Lac Seul Fishing Reports

[midwesthunter]

Bray isn't difficult to get to, just make sure you have a map with you. As far as Lac Seul Adventures, the cabins are decent, running hot/cold water, all the basics. Its nothing special but serves its purpose. There are two docks there that are nice and can handle all the boats the three cabins there will have. There is a nice break right by the docks so depth isn't an issue. We were catching walleyes right off the dock. The roads going into the camp are all gravel, not the smoothest but again nothing to be too concerned about unless you are worried about the paint job on the boat.

[Lakeside]

Chamberlin Narrow June 20 - 26.

First off remember that Lac Seul is the First Nations word for "Fish Factory". Whatever reports you have heard about terribel fishing is an aboration.

It has been claimed that you can catch walleye on any point in the lake. That may,or may not, be true. What I can report is that our boat caught walleye on 21 of 22 spots we fished last week. Either there are really a lot of walleye in the lake (true) or after 10 years up there we know what spots to fish (possibly).

I can also report that the fish were not where we typically would have found them the third week in June. As reported previously they were found shallower (6-8' instead of 12-15') and on softer bottoms that we have come to expect. We did not use any live bait in our boat. Almost exclusivly Gulp! Other boat used a few leaches, but found no real benefit.

The lake seems to be about 10 days behind "normal" but with the warm WX last week I'm thinking it will get back to average in the next week or so.

Water level is not a problem. Easy passage through the Rags, and more beach to pull the boats up on. Weed growth is, as one would expect, less that usual for this time of year.

Seemed to be a really nice run of walleye sizes. Not too many 'cigars'; enough 16 - 17.5 keepers; lots of 18-19 slot fish and quite a few of the 20"+ big girls. Biggest of the trip was 26"

Northern were less obvious than in past years, but the group did manage to scrape out a bunch. Largest was 44".

Muskies were not playing last week. Not surprising with the cooler water. Largest was 35", smallest maximum size we have ever reported.

I'll post a link to pix later.

Dan- shoot me a note at [email protected] for some personal info.

Lakeside

[Fish Head]

Welcome back Lakeside and thanks for the great report! It sounds like the walleye fishing was good. The musky fishing doesn't surprise me based on the late spring. I'll shoot you an email.

Dan

[iffwalleyes]

The most difficult trip to Bray is the first time. The last gap that leads to the lake is kind of hard to see from a distance but with a GPS and map it is simple. Two years ago we probably averaged a 23" size in Bray truly awesome fishing. We had to leave Bray the last day to catch the last none slot fish in out limit. But last year it was a ghost town there. Vaughn has always treated me well. Just seems to be the pattern for us to fish weed edges in shallow water less that 15' and that seems to be where the active fish have held. Deeper water we always mark fish but they are never that agressive. Lot of good spots to fish. I am 3 weeks a way from my trip to Mahkwa. I am as usual can't wait for that.

[winniewalleye777]

Mahkwa next week for us!!! I think we are gonna try bray. I have never been back there, and we have a gps and chip so I think its worth a try. Thanks for all the reports!! I will be sure to add to them when we return

[pig_farmer]

Do not trust the chip.

I Followed a guide the first time to Bray.

41 miles one way from rat bay

There are some places you would think there was all deep water.

The chip lies.

Yah last july it was green dog day water.

I have a trail file or I could mark a map.

pig_farmer

[winniewalleye777]

We don't have to go near that far

[iffwalleyes]

Nope it is about 12 Miles up there from the lodge maybe 13. As them at the lodge you can shoot up between the islands and not have to get in the really big water for that far. Kind of a neat drive too.

Winnie fire me an e mail. I can get you some more info if you would like.

[Skeeterwalleye]

I am new to the site and am looking for some more insight on Lac Seul. I will be fishing the 7-7 thru 7-11. We are staying right by Mahkwa Lodge. What direction should I venture first. I have never been to the lake. You can email me any and all advice on colors, lures, depths, where not to run, etc. Thanks.

[winniewalleye777]

Email sent IFF. Thanks!

