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Sometimes the very best trips happen unexpectedly. For almost a year I had a family trip planned to White River Air’s deluxe outpost on Shekak Lake. Just days before our departure Dan MacLachlan from WRA called to suggest a change. He was building a brand new camp on Garnham Lake and needed to switch that group to Shekak. His brother David along with Terry Politz operate Lodge Eighty Eight on Esnagi Lake and he asked me how I felt about that as a possible venue. I’ve heard a lot of great things about Lodge Eighty Eight over the years so I was immediately intrigued. Dan told me a couple of times “it’s the best lodge in Ontario Mike”. Strong words. As I was told “before my dad passed away he wanted Lodge Eighty Eight rebuilt and refurbished so we did. It’s a pretty nice place, I’m sure you guys would love it!” 5 star accommodations, great food at the lodge, first class boats, and a lake over 27 miles long to explore and fish? I was sold. Being fed at the lodge was a huge bonus for everyone as well (especially the female members of my group) and we happily agreed to the switch. Joining me on this very special trip was my wife Joanne, our two kids Brendan and Riley, my mom and dad, my sister in law Mary, my nephew Luke and our much loved dog Zoey. A 4 year old German Shorthair full of life and love, she’d always been left behind on the fly in trips, but not this time. The kids were thrilled. This had the makings of a truly memorable family trip, and as it turns out it was… Wet Feet And Frozen iPhone’s Leaving town in the wee hours of the morning we had two vehicles loaded to the gills with gear, people, and dog. With young kids and especially the dog on board for the 11 hour drive it was a far more leisurely pace than my usual straight through marathon. We stopped a number of times to let the dog run and stretch her legs including one lengthy session at one of my favourite beaches north of the Soo. That drive, if you’ve never done it before is fantastic as the Trans Canada hugs the rugged Superior shoreline offering plenty of amazing vistas and a number of secluded private beaches if you know where to look. We’d booked a cottage large enough for everyone at the Wawa Motor Inn the night before our flight and we arrived in town under clear blue skies at the civilized hour of 5pm. Settling in we relaxed over a few drinks, then eventually headed into town for dinner then a couple more drinks back at the cabin. Leading up to this trip I’d been working insane hours and had gone almost 5 days without sleep so by 10pm I was ready to crash and burn. We had a scheduled 7am flight with White River Air which meant another early wake up call. Surprisingly everyone was up early without too many complaints, and after an extra large Timmies under my belt we hit the highway at 5:45 for White River. Wawa, as is often the case was blanketed with dense fog rolling in off Superior but 15 minutes up the road it cleared. I’ve been fortunate with the weather on most of my trips this year and as we cruised north on 17 we were treated to a spectacular sunrise under crystalline clear blue skies - a nice start to our trip. Arriving at the airbase on Tukanee Lake right on time Dan was there to greet us and we immediately backed our vehicles up to the weigh scale to unload. I wasn’t quite sure how Zoey would react to the plane, but it was no problem at all. She hopped right in along with the rest of us and in no time at all we were airborne and enroute to Lodge Eighty Eight. I shot this short video of the flight in. Happy times! Arriving at the dock we were greeted warmly by Terry Politz one of the owners and we quickly had our gear unloaded and delivered to our cabin with a 4 wheeler and trailer. The cabin, located right on the water was really something. Easily the finest I’ve ever seen on any of my trips and an instant hit with my family. 4 bedrooms, two bathrooms with flush toilets, lots of space and absolutely gleamingly clean! With eight people to outfit it took me some time to rig all of the rods, but I took my time outside by the picnic table while everyone else relaxed and eventually got it done. There were dedicated bottom bouncing rods, rods for jigging, heavier rods for pike, crank bait rods for walleye, plus tackle for three different boats… Finally by 2pm I was ready to fish, and at least initially my fish-crazed son Brendan and I hit the lake by ourselves to suss things out. I was pleasantly surprised at the boat I was given to use as well, a brand new Lund Fury with a 25hp 4 stroke Merc, full floor, pedestal seats and livewell. Just like the cabin it was the newest