trip reports - wettlaufer lake in NW ontario

[phishfearme]

i posted these trip reports on walleyecentral in 2008/09 and thought it would be a good addition to this board that i just joined. the wettlaufer cabin has beeen totally overhauled since our two trip there so this would be even a more acceptable option for a flyin housekeeing, private lake option - and i've attached my favorite all time fishing photo - that of me and my 29incher, my all time best (from wettlaufer lake):

 

first report 2008

My group just returned from our annual 10 day "week" at Wettlaufer Lake using North of 51 Outfitters out of Pickle Lake. This is a fly-in outpost, single cabin, 11 mile long lake about a 20 minute Otter flight due west of Pickle Lake on the Meen River. We were given the honor of "de-bugging" (literally and figuratively) this cabin that hasn't been used in about 3 seasons so we really had a "fresh" lake. And the results showed it!! Without exageration, the 4 of us caught about 2000 walleye!! We found 4 or 5 really-hot spots where it was just plain un-challenging and decided to move on. One spot we considered to be the best single fishing spot we've ever found. We also caught 2 "blue" walleye.

 

The walleye size range was unique for us. Probably 60% of the walleye were less than 15 inches (the future of this lake looks VERY bright) but there were plenty in the "sweet spot" range of 16-19 inches. Then there seemed to be a hugh gap in the 20 to 23 inch range as we only caught about 10 in that range. But the jumbos were excellent: 3 - 24's, 2 - 25's, 2 - 26's and the largest caught on day one was Wil's 27 incher.

 

The pike fishing was darn good also - even though we didn't really target them - with numerous fish in the 29-32 inch range. Tom's 37 incher was our best. There's a pike-only portage lake - Larsh Lake - that is supposed to hold trophy northern but during our day there (in a square back, man-powered canoe) we only got 4 pike - 29 to 31 inchers - and no small ones. A tough portage for this level of fishing when Wettlaufer was sooooo good.

 

As a bonus, while walleye fishing, we caught about 30 jumbo perch up to 12 inches. One windy day, my partner and I parked off a weedbed in the lee and specifically targeted perch with small twisters and worms and caught 5 in about an hour or so (along with a number of walleye).

 

The outfitter had the cabin setup just fine (the new shower was wonderful on cold days) but there's clearly alot of work that can be done there - didn't bother us at all though. Boats and motors were excellent - 14 foot dry Lunds and 9.9 hp Mercury's. The outfitter plans to have this cabin upgraded and the lake available for next year's fishing season.

 

The cabin's location was also notable - in a protected bay with a wonderful sand beach right in front. We practically never used the dock. Gary caught a 32 inch pike on the second cast off the dock the first day.

 

Questions? Feel free to ask away!!

 

phish

 

second report 2009

my group of 4 just returned from a 10 day trip to wettlaufer lake using North of 51 outfitters out of pickle lake. this was our second trip (my previous report is posted) to this fly-in lake which is about 10-11 miles long with a single housekeeping cabin on the meen river about 40 miles west of pickle lake.

 

in summary - bad weather! very cold then rain then a 40 knot wind storm (which spawned the tornado near ear falls that killed 3 guys at the fisherman's cove resort). the high temp for the first 5 days was 52degF with lows in the upper 30's. the only reasonable day reached the mid 60's.

 

the consequence of all this cold weather was cold water in the lake. surface temps were 56 or 57 degF (last year at this time it was in the low to mid 70's) and many of the fish we caught felt like they came out of a fridge.

 

but in spite of all this, we did have some excellent fishing days - especially early in the trip - with 125-150 walleye in the boat per day (2 guys) the first few days. there was a hugh difference between fishing in the main lake and fishing in the four flow areas (inlet, outlet, first narrows and second narrows). the main lake produced scattered small walleye (12-15 inchers) and the flow areas were packed with larger walleyes. clearly we spent alot of time at the flow areas but in an effort to acheive some variety, we fished the main lake areas over and over only to get the same results. for the main lake, the "sweet spot" was around 12 ft deep (last year it was about 7 ft deep and we caught all sizes all over the lake). fishing shallower yielded few fish.

 

the fishing results in the flow areas though were pretty incredible - especially in the first narrows. in the first narrows at dusk, i was fortunate enough to land a 29 inch walleye - beating my previous personal best by 2 inches. it's remarkable that this small lake can produce such large fish. the first narrows also produced 4 - 24 inchers, a 23.5 and 2 - 23's not to mention numerous 20-22 inchers and others. what an excellent spot - it may be the best single spot we've ever experienced.

 

for pike, we finally broke into the trophy range with a 39.5 incher - just couldn't get it to 40 - at the second narrows and a 35incher at the outlet. there was also at least two that got away. we also got maybe 8 or so in the 32 inch range but you'd swear they were larger due to their girth and large heads. these were all caught fishing for walleye.

 

all in all, a wonderful trip in spite of the weather. the wettlaufer cabin will be undergoing some major improvements this month (but it was still quite acceptable to us as is) including a new deck and i think a fish cleaning house. the outfitter provided all we could expect from an outfitter - boats and motors were excellent - and i'd highly recommend them.

 

any questions - feel free to ask.

 

phish

[beginner]

holy smoke that is a monster wallie... awesome.. wish I could catch one of that this yr.. thnx for sharin.. keep postin

[lunkerbasshunter]

wow the lenght on that thing is huge! Would love to see that in the late fall after it put the feed bag on

 

Cheers!

[johnnyb]

Now that's a great way to make an entrance Welcome aboard....2 great reports...looking forward to more