walleye wanderer

Another trip to Nakina and specifically a return to Whiteclay Lake with our wonderful hosts Jay & Sue of Boreal Forest Outfitter.

We arrived late Friday night June 2nd as we were heavily delayed in Kapuskasing on the drive up due to a serious accident and road closure.

Up at 4am and at the Nakina Air dock at 4:15am, yes 4:15!  We met up with Sue our host whom was also our pilot for the flight in. After a brief chat we were weighed up, said hello to Tracy and Greg and we were on the Otter and heading into Whiteclay. We landed on Whiteclay at 5:45 and the outbound crew was on the dock swatting mosquito’s as we taxied in.

Soon the Otter was taking off, we were unpacking gear and getting some breakfast and coffee going. A beautiful sunny day ahead we were soon on the lake, the earliest ever on our arrival day!

Lots of Pike and several Walleye visited our boats on Saturday.

Sunday proved to be another nice day with a brief shower thrown in to keep the dust down.  Very productive day as I caught a 43” Pike and my partner dragged in a 40” both at the mouth of the Raymond River.

Monday was a cool day, mostly overcast and we headed to the west end of the lake for the day. The 20hp motors were great for these long hikes and allowed us to visit spots we previously probably wouldn’t have. Great day at the west end with 2- 40”, 39”, 36” and bunch of smaller Pike caught, several Walleye including a nice chunky 24”.

Tuesday cool & overcast again to start, clearly up later in the day. This was Walleye day and all kinds boated at the little falls at the end of the Raymond River. Our other boat caught and released a 41” Pike near the mouth of the river and also lots of Walleye.

Wednesday started around 5 degrees Celsius and we headed East to the Gorge, a beautiful scenic trip with several Walleye and Pike caught on the troll.

Thursday was a little overcast but nice, spent time at the falls and the Raymond River as well as around the island directly in front of the camp and the long back bay behind the camp. A good productive day with all kinds of Pike ranging from 24” to 34” caught and released. Another nice supper of fresh Walleye to end the day.

Friday, our last day. One of the guys wanted to visit a sand bar he spotted at the NW end of the lake so off we went. Immediate upon arriving at this outcropping we trolled back in towards the bay and got into Pike one after another. Most were in the 25-30” range with Walleye mixed in. Trolling up through a narrows I caught a 41” Pike and after releasing him and resuming our troll, I hooked into a 38” Pike just minutes later. A great last day for sure with our new found hotspot with both of our boats catching lots of Pike and Walleye.

Alex arrived about 9:30am Saturday June 10th and provided a beautiful flight out and after chatting with Sue in Nakina we were once again heading home from another week of great fishing, great friends and good times.

Cheers

Rob & the Walleye Wanderers

2 hours ago, RickOnt said:

Walleye Wanderer

My group was there the last year Don, Mattice Lake Outfitters, had the camp, Before he sold it to Jason and Sue 

We flew out of Armstrong a two day trip for us older guys to get there

Nakina is much better as it can be one day to get there

The spots you mentioned were also good for us.

Also try the inflow of the Ogoki River , up the west arm, right at the falls.

We never hiked up past the falls

It was very good for us For Pike and Walleye

Have fun

Rick

Hey Rick, glad to hear you had a good trip to Whiteclay! I would like to venture up to the west end to fish the falls but it is a long ride from Boreal's camp...maybe this year though with the new 20hp Merc's.

Cheers

WW

On 1/14/2023 at 8:37 AM, Whopper said:

Congrats on your WC experience.

Did my first flyin there and returned for five more trips with two different outfitters. First trip and  visit to the "Gorge" I will never forget, simply awesome, fished the "Rock" about half way up and the catching was fast and furious.

Hey Whopper, great to hear you enjoyed WC as much as we did and I suspect "the rock" you refer to is the same spot where we caught a ridiculous amount of Walley's. In fact we have one of our American friends returning this year after a few years away due to COVID so we are taking him into Whiteclay June 3rd for a week!

If you happen to have any other secret spots on WC, especially towards the west end and feel like sharing them, please let me know.

