Hello to all of our Manotak Lodge fishermen,
Linda and I hope everyone has had a great Thanksgiving holiday and are now getting your Christmas fishing wish list organized. We thought we would post with some of the latest Manotak news. This is going to be a fairly lengthy post so grab a cup of coffee (or a beer) and enjoy.
First things first: GO PACKERS! – GO BADGERS! It is fun to be a cheesehead at the moment. Two exciting games this past weekend that will gray anyone’s hair in a blink of an eye. While there are many other great teams, we know down deep that you are all rooting for the Packers and Badgers. Just as you all pulled for Jeff Gordon in Nascar this Fall.
On to Manotak business. The 2012 Sportshow season is right around the corner and we truly hope that everyone can come out and visit us in our booth. Please wear your Manotak Lodge shirts and hats as we have no problem “showing off”. We are very close to finalizing our sportshow schedule and will post on our website very shortly. We do know that we will be in St. Charles Chicago, Milwaukee WI, Green Bay WI, Madison WI, and St. Louis MO.
If you have not finalized your dates for coming up to Manotak this summer, give Linda a call and she can discuss all details. If you have not sent in your deposit as of yet, we ask that you do this within the next week. We normally ask that deposits be received by Thanksgiving so that we know what dates we have available when we get to the sportshows. It is always a difficult situation for us when we don’t hear from a group and we believe they still might want to come up fishing. We don’t like to give your cabin away but we also don’t like to get caught with an open cabin for the summer. We prefer that you send a personal check for the deposit. We still accept credit cards but have instituted a small fee for processing. Send all deposits to: Manotak Lodge PO Box 318 New London, WI 54961
Something that we started late last year and have decided to keep it again for this year is our HALF PRICE FALL SPECIAL. First fisherman is Full Price and the second fisherman is HALF PRICE! This is for September only. We have always tried to promote Fall Fishing as it is one of our favorite times to fish in Ontario. The weather is usually fantastic and the fish are stacked up on the reefs and on a feeding binge for winter. We know that we are competing against other outdoor sports in your home states such as bow hunting, grouse, ducks, etc. but once you experience September fishing in Ontario you might not change to any other time. Hopefully this incentive will convince you.
Another enticement that we would like to mention is our rental home in Panama City Beach Florida. We have been offering a 10% discount to any Manotak Lodge fisherman to come down and experience the beautiful white sand beaches and the phenomenal deep sea fishing. Our home is available from May through October and you can get more information on our website: www.manotak.com
All of you that were at Manotak Lodge this past summer know that we ran our MASTER ANGLER contest again and it was a great success. You should also remember that each week’s winner was to be eligible for a free trip to Manotak Lodge in 2012. We will be selecting randomly ONE winner at one of our Sportshows coming this January. Stay tuned to our blog as we will announce which show we will draw for the winner. We hope to video tape the drawing and will place it on our website. Speaking of videos on our website. We have started a Manotak Lodge – Facebook page which you will see near the bottom of our website homepage. Most of you that know me, know that I am not the most proficient at computers and are terrible at updating even our blog on a timely basis. However, we hope that this new FACEBOOK link will be helpful for our guests and will allow all of you a chance to communicate everything Manotak. I promise to do my best at submitting news on a semi-timely basis but I also challenge you to submit your comments and to post pictures and videos. Please only Manotak related items.
We hope that our new WEBCAMS that we installed at the lodge and dock this past summer were enjoyable to our guests. Based on comments we believe they were a big hit and we hope to have them back up and running when we arrive in the spring of 2012. One note for Dave in California: we do not take any responsibility for getting hypnotized by the cameras and ignoring your family. Our advice is that every now and then just back away and say hello to your wife.
Well, that is all for now. Sorry for this posting being so long but we have not posted anything in a while and thought we should get caught up. We will be posting our end of year newsletter very shortly so look for that on our website.
HAVE A GREAT CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY AND WE LOOK FORWARD TO TALKING WITH YOU AT THE SPORTSHOWS OR SEEING YOU AT MANOTAK LODGE THIS SUMMER.
