Hello to everyone! Like most of our guests, we're in the middle of a vicious winter that just won't let go. I won't get too involved in winter talk, as I think everyone has had enough of it.
A few things going on this winter though:
Last month (January 2014) a guy (not from this camp unfortunately) caught a 43" lake trout ice fishing. An awesome fish. Near record class. They caught the action on video and the video has gone viral. Don't want to say exactly where he was, but let's just say that many of our anglers are familiar with that area (and likely watching that video in envy)! Very cool & congrats to that lucky angler!
We, with the help of friends, started the renovations of Cabin 1 last fall. That's the small framed cabin overlooking the lake between the larger cabins. We're guessing it is about 70 + years old. Quite a history....the former owners (pre-1967) used it as their residence, and prior to that it's been said that for a brief period it served as a Quetico ranger station. It was always a favorite over the years for many of our guests, but although structurally it was good (except for the foundation & floor joists)was needing some TLC. Well, it's been raised 4' and has new footings and a new floor - nice & solid. We have it pretty much gutted down to the studs and are about to start the rebuild. For all intents and purposes, it'll be a brand new cabin come May. It'll be a nice 2- 3 person cabin with a beautiful lake view. Most everything - including windows & doors - will be new. Going to work on it this afternoon and will post some pics of the progress.
Just started designing a new "lodge" that we hope will be open for 2015. It's going to be nice - great lakeview, deck. Planning on a pool table and some other rec stuff. Looking forward to many good times in it - including winter action.
We're happy to report that 2013 was our busiest in the 47 or so seaons our family has had the camp. Thanks to every one of our guests!
It was certainly a different kind of year.....some observations:
Latest ice out we've ever seen. We weren't getting boats in until May 11 (usually it's the end of April) - and we're usually a week earlier than other lakes due to being on a river system.
Then we rolled into extreme water conditions. The first half of the summer was higher than I've ever seen, the second half was the lowest I've seen since around 1978. Fall rain brought it back to around average before freeze up.
The walleye were overall very good. They continued the system trend of the last few years where the average size is going up each year. There were many times throughout 2013 that the wallaye fishing on the Seine was the best I've ever seen. Seems like a lot of the fish that came out of some of the big spawns we've seen over the last 10 years or so are growning up giving better sizes and even bigger spawns.
The bass continue to amaze. Great numbers and sizes....good variety of sizes too,smaller ones, lots of 16" - 18", but we're seeing more and more 20"+. We saw a lot in the 20" - 21" this year and a number even larger. With many of our smallmouth anglers practicing catch & release, there's no reason to think that 2014 will be any different.
Still lots of smaller pike, but we did have quite a few 30" - 35" this year and quite a few that broke 40". Although it always happens, I think there were 'way more reports of aggresve (ie crazy) pike attacking other fish as people reeled them in. All species too....including other pike.
Crappie are continuing to show up in the system, although are still pretty elusive for our anglers. The first bunch we saw this year were in the bellies of pike. Gene R. from MN seems to be the one guy who can figure them out and land some.
Perch were caught here and there all summer - the guys from W VA, got into a bunch of nice ones right by the camp. We also saw more whitefish caught than in recent years.
Off system lakes were very productive....had some great walleye and bass action on a few of them.....plus some good pike. The waters with the lake trout gave our guests some excellent laker fishing. Looking forward to expanding into some new and seldomlyfished waters in 2014!
Likely the best biting species of the year though was the mosquito! I think that some periods were the worst for the critters that I've ever seen. And we didn't have an exclusive on them - I heard reports from all over N Ontario that it was the worst year for bugs in a long time. Here's hoping that's one bite that doesn't rival 2013 this year!
Great time at the All Canada Show in Chicago last month, and Lori will be at the Progressive Insurance St Louis Boat Show for 5 days starting February 26. Please come out and say "hi!".
Showing posts with label crappie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crappie. Show all posts
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Monday, March 19, 2012
2012 STUFF
Hey.....it's getting awfully close to fishing season....figure I better do a quick update....
First - I apologize for not updating sooner - but I haven't been entirely quiet. I've posted some stuff to our Facebook page (Branch's Seine River Lodge) as well as our Twitter account (@seineriverlodge). Please "like" or follow" us or whatever. And please post / tweet etc comments, questions etc.
Well - quickly - 2011 was a great year. Fishing overall was very good. Walleye populations were high and I really think the smallies and lots of huge smallies. Had one guest who has fished the chain for over 20 years say that July 2011 was his overall best for big fish of all species.
New stuff? Well, crappie are hitting the Atikokan area in a big way. Nice ones too - seen lots 12" - 15" from guys ice fishing. They're about 10 miles upstream right now, and general consensus is that they'll be on the Seine Chain very soon (if not already). Some concern as to the effect they'll have on the walleye, although there seem to be some lakes around that have both good walleye crappie fishing. Many lakes saw smallies overtake 'eyes but we're lucky - they both seem to flourish on our system. Have the Milow group planning to do some crappie fishing in June and will monitor it and, if it seems good (which we believe it will), we will be promoting crappie along with all our other species in 2013!
New stuff for 2012....Well, we're in the process of renovating all the cabins - some a little freshen up, some (cabin #3) with portions gutted. Every cabin will see at least some new windows. Freshening up the office and seriously looking at starting another new cabin sometime this year. Just bought a bunch of new couches, plus getting a handful of new docks....plus going to be buying some new boats and motors etc etc.
