Walleye Fishing on Parker Lake Finishes Strong!

Hello,

We have been meaning to share the pictures from our last group of guests, especially the flurry of really nice sized walleyes that were caught and released on Parker Lake.  We had one guy who had the magic combination because he caught a 23", 24", 25", and a 27" walleye in the SAME spot within 24 hours!

Nice job Kendall!

Here are some of Dan's fish (Kendall's brother):

Nice smallmouth Dan!

And their cousin, Brad, with a few northern off of Parker Lake:

The other guys up that week had a nice week of fishing as well.  Here is Larry with some nice northern he caught and released on Parker Lake:

And Bob with a nice walleye on Parker Lake:

Larry and Bob had to take a lunch break after catching loads of fish!

We got in on some shore lunch action for the last time as well:

It is hard to believe these guys left a week and a half ago already!

As we stay busy closing up camp we are definitely soaking up the last few days of  being able to enjoy the view overlooking Parker Lake.  The weather has been PERFECT.  Getting to spend so much time outdoors is really nice.  Just a single boat remains in the water on both Parker Lake and Red Lake.  Travis likes to put that job off until the last possible moment.  The finality of it is a bit painful I think.  

It is hard to leave this place, as all our guests know!

Smallmouth Doubleheader!

Carrie and I have been busy this week shutting down the camp, but I did manage to take a few minutes to fish Sunday evening.  I was casting a green 1/4 oz. jig with a gray twister tail above the falls just a few yards off the dock.  On my 2nd cast I felt a solid hit and set the hook and a smallmouth came out of the water like a rocket.  He jumped completely out of the water two more times and fought like a heavyweight even though he only measured at 13".

Then on the very next cast I hooked up again with another smallmouth - this one 12.5"!  

These two bumped our season total up to 22 smallmouth bass caught and released.  Smallmouth bass are tough fighters and a blast to catch.  Hopefully we''ll see many more caught and released next season!  

Record Year for Smallmouth Bass!

This season has been a boom year for smallmouth bass on Parker Lake.  In the past we have only seen a handful caught each season, but over 20 have been released this year!  Historically, smallmouth bass aren't native to this part of the world.  They were actually stocked by the Ontario government in many lakes in northwestern Ontario in the early 20th century.

I've heard stories from a few guests about smallmouth bass overrunning walleye populations and destroying other lakes in Ontario, Minnesota, & Wisconsin.  Of course walleye are an absolute favorite target of most anglers visiting the lodge so I decided to do some research and see what I could find.

Nate has one of the bigger walleye off Parker Lake this season.  

After reading numerous studies I can't find any that support the notion that smallmouth bass destroy walleye populations.  The fears that smallmouth bass actually consume young walleye in significant numbers or outcompete walleye for the food source in the lake are myths according to my research.

The various studies examined the relationship between walleye and smallmouth bass abundance at lakes in New York, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Manitoba, & Ontario with varied time frames of a few months to 36 years!  No significant evidence was found to show that smallmouth bass limited the walleye populations whether by consuming walleye fry or outcompeting walleye for food.  Walleye population declines and subsequent bass increases were often long-delayed suggesting that over-harvesting, and not bass, was the contributing factor.

The only study I could find that was conducted in a controlled environment (tank instead of lake or reservoir) determined that competition for food between smallmouths and walleye only began when forage fell below 30% of what is required to only maintain a fish's weight.  That number represented starvation and is far below current forage levels of perch, minnows, and crayfish found in Parker Lake and Red Lake.

Yellow perch, a primary forage fish

So, what do they eat?

In Ontario, walleye primarily forage on yellow perch.  Research shows that perch consist of 60% - 90% of their diet and they fill out the rest with a small percentage of crayfish and other minnows.

The smallmouth bass diet primarily consists of crayfish (again 60% - 90%) and is filled out with perch and other minnows.  Their diets vary enough that they don't directly compete for food.  Studies that analyzed stomach contents of both species rarely found one species in the stomach of the other.  It was more frequent to find that larger walleye had actually eaten smaller walleye!

Crayfish are found in Red Lake and Parker Lake

To be clear, introducing a non-native species to a waterbody is extremely risky and not a good idea.  There are many factors to consider and potential negative effects that haven't been realized.  With that being said, the smallmouth bass population in Parker Lake seems to be growing and the walleye population appears as healthy as ever.  Adding the battles that smallmouth bass put up to the traditional walleye and northern pike fishing experience will certainly enhance your trip.

Jim has the 2nd biggest smallmouth of the season - 17"

As long as forage populations remain plentiful, the walleye population should remain healthy and can co-exist peacefully with a healthy smallmouth bass population.  We encourage you to keep releasing smallmouth bass and writing them on our catch and release board (any size) so we can continue tracking the Parker Lake population!

Eagle Watch 2013

Here's the thing....

We like the eagles.  And its not just because we'd be feathered and tarred if we didn't (is that too ironic, perhaps?) but we genuinely like them.  I think they are quite moving really.  Such a regal creature.  Its not too surprising that we see a fair amount out at the lodge - I mean its call EAGLE Falls Lodge!  Many eagles are viewed daily, from out in the boat and from on the deck back at camp.

When looking out onto Parker Lake from the main lodge you will commonly see several on the first point to the left.  This is not by chance.  These birds may or may not be used to finding some fish scraps out on those rocks.  Here is the view I'm talking about....

Not a bad view from the office, huh?