Regards,
Dave & Linda Becker
www.manotak.com
email: Manotak@drytel.net
Toll Free: 1-800-541-3431
Monday, December 5, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Year End Review @ Manotak Lodge
It is hard to believe that the fishing year has come to an end at Manotak Lodge. We want to thank all of our guests this year for choosing Manotak Lodge as their fishing destination. We had another fantastic year of fishing and we hope everyone has great memories that will last them until next year when they return. I have to admit that we have been slightly behind in reporting for our Manotak Master Angler Winners. I also have to admit that I have a good reason and that is that I was out fishing, ALOT. The fishing has been so good the last month that I could not resist. I would like to acknowledge the following winners that brought our season to a great finish: Ken Keegan, Dale Stephens, Gary Borkowski, Mark Melius (two time winner) and Brian Burbach. We want to thank everyone that participated and we hope everyone had fun and maybe even learned a thing or two. Based on all of the feedback it looks like our live webcams are a hit. We know that they are slow to load at times but this is somewhat understandable as we have had over 1000 people trying to view the lodge at one time this summer. We will be shutting them down for the winter very soon but expect them back up and running again next April or May. For any hunters out there that are looking to take advantage of a great bird hunt, you should be thinking about Grouse hunting here in Northwest Ontario. The numbers of Grouse are always good and this year was no exception. Start planning now for next year, slots book quickly. Again we want to thank everyone who fished with us this summer and we look forward seeing alot of you again next year. We will be posting our upcoming sportshow schedule for 2012 soon on our website so come out and sit with us in our booth. Potential new guests always like to hear about Manotak Lodge from people who have been there and experienced it first hand. Besides, who would believe lodge owners that think Manotak Lodge is the best lodge in NW Ontario. I guess there is a fine line between bragging and promotion??? Stay tuned to our blog site as we will update new posts with any news for the cupcoming season.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Master Angler Winners & Fishing Update
I know you have all been patiently waiting for a fishing update but I have been too busy fishing. I had to rub it in just a little bit. We also need to update the Manotak Master Angler winners for the past few weeks. We would like to congratulate Tor Saile, Gary Borkowski & Mark Melius as Master Angler winners. They are all guests who have been fishing at Manotak Lodge for a few years so they definitely have it figured out where the fish are. It helps that they are all good fisherman also. Tor brings his two sons along with him, Tyler & Tanner. We are not sure who fishes harder, the kids or dad but we do know that Tyler and Tanner are very good fisherman. It is exactly what Linda & I had hoped would happen at Manotak and that is to promote fishing to the younger generation. Gary & Mark are very good friends of Linda and I who originate from our home town. GO PACKERS - GO CHEESEHEADS! See their pictures at right.
Onto the fishing report. Walleyes are still on a great bite. Reefs are the place to be if you want Walleyes! They have not gone as deep as we thought they would at this time of the season especially for how hot it has been this summer. We are catching Eyes in the 14-22 foot range with Minnows & Leeches an equal choice for bait. Nightcrawlers are working but minnows and leeches are catching more fish. I have snuck out fishing the last two evenings and have absolutely pounded Walleyes by Twin Islands, Sand Dunes & Sandbar. Last night as an example I was fortunate to boat over 20 Walleyes in an hour & a half. My ego enlarged my head so big my hat would not fit. I can mention one secret weapon that I came upon for Walleyes for the past two days of fishing: Gold Glitter Jigs. A vendor stopped by the lodge and asked me to try his newly painted jigs that were covered in gold glitter. I guess I am like most fisherman in that I was skeptical but thought why not. They should give off a flash in the water which should help attract fish. Well, they have been red hot or should I say gold hot. I fished with Earl my dockhand and he could not believe how many fish I caught compared to his jig. Last night same thing. I fished right next to one of our guests, Craig from Denver, and he finally had to ask what the H_ll I was fishing with. He caught one to my 12 Walleyes. I have to admit that there are absolutely no problems in the world when you are catching fish. I sure wish the foreign countries that are fighting right