Cheers

WW

Getting lazy in my old age I guess because I haven't posted anything in quite some time and this report spans two trips to the beautiful Whiteclay Lake, part of the Ogoki River system north of Nakina ON. The Walleye Wanderers first visited this lake in 2021 with Boreal Forest Outfitter and returned in spring of 2022 for a second great week of Walleye & Pike fishing.

Whiteclay is a large lake with approx 230 miles of shoreline, many bays and rivers systems to explore. Our 2021 trip was June 26-July 3rd and the 2022 trip was an early spring trip from May 28-June 4th and there was a noticeable difference in the water levels. 

Our 2021 trip to Whiteclay Lake

The Boreal Forest Outfitters camp at Whiteclay is sprawling with 4 buildings in total, consisting of two fully equipped cabins, a log outbuilding with spare motors, parts and a fish cleaning station complete with running water. There is also a shower building at the base of a water tower, complete with chest freezer, sink, shower and solar lights complement all of the buildings.
The main camp is insulated, well furnished complete with solid wood log chairs and large table, full size propane fridge and stove and 3 sets of bunk beds. Lots of windows with screens, an inverter to charge phones, cameras, etc,, hot and cold running water, generous woodstove, a comfy couch and lazy boy chair! Outside we had chairs to sit around the firepit, a new propane BBQ, Fish Fryer, a solid wide dock with plenty of Lund boats and motors. 
Although the camp is a bit of a rustic layout not having separate bedrooms, it is very well equipped, clean and spacious with all the amenities you need for a great week.
Whiteclay can be a bit of an intimidating lake when you look at it on a map as it spans approx. 35 kms in length with Boreals camp being close to the middle and near the Raymond River which flows into Whiteclay. The lake, like most north of Nakina is tea stained and medium depth with some rocky shoals, some deep holes, some sandy shorelines and a cool 100’ shear vertical rock passage at the north east end of the lake. Loads of bays, islands and narrows to explore and duck out of wind when needed. 
As there was a bit of a heat wave during our week in 2021 and a swim at our sandy beach was a welcome relief on the hot days. Our 2022 trip proved to be quite the opposite with the temp dropping to below zero a couple of time causing us to spark up the woodstove.

The grounds were nicely manicured with the grass cut short keeping the mosquitoes to a reasonable level.
The 2021 trip being our first visit to Whiteclay, we spent the first couple of days “exploring” and trolling various sections of the north/east end of the lake and fishing the Raymond River all the way up to the rapids a few kms from the main lake. The rapids were very scenic and a definite hotspot for tons of nice 19-20” Walleye with the occasional fat Pike being caught right at the base of the rapids in the fast water.
Trolling around a large shallow rock shoal straight out from the camp and around the island to the right of the camp provided countless Walleye and decent Pike with John catching a 40”er on the backside of the island.
Further east on the north side of the lake we trolled through a small neck down where the water was moving a little quicker and several large rocks were visible. After a couple of double headers while trolling we dropped anchor and proceeded to jig a ridiculous amount of very decent Walleyes. This location would become our “Walley Hole” for the days we were having fish for dinner as it pretty much guaranteed to produce.
One particular day we filled our gas tank to the brim and fished our way down the east end of the Lake looking for the rock face passage known as “the Gorge” that we had heard about prior to our trip. After a pretty good boat ride we suddenly found ourselves in this passage and looking at the fishfinder, it indicated we were in water over a hundred feet deep! I tried to paint a picture in my head of vertical rock cliffs extending 100’ up and 100’ down below the water, thinking this is very strange as most of the lakes in the area are shallow and the terrain pretty flat. I suggest if you visit Whiteclay, is a worthwhile boat ride to see this beautiful scenery and there certainly is some good fishing all along the way.
The boats were great, no leaks and motors all worked flawlessly all week. 
Mid-week Sue, Jason and their two girls Katelyn and Chloe flew into camp with some extra gas and several bags of cubed ice for us, while checking to ensure everything was working perfectly.
While no record size fish were caught this week, we did catch our share of nice healthy Walleye and several big frisky Pike. In chatting on our last night we felt the we should return to Whiteclay in spring next year to finish exploring and give the big Pike a little more attention. Folks like Jason & Sue make the decision to return easy as they go out of their way to provide a great experience and they are always upgrading their camps with new appliances, boats, motors and renovating the buildings.
Having visited many Lakes north of Nakina over the years targeting large Pike, I believe Whiteclay has all of the ingredients to be a excellent big Pike lake and of course the tasty Whiteclay Walleye are very abundant throughout the lake.