and nicest I’ve ever seen on a remote lake! With Esnagi Lake being 27 miles long having a good boat is a huge plus. What I haven’t mentioned yet was the heat, it was crushing! We had virtually no wind and a humidex pushing into the mid to high 30’s - not exactly great conditions for fishing and more than a little uncomfortable. Still, we were anxious to get on the water and wet a line. Skimming up the lake we were averaging 38 kilometres an hour on the gps which was pretty incredible I thought. Already pleased with the boat I was now ecstatic. On the fishing end of things I went about 10 kilometres up the lake watching my graph for humps and stopping to fish at a few obvious points and neck down areas. Being hot and sunny I knew the fish would be deep so we mostly trolled bottom bouncers and worm harnesses, my preferred tactic when prospecting for fish. Our first afternoon was honestly pretty tough. We caught a pile of hammer handle pike as well as a couple of small walleyes, but it wasn’t anything to write home about. Typically it takes a day or two to figure things out, especially on such a large body of water so I wasn’t too concerned… Eventually the heat became unbearable. At one point we were slowly trolling with Bren sitting listlessly in the bow when it felt as though my head was about to burst into flames. Not saying a word I slipped the boat into neutral, reeled in my line and dove overboard in the middle of the lake. Surprised Brendan more than little and when he asked what I was doing I told him I was diving down to try and spot the fish with my eyes. Had him going for a minute or two. At that point swimming seemed like the best option and after hauling my carcass back into the boat we sped across the lake and found a beauty rock we could dive from… Back at camp in the early evening Brendan refused to quit as usual and came racing over to the deck to show everyone the nice walleye he’d just caught off the dock (go figure). That was a prelude of things to come as the dock was a consistent hotspot all week long especially in the evenings! The kids loved it and it was one of the reasons this trip was extra special. With some time before dinner the kids and dog swam in the lake while the adults relaxed on the deck with cold drinks… This entire facility is in a class by itself. Around about 6pm the entire lot of us ambled over to the main lodge for dinner and were amazed how nice it was! After an incredible dinner of lemon chicken, veggies, salad, homemade bread and banana cream pie for dessert my parents and I lingered to watch a football game on the satellite television, a perfect way to end our first day! Back at the cabin Joanne had started a bonfire earlier and the kids had fun roasting marshmallows while we’d watched the game. By this point I was beyond tired. I’d been running on virtually no sleep for some time now and it had been a long first day. I was pretty much delirious from exhaustion. Entering the cabin Joanne watched as I shed my sweater, kicked off my shoes then in a trance opened the fridge and put my iPhone in the freezer. At that point I shuffled over to the couch where I collapsed in a heap before everyone burst into laughter. Small Humps And Little Bumps The next day was spent searching for structure with Brendan and my nephew Luke, trying to figure out a pattern and experimenting until one was established. The heat and sun was stifling and relentless, not the greatest conditions to find and catch lots of walleye, but then I always love a challenge. Mid summer I’m usually focussing on mid lake humps and small rock piles surrounded by deeper water for walleye. Wind is usually always a key factor but there was virtually none. I worked my way up the lake methodically stopping at every likely spot. We caught fish, but no huge numbers and a couple of things quickly became apparent. The obvious spots, ones that perhaps see more fishing pressure than most, weren’t producing real well. The fish, when I did find them were clustered up tight on extremely subtle spots, always in deeper water and directly adjacent to even deeper water. Small pieces of structure the size of my front lawn that topped out at 20’ surrounded by 30 to 40’. Easy spots to miss. Sand points that deop quickly into deeper water are another feature I look for in the summer and a couple of those spots produced well too. There’s usually plenty of weeds in spots like that which attracts the young of the year perch and the walleyes that feed on them. For the most part jigging wasn’t working real well, although we did catch fish (and some nice ones) fishing that way. By far and away the most productive tactic was bottom