Wabaskang Lake
and Kingfisher Lodge:
Early last
spring I decided that I would skip my spring trip to Ocracoke Island
North Carolina and see if I couldn’t find a lake similar to my
childhood memories of Eastern Ontario. I spent some weeks surfing
the web and narrowed the search down to lakes in NW Ontario above
Minnesota. Next I determined that I didn’t want to fly portage or
boat to camp so I looked into drive in camps on the Red Lake road.
The rest was
pure luck. I stumbled onto Kingfisher Resort on Wabaskang Lake in
Perrault Falls Ontario. Perrault Falls is tiny, one general store
that sells most needs plus beer and booze (very important) and a
post office with a post mistress and her Newfoundland retriever. The
eccentric post mistress of my childhood had Norwegian Elk hounds,
funny how life repeats itself.
Let me tell you
about Wabaskang Lake. This lake is not your typical Canadian Shield
oligotrophic (low fertility, clear water) lake. Wabaskang is an
unusual mesotrophic (medium fertility) shallow (mostly less than
25ft) large (18000 acre) lake broken into 4 smaller lakes by
channels. The water in most segments is deeply stained with tannic
acid giving the water a dark brown color. Each segment has different
characteristics and each is an adventure to fish. Aerobus Bay, for
instance, is clear, deep and has a resident Lake Trout and Whitefish
population. The lake as a whole is just about ideal for smallmouth
bass and walleyes. There are many weed and reed beds holding a
healthy population of bait fish. The lake also has many gravel and
rubble beds for spawning. The lake being broken up into segments is
a plus. Windy days on large lakes can be unfishable and very
dangerous. Spot selection with an eye to the wind is usually
possible on this lake because it has many islands, points and lee
shores.
Global warming
has helped this lake by improving smallmouth bass fry survival.
Wabaskang has a large and growing population of bass, some in the
18-19” range. I personally have seen bass in the 4 1/2lb range. I
expect this lake to start producing 5lb fish on a regular basis in
the next years. Most bass here are caught while fishing for
walleyes. Since they are much more fun catch than walleyes, I find
this strange. Targeting bass in July would probably be very
productive.
Water clarity is
a big issue when walleye fishing. The truth is that walleyes prefer
slightly turbid water. These fish have wonderful eyes for low light
conditions and try for light conditions where they can see and the
baitfish cannot. In clear water conditions, this may only occur
during morning and evening but on Wabaskang Lake low light feeding
conditions may happen at any time during the day. A bank of clouds
and a little wind may ring the dinner bell at high noon! Walleyes do
not tolerate bright light very well and will go deeper when bright
conditions occur. On clear water lakes this may be 35ft. On
Wabaskang this will be 8-12ft on a drop off next to 4-5 ft of water.
The stained water also makes leader length and material less of an
issue. Most fishermen use 6-8lb mono on 6 ½-7ft light action rods.
Wabaskang Lake
has a large, perhaps too large, population of Northern Pike. I
caught a 38” Northern in McCloud Bay fishing for walleyes. They seem
to be everywhere and will bite anything that moves.
Kingfisher
Resort is an unexpected treat, Mainly because of the owners and
staff. The cabins are clean, modern and are constantly being
upgraded with a new flooring etc. The appliances work, the hot water
is hot and all the other things one has learned not to expect when
going into God’s country.
Despite this
recommendation, it is the people that make this camp special. The
owners Gerry and Linda go to extra lengths to make you feel welcome
and it is this personal touch that endears this camp to me and my
spouse. I need to make a special note about Lester. Lester is the
dock person and will take care of your fishing needs. You can expect
him to have your boat fueled bailed and ready to fish early in the
morning. Bait is available too. This camp is geared to people who
FISH! Did I mention fish cleaning? Lester is a wizard with a knife
and will clean and filet your fish faster than you will believe. It
is really fun to watch him work and he can prepare them so they will
pass inspection at the border, great for people who wish to bring a
cooler of fish home.
In closing, let
me mention, I plan on concentrating
on Wabaskang Lake for the next several years.
Chuck Osborne