And.....the weather in March has been fantastic! The last few days have been in the mid seventies. The snow is pretty much all gone and the lake is opening up very quickly. If it keeps like this it'll be open by April. We're loving it as it has given us a head start on the yard work etc. BUT - I know that this warm spring and early break up sounds alarms for all you fisher folk out there. Usually, our ice is out the end of April - give or take a day or two. If conditions are fairly normal, spawns happen "on schedule" (for lack of a better term) and fishing - at least through the end of June - is relatively predictable. Then when this happens a wrench is thrown into the whole scenario. Spawns are early and lots of fishermen are not sure what to expect and face the uncertainty of how to fish, where to fish, what to use etc. A lot of people book the same week every years and get a comfort level of what to expect. Anyway - at this point it seems like it will be an early break up - BUT the jury is still out as far as spawns. I've seen very warm springs before - and boldly predicted early spawns, only to see the weather cool down and seem like it will never warm up. One warm spring / early break up year - since spawns are triggered by water temperatures - the spawns wound up being REALLY late and I looked (and felt) like a fool. So - don't panic yet...we still have a bit of time and anything can happen.
Been an overall milder winter. We did wind up getting quite a bit of snow - likely some of the best snowmobiling conditions around...speaking of which we will be promoting our winter sledding & ice fishing much more. Had a great meeting with Kim Cross from our award winning Atikokan Sno Ho Club last week and looking forward to working with them promoting our world class snowmobiling as well as X Country Skiing and ice fishing. BTW - check out the snowmobiling video on our snowmobiling page to see the awesome trails and scenery this winter:
http://www.seineriverlodge.com/atikokan-snowmobile-trails-cabin-rentals-for-snowmobiling.htm
Also - new ways to process fishing licenses this year. The MNR is issuing us a POS machine to process. We'll see how that goes, but one good development is that you can now buy your fishing licenses on line...here's the link:
https://www1.on.wildlifelicense.com/start.php?lang=1
Anyway - we're getting ready as I'm sure you all are. It is looking very busy for us this year and we thank you for that. Will post some stuff soon including some of the cabin reno pics....thanks as always to all of our friends for all the help with yard cleanup, rnos and repairs this spring - Richard, Garry, Howie, Darryl, Cora, Darcy....THANKS VERY MUCH!! Talk to ya'll soon!
Well - quickly - 2011 was a great year. Fishing overall was very good. Walleye populations were high and I really think the smallies and lots of huge smallies. Had one guest who has fished the chain for over 20 years say that July 2011 was his overall best for big fish of all species.
New stuff? Well, crappie are hitting the Atikokan area in a big way. Nice ones too - seen lots 12" - 15" from guys ice fishing. They're about 10 miles upstream right now, and general consensus is that they'll be on the Seine Chain very soon (if not already). Some concern as to the effect they'll have on the walleye, although there seem to be some lakes around that have both good walleye crappie fishing. Many lakes saw smallies overtake 'eyes but we're lucky - they both seem to flourish on our system. Have the Milow group planning to do some crappie fishing in June and will monitor it and, if it seems good (which we believe it will), we will be promoting crappie along with all our other species in 2013!
New stuff for 2012....Well, we're in the process of renovating all the cabins - some a little freshen up, some (cabin #3) with portions gutted. Every cabin will see at least some new windows. Freshening up the office and seriously looking at starting another new cabin sometime this year. Just bought a bunch of new couches, plus getting a handful of new docks....plus going to be buying some new boats and motors etc etc.
And.....the weather in March has been fantastic! The last few days have been in the mid seventies. The snow is pretty much all gone and the lake is opening up very quickly. If it keeps like this it'll be open by April. We're loving it as it has given us a head start on the yard work etc. BUT - I know that this warm spring and early break up sounds alarms for all you fisher folk out there. Usually, our ice is out the end of April - give or take a day or two. If conditions are fairly normal, spawns happen "on schedule" (for lack of a better term) and fishing - at least through the end of June - is relatively predictable. Then when this happens a wrench is thrown into the whole scenario. Spawns are early and lots of fishermen are not sure what to expect and face the uncertainty of how to fish, where to fish, what to use etc. A lot of people book the same week every years and get a comfort level of what to expect. Anyway - at this point it seems like it will be an early break up - BUT the jury is still out as far as spawns. I've seen very warm springs before - and boldly predicted early spawns, only to see the weather cool down and seem like it will never warm up. One warm spring / early break up year - since spawns are triggered by water temperatures - the spawns wound up being REALLY late and I looked (and felt) like a fool. So - don't panic yet...we still have a bit of time and anything can happen.
Been an overall milder winter. We did wind up getting quite a bit of snow - likely some of the best snowmobiling conditions around...speaking of which we will be promoting our winter sledding & ice fishing much more. Had a great meeting with Kim Cross from our award winning Atikokan Sno Ho Club last week and looking forward to working with them promoting our world class snowmobiling as well as X Country Skiing and ice fishing. BTW - check out the snowmobiling video on our snowmobiling page to see the awesome trails and scenery this winter:
http://www.seineriverlodge.com/atikokan-snowmobile-trails-cabin-rentals-for-snowmobiling.htm
Also - new ways to process fishing licenses this year. The MNR is issuing us a POS machine to process. We'll see how that goes, but one good development is that you can now buy your fishing licenses on line...here's the link:
https://www1.on.wildlifelicense.com/start.php?lang=1
Anyway - we're getting ready as I'm sure you all are. It is looking very busy for us this year and we thank you for that. Will post some stuff soon including some of the cabin reno pics....thanks as always to all of our friends for all the help with yard cleanup, rnos and repairs this spring - Richard, Garry, Howie, Darryl, Cora, Darcy....THANKS VERY MUCH!! Talk to ya'll soon!
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