Our 2022 return Trip to Whiteclay Lake with Boreal Forest Outfitters.

Another early morning greeting in my driveway as the Walleye Wanderers pulled up and hurriedly loaded the gear into our vehicles and we were headed back to Nakina.

This year four Wanderers, John, Ron, Frank and I returned to the beautiful Whiteclay lake with our host Boreal Forest Outfitters, owned by Jason and Sue Booth. We visited Whiteclay last year and enjoyed the scenery, the accommodations and of course the fishing so much that we felt we needed to return to this big beautiful lake.

The drive to Nakina was easy and uneventful until we were on the road from Geraldton to Nakina when we spotted a medium size black bear sitting down in the shrubs about 15’ off the road and completely ignoring us as we snapped a couple of quick pics.

A short way up the road we had the pleasure of a moose coming out of the bush, ensuring we knew that we were in Northern Ontario.

We arrived at Jason and Sue’s base camp which is actually a house in Nakina where we would have a bite and beverage and spend the night before flying into Whiteclay in the morning.

Early Saturday morning the Wanderers were eager to get going and met up with our hosts Jason & Sue and their two wonderful girls Katelyn & Chloe at the Nakina Air float plane base where we got caught up on recent events, talked about upgrades to the camp and of course the fishing. In short order our gear was loaded up and Greg was corralling us onto the turbo Otter for our flight to Whiteclay.

After a beautiful flight, we touched down at Whiteclay and immediately saw a difference from last year as we no longer had the white sandy beach anymore. Yep, it was spring and the water levels were higher then last years trip at the end of June but it just meant less rocks to worry about.

A couple of major upgrades Boreal Forest did to this camp and most of their other camps this year was the installation of full sized solar powered fridges and chest freezers. I found this to be a huge bonus as it takes away any carbon dioxide issues that can occur with propane appliances and provides quiet and dependable operation. By the way, the fridge worked great and the chest freezer was awesome!

Another major upgrade were the new wide body Lund SSV-14 boats with 20 hp motors! Plenty of space, comfortable seats, dry and stable, just what you need for long days on the lake.

As mentioned, the water levels were quite different than our mid-summer trip last year but the fish were still abundant, just in some different locations. As we explored some new parts of the lake we found some new Walleye honey holes and we also dialed in the big frisky Pike.

You don’t have to spend half a day traveling to get into fish and one of the most productive spots we found was straight out from the camp around the island where you could land both walleye and pike consistently.

Of course a few visits up the Raymond River to the scenic rapids were made with no shortage of walleys & pike to be had every time.

All in all it was another great week and as we got into the bigger Pike this year we pondered returning for a third year in 2023.

If you are looking for a larger scenic lake with tons of shoreline, moving water, big Pike and plentiful good sized Walleye then give Whiteclay some consideration. Along with the fishing you will be well looked after by your hosts Jay & Sue whom are friendly, down to earth, hard working folks who run a great operation, focused on the customer experience.

If Whiteclay isn’t what you are looking for, Boreal Forest has several other great camps to consider and I personally have been to their Hurst Lake camp which I will be returning in the upcoming years.

Until next trip,

Rob & the Walleye Wanderers 

On 1/2/2019 at 12:06 AM, AKRISONER said:

There’s a joke to be made in this thread somewhere...?

 

thanks for the tip though, I use magic erasers to clean my sneakers (also a hot tip) and as such I’ve got a huge supply from when canadian tire was selling them for .50 cents a piece

LMAO, possibly the "Cork Soaker" line?

11 hours ago, BillM said:

Goodluck!  Johnson Silver Minnow with a big Kalins grub on the back was always the ticket for me when fishing up there

White Kalins by chance Bill?

14 hours ago, lakerguy said:

Is this trip with Eddie North ?

It is Eddies camp however Eddie is no longer the owner, he sold last year to Chris Lewis.