now would come over and fish for one week and change their attitude. They can fight it out for the Manotak Master Angler Award. Pike are on a strange bite at the moment. One day they are jumping in the boat and the next day they are no where to be found. We can always rely on Pike to give action through most of the day if Walleyes are finnicky but I guess this is fishing. Yesterday was a slow day for Pike while today was fantastic. Gold spoons were good for one of our cabins that fished close to the lodge. They caught 12 pike in 2 hours time. Bass are not on a good run, they are on a phenomenal run at the moment. Leeches and Nightcrawlers are pounding Bass one after the other. Without bragging, it is common to have a guest tell us that they caught 25-40 Bass in a short days time frame. 15-19 inchers are very very active at the moment. Reefs where Walleyes are hanging out are very active for Bass as well. Some of the deeper points are also very good. Muskies are increasing in activity but we are not knocking them dead by no means. Mark & Gary who I mentioned earlier fished for them fairly actively and saw afew in the lower to mid 40's. I was fortunate to see a brute that would have definitely been over 50 inches strike one of my 17 inch Walleyes as I was bringing it in the boat. Needless to say my heart lodged in my throat for a fraction of a second. Muskies will only get better as the season progresses. Unfortuntely I do not have great news for Jumbo Perch. We are catching lots of Perch but not able to find the bigger ones on a consistent basis. I have been saying this for the past month without finding a solution. We have seen streaks of glory where a guest will catch maybe a dozen larger Perch and then they just dissapear the next day or even that afternoon. We ask our guests to keep only 9 inch or larger Perch so that they have a good meal of fillets. We appreciate this greatly.
In other news at the lodge, we have been greeted by our pet duck Lunch and her offspring. All 10 of them. They have been eating us out of house and home. They are averaging about 3-4 loafs of bread a day. We love it! In fact, another flock of ducks has shown up to take advantage of the free meals. At one time we had 18 ducks eating right out of our hands. We also found out that one flock of ducks don't like another flock of ducks. We thought we were in the "Hood" and there was going to be a gang war. Ducks were chasing each other and biting at each others tail feathers. Absolutely Hilarious to watch. We also hope you are enjoying our Live Webcam. It has been a great feature to the lodge. Guests tell us they really like watching from home and seeing what is happening here or what the weather is like. We are really close to starting up another camera right at the dock. Everything is close to being installed and should hopefully be up and running this week or maybe next. Stay tuned, literally. Don't forget about our new Fall Special where one fisherman comes for full price and the next fisherman is half price. This starts in September when it is my favorite time to fish. It may be yours also. Well, that is all for now. Sorry for the delay in reporting but I know you will cut me some slack when you know I am out fishing and doing it for a good cause. Maybe that should be our new slogan: Fishing for World Peace!
Onto the fishing report. Walleyes are still on a great bite. Reefs are the place to be if you want Walleyes! They have not gone as deep as we thought they would at this time of the season especially for how hot it has been this summer. We are catching Eyes in the 14-22 foot range with Minnows & Leeches an equal choice for bait. Nightcrawlers are working but minnows and leeches are catching more fish. I have snuck out fishing the last two evenings and have absolutely pounded Walleyes by Twin Islands, Sand Dunes & Sandbar. Last night as an example I was fortunate to boat over 20 Walleyes in an hour & a half. My ego enlarged my head so big my hat would not fit. I can mention one secret weapon that I came upon for Walleyes for the past two days of fishing: Gold Glitter Jigs. A vendor stopped by the lodge and asked me to try his newly painted jigs that were covered in gold glitter. I guess I am like most fisherman in that I was skeptical but thought why not. They should give off a flash in the water which should help attract fish. Well, they have been red hot or should I say gold hot. I fished with Earl my dockhand and he could not believe how many fish I caught compared to his jig. Last night same thing. I fished right next to one of our guests, Craig from Denver, and he finally had to ask what the H_ll I was fishing with. He caught one to my 12 Walleyes. I have to admit that there are absolutely no problems in the world when you are catching fish. I sure wish the foreign countries that are fighting right