Anyway.  The point on the left is where we see our friends the eagles.  Bald eagles.  GIANT bald eagles.  Here is that point a little closer.

See the eagles on the shore there?

So a common string of events goes as such:  

eagles fly over the water 

eagles circle closer to the point

eagles land on shoreline

they have secret eagle meetings

eagles finish secret eagle business

other birds are then allowed to come in to land.  

The eagle rules the roost up here so to speak.

This guy must have forgotten something in his office.

Oh good, he made it back before the snacks were gone.

This year there has been a ripple in the eagle SOP (standard operation procedure - as Travis likes to say).  There has been one eagle that we have yet to see fly.  Remember: birds = flying.  This said eagle prefers to either swim (again, remember: fish = swimming) or walk (various other creatures, i.e. NOT eagles = walking) to the point.  

The first time we saw this eagle swim was incredible.  Its wing span seemed to double in size!  Here is the point in the story where I remind our readers that Cosmo likes to make the trip out to the point.  Cosmo also has great interest in any stick, rock, beaver, etc. that he sees in the water.  What was that you say?  Oh, no big deal.  Just Cosmo jumping out of the boat and swimming towards a BALD EAGLE!!!!

Yea.  That happened.  More than once.  

Luckily, Cosmo is an excellent listener and we called him off.  Not before he and the eagle had some sort of deep animal world face-off that was simultaneously terrifying and unbelievably cool.  

We don't have any pictures of this, unfortunately.  But we do have some pictures of the eagle on land.   

We have tried to respect this eagle's space and not disturb him too much, but we are getting a little worried.  Why won't this eagle fly?  Is it having some sort of animal identity crisis?  We wish we knew so that we could do something.  At first we assumed it was sick or hurt, but it seems to walk and swim no problem.  Very odd.  

We will continue to monitor the situation for you and if anything radical happens we will let you know.  

Also, if I am able to get my hands on any secret eagle meeting itineraries I'll be sure to leak them on the web.  

Happy Tuesday!

Red Lake and Parker Lake fishing report - early August

We are already getting the next group settled this weekend, but wanted to share some awesome pictures from the past week:

Craig and Mike did some fly-fishing on Parker this week with some excellent results.

Here is Craig with a 35" northern pike on Parker Lake

And Mike's 20" walleye also on Parker Lake

Mike also tracked down a 41.5" Muskie! 

These two also got some nice fish off of Red Lake as well.  

Here is Craig with a nice 24" walleye.

And Mike with his 42" northern pike

Not a bad week with several big fish caught and released!

We also had a bit of a family reunion this week as well.  We had four brothers up for a week of fishing.  These guys grew up fishing with their dad and now try and get together regularly for fishing trips.  

Can you tell they are related?

Their group got adventurous and did some portaging earlier in the week before the rain set in.  They got to test their strength, endurance, (and patience!) hauling these boats in and out in one day.  I think they had fun!

We also had another contender for biggest northern pike off of Parker Lake this week.

Here is Lynne with her 42" Northern - its huge!

Gotta love when the ladies catch the biggest fish!

Over on Red Lake Tom caught a monster northern as well.

43.5" northern pike - caught and released!

Tom was here with his son and son-in-law, both from Colorado.  

They definitely have one of the longest trips home!

Tom's son, Courtney, with a northern on Parker Lake

and his son-in-law, Marshall, with one of many more northern pike on Parker Lake

And here is Barry with a walleye on Red Lake as well 

If you couldn't tell from some of the pictures it was a bit cooler yet again last week.  Definitely feeling like September around here - not sure what the actual month of September will bring.  Yikes!  However, the forecast for this week looks great - so maybe it was just a random cold snap.  Last week's guests also battled some wet weather, but as you can see they still managed to catch lots of nice fish!

Red Lake and Parker Lake fishing report - end of July

Happy Friday!

We just wrapped up another great week and I wanted to share some amazing photos from the guys that just started their journey back home.

The weather continues to be optimal for walleye fishing.  A bit cooler, nice wind, with occasional rain showers is just what the walleye ordered!

Lots of quantity and quality again this week for walleye.  The guys had success jigging and backtrolling lindy rigs or snells.  Some boats reported leeches working better and other boats stuck with crawlers most of the week.  Fish were caught as shallow as 13' and as deep as 30' on Red and 6' to 17' deep on Parker.

Here are some of the bigger fish brought in the boats - all of which were caught and released!

Bill's 25.5" walleye off of Red Lake

Nice hat Bill!

His fishing partner, Jerry, also caught a 25.5" walleye on Red Lake on the same day!

Jerry also caught this nice 24.75" walleye this week on Red Lake

Tom caught this 26" walleye on Red Lake before breakfast...

...while Kermit reeled in a fish for a double!

And here is my 28.75" walleye off of Red Lake again...

Tom and I both caught our big fish with Dave this week - he is a professional guide!

Here is Dave with a nice northern on Red Lake

40.25" caught and released

Over on Parker we had yet another nice smallmouth caught and released.

Here is Jim with his 17" smallmouth.

It looks like a football!

And here is Jim with Mike and a couple nice stringers!

They enjoyed a nice shore lunch at the lodge this week with their sons, Mike and Andy.

Here is a picture of our youngest angler in camp this week - Jack and his dad Jim.

He was out there ALL day EVERY day - impressive!

Everyone braved the tough and unpredictable weather we had this past week quite well.  We got some awesome pictures as a result!

 Double rainbow!

Thanks guys for all the great shots from the past week.  We can't wait to see what August brings!