Good morning Rocky Shore Lodge friends and family! Another beautiful weather week. We did have wind but the temps, and sun amount was very agreeable to most. Bear season kicked into full swing as we had a father and son raffle winners up here for their first ever Canadian experience. Fishing was still good, but we need some rain to get the Walleyes to strap on the feedbag. Bill (guide) mentioned the way the moon phase is in August that precipitation really turns the fish on. I’m writing this blog as we approach 1 inch of rainfall today so as Bill commented the rain started to fall.
One story while out baiting bears that I look back at and can laugh now. Normally, when I’m walking through the woods, I attempt to make enough noise so nature knows I’m trampling through the woods and not headed to Grandma’s house and no horse drawn sleigh (too early for Christmas jokes?). Anyway, I was approaching Roger’s bait which is set on a large granite rock the size of our camp. When I busted through the trees there was Roger's big bear laying down facing away from me licking his paws. Needless to say, I had 2 buckets of food that I’m pretty sure he was waiting for so I turned around and beat feet back to the truck thinking the whole time there is a bear thinking I’m a great tasting lollipop he could eat. It didn’t happen and I baited the bear bait an hour later without said bear. I will admit I was a bit shaken. In case you’re wondering we can’t have guns up here for personal protection according to the law. The bear was seen on our trail cam 3 minutes later wandering off so apparently, he was too busy grooming himself to even realize I was within 20 feet of him. LOL.
Our biggest Walleye this week was 29.5-inches by Marvin Cooley. He said Dave didn’t measure it right and smashed the lips into their board as to ensure he didn’t reach the 30-inch mark. LOL. I asked Dave and he said he’s just jealous he fell a half inch short. No, I’m not thinking of any jokes about that comment but some of our readers might.
If you like minnows and are coming up for fall fishing, you’ll be happy. The minnow is king again and lots of walleyes are gorging on them. Crawlers are still fine as well. Leeches are done this season. Lots of eyes being caught with jigging raps, and shiver minnows as well.
Smallmouth fishing hasn’t slowed down and if you find rocks, you’ll find smallmouth bass.
Musky anglers had success, and hopefully I’ll get some of their pictures from last week. We haven’t had any 50-inchers this year, but there is still plenty of excellent Musky fishing through September so stay tuned.
We had 3 Bear Hunters in camp this week. Congratulations to Ryan, Kaleb, and Roger for harvesting 3 nice bears. Roger took aim at a big 400 plus pound bear. Wolves found it before the posse. Sometimes nature wins folks. Fortunately, Roger got enough of the Bear to get a very nice mount, but he won’t be eating bear chili this winter. Ryan and Kaleb faired better on that end with nice respectable bears. Ryans dressed out at 240 lbs, and Kaleb’s dressed out at 150 pounds. Very nice gentlemen.
I only got 3 fish photos this week so please don’t forget to email Steve and I pictures at fish@rockyshorelodge.com. You can also tag us on your Facebook posts or just simply drop them on our page for all to see. Thanks.
Monster Fish Monday results: Congratulations to our winners! Dan Brasel landed a gorgeous 23.75-inch Walleye. Charles Helm boated a 25.75-inch Northern Pike, and after chasing fish around the lake Doug Wellenreiter put his particular set of skills together and boated a beautiful tank of a perch measuring 5.5-inches to capture the Micro fish lure! 2 more weeks to go with our fishing contest folks. Congratulations Anglers!
The season is slowly starting to fade but with the minnow bite is back and the cooler water temps means the big fish are strapping the feedbags on and the eaters are providing us with camp shore lunches. If you are coming up still this season and want to entertain a camp shore lunch let us know and we will ask around camp. It is fun and a great time to break bread throughout the week with different folks.
Onto Week 15!