Careful What You Fish For…

Central Lake Hog!

Greetings from dreary, ol’ Ontario. It has been a wet, wet week up here at Big Hook with 3” of rain in the gauge and counting. But, this rain was much needed and much hoped for. Our water levels have been historically low and the wildfire situation around Canada has been terrible, as most everyone is aware. Thankfully, the rain hitting us now is covering giant swaths of the prairie regions and NW Ontario. The fires across much of Canada have been nearly licked. This week’s guests at Big Hook are certainly putting their rain gear to the test, however.

Despite some inclement weather, the fishing since our last report has been stupendous. There have been dozens of trophy fish of both primary target species caught and released… and one trophy clam I am told.

Water temps seemed to have peaked sometime in late July or early August in the low 70’s. With the rain and cooler than seasonal weather, the surface temps are now about 66 degrees and trending downward.

2x's Trophies at South

Fish have been fairly deep – about 10 – 15’ is where most are finding walleye, but a few deeper holes have been holding some big and hungry fish. A recent group at South Lake boated an amazing DOZEN walleye over 25” in one DAY!

Pike fishing has been on fire too with a recent Central Lake group that couldn’t keep big fish off the line - boating 12 fish over 36” during their trip. Trophy reports also came out of West, Cocos, and Burnt Lakes.

The days are getting noticeably shorter as we are losing about 6 minutes of daylight each tick of the calendar. I am excited to take in some northern lights whenever the rain clouds subside. The fall-like weather notwithstanding, it is hard to believe that we only have 3 weeks left of our operational season. Summer is very short around here. But very sweet also.

One housekeeping note, our 2026 calendar is filling up quickly! If a trip to Big Hook for 2026 might be in the cards, please reach out
soon to get your choice of week / lake.

All Smiles!

Savor summer while you can – it’ll be over before we know it.

Till next time, R

Fireworks!

            July is a special time of the year for many.

West Lake Football

            The gathering of friends and family and celebrations continue to peak here in Opasquia. This week will likely be our busiest of the summer with several groups in camp that are dear friends, many mulit-generational family trips, and some honoring those that can no longer make the journey – bringing granddad’s cooler or tacklebox and some photos of the “old guys” in the “old days” to share also.

It’s an important time for the local eco-system too, as the sun’s energy is turned into biomass at an amazing rate. You can almost watch the trees, shrubs, and grass grow. I’ve had to trim the trees on some of our walking paths several times of the past few weeks - they just keep growing back. The weed beds in the lakes have bloomed like crazy. Every member of the food chain seems ravenous, as many are aware this peak won’t last
long.

To say the fishing has been "great" wouldn’t do it justice. Stories of incredible catches abound from all our locations. I got a hug the other night from a group at Central after they boated their 8^th trophy pike in just two days of fishing.

Central Lake: fish longer 
than the fisherman

Reports of trophy walleye and pike from all the camps seem to be the norm. South Lake boated a 28.5” walleye yesterday. West Lake’s outbound group said their biggest pike was just under 40” and they had numerous 22 – 28” walleyes. I didn’t get tallies from Cocos, but that group of regulars mentioned that “it just keeps getting better.”

Top water lures have taken over as the favorite bait for our pike fisherman with several stories of leaping fish smashing buzz baits and Whopper Ploppers. The old, trusty Silver Minnow has gotten a lot of attention too.

Folks targeting walleye have been finding them in 10 – 15’ of water and have been using medium depth crank baits and jigs / twister tails with great success.

We are fortunate to not have any active fires currently in close proximity to any of our locations, but many fires continue to burn across Canada and a perfectly clear day has been rare as of late. It just depends on which way the winds are blowing as to what fire(s) we are getting smoke from. Hoping for more rain for all of northern Canada sometime soon.

Lake levels have held surprisingly steady. I would say low, but still in the “normal” category.

A hog out of the Fishbowl

            Our mayfly hatch this year was sporadic with the first waves coming much earlier than I expected (end of June), and hatches here and there that lasted for about two weeks. With how spotty they were, fishing did not seem to be affected much.

It’s hard to believe that we are now in the last week of July. Enjoy the peak of summer while you can, everyone – many of us wait all year for this!

Till next time: good fishing and good times, R.

South Lake Sunset

Revved up…

West Lake walleye!

As we stare down the third week of June, we now have all the camps open and full. It’s always a good feeling when the opening work is done. Now we can transition to upkeep and improvements - and maybe sneak in a little fishing ourselves.

