Can you tell me about Lake St. Joseph?

[DickUrban]

Our group is strongly considering going to the Old Post & Village on Lake St. Joseph, Ontario in late summer. If you have been there, would you recommend it? Any information about the lake and/or the resort will be appreciated.

[CodyDawg]

went there a few years back. my impressions:

a really rocky lake. nasty. a propellers worst nightmare. way worse than lac seul.

skinny walleyes, good numbers, nothing big. lacking in 28+" fish.

great pike in quantity and quality.

old post: nice place, a little too upscale for my liking, although that may be what a lot of people like. Staff was...confident bordering on cocky, but had no problems whatsoever with them. all in all, a good place to go.

if you like to pike fish, this is a fantastic fishery. if you are strictly a walleye group, it is merely a good place to go. if you like both, it is very good.

That is only my opinion after 1 trip there and compared to 19 years on Lac Seul.

[Down Deep]

Went to Lake St. Joe in July, 2000. Old post was a nice place to stay. We had excellent walleye fishing. We caught 100's of fish per day most of which must have been in the same year class @ 15-16 inches. Pike fishing was good as well. I didn't think that going all the way to Lake Lake St. Joe provided anything special that I couldn't get on many lakes much closer and less expensive.

CodyD is right that the lake is one of the rockest I've ever been on. The wind can really kick the lake up as well.

[walleyesucker]

Cody Dawg,what time of year were you there? I am also thinking about going up there. Was the wind an issue? Did you see many people on the water? Did you get very far from the lodge? This lake has always interested me and I am dissappointed in your take on the lake.

[jerkin'm]

Buddy at my work goes every year...Leaving next week, they love it. Numerous eyes over 20"...

[CodyDawg]

walleyesucker,

I was there about June 7th. The wind can be an issue, but it is no worse there than anywhere else. I would not be bringing a 12 ft boat up there. We motored around a lot and fished all over. The first day we went beyond Boulder City (aptly named). Prolly stayed within 20 miles of camp for the most part.

As for my take, it is simply one guy's opinion (although I happen to be pretty fond of that one guy!). It was good fishing, dont get me wrong, but it didnt stick out compared to others in the area with the exception of pike fishing. When you add in the rock dangers, I prolly wont be back. It was an upscale resort, so if that punches your ticket, you will like it. The walleyes were on the skinny side, no doubt about it, compared to Lac Seul. It seemed to be on the expensive side for me as well. We went there to check it out for our group to see if we wanted to change our Lac Seul trip there. In the end we didnt (obviously), but it wasnt a bad place at all. Look at it this way, I would give our overall Lac Seul trip an 8.5 on a scale of 1 to 10. I would give St. Joseph a 7 due with the lower mark attributed to rocks, it is farther, resort, and walleye fishery.

[eglleftcoast]

Our group was on Lake St. Joe's 3-4 years ago (they all run together after a while). Did not stay at the Old Post & Village, we flew in from Sioux Lookout and stayed on the west end of the lake on Eagle Island. If you didn't know, it's a hugh lake, long and skinny. When we were there, it was barbless and a one treple hook lake as well as being commerically fished by the locals. We liked the lake because of the depth and structure. From our location we could also take advantage of the chain a lakes connected, ie; Blackstone and Miniss though Miniss was not accessible. We found the eyes to be of nice size with lots of fish over 25. Maybe it was the way we were fishing but we had few if any Northerns during our trip. We were on St. Joe's in late August which we consider to be the ideal time to be in Canada. If your going to St. Joe, make sure your bring your GPS....

[Tuffy Boat Guy]

I have been to the old post a couple of times. I joined up with a couple of guys from work. It is intense walleye fishing. We go up in August/September. Catch hundreds of walleyes each. I actually get sick of catching 20-21"ers. The previous posts were correct, 25+ is a big fish up there. It is unbelievably rocky. You go from 50-60' to hitting rocks in no time. It is almost a given that someone in the party will bump a rock.

I hope to go up for years to come. The fishing is so different than fishing in MN because it is so active.

Just don't take our time slot.

The owners seemed to be really good people to me.

[DickUrban]

Thanks for the information guys. Everyone agrees about the rocks. There is not so much agreement about the quality of the fishing - not surprising since everyone is there at a different time. Our group of ten is going to give it a shot in August and then I'll add my opinion. Thanks again.

[walleyesucker]

Jerkin'm, How did your buddy do on St Joe? I am still thinking about a trip up there.