Good morning RSL Family! Week 2 flew by as we all understand the Fastest Week of the Year is a reality! We had unseasonably warm weather last week and fans were being used. It didn’t seem to bother the fishing at all as we saw lots of pics of nice hauls, and we caught photo and released our first 30-Inch Walleye this week! More on that later.
Steve has started his weekly Live updates on Tuesday mornings. He will cover any changes to the border crossing, road conditions as we hear from guests, and fishing reports, and anything pertinent to your travel up to God’s country.
As we move into the season, we are encouraging people to consider bringing zip lock bags to store their fish in, or a Food Saver type vacuum sealer. The MNR doesn’t like the freezer paper we use as they must open up to inspect fish. It’s still legal and we will have freezer paper, but we feel your fish will keep better if they’re maintained in the state they were frozen in, and opening the freezer paper can be a bit of annoyance for you if they open up your entire catch for the week. Something to consider.
We are asking everyone to purchase prop/skag insurance this year to the tune of 25 dollars per rented boat. This will help us cover the cost of accidental props and skags being damaged due to the low water levels on the lake. We try and mark all the hazards but you just never know. If you want to opt out of that let us know. I will let everyone know as we go over the boat safety checklist and newer bait receipt requirement.
MNR instituted a bait receipt requirement. The premise is to ensure the bait we use on our lake is in the newly minted bait zones they have developed. They are trying to keep invasives out. Basically, we will give all boats a bait receipt in a zip lock bag with a pen so each time you get bait you can simply write down the amount you get each day, and if stopped on the lake by the MNR you can produce the bait receipt. We will show everyone as they come up. Not a big deal, but an additional requirement.
The Original Rich award (New for 2023) recipient for week 2 goes out to Dave (Bootsy) Maas. He lost his belt and searched all over camp trying to retrace his steps. Now I don’t know about you but I’m thinking if your belt fell off during your walk up the increasingly steep hill (Mike B’s words) you would probably notice, but alas it was found in his cabin room, and we all got a good laugh out of it. One thing to remember before going fishing. Tackle is sometimes good to take. Dave got all the way across the lake before he realized he forgot his tacklebox. Also, I feel like Dave wanted a permanent record of his big fish on the brag board as he chose to use a sharpie marker rather than the provided dry erase markers stationed on the board. Nice try Dave we got the writing off. As Harvey says what happens at Rocky Shore Lodge can and will be used against you!
Walleyes have mostly moved out of the river system as the unseasonal warm temperatures increased water temps quicker than normal. Bill believes they might head back into some extent as we get back to normal temps for this time of year. Anglers are catching walleyes in the 8–10-foot range, and some are finding them in 3- 7 feet while bass fishing. Congratulations to Ralph Holbrook on his 30-Inch Walleye. The first for us at RSL for the season. He told me he’s been searching for his 30-incher since 1969! Charlie Beanish (former dockhand, and guide) did land a 30-Inch walleye on opening day and I wanted to give him a shout out. He wasn’t fishing here but was on the lake near some of our guests.
We had our first Musky accidentally caught this week and lots of mid to upper 30-Inch Northern Pike. The brag board is making a good splash and allows me to keep track of the big fish during the week. Please feel free to provide your nice catches so I can ask you about the catch. Since I don’t get the opportunity to fish I love to hear your stories of the big one that got caught and got away.
Week 2 Monster/Micro fish results. Chuck (Cabin 5) released a beautiful 25-inch Walleye, and Evan (P2) who last came to RSL in 2013 boated a 10.5-inch Walleye for the Micro prize and boated and released a 33-inch Pike for the prize! Great job guys!
We were able to get the new U-shaped dock placed Thursday evening and it’s a good thing considering we have 7 private boats this week. Let’s hope mother nature is nice and allows the anchoring system to get completely buried in the mud in order to keep it where it’s supposed to be. The basic design was
inspired by Kirby Hills who fishes the Ozarks and said many floating dock systems down there use pipes attached to granite for stability and they get lots of wind and wave action down there as it’s a huge body of water. My oldest son Ryan fabricated our on shore granite securing system and I think he did a great job taking my thoughts and putting it to a useful design. Thank Ryan! Time will tell. Hopefully we can take that same style up here and make it a success.
As we charge forward into Week 3 I’m realizing its tough to write the blog early on as the weekend is always busy with getting everyone settled in, and acclimated so I will try and write on Monday or Tuesday. Don’t forget to take pictures of your fish and send them to me please. Take care everyone and from all of us here at RSL tight lines!