My group and I are heading back to Beteau Lake June 30th for Pike-O-Rama, just wondering if anyone else is fishing in the Nakina area this year and what outfitter you are going with?

Cheers

WW

Thanks to all for the tips and info, this is what makes this forum great!

I have reached out to our buddy and authority on fly in trips...Mike, and he has shared some of his experience and trip reports which has helped tremendously.

Cheers

WW

On 2018-02-20 at 6:46 PM, adempsey said:

Both are probably good options.  Could consider Kag (lodge or outpost - TwinLakes probably better location, but it's all very accessible) and Onaman as well.  Although, Onaman is probably  better known for Walleye.

I'd suggest looking into Hearst Air camps on the Attawapiskat also. Napken had some interesting variety as well - river, current, bays etc..  Was an interesting lake. Should be a plenty of weed beds to fish in the summer.

Don't overlook Kesagami out of Cochrane either.  They also have outpost camps on lakes where you can easily portage into Kesagami if you don't want to stay at the lodge.

Bushland Adventures on Lac Evans is similar. You should read Mike B's report from this lake.

Another interesting option is North Caribou Camps.  You fly out of Thunder Bay airport to a jumping point and then to the camp. Flights to Thunder Bay are very reasonable if the drive is too long. North Caribou Lake is amazing.

 

 

Great info Mr Dempsey, I have been in touch with both Bushland and North Caribou. I have also reached out to the authority, our buddy Mike and also review his multiple trip reports. I am not sure if a trip to either of these camps is in the cards this year but I am certainly planning one for next year with either Bushland or North Caribou.

Cheers and thanks again!

WW

My gang and I are considering a mid-summer fly-in trip to the Nakina area this year and I am wondering if anyone has any recent experience with Wilderness North, specifically their Ogoki outposts or their Makokibatan Lodge?

They have an amazing website and I am sure the accommodations are great, it is the fishing I am most interested in hearing about. My group likes to chase BIG Pike around most days and of course have a feed or 5 of Walleye during the week.

Any & all info welcome...

Cheers,

WW

Thanks for the correction, did he confirm the 30$ price?

I am sure that is Pagonis and, according to the email reply I received from them, their new store is at 11 Gordon Mackay Rd, which is right near that warehouse.

This place sends truck loads south of the border every other day and also stocks most of the big box stores, Bass Pro, etc.

Good fresh worms, reasonable prices.

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

 

Ya, I am unlikely to veer too far off my route to save $20. Still, good to know of all the options.

 

My preference was to pick them up further into my trip (Sault Ste. Marie or further west) so I don't have to worry about them in the car too much. Although, it's probably not a big deal with some ice packs. Still, one less thing to worry about. Might get them from the new Pagonis store as it's just off the 400, although he never quoted me a price for a flat so I may just stick to my original plan.

Excellant worms here FishLogic, $35-40 for a flat of 500. For an extra $10 they will pack them in a heavy duty styrofoam cooler that you can reuse every year.

I will be picking up a flat first week of June for the drive up to Nakina.

WW

Pagonis in Toronto

http://www.pagonislivebait.com/index.html

It is not a well advertised business and they don't show any prices on Flats but they do sell them. I have gone here for the last five years, very fresh & lively product.

They distribute all over north america including Bass Pro.

Regardless of whether we call it NOTL, St. Kitts or whatever, it still seems an odd location for a store of that size. And why have a second location in southern Ontario that's only an hour from the existing store to begin with? Surely the two locations will compete for many of the same customers.

 

If I were Johnny Morris and wanted to open another Canadian location, I'd put a store in the Montreal area first. Southern Quebec is a HUGE market for outdoor goods, and they wouldn't have to worry about cannibalizing an existing location by opening up there.

 

While I will welcome the new store, I don't understand the business case for it. They must be getting one heck of a financial incentive from the developer and perhaps the city to make it worthwhile. Either that, or they will support it by making it a base for the Canadian catalogue operation ... which would make sense, being so close to the US. Who knows.

Regardless of whether we call it NOTL, St. Kitts or whatever, it still seems an odd location for a store of that size. And why have a second location in southern Ontario that's only an hour from the existing store to begin with? Surely the two locations will compete for many of the same customers.