bouncing with worm harnesses and 2-3 ounce weights. Any blade with purple in it was lethal. Not surprising as for whatever reason I’ve seen this time and again in the summer. Our boat had a larger 25hp 4 stroke Merc on it which made slow trolling a bit of a challenge but not impossible. With the shifter located in the twist grip of the tiller handle it was a simple matter to pop it in and out of gear as needed to keep the speed down. What I found interesting was the way these fish were hitting - they were definitely neutral, not aggressive in the slightest. You’d feel a little bump then a bit of weight, then until I clued in - nothing. The first few bites resulted in missed fish and stolen worms. You had to drop your rod instantly and give the fish total slack before they’d be hooked, sometimes popping the motor into neutral as well to induce a strike. Watching my graph like a hawk I’d creep slowly around the edges of those subtle humps always keeping contact with the bottom and we began to catch a LOT of walleye once the nuances were figured out! By midday we were broiling so I stopped at a mid lake island to clean some fish and let the boys swim. I’d promised everyone bacon wrapped walleye hors d’oeuvres and was bound and determined to deliver. What a great spot! Back at camp shortly afterwards I dropped off the boys so they could swim and fish off the dock and took my daughter Riley and our pooch out for a spin. Before dinner I whipped up a batch of bacony goodness on the barbecue (always a big hit!) then we headed to the lodge for another marvellous dinner. Now I’ve already mentioned how amazing the fishing off the dock was, and this evening after dinner was incredible. At any given time there were at least two fish on, sometimes three. No giants, but all respectable fish. The kids (and the adults) loved it! Another campfire, a cocktail or two and it was time to hit the sack. This time I didn’t freeze my phone - I was starting to catch up on my sleep. Good Eats The lodge experience is nice - actually in many ways it’s great and my family was loving it. In general though I’m not used to being catered to, usually it’s the other way around, and I wanted to give something back. The lodge wasn’t busy that week so I suggested doing a shore lunch for the entire staff as well as my family on this day. The day before I’d found what may be the nicest shore lunch spot I’ve ever seen in my life - a gorgeous rocky point overlooking a particularly scenic part of the lake. Everyone agreed and we made plans to meet there at 12:30. Loading the boat will all the required provisions Joanne, myself and the two kids headed up the lake in search of fish. With a large number of people to feed at midday we needed to put some fish in the boat! By this time I was starting to get pretty dialed in, and at the very first spot I stopped at Brendan caught a beauty 28” walleye moments after he dropped his bouncer and worm harness to the bottom. There was a large shoal marked with jugs that topped out at 11’ then dropped quickly into 30. Right on the edge of the break his rod slammed down hard - this particular fish wasn’t hesitant at all! I shot this short video of the fight and as you’ll see he was a wee bit excited… The fish were not only becoming easier to catch, they were getting larger as well. A surprising number of thick backed girthy fish in the 25 to 27” range hit the mesh which frankly was a bit of a surprise. I expected Esnagi would have great walleye fishing but had no idea there were this many big fish! Fact is I’ve fished a lot of northern lakes and in all my years the only other body of water where I’ve caught walleyes equal to this was on the Attawapiskat River with Hearst Air. We made another pass over the same shoal this time jigging and this time I hooked into a 26” beauty of my own. Continuing to work our way up the lake we also caught the usual array of hammer handle pike. With a large shore lunch planned I threw a few of those into the livewell while enroute. Cleaned properly I defy anyone to tell the difference between walleye! Arriving at our chosen spot I began cleaning fish while Joanne set up the buffet table. Not long afterwards the rest of my family and the lodge staff arrived in three other boats and the fun began. We got a fire going and in short order I had fillets sizzling in hot oil. Terry Politz of Lodge 88 shot this great little video of the festivities: It was blistering hot that day once again and after lunch we all headed back to camp to swim and relax. Normally I’d be on the water fishing hard all day, but this trip was evolving into a far more leisurely experience and it was kind of nice.