central Lake.

Cocos Lake trophy walleye 

Catching pike in the setting sun. 

Unfortunately, I have only made it out fishing for a total of 30 min one afternoon last Tuesday and had some great success.  The walleye were still spawning and the bite was rather light.  We boated about 20 walleye on small 1/8 oz jigs with three inch white tails.  Talking with the guests at West lake yesterday (5/28),  they confirmed all of the walleye boated had finished spawning but the bite was still light.  Walleye are typically sluggish a couple days after the spawn.

The water is a bit on the low side for this time of year and conditions are dry here in the north woods. Only about 1/4 inch of rain has fallen in the days since our arrival.  Please be diligent when having shore lunch during these dry conditions and make sure your fire is completely out when finished.

We have a new pilot working with us this summer.  Luke hails from Brighton in the United Kingdom and is hoping to learn all about the boreal forest here in NW Ontario.  During his first fishing outing he managed to pick up the technique rather quickly and out fished everyone in the boat.

Luke with his first stringer of walleye 

Looking forward to seeing everyone for the 2017 season and good luck on the water!
-Nathan
www.bighookcamps.com

Spring in the North

May is just around the corner and the calendar indicates spring has arrived and should be in full swing.  The ice here at Eagle Lake had vanished, however winter has returned gripped NW Ontario with hopefully one last gasp. Last Monday a brutal low pressure dumped approximately a foot of snow in the Dryden/Red Lake region and blasted the area with an arctic freeze for days.  Yesterday morning (4/29) I awoke to see Eagle Lake once again coated with a thin layer of ice.

Looking forward to open water and amazing sunsets. 

Thankfully, warmer temperatures are on the way and the snow is quickly melting here at Eagle Lake.  Temperatures are forecasted to climb into the 60's over the next few days, even up in the Sandy Lake/Opasquia park region.  This is great news as we patiently wait for the ice to recede at Central Lake along with the outposts.  All signs are pointing to a typical ice out year at Big Hook, which usually falls around the 12th of May.  I would love to see the ice disappear tomorrow but that is a far fetched dream at this moment.

We have staged all the remaining goods for the 2017 Big Hook season and have them ready for transport to the north.  I am hoping to pick up the plane sometime this week from Selkirk and bring it back here to Eagle Lake; very excited to get back up in the air and soar the blue skies.

I thought I'd pass on some information for hotel lodging in Red Lake.  We received a letter a couple days ago from the Super 8 in Red Lake offering a special rate to Big Hook guests for the 2017 season.  The camp rate is $100 per night for two queen beds.  If you haven't booked your room in Red Lake before you fly out take advantage of these prices.

Looking forward to seeing everyone soon.  The season 2017 is almost underway.

_Nathan
www.bighookcamps.com

Winter Updates

Mother Nature has thrown plenty of curve balls at us this winter.  Roller coaster like temperatures in NW Ontario the past couple of month made it nearly impossible for dad and I to predict a date for our annual winter road run.  After some deliberation and schedule shifting, we eventually gambled on making our voyage to Sandy Lake with 15,000 pounds of freight around mid February.  Unfortunately, due to record setting weather, we lost.

February 17th Dad and I made our annual pilgrimage to NW Ontario with hopes to ferry roughly fifteen thousand pounds of materials to Sandy Lake from Red Lake via the ice roads.  As we began our journey from Green Bay northward, forecasted temperatures for the week ahead looked dismal.  Future weather reports were pouring in claiming record heat and even several days of rain.  Despite those deflating reports, we stayed the course and kept hope that the weathermen would get this forecast wrong.

While we gathered our supplies in Dryden on Feb 18th, the mercury on the thermostat kept climbing and climbing.  The day ended peaking around 52 degrees and snow levels on the ground took a massive hit.  The following day as we secured our trailers and payloads, NW Ontario saw warmth peaking around 60 degrees, destroying historical recorded temperatures.  On top of the heat, plenty of rain was forecasted for the next day.  Sure enough, the following day NW Ontario received over an inch of rain and it was then we decided running the ice road would be unsafe.

Wisely, officials shut down the road until cooler temperatures returned.  Dad and I waited several days for the cold to return to NW Ontario and solidify the road however, mild temperatures persisted and our time ran out.  Reluctantly, we stored our materials in Vermilion Bay and began to work on alternative shipments for our freight.  Flying goods northbound is a huge expense and roughly breaks down to around $1 per pound; which is the primary reason why we run heavy materials up the ice highway.  Thankfully several good friends declared they would truck the goods northbound when cooler temperatures returned.

Yesterday (3/12/17), we received great news that our friends (Ed and Wayne) reached Sandy with several truck and trailer loads of materials.  They reported the road was solid but quite bumpy due to lack of snow on the ground.  Temperatures have been well below zero the past several days allowing a good freeze.  Ed and Wayne are returning to Red Lake today to grab another load of goods. On a sad note, I was unable to obtain any video footage of our winter road journey this year; we even bought a drone to capture unique footage.

March Madness 

Join our 2017 March Madness Tourney Pick'em!  Test your knowledge of NCAA basketball against other Big Hook Camps guests.  Top three win prizes.  First place is a $20 Cabelas gift card, second gets a Big Hook T-shirt and third place gets a Big Hook baseball cap.  Good luck to all! 

https://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/t1/register/joingroup

Click on JOIN PRIVATE GROUP

Group # 102820

Password: bighook 

Good luck on the ice/water this spring everyone! 

_Nathan 

www.bighookcamps.com