Lac Seul Reports.

[rocstar]

Headed up to Lac Seul the end of June and with the earlier ice out this year we are interested on how things are shaping up for this year. How about a few reports to get our blood pumping!

[midwesthunter]

We will be up there June 20th. Called the resort a couple of days ago and they said fishing was great and some of the walleyes still had some eggs in them.

[George]

We were up there for a week on a houseboat. Got back the Friday before memorial day. Fishing was very good. Water level is low. Looked about 3 feet lower than last year. We were south of Chamberlin narrows. Fish were anywhere from 8-25 feet. Not as many big fish as in the past but we thought the 17 incher was easier to come by this year. Hope this helps.

[Capt'nMorgan]

we leave this friday for Lac Seul and are staying on the houseboat from Whitewing resort, where did you go out of?

[George]

Hudson, Lac Seul Floating Lodges.

[Skeeterwalleye]

I will be up there the 5th-11th. We stay at Mahkwa. Any other info out there about water level, etc? We will be going for walleye and muskie. Thanks.

[midwesthunter]

Just got back last night. Water levels seemed to be pretty average to me. Fishing was good. Vaughn seemed to be busier then normal but we did catch a lot of fish in there. All the bigger fish were caught elsewhere though. If you are planning on fishing for muskie you are going to have to boat over to the east side of Lac Seul.

[rocstar]

Just got back yesterday from fishing the eastern end of Lac Seul from Lost Lake up to Taylor Island area, Grassy Lake to Canoe Bay. The weather was great for a vacation but not the best for fish numbers. Could not fish the wind as there was little to none all week. Never got the rain gear out once and the bugs were not too bad. The water level was a little lower than normal but not bad. Have fished lower water but definately lower right now than what we have experienced over ten years.

Fished with a group of six over about six days. Caught just over 1,000 fish, which is lower than our average but still a good catch. Fishing was best early morning until about 9-10AM and then things would shut down considerably. 7PM to 9PM about the same thing but mornings were best. Fish were scattered with most in the area of 17 foot to 21 foot depth. Caught fish as deep as 32 foot. Had to hunt to find bait fish and then graph fish that were hopefully biting.

Fished exclusively with crawlers and leeches with about the same results. Rig of the week was a bare hook for us. Could catch fish on about anything but the flashy stuff was definately out fished by the bare hook. Fish were not as aggressive as we would have like to see.

The size of fish seemed larger than normal. Caught about 85 over the slot with several 27", a 28, a 29, and two at 29.75". In over 10 years we have never caught anything over 28". Had only one 27" tagged fish that records indicate was tagged at Pelican Falls in 2000 at 22" and 9 years old. So now at 20 years old and 27" it pays to throw those big ones back guys!

Had motor trouble (electrical) with one boat and got it fixed by the local shop in Souix Lookout in about 2 hours. The mechanic was great and went out of his way to even go home and take parts off his own motor to get us back on the water. Have never experienced that before!

Wait at the border going up and back on a Saturday was about 1 hour. One group went up on a Sunday and there was no wait with only one crossing lane open.

All in all had another great trip and plan to return next June for a repeat.

[Coach]

We normally fish the west northwest side, any reports over there? Colors, depths, thanks for the replies and good luck.

[Mistermojo]

Coach, we are leaving tomorrow for Ear Falls, are you going to be in that area also?

[Coach]

We are leaving Wednesday-Sunday, please give us a report on depths and your luck. I hope the weather cooperates

[SpitnArgueDuckClub*]

Anyone have any current updates that they can share?

[Coach]

It was a great trip, we were on McKenzie bay. With four in the boat we caught 80-120 fish a day, anywhere from 10-25 feet, it depended on the spot. Jig and minnow/nightcrawer is what we used, bright colored jigs did better(a little) than dark jigs. Enjoy the fishing.

[SpitnArgueDuckClub*]

Sorry if this is a novice question but are barbless hooks mandatory on the Lake?

[Coach]

No they are not, have a great trip

[ddsbyday]

Does Canada define a lure the same as Minnesota does. The reason I ask is I am curious if you can use stinger trebles on a jig or a jig with a treble? Would your basic quick strike rig be legal? Thanks in advance.