[SCONASOTAN]

Got back on Sunday from 4 days fishing the Taylor Island area. Decent weather and once found the walleye fishing was great. First 2 days were slower by Lac Seul standards but still caught plenty. last 2 days were great with 60, 100 fish per day myself respectively. Saturdays fishing was nothing short of amazing in a down pour rain most of the day.. we had 2 older gents that are not accustomed to fishing a lot and using big, old stiff, cheap equipment. we caught over 250 walleyes for the boat that day with a 28" biggest. Many fish in the slot and over. rare was a fish under 15". My father-in-law caught nearly as many as I did but as the captain he was handicapped in wind and rain. fish bit anything you wanted. used mostly crawlers but also minnows until gone and gulp and other ringworm plastics. Simply furious bite when the wind was blowing into a "C" shaped rock reef/island and I casted into a foot of water and brought out to 12 fow. and the others in the boat jigged over the side in 12 fow.

bonus 4 lb smallie, 40" 20lb nothern and 4 lb whitefish.

[Fish Head]

Thanks for the update SCONASOTAN. That sounds like a great trip! Your report seams to hold true with what others have been saying...shallow water. It's fun when you get on the furious bite where they will smack just about anything. I love the bonus 40" northern too!

I'm not sure what part of Lac Seul Taylor Island area is, but I'll be leaving for the Champerlain Narrows area on Sunday....Can't wait!!

[rocstar]

Fished out of Lac Seul Resort on Lost Lake SE of Lac Seul all last week. Six guys, six days fishing, 1,700 fish. Water temps cool, 67 degrees on Lost Lake and the river system up to Lac Seul. Fish not in usual places but fish mostly in shallow water; 3 to 7 feet most of the week. Not a lot of wind last week but the trick was to fish the shorelines with wind, and shallows with mud and weeds and/or stumps until you find them. When we did, we killed them. (100 to 200 fish per boat days). Best areas were in the 70 to 72 degree range. 3/16 jigs with leaches (5 lbs) or crawlers (80 doz). We do not use minnows. Work the shallow shorelines and you will pick up fish here and there until you find the pack. If you do not, MOVE. We did well on the end of the week in 12 to 14 feet in sand when winds went down and things got sunny. Many slot or better fish. Did not go up Taylor way as we felt shallow waters were best. Water levels just fine and more water in Rags than last two years. Been going up many years the same week and rate this year's trip as very good but fishing conditions totally different. Hot spots would turn on and off in a matter of hours depending on the wind and sun so you needed to work and find them.

[SCONASOTAN]

I hear ya rocstar, things were different than "normal" condidtions but not that far off. We seem to think that when the crawlers take off so does the bite in our "normal" spots around the Taylor area and when things are behind they are shallower and in bay areas. We did fish closer to Lost Lake some as well and always seem to find some fish.

Taylor Island is on your way up when you go to Chamberlain. Almost always has a houseboat or 2 on it. It is a couple miles south of Bear Narrows. Bear narrows seems to be as far north as we currently go. One of these years we are going to go to Chamberlain via houseboat or stay at Lac Seul Outposts up there.

[Fish Head]

Great report rocstar, thanks! I've heard a few guys now say they found the fish off the traditional hot spots in a shallower, not rock bottom but maybe muck or sand/weeds. I'll keep that in mind if if the traditional patterns aren't working.

Bear Narrows is about as far south as we have ever gone, but Taylor Island is obviously pretty close to that. We also go far north of chamberlain narrows. This will be our 6th year going to Lack Seul Outpost, but we've been talking about doing the houseboat thing one of these years too.

Has anyone had any success with muskies yet??

Leaving on Sunday....2 days, 17 hours and 45 mintues!!!!

[christheisen]

Can anyone who has been to Mahkwa this year give an update on the new road that they have put in to drive in and how the water levels are this year? Heading up August 1 and wondering how wide, what shape the road is in, etc.

Thanks

[winniewalleye777]

We just got back yesterday from Mahkwa. The new road to Mahkwa is terrible. It is as wide as the other road, but the gravel/shale rock mix they laid on it is very rough and sharp. The bridge over the Vaughn inlet is just as wide as any other bridge on the road. I would advise you to be extremely careful on the new road. Our group has been going to Mahkwa every year since it opened (roughly 23 years now) so we have seen bad roads, and this is worse. We, in fact, got a flat tire just after we got over the bridge coming into camp. One of the shale rocks left a gash in the truck tire. I think if you go slow enough you should be fine.

