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!  

How to survive a Canadian heatwave...

Hi y'all!

We packed up another good group and they are now headed towards the border.  Would you believe that we have one single week remaining?  That is it.  Every meal we make this coming week will be for the last time in 2013.  I think if Travis was being honest he would say "woohoo!"  When you prepare, serve, and eat the same menu for 15 weeks in the row it can get a little monotonous.  Just a bit.

The guys up this week were troopers in the heat wave.  Good. Ness.  It was HOT.  Everyone stayed in good spirits and we compensated with extra scoops of ice-cream.  I just tried to imagine a blast of cold air coming from the imaginary air-conditioner we don't actually have at the lodge.

Just when I thought I couldn't drink one more sip of water I would grab a precious cherry coke zero brought up from the states (get with the program, Canada!) and plop it in the deep freezer.  That's right.  I said the deep freeze, my friends.  If you haven't tried this before get up right now and do so.

I know what you are thinking:
1. She is a desperate woman.
2. How long can you put a can of soda (or pop depending where you live) in the freezer before it explodes?

Well let me tell ya, because I googled it.  The internet consensus is that you have at least 2 hours before you need to get truly worried about an explosion.  Diet soda will explode faster than regular soda - FYI.  See how informative this blog can be?  You are welcome.  Soda is much more refreshing when it is truly ice-cold.  And anyone who says soda is better in a glass on ice is just nuts in my opinion.  I love it straight from the can.

 Hot, still, and sunny days can make for some tougher fishing for sure - but our guests persevered.  These guys caught some nice fish!

Here is Tim with his 17.75" smallmouth on Parker Lake

2nd biggest smallmouth of the season!

Tim also caught this 13.5" smallmouth on Parker

Here is Kyle with a nice 23" walleye on Red Lake

Kyle also caught and released a 41.75" northern on Red Lake

 AND a 42.5" northern on Red Lake

Kyle is here with his brother, Phil, to fish the Red Lake Fall Classic walleye tournament this weekend.  Too bad its not a northern tournament, eh?  We will try and keep you posted as to how they do this weekend.  Good luck guys!

We had a handful of new guests at Eagle Falls Lodge this past week.  They probably weren't expecting the heat we had the last few days!  

But they still caught fish!

And they enjoyed a nice shore lunch as well.

I love this next picture...

This is how I hope everyone feels when they are out on the lake.  

We had our first guest from Southern California last week.  Talk about a long trip up!  Wayne was super nice and super glad he packed some shorts at the last minute.  Who knew?  

He caught and released this 41" northern pike on Red Lake

Wayne and his fishing partner, Todd, spend the majority of their week casting for northern.  They visited lots of weed beds similar to the one below...

All in all another great week!  

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!

Double Smallmouth Surprise!

Whitney continues to dominate the leaderboard, this time adding a nice 17" Smallmouth Bass caught on Parker Lake within a stone's throw of the dock. The next night Riley O'Dell wrangled a 16" Smallmouth Bass just a few yards away. If you've visited us before, you probably know how rare it is to catch a Smallmouth on Red Lake or Parker Lake so needless to say, we're pretty excited about these two fish.



Whitney, Riley, and I made the short trip down the highway to Flat Lake to chase Muskie and Smallmouth Bass. While we weren't fortunate enough to land any Muskie, we did catch two more Smallmouth Bass.

We are finally seeing an end to the drought with plenty of rain in the forecast this week. There are several forest fires burning in Northwest Ontario so hopefully the rain will aid the fire fighting efforts. Just a reminder - we are currently under a fire restriction so no open fires are allowed.