Report from Manitou/Camp Manitou

[Hoffer]

Well, we hit camp manitou on Saturday evening. Left Maple grove(Mpls) at 7am and arrived at camp at 4:40 PM.

The first night we just fished a bit around camp and picked up a few smallies and few small slimers.

the 2nd day we had a tough day. It was our first time to manitou and we just tried the "normal" areas like casting to the shore in bays and around island. We tried for trout too but we didnt really know too much about the technique and the where and whens.

That evening we talked to Matt at camp and he showed us a few places on the map - namely some small lakes just outside the strecth as you enter into Lower Manitou.

First cast that morning for my brother was 17 inch smallie, 2nd cast a 17 inch smallie, and my fist cast a nice smallie as well.

So, we proceeded to work the lake and the shorelines and basically caught one smallie after the other the rest of the day...I dont even know if we could have kept count.

We then tried some trout fishing later that evening - but no luck again - mainly due to our lack of experience.

We then hit those same 2 lakes the next 2 days and just basically fished a "sure thing". Smallies were everywhere. i am sure the 3rd day we caught well over 100 fish easy.

the last day it was a hot one! I brought my brother in at around 5:30 - then found a small bay about a mile around the corner from camp manitou. It was totally secluded and very cool. It was also full of smallies. i trolled the shoreline, the lake was like glass, and the setting suen made for a great night. Picked up well over 4o to 50 fish in 2.5 hours just trolling around. They werent large ones - all around 13,14,15 inches - but they hammered the baits and fought hard.

We basically just used a 1/4 oz jig with a twister tail. Pretty much just casted it out and retrieved it back at a steady speed. Didnt have to work it at all - or tip it with anything. They would just come after it. Very easy fishing.

As far as camp manitou - everything was great. We had everything we needed - or if we didnt when we asked for it - it was done right away. Matt and the gang there are great and I would not hesitate at all to come back. In fact we will most likely make another trip very soon. I guess they are redoing the cabins and making them a bit more updated.

The only thing I would absolutely do differently the next time around is hire a guide there the first day. we talked to a guide the last morning, and found out the areas we were fishing held large smallies a little deeper out in the water and also some larger Northern in certain areas. We could have also targeted and had some tips on Trout fishing which for us trout newbies would would been very helpful!!

I would also have targeted some Muskie too - but the smallie action was a sure thing and the area we were fishing was so picturesque - with not a boat in sight - so we just decided to stay there.

We brought our own boat - but Matt also had very nice boats with 50HP 4 stroke tillers and bow mounted trolling motor and depth finders - they looked very nice.

Also, the weather was perfect - we had great temps, slight wind and no bad weather except a few early morning storms that cleared up well in time for fishing.

All in all - one of the better trips - maybe my best to Canada so far - and we will be back.

[SimilarIsland]

Hoffer,

How hard was the portage into Phairs and Flossie? Or was the water high enough that you could get your boat in?

[Hoffer]

I cant remember which lake is which...the first one you come to is really easy to get to - a simple channel about 8 feet deep....As you know the 2nd one has access from the first one on the other end. It was a pretty nice channel - very easy and about 3 to 4 feet deep. The only issue was right at the very end it did get a little shallow and there were a few dead trees that were laid down in the water that you had to kind of veer around. We had a 16 foot lund rebel though that can get into pretty much any area that is at least a foot deep. i think a little later on the 2nd lake might be hard to get into once the water goes down a foot or so..

One thing I thought was interesting...I was thinking that the 2nd lake - being that it was further back and accessed by a shallow channel would be the shallower and muddier of the 2 - but that 2nd lake actually gets around 50 feet deep - while the 1st lake only gets about 10 feet deep - just thought that was a little weird. It wad the 2nd lake that the guide at manitou said they went into and caught some larger smallies (over 20 inches...in deeper water..). We went into the 2nd lake 2 times as well and caught many fish - but nothing that big - but then again we didnt try the deeper water...

I would also think later in the summer the first one would get weed choked?? as it is only 10 feet deep...

[SimilarIsland]

Hoffer,

Thanks, I think the first one is Phairs and the second one is Flossie. We tried to get in Phairs in 2007, but the water was pretty low - I also think we tried a tougher way.

Thanks for the info.

