Good afternoon RSL family. Was a great week to be in God’s country as the fish were being cooperative once again. Weatherman remained inconsistently consistent with the forecast. We had quite a few private boats this week and by Friday afternoon practically everyone in camp was out fishing and catching walleyes! We had lots of familiar faces, and as usual a few new faces added to the Rocky Shore Lineup this week.
The pattern on walleyes still seems behind the curve to us. You can often catch walleyes in 10 foot of water. The majority of fish are being caught off humps, and slip bobbers, and plain hook with split shot style rigging has been king. Leeches, and nightcrawlers are what most anglers are taking out for bait. Steve and Jeremiah from next door (Manotak) used minnows with success this week. The familiar locations for mid-summer walleyes has produced the most numbers. It’s great to hear the guys come in and talk about the size and quality of the fish being caught and released. With conservation of the lake resources being so important to all the lodges on our lake we believe the proof is in the stories being told. Thank you to everyone for catching and releasing the walleyes over 18-inches.
The walleye bite was incredible in sizes, numbers, and of course Leah’s 31-inch trophy she caught making it her 5th over 30! The Cabin 4 gang of Josh W and his crew boated in excess of 600 walleyes for the week with many in the mid 20 range. Josh actually recorded a 29 7/8-inch Walleye but couldn’t squeeze that last 1/8th inch out of the beauty otherwise he would have added a star to the 30-inch board. Talk about honesty….That’s about as honest as you can get! Frank III, and Frank IV were up and were hammering the walleyes this week as well. Little Frank got out to an early lead in the size category as he started messing with dad saying he kept getting stuck on rocks when in fact he was locked up with another big walleye just to rub it in dad’s face a little bit. No competition up here and everyone plays nice all the time! Charlie N was up with son John (who coincidentally fished for Musky a good portion of the week and not in Charlie’s boat) and they had several family friends with them, and walleye and shore lunches were plentiful. Charlie mentioned to me Monday at the BBQ that he is really enjoying this week and has figured out he can relax and that it’s not all about catching fish. Let’s be honest there is more to vacation than just catching fish. The scenery, the camaraderie, the unplugging from technology, laughter, and making memories is what we strive to assist everyone in making. The Fastest Week of the year and hopefully the best week of the year! Staying on the walleye talk Charlie has been amazed with the amount of walleyes being caught and pointed out even the musky guys are catching big walleyes while throwing big musky baits! Gotta love July fishing!
We had several groups targeting Musky this week and the guys were rewarded. The official count that I was given was 13 muskies caught, and too many follows to count. Terrell, came in and told us they had 3 consecutive hook-ups with over 50-inch muskies and couldn’t quite get them into the net. The group did boat several 45-inchers though! Nice work to all the Musky anglers this week. With more Musky hunters on the way up it would be nice to have a 50 plus boated and photographed in the coming weeks. Lots of smiles were had this week!
Monday’s tournament was another nice day on the water. Weather cooperated and we had some great fish brought in. Results for the largest Pike/Musky goes out to John Nickle with a 35-inch Musky! Well done John! Bringing in the Micro Fish prize was Les Hillberg. He boated a 5.5-inch Smallmouth bass! Rounding out the Monster/Micro Fish tourney was a gorgeous 31-inch Walleye for Leah Hillberg! If you are gonna boat a 30-incher might as well be on Monday! Congratulations to all our trophy winners!
Week 11 is a wrap and it’s on to late summer antics. With the sun setting quicker, and the nights growing longer the sandbar is going to be heating up quickly and the leaves are going to start considering turning colors. We appreciate you allowing us to help you make the best of your Fastest Week of the Year at Rocky Shore Lodge!
Tight Lines! Photos: fish@rockyshorelodge.