A week on Dog Lake

[bubbles]

OK OK so it’s a little late! My dog ate it (no pun intended).

 

Spend the second week of September up at Dog lake at Northern Walleye Lodge (formerly Camp Missinabie). Much has been said on this board and others about Dog lake, and the lack of fish there so to be honest my expectations were not too high, but hey, I wasn’t working!

 

We spend the Friday night in Wawa at Great Northern Lodge, highly recommend it, we got a cabin and the food was excellent. Up and at em on Sat morning off to gas up and get some bait at Youngs and then we were off.

 

Arrived Sat at around 10:00, fishing by noon and my boat motor quit about 12:30. Not off to a great start. We tried and tried and ended up using the trolling motor to get us back for the next few hours. As opposed to worrying about it we headed back to the lodge, and grabbed a camp boat, and got on with our vacation.

 

Sat and Sunday were spend complaining that it was too hot and running all over the lake exploring and looking for fish. We caught a few small eyes here and there, some pike, and SM. Monday night a storm came through and brought 100km winds with it, cool to see, glad I was not in the lake at the time. Tuesday was a first for us in 14 years, we did not go fishing. It was far too windy, raining, and the lake was a mess, it looked closer to lake Erie than a northern lake. As it turned out that ended up being a good thing, I met John when he came up to the dock with a stringer full of fish. I met up with him at the fish cleaning hut to pick his brain a bit and see what we were doing wrong. John not only explained to be in detail how he was fishing, he told me where he was catching fish and brought me over to his boat and gave me all the tackle I needed to do it. Man I love fishermen, what a great guy. John caught 30-40 fish that morning before the wind really started to howl and blew him off the lake. He said that was about par for the course so far for the week, around 40 fish for the morning.

From that point on we caught lots of fish, not any “100 fish days” but I think that was due to mother nature, the week went from too hot, to too windy, to too cold (I sound like a woman, never satisfied, sorry ladies all in fun) We brought in our stingers every day with fish, enough for a meal and some for everyone to take home.

No big pike made it to the boat, my brother saw a few and I had evidence of one (my X-rap came back to the boat with just it’s head after a tap,…tap, “I hope it’s a pike, they are stupid and will keep hitting it” ….. BAM

Fewer small mouth in the lake than I expected, although we only targeted them for a short period of time.

On the last night we were there a boat sitting on top of our favorite point must have pulled in 25+ walleye in a matter of 15 minutes right before dark. We were 20 feet away and I only caught 6, I was in 45 feet of water, he was in 25.

 

The accommodations were excellent, cabins were very clean, we had a toilet, hot water and hydro (which are all foreign to us on these trips) which was a nice change. Warren and Michelle work harder than any 2 people I know to ensure you enjoy your stay, I highly recommend the place.

 

It was a humbling experience overall, after doing this for so long you figure you know what you are doing and if you are not catching fish that there is something wrong with the lake. Then you meet someone like John. For those who say there are no fish left in dog lake, I say have a look at how you are fishing. I chalk this week up to experience and look forward to next year, we are already booked for another shot at Dog Lake.

 

Here are a coupe of pics, the fish were all the same size, nothing huge so there wasn’t much sense taking the camera out in the rain.

 

 

If anyone is looking for details, PM me your questions on Dog Lake and I will see what I can do.

[johnnyb]

Great report and pics....talk about turning things around. Love the pic of the x-rap....must have been quite the hit!

[Rod Caster]

Sounds like a great, low-stress trip! Bless the kindness of fishermen.

[fishindevil]

well despite the motor issues you guys turned it around pretty good !!!! some nice fish,and great report too...cheers

[bigbuck]

Jig n minnow?? 20-30ft of water, that's the winning combo for northern lakes this time of year. Good to see you had fun even though your motor died and you had lousy weather for a couple of days.

[spincast]

great report, and a nice little feast of fillets there. WTG on figuring out the water, it makes success that much sweeter, dont it?

[Terry]

good report

[bubbles]

Thanks guys, I have high hopes for next year knowing the lake a little better and there is no way mother nature could treat us any worse.

[johnnyb]

Thanks guys, I have high hopes for next year knowing the lake a little better and there is no way mother nature could treat us any worse.

 

I'm pretty sure I just heard her say "Challenge accepted!!"