Findlay Lake was living up to its reputation last week! Curtis, Tom, Bill and Billy fished there for 7 days and caught a lot of BIG walleye! They had 1-29.5, 3-28’s, and more 27 inch walleye than they could remember. Numbers were spectacular in 12 to 16 feet of water where the fish ran somewhat smaller but out in the 20 foot depth they caught the trophies! Not quite as many but the quality was awesome! I do not have pictures from all of the guys but here are a few. They had been talking about going back to their old haunt, Blackbirch lake for 2011 but after this last trip they rebooked Findlay Lake for next season. Here they are:

We had a very busy stretch lately with lots of fishermen changing over and here are some of the highlights:
The Cobham River had the Joyce/Sander party fish there last week. This is an every year adventure for these guys and they got off to a great start. One of the new guys in the group caught a 42 inch northern in the first hour! Northern fishing was very good overall with 5 northerns for the group caught over 40 inches with many 39 inch trophy northerns. They had a 32 inch northern attack a 12 inch walleye, landing both fish, that is always exciting! Numbers were crazy, with most boats catching well over 100 fish per boat each day, 137 was the highest for 2 people for the trip!

The Willows party fished Cherrington Lake for their first time. These guys fished Jeanette lake for many many years but have tried their hand on some new lakes, fishing Findlay in 2009 and Cherrington this year, always doing very well. As I always say, fishermen always catch fish! Size was awesome on Cherrington last week. So many walleyes caught between 23 and 24 inches! The largest was a 26 incher caught by Bruce and Richard had the biggest northern at 34 inches. But it will be back to their old stomping grounds next year….Jeanette in 2011! They were 5 guys this year, missing Arnie J. Are you gonna make the trip with your buddies next year Arnie?

Blackbirch had some Indiana boys fish there this past week, part of a large group of friends who have made Blackbirch their vacation destination with various groups since the cabins were built by Charlie Weyerhaeuser in the 80’s. I will be hunting with another part of that group later this fall on Blackbirch! We appreciate the good word of mouth. This week was great for fishing everywhere including Blackbirch. These guys caught fish until they were sick of it. Depths ranged from 3 to 18 feet of water. Lots of 20 inch quality walleyes and 24 was the biggest.

Cobham Morley had some new guests fish there who enjoyed the peace and serenity the north has to offer. Anders E. and his family fished 7 days on the Cobham and caught a lot of fish. Grandpa (Ramiro) caught the biggest northern for the week measuring 40 inches and fat and Sebetian caught the biggest walleye at 23 inches. No depth finder for these guys, it is old school, go find the fish! They were very happy and plan on returning in 2011!

Cherrington also had some other fishermen return after 5 years absence. Patrick G. brought his Dad and Father in-law to Cherrington and had a great trip. Herb caught and released a 29 inch walleye and Denny caught a 37 inch northern. I hope to see these guys again before 5 years next time.

Time really flies. It is August already and in a few weeks we will be slowing down and starting to look to the end of the season. Plenty of fishing left yet but we are getting closer to hunting season everyday!!

The season is flying by and September is almost here already, it seems we just got started. Opening camps and there were no leaves on the trees. Today, on my way to Blackbirch and back, I noticed lots of trees starting to turn yellow, that only means one thing….Hunting season is getting close!! My favorite time of year. There are still some fishermen yet coming to see us and many have gone home recently happy and refreshed after a relaxing vacation.

Here are some recent highlights:
Blackbirch had the Ryan and Schultz parties fish them recently and they both had great times. These people from the same area of Minnesota, love Blackbirch lake and it shows. The smiles on their faces when I pick them up is kind of a dead give away! There were many stories from the last 2 trips in there but here is a couple. Dave and his buddy Ben from the Schultz party caught 302 fish in one day. They were on the lake by 6:30 am and fished until around 6 pm and had a blast. Ben said to me that this has to be the best walleye fishing in the world! I just picked up the Ryan party this morning, a group made up of mostly couples. The boys had to have their guiding hats on this week since they brought along the women this trip. And as I expected the women outfished the men again….but Kevin did catch the biggest walleye of the trip measuring to his personal best of a fat 28 inches.

The Love party fished the Cobham River last week and were very impressed! They had been fishing in the Armstrong area for 25 years and saw a huge difference in the quantity and quality of the fish they caught. Much more walleyes and way bigger on average than they have ever caught before. LeeAnne was ecstatic on the way out when she told me that they had many double headers but one day her and Jim both had 5 pound walleyes on at the same time. They will be back!

Daniels had some regular visitors back again, the Herrington/Clark party. Here is last years post regarding their 40 inch club Brad C. is the last member waiting to catch his 40 plus inch northern. He has a large number of 39.5 inch northerns to his credit but just has been eluded by his Holy Grail. This was his year, finally catching a fish big enough to join the club his own son has been a member of for some time. There was no disputing this one, measuring 41.5 inches. I will share the pictures when I get them. They said walleye fishing was quite normal and the northerns went absolutely crazy one day before we had some bad weather which was a lot of fun.

Shearstone had the Thaller family back in 2009, 2 years ago they fished Cobham Morley and caught some Big fish. Here is the link to the post from their last trip. The boys are getting older and can catch fish with the best of them. Fishing right off the dock was awesome too. Peter caught a 25 inch walleye and a 38 inch northern, the biggest of the trip. They also had a bigger northern on but did not get the net in time and lost it but they were really excited. Joey who is 7 or 8 now caught a 32.5 inch northern….on a 18 inch walleye. They could not get the northern to let go so they just netted both of them!

The boys and I spent the night at Morleys the other night to rebuild and raise the first section of dock near shore. The water has been high for 2 years and has finally gone down to a point where some work can be done. Nice to have this job out of the way. Of course the fish fry was great too!!

The Otter looks good on a nice night.

The new dock is higher and drier.

The Walter party fished Blackbirch recently and sent us a few pictures to share. It looks like they caught fish in all types of weather!!

Good rain gear is essential when you are going on a fishing trip. Lots of our fishermen say the fishing is awesome in the rain.

Looks like fishing is good when the weather is nice too….I guess it is good all the time!

Glassy water.

The Tom L. crew headed to Blackbirch last week and did very well. First time on a new lake sometimes takes awhile to find yourself a honey hole, but these veterans of the bush had no trouble finding a couple of reliable spots in addition to catching fish everywhere else they tried. Sand beaches seemed to be the order of the week on Blackbirch. The fish were on the windy shore but more prevalent where there was a sandy shoreline.

Here are some pics.

We got an early start on the way in but got delayed 8 miles from Blackbirch with fog for 2.5 hours 🙁

There were some big northerns caught. Here is a 42 inch!

The Rookie with a 40 inch northern pike!

A beautiful peaceful morning. This is one of my favorite things.

Not sure on the size of this one but it looks like at least a 26 inch walleye to me!