[Mistermojo]

It sounds like a cop-out, but we really did find fish all over at the west end near Ear Falls. In general, we found the majority in 15-20' but as shallow as 5 and as deep as 25ish. Orange, Pink, and gold jigs were good colors for us, gold was good when the sun was out. As it got warmer during the day, we tended to do better deeper. Good luck!

[fishingMN4eyes]

Heading up to Chamberlain Narrows next week 8/10-8/14. Any info out of that part of the lake? Thanks in advance!

[fishingMN4eyes]

Just bumping the thread. I am going out of town this weekend so I am hoping to see couple reports before we take of Monday night. Thanks in advance! Otherwise I will be reporting when we return next week .

[christheisen]

Returned on Friday from an amazing Lac Seul trip. We stayed at Mahkwa. Fish were biting in 19-23 feet of water on steep rock drops. We had our best fishing between the 2 points just to the left of Highbanks, straight out from Mahkwa, on the point on the first island past Windigo, off the left point of the bay Mahkwa is in, and if you go out of Mahkwa and go left out of the bay, then basically straight ahead to the first land mass you run in to. Windigo produced alot of fish too. Early in the week, when the water was flat, pink, red and chartreuse jigs with crawlers worked the best. Later in the week, when the wind picked up, chartreuse was by far the best color, with crawlers and white and chartreuse twisty tails seemed to produce better than other colors. Lipstick jigs were also very productive.

Water levels were average, roads were good.

All in all, it was a very good week of fishing, despite the fact that we had several cold fronts come through overnight while we were there. Vaughn produced very little action, and I would stay out of Vaughn. Lots of fish 21" and above, but nothing over 27." Looking forward to next year, as long as Mahkwa gets the water pressure figured out. Other questions, feel free to post.

[SpitnArgueDuckClub*]

Hello Christheisen, may I ask a couple of questions about Mahkwa? Did you rent a boat? If so how nice are the rigs? and did you rent or need a guide? If so how was that experience? Any smallmouth fishing there as well? Thanks in advance

[deacon]

We are headed to Mahkwa on the 19th good to hear fishing and roads are good. Water pressure can live with this as long as fishing is good.

Thanks for the report very much appreciated. I have a few questions if you would like to provide pm

deacon64 dot charter at net.

thanks.

[WoodlandSavage]

Just got back from Mahkwa Lodge on Lac Seul—we fished from Tuesday Aug 9 through Sat Aug 14. Fishing was great. We had 17 guys and 6 boats. Most boats were 100+ walleyes per day fishing 3 guys per boat.

We pretty much fished the whole area west of Mahkwa (from about half way to Dominion Islands to the first little island west of the resort.) Eagle Island, Windego Island & LaSalle Island were the best spots generally, but we had luck on MANY other spots as well. During mid-day, we found good fishing on some of the outer reefs.

Caught fish mainly from 22-35 feet. The guides at Mahkwa were fishing 30-45 feet. The water temp was about 73-75 degrees. The best fishing was during the rain and thunderstorms. When we had rain, we were getting doubles and triples consistently. Fishing was slow when it was sunny and calm (obviously). Minnows seemed to be slightly better than crawlers at catching fish but both worked well.

We did not catch as many big ones this year as in years past, but the total numbers of fish were up from the past couple years. Biggest walleye – 26.5” ; Biggest Northern – 33” ; Biggest Smallie – 18”

[fishingMN4eyes]

Just got back last night from a trip to Chamberlain Narrows. We had luck in anywhere from about 12-30 ft of water. We caught a ton of slot fish in the 20-21" range which were fun to catch. Lots of small fish were boated and not a ton of bigger fish. We had one 24" boated and a 26" as well which was caught trolling cranks. We fished minnows and crawlers to start the week and finished up using strictly crawlers (mainly because we couldn't keep the minnows alive for very long). The crawlers seemed to fish pretty even with minnows if not even outfish them when we actually used the minnows. Saturday and Sunday (for the boat ride back to the launch) were very windy. We struggled contolling the boat in the wind so we went where it was a little more protected. We still caught fish, but the other boat we were with had better fishing while they were battling the wind. Pretty good week of fishing. Heard there is going to be some nasty weather up there this week though with cool temps as well. Good luck to anyone heading up there!