Similar

[10,000 Casts]

Glad to here that you guys had a good time down at Camp Manitou! I don't think a guy could go wrpng at any of the 3 camps.

Next time you guys go, email me and I will give you a couple waypoints of some trout spots on the southern half of the main lake. We had 5-6 spots where you could catch 20-30 Lakers before lunch, probably about a 20 min ride. I'll have to keep a couple for myself though

[Hoffer]

Thanks 10K!! We will have to stay in touch - I am sure we will be going next year again...and maybe we will be up there the same time around next year...

Similar - Matt showed me the place you guys stay at - it looked like a sweet cabin!

We fished for trout around that island in your bay - kind of closer to that other brown cabin on the end of the bay...there were supposed to be trout in that area - we did mark some - and I think I had 2 hits - but we were using regular mono line with alot of stretch - and I couldnt set the hook and later when I talked with Matt he said you need to use no stretch line like spider or fireline when you are fishing 90 feet down! I guess i should have known better!

[Hoffer]

PS both of those lakes phairs and flossie are very cool - very picturesque! We saw a moose with 2 calfs, we also saw a wolf right in one of the bays by camp manitou - hard to beat the scenery up there!!

Those 2 lakes really made our trip - as they provided alot of action! I wonder how the smallie fishing is once they are done spawing and head out into deeper waters?? They were sure stakced up in those 2 lakes!! we would catch a smallie and almost every time there would be at least 1 - sometimes 2 or 3 others that would follow it all the way to the boat! When my brother would get one and the others followed i would try to cast my jig right by the others - but no luck - i think they were more intersted in what the heck the caught fish was doing!

[SimilarIsland]

South Bay is pretty popular for Lake Trout. Behind that other cabin in South Bay is the Alonghill portage and south of the cabin I stay in is the Dogfly portage, both excellent, excellent lakes. I wish I could just stay there from May to October.

[Outfitter17]

Hey Mark,

It was very nice to meet you and your brother, I am glad you guys had a good time. As you would have guessed the bass and northern fishing has been great and tonight we ran out for and hour after dinner and caught 6 trout off of black island right in front of the camp.

I will keep you posted on the fishing as we go through the summer.

Thanks,

Matt

[SimilarIsland]

How about some reports from the Manitou?

How's the water level? Temp? Any more big Muskies? Weed Growth?

I'm Jonesin here! Only eight more weeks!

[Outfitter17]

The water level is slowly starting to drop, but still about 6-12" from normal.

The temps range from 67 to 72 depending on where you are on the system.

I biggest muskie reported being caught in the past week was a 47" by some new guys from southern WI.

The weeds seem to be getting to normal, (about 4 weeks behind).

All the fish seem to be in their summer patterns now, which is a good thing. They are very easy to target and the fishing has been very good the past couple of weeks.

[SimilarIsland]

Thanks Matt, much better now.....................

[muskieman53]

Wasent stayin at camp manitou but was stayin around the corner. I got this nice 48 inch muskie last week. The fishin was pretty tough. Raised a lot throughout the week and lost a couple around the magical mark. Couldent really get the followers to eat though. I think if the water temps were in the 70's we would have done better.

[Outfitter17]

Hey Muskieman,

Nice fish, what did you catch her on?

[SimilarIsland]

Nice fish Muskieman53! Were you at Wayne's place? - nice guy.

[muskieman53]

Bucktail. Nope i was at Camp Beaverhead.

[Outfitter17]

We have been having success on orange/black bucktails as well as gold/white.

I was guessing beaverhead, with the ky loc.

[superbee]

Nice fish, was it the best for your groups trip?

[muskieman53]

For the group i went up with yes. The group the week before biggest was 50. I had some shots and screwed up those shots on some piggies!

[superbee]

That's a good fish. Do you mainly fish the big lake and around Beaverhead?

[muskieman53]

Mostly. Also fish up and around powder island area on the upper manitou.

[superbee]

That's all good water, some big muskies to be caught throughtout the whole system. Do you do any portages?

[Outfitter17]

Superbee,

I think they might use kamini lake, I ran into some guys at the landing a couple of years ago and one of them mentioned going into that lake.

[cedarnarrowsguy]

Outfitter,

I'll be on the Tou, probably Sunday. If we have a chance....I'll stop in to say "hello"...maybe have a blue.

[Outfitter17]

I should be around, sounds good.