Lac Seul ice out

[snagger]

I've heard the ice is out in the Lost Lake/Hudson area of Lac Seul. We're heading up Friday for the opener on Saturday. I'm pretty sure the walleye spawn at about 50 degrees so I'm assuming they will still be in prespawn mode and congregated in the traditional spawning grounds. I would imagine this could lead to some good fishing even though the water temp is still cold. Would you guys agree??

[prov1900]

Yeah, they will be staging and hungry. You should slay them.

[LMFlyin]

Ice surely could be out in the Hudson area. I do not fly over that section of the lake. I went up again today. My track today leaving Dryden takes me right over Vaughn, west side of the big island, Wapesi bay, and on up over Coons bay. Wind did some damage today and saw lots of progress from yesterday to today. Kegik Bay area lost alot of ice overnight. Vaughn has no ice at all. Wapesi bay is breaking up nicely. Still some big sheets here and there. The main south basin still has lots of ice. Tomarrow is suppose to be windy again so more damage will be had.

[Fish Head]

Lakeside, you guessed right. We had to change our time because my son and one of the other boys have an AAU basketball tournament out of town that week we usually go. Now that we're going in July, I'm wondering if that changes fishing at all. Maybe we'll try crawlers and/or leeches more and minnows a less. We'll definitely do a little more musky fishing this year. Great pictures, thanks for sharing!

[Zaraspooks]

Chamberlain Narrows Update:

Per Vickie at the store, Ken & Brenda flew into camp on Tuesday. The boys appear to have broken a trail through. Plan 3-4 trips each day Wednesday/Thursday/Friday. Half of our group goes up on Thursday and the rest on Friday. The Thursday group offered to wait until Friday but they were told to be there on Thursday because they'll be able to get in. Rain and strong winds today are really breaking up the ice.

Checked the satellite photo today but to cloudy to see anything but I have noticed a major change in the ice conditions on Nipigon in the last couple days.

[Fish Head]

Zaraspooks- Good luck on your trip and watch out for icebergs. I've never been up to Chamberlain Narrows this early. I would think Scaler Lake would be good at this time. Tell Ken & Brenda Dan Oliver says hi.

When you get back, be sure to post. I'm always eager to hear how people did.

[LMFlyin]

Did the same route again today up over Vaughn, Kegik Bay Wapesi Bay, Jackfish Narrows, Coons Bay. Only saw acouple sheets of ice, looks like who ever is fishing Lac Seul for opener wont have any ice issues. The wind the last few days did alot of damage on the ice.

[unclebruce]

Four of us just got home from a 3 day trip at Chamberlain Narrows. The numbers were down, but holy cow the fish were nice. Scaler was OK but had much better luck elsewhere. Biggest was 29 then a 27, 5 26's, couple of 25's and many 20-24. 20% of the fish we caught were over 20. It just never gets old. Only a bit of ice going in, but it did take out both transducers, and we lost a prop on a reef. Be carefull out there, one other boat took out their lower unit on an i/o.

[Zaraspooks]

unclebruce -

I would have to agree with you that although the numbers were down, the size was amazing. 8 guys and our biggest was 28, 3 27's, 12 26's, many 24-25's and 20-23's were to many to count. We struggled catching fish under the 18" slot. In fact we came home 1 short of our limit. Scaler was slower than normal but that is where we got most of our fish under 18". That wind and snow on Saturday really made for a tough opener.

I didn't realize you were in the Redpath Group. We were in the cabin across from yours. I'm one of the guys in that cabin that used to work with Roger. This was our 16th year. Maybe we won't have to deal with those conditioins again since they are bumping everyone back one week next year.

[Fish Head]

Thanks for the update guys. It sounds like there were some nice fish caught!

[snagger]

3 of us fished Lac Seul in the Sioux Lookout/Hudson area. We fished 3 days. We caught 109 fish and 55 were bigger than 21". The biggest was 28.5". The bite was tough due to the weather. All fish still had spawn in them.

[fishingMN4eyes]

Do You guys fish Lac Seul during the summer? We go up every year in late July/early August. We have never really had problems catching lots of walleyes, there is just no size to most of them. I was wondering if the size diminishes as the summer progresses. We had a 24" was our biggest fish last year and I bet we only caught one or two that were 20" for the whole week.

[Zaraspooks]

I've personally never been there in the summer but some other guy's in our group have. They all said the same thing, lots of small fish. Many of them no longer make the summer trip and now only go in the spring.

[snagger]

You can still catch big fish in the summer. For several years I used to go Lac Seul in July/August. Early in our trips we had the same problem....lots of smaller fish with only a few in/over the slot. Then we started fishing deeper structure or flats. We would troll spinner rigs with crawlers or leeches up to 40 feet deep. We caught very few small fish with this technique and consistantly put large fish (26"+) in the boat. Give it a try. Also try deep diving cranks to suspended fish.

It is my belief that very few large walleye share the same location as small eaters in the middle of the summer. They eat different prey and inhabit different water.

[snagger]

I will add this.....I do agree with the other posts that fishing in the early spring seems to produce more big fish. We used to still get them in the summer, but not the same numbers. At least that has been our experience.

[muc33]

I have no care in the world for the size, but Lac Seul is just a peaceful, fun get away for me. We take a houseboat out of Hudson, and stay on Taylor Island and do nothing but catch fish!!! Walleye galore, Pike casting for fun, and super smallmouth!!!! Nothing better than the black of night and peaceful sleeping!!!! I am T-minus 1 week!!!!! I hit Lac Seul next Sunday for an entire WEEK!!!!! I cannot wait!

[fishingMN4eyes]

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE going up to Lac Seul for that very reason, muc33. It would just be fun to catch a few 25"+ size walleyes up there during the summer when we make the trip. I got nothing against cathcing a ton of fish if they are small, but we struggled to cath anything over 20" last year and it would be nice to bring in a couple slobs every day.

[ozzie]

I have gone on off but have been going since they opened the road out of Hudson to travel for tourists....early 90's?.....the later in the year you go the harder it is to catch the bigger fish but they are out there.....we always catch fish in all sizes up to 27" anything bigger seems a little more rare......but as the season goes on you have to try different things like in the summer start working the reefs and structure and pull rigs or do some deep water jigging but if you do the deep water jigging make sure you have a strong line like fireline to detect the bite early and get a good hookset otherwise it is hard to conect on the fish and get them up to the boat!! I lost a few pigs messing around on the edge of a deep drop doing this a couple different times through the years and landed some dandy walleye and pike....Good Luck