With regard to water levels, I would say they are just slightly above average. There were signs in the cabins warning of high water levels, but that must have been early in the year. We figured that water levels were maybe 6 inches above average at most. Water temps were 62-63 in Vaughn, 64 in Mahkwa's bay.

Fishing was incredible as usual. We found several spots between the Vaughn inlet and the back of Vaughn lake that held a lot of nice 17 inch fish. Constant action in those spots. Other spots held a lot of fish, but the bite seemed a little slower. The main lake islands and points aren't real hot right now. Caught a few small ones out there, but the best fishing was in Vaughn. Many boats stayed right around the new bridge which has some good current running through it, but we never stopped and fished it. Personally, I think they should not allow fishing within 100 ft of the bridge. Almost every time through, we had to maneuver around boats that were stacked right underneath the bridge.

In 3 days of fishing we figured that our 4 boats caught between 4,500 and 5,000 walleyes. Our biggest walleye was 28 3/4" and biggest pike was 44". Leeches and minnows worked about the same.

[iffwalleyes]

Hey bad road or not I still like the idea of being able to drive right to my cabin door and not having to mess with loading and unloading the boat at the landing.

[winniewalleye777]

Totally agree with you. It especially helps on the way out. I always hated having to pack up the boat and heading over to the landing at 5:30 in the morning. Now you can pack it all the night before and save yourself almost an hour. Just have to be real careful on the last bit of road.

[Captain B.R.K]

Sounds like the bite has been phenomenal! We leave Sunday for Hudson Bay Floating Lodges and head to Sen Bay. I know where Mahkwa is...we are East of there by quite a bit.

I know traditional walleye structure, but I've been up there for the last 3 years (around end of July) and I have NEVER had the big fish days like everyone is talking about.

I'd appreciate any tips between now and Friday night on what to look for. For the best bite up there, what kind of structure am I looking for/ should I key on?

FYI..I take GULP every year and never get fish on it. What am I doing wrong?!?

Thanks for the help guys!!

[iffwalleyes]

Gulp doesn't always work. For me it works well on years that we are also doing well on our salted minneows. If they are hitting well on that then I will try my luck on gulp as I can catch more fish per piece before having to change.

As far as structure for me. I look for shallow weed edges first and by shallow I mean less that 15 more like 10-8 sometime less than that. Last year I pulled supper one night out of 3'. But weeds have been the key for me. If you slide out deeper in rocks you will mark more fish but they always seem to have a good case of lock jaw for me. Shallow water the fish tend to be more aggresive with my experience up there.

[Fish Head]

I got back on Saturday from the Chamberlain Narrows area of Lac Seul. The water level was a good foot or so high. The season is running behind as the water temps were only 63 degrees. They also had a fly hatch while we were up there. Weather was good the first 3 days, but big winds limited fishing some the last 2 days.

One day we found the walleyes in 20-22 feet, but most days we found them in 14-17 feet. We used crawlers, leeches and minnows, and I never saw a preference. I think they all worked equally well. I used gulp alive a few times and caught some fish, but it didn’t work as well as live bait.

We didn’t catch any (or many) real big walleyes. The largest was 25 ½, but that was caught fishing for northerns. Other than that, the largest was probably 22. We didn’t have any trouble catching a limit of eaters each day, but it would have been nice to pull up an occasional 24-27 inch eye.

We didn’t catch any muskies, but we didn’t put much time into them either. We had a lot of fun with the northerns. At Lac Seul we always have northerns grab our walleyes on the way to the boat, but it happened more than normal this year. Several 35+ inch Northerns were caught including a 40 inch on 6 pound mono by my son.

Great trip! Always fun to be on the water with your kids!!

[Captain B.R.K]

Hey Fishhead, would you be willing to share your e-mail address. I have some questions for you.

[Fish Head]

dan at oliveragency.com

[hill7410]

4,500 to 5,000 walleyes in 3 days of fishing sounds exaggerated by about 4,500 if you ask me. That's like a fish every couple minutes for 12 hours a day. Maybe with a cane pole and never having to put any bait on and never moving spots?