 

If I were Johnny Morris and wanted to open another Canadian location, I'd put a store in the Montreal area first. Southern Quebec is a HUGE market for outdoor goods, and they wouldn't have to worry about cannibalizing an existing location by opening up there.

 

While I will welcome the new store, I don't understand the business case for it. They must be getting one heck of a financial incentive from the developer and perhaps the city to make it worthwhile. Either that, or they will support it by making it a base for the Canadian catalogue operation ... which would make sense, being so close to the US. Who knows.

Buffalo blew off BP years ago when they were gonna put up a store, now there gonna drag all the americans just over the border.

I only use painted Jig Heads in a variety of colours…pink, chartreuse, black, white, orange. In the grand scheme of things it may well be whats trailing the head that counts.

Some food for thought though...http://www.walleyecentral.com/muccillijig.htm

Agreed, and we'll do our darndest to sting every single aggressive fish before you arrive.

Hey Mike, one of my favorite places too. You better hope things warm up soon, still making ice up here, had to make an extension for the auger a couple of weeks ago....40+" of ice and 2-3 feet of snow insulating it.

LOL, don't forget the Tip-ups Mike!

(and leave the secret weapon under the bunk on the left)

when is the ideal time to target the big pike up at eddies? is beteau lake the best lake for them?

Not having fished any other of Eddies camps I am not qualified to say that Beteau is the best Pike lake however there are certainly large numbers of big fish in there!

In 2011 we visited Beteau in late August (low water conditions) and caught many a nice Pike with good weight as they had the feedbag strapped on all summer long. In 2012 we visited Beteau in the Spring (high water conditions) and experienced ferocious action however the fish were typically a little thinner than the fall. I believe that early spring, very shortly after ice out is the best time to target Northern Pike and this years trip should verify that fact

Well seeing as there have been several trip reports regarding Eddie Norths Beteau Lake camp I have decided to just put up a few pictures in lieu of an editorial, after all we have heard numerous times what a great guy Eddie is and how well equipped his camp is.

Always an interesting drive up...

This trip we took everything including the kitchen sink

Met a couple of rookies on the dock at Beteau…lol, the Fishing Canada boys were just leaving after a week of filming.

The "Leuenberger Lift"

The "Blender Boys"

The "Walleye Wanderers" with are hosts Craig & Eddie

Eddie the baker...

Frank proving that fish will eat nearly anything. I won't have believed it but I was in the boat, a nice Walleye caught on a scrap of Franks wives black facecloth with a couple of hooks strategically inserted…thanks for the laugh Frank!

Spring Beteau Moose

Thanks Eddie for the memorable week

That's because it's spelled Kraken. I still have to try that one.

LMAO, that's better, in fact its on sale right now!

I run 832 on my spinning reel along with a fluoro tippet throwing hardware for steelhead. I like it for that purpose a lot, for exactly the reasons you guys don't like it. It's incredibly thin and limp and is maybe the best braid I've used for hucking out spinners and spoons long distances. Tip wrap is not an issue for me.

 

For pretty much every other application I use power pro.

I'm with Mike on this one, spooled a couple of reels last year and no issues. Get great distance with no tips issues but it does fade quick. I will be trying the Samurai this season.

They have both at my local LCBO in Toronto. Try searching the LCBO's website for locations that carry either. If you can't find some locally you can ask your local store to have some sent over from another LCBO.

Thanks Dan but a search of the LCBO site comes up empty for the Kracken, gonna stop in at my store tomorrow and inquire.

Cheers

Sailor Jerry is my favorite. Followed by Kraken and Appleton reserve. Mt. Gay XO is also pretty good

Sailor Jerry is good and have heard good things about Kracken but can't seem to find it in Ontario?

LOL!! Flickr pulls the EXIF data depending on your account settings. It also doesn't destroy the quality of the pic like Photobucket does. If I want to edit/share a good pic, I'll edit in CS6 then link it from Flickr. If I really don't care about the quality, Photobucket it is...

Excellent point Bill, I didn't realize that Flickr provided better quality…thanks.

What website do you use to store/link photos for your posts?

Cheers

WW