Wow, seriously where does the time go? Hard to believe another two weeks have passed here in camp and that week 9 is underway already. After this week, we will be in the second half of our season, as always it is just flying by. The weather has been very nice overall, some hot days, but overall much milder than last summer and quite pleasant. We did get about 2″ of some very badly needed rain here last Wednesday as it had been quite dry. In fact, I hear some thunder rolling in the distance as I type this so looks like we might get a little bit more. The same system that gave us the 2″ of rain, poured nearly 8″ of rain in the Vermilion Bay area causing some roads (none that would impact your travel) to wash out. I should also note that Hwy 502 has some fairly significant repaving going on now that has been causing some intermittent delays (some lengthy) on the trip up. A large part of the construction zone on the 502 will have you traveling on gravel, just so you are aware. Some guests are opting for Hwy 71 to avoid this but there is SOME minor construction on 71 also, but the construction zones are being regulated by stop lights, and from what I am hearing are minimal.
In other news, there are two big fires burning up in the Red Lake area that has resulted in a few tourist camps and First Nations reserves having to be evacuated. Hopefully, this recent rain has aided in the efforts to get these fires under control. We had two days here last week on the lake where we saw significant smoke from the fires. Our thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by the fires as well as to the brave folks that are working almost non-stop to combat them.
As for the fishing here, the summer patterns are really setting up now. Walleyes on mid lake humps and weed edges, smallmouth on rocky points and shoals , perch in shallow reeds/weedbeds and pike about everywhere. The best bite (especially for walleye) with the hotter weather and some days of ZERO wind, has been early (read as before 9 am) and late (read as after 6 pm). Live bait (minnows and crawlers) fished SLOW has been the ticket the past two weeks, but I am still going to give the advantage to the minnow guys.
As is typical for July, the smallmouth have just been bonkers. What great fun it is wrestling with these HOGS, including continuing to catch some real footballs from under the docks here in camp. The “new” guys in this week found out quickly the smallmouth bite off the Welcome rock and in front of Cabin 6 isn’t too bad either. The real big pike have been slightly more reclusive with the warmer weather and dead calm lake but still plenty of action on eater fish to go around. All in all, it continues to be a real good year of fishing and I know from now until year end (as it always does) will only get better. In fact, there are still a few August/September openings that I am sure will not disappoint if anyone is still looking to put a trip together or perhaps a second trip this year… if you have never fished the late August/September bite here you might consider giving it a try. Personally, it is my favorite time of the year to be on the water. A great combination of numbers and size to the fish!
I will try to get a few more pics out on the Facebook page here as time permits! Until next time, tight lines