Most all of our cabins and facilities wintered well. Southwest, the last to open, came with the most challenges. An angry bear seemed to have taken out his angst on the cabin, tearing out every screen and also a good portion of the plumbing and sewer lines. Mother nature (at least I hope it was wind and not the bear) also toppled over a giant tree that we found leaning in the path the airplanes need to taxi / dock. Fortunately, all were fairly easy fixes and with a few swipes of the chainsaw and some replacement pipes, all our camps were fully operational.

The weather has been all over the place since my last report (it was snowing at that time). We’ve had hot, cold, mist, snow, wind, calm, smoke, clouds, and sun. What we haven’t had much of is rain. Fortunately, there is some in the forecast, which would be very welcomed.

Adam considers a jump into the lake. 

I’ve fielded several inquiries about the fire situation up here. As many may have read about in the news, Sandy Lake was evacuated due to a fire that started near Deer Lake, another First Nations community about 40 miles SW of Sandy Lake. That fire traveled very quickly and burnt more than 700 square miles of terrain. Fortunately, it stopped just a few kilometers away from Sandy Lake, which was evacuated as a precaution. While the fire isn’t completely out it is substantially subdued, getting just enough precipitation and favorable winds.

Closer to home, we did have a fire that started due to a lightning strike just outside the SW boundary of Opasquia Provincial Park. It was nearest to our Burnt Lake cabin. That fire gave myself and a few guests at Burnt a little bit of a fright, but again, we thankfully received just enough rain to tamp it down and winds that have not allowed it to travel any closer to our camps.

Toothy smiles!

Significant rain is expected in the next few days and will hopefully put out both fires entirely.

The fishing hot spots have been slightly unpredictable, but after a little searching, the catches have been predictably outstanding. With low later levels a lot of the small feeder creeks, typical June go-to spots, have not been producing quite like they normally do. With the water temps still pretty cold (surface temps are just starting to break 60F), fish are still relating to shallow mud flats and large boulders that soak up the sun. Most are being found in 4-8’ of water.

Some highlights so far include a 43” pike and several more in the upper 30’s at West Lake. A few 27” walleyes were boated at West Lake also. This week’s group at South Lake already has 10+ trophy walleye, the largest measuring 28.5”. A 40” pike started the tally at Central on week one, and since, guests have pulled in several around that length and at least one 28” walleye. This week’s guests at Southwest lost count of their fish by Sunday afternoon (their first day on the water). Cocos also had a few large pike on the “brag board”.  

Sunny skies and walleyes...

Hot baits and lures have included: Mepp’s Black Fury Spinners, orange jig heads tipped with Berkley Power Minnows and Ripple Shad, and Storm Hot N Tot’s in metallic gold and chartreuse.

I’ve only gotten a handful of photos back from guests so far this year. If you were recently fishing with us and want show off a fish or two, I, our incoming guests, and those that can no longer join us, love seeing your photos! Please don’t be shy 😉.

It’s great to be in the full swing of things and looking forward to most of the summer ahead. We have had a few random cancelations, so if you are thinking of a late hour trip, please reach out and we’ll see if any of them might suit.

Otherwise, have a great summer and good luck on the water everyone!

 

  

And so it begins!

The countdown to Big Hook’s 2025 season opener is down to the single digits (8 days)!

I was able to make into camp on May 15th and was welcomed with freezing rain, sleet, and snow.

Central Lake seems to have wintered well, and the power, water, woodstove, and internet all came online with ease. The sauna is the next facility to get up and running. I am taking a break from outside tasks and warming up inside in the meantime.

There have been several folks asking about how things look, so thought I’d take advantage of a little office time and get out a report. 

I can’t offer details on the fishing – I’ll need a helping hand to get some boats in the water (Maria and Adam are stuck and waiting on the weather in Winnipeg and Red Lake respectively). But, the trees are starting to bud (usually a sign that the walleye bite should commence shortly) and with warmer, more spring-like weather in the forecast, I have to believe the fish will be active and hungry once we get a little sunshine.

The water levels look average to slightly above for this time of year. The ground was saturated prior to the storm. Now, with probably near an inch of snow / water equivalent, I expect them to come up a little more as this precip. all melts and finds its way into our waterways. A good start.

There have been several forest fires already in NW Ontario. None of them are close to our operations (nor should impact guests traveling thereto), but unfortunately have affected some communities and outfitters elsewhere in the region. Hopefully this same weather extinguishes, or at least significantly tamps these down.

Good luck to those braving the elements on the Ontario fishing opener today – we’re looking forward to joining you shortly!

We’ll be busy with the business of opening all the camps through the next few weeks, but hopefully I’ll have a more substantive fishing report soon.

Happy “summer” everyone!

Ryan 

Warmth in the forecast!

Ripp adding to the downed lumber
on the boardwalk.