now would come over and fish for one week and change their attitude. They can fight it out for the Manotak Master Angler Award. Pike are on a strange bite at the moment. One day they are jumping in the boat and the next day they are no where to be found. We can always rely on Pike to give action through most of the day if Walleyes are finnicky but I guess this is fishing. Yesterday was a slow day for Pike while today was fantastic. Gold spoons were good for one of our cabins that fished close to the lodge. They caught 12 pike in 2 hours time. Bass are not on a good run, they are on a phenomenal run at the moment. Leeches and Nightcrawlers are pounding Bass one after the other. Without bragging, it is common to have a guest tell us that they caught 25-40 Bass in a short days time frame. 15-19 inchers are very very active at the moment. Reefs where Walleyes are hanging out are very active for Bass as well. Some of the deeper points are also very good. Muskies are increasing in activity but we are not knocking them dead by no means. Mark & Gary who I mentioned earlier fished for them fairly actively and saw afew in the lower to mid 40's. I was fortunate to see a brute that would have definitely been over 50 inches strike one of my 17 inch Walleyes as I was bringing it in the boat. Needless to say my heart lodged in my throat for a fraction of a second. Muskies will only get better as the season progresses. Unfortuntely I do not have great news for Jumbo Perch. We are catching lots of Perch but not able to find the bigger ones on a consistent basis. I have been saying this for the past month without finding a solution. We have seen streaks of glory where a guest will catch maybe a dozen larger Perch and then they just dissapear the next day or even that afternoon. We ask our guests to keep only 9 inch or larger Perch so that they have a good meal of fillets. We appreciate this greatly.
In other news at the lodge, we have been greeted by our pet duck Lunch and her offspring. All 10 of them. They have been eating us out of house and home. They are averaging about 3-4 loafs of bread a day. We love it! In fact, another flock of ducks has shown up to take advantage of the free meals. At one time we had 18 ducks eating right out of our hands. We also found out that one flock of ducks don't like another flock of ducks. We thought we were in the "Hood" and there was going to be a gang war. Ducks were chasing each other and biting at each others tail feathers. Absolutely Hilarious to watch. We also hope you are enjoying our Live Webcam. It has been a great feature to the lodge. Guests tell us they really like watching from home and seeing what is happening here or what the weather is like. We are really close to starting up another camera right at the dock. Everything is close to being installed and should hopefully be up and running this week or maybe next. Stay tuned, literally. Don't forget about our new Fall Special where one fisherman comes for full price and the next fisherman is half price. This starts in September when it is my favorite time to fish. It may be yours also. Well, that is all for now. Sorry for the delay in reporting but I know you will cut me some slack when you know I am out fishing and doing it for a good cause. Maybe that should be our new slogan: Fishing for World Peace!
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Manotak Master Angler Winner & Monster Walleye
Two great news stories for this past week. Our first woman has won our Manotak Master Angler Award. Betty Smith took this past week honors with big fish in each category. Betty is a hard fisherwoman who deserves this win. Congratulations to Betty. Betty's husband Ken won on a previous week. I do have to mention that Betty probably owes all of the big fish that she caught to her son George who knows all of the fishing spots by heart and is a great net man. I know first hand because George netted one of my Walleyes one evening. And one more thing. It took Betty 5 weeks to win while Ken won right away. (could not resist that little jab). Betty's picture is on right.
The second big news story is the MONSTER Walleye caught by Ron Abel this past week. A 34 inch behemoth. Yes, this is no typo: 34 INCHES LONG. The great thing was that Ron was with his wife Cindy and son Matt. This is the longest Walleye that we know of in our 11 years as owners of Manotak Lodge. There have been alot over 30 inches but not many close to 34 inches. Ron and his family were here for two weeks and caught a tremendous amount of fish and definitely deserve this trophy for the time spent on the water. And the absolutely best part of the whole story is that Ron released this fish. He said he thought about if for less than 10 seconds about whether to keep it and quickly decided to let her go. We are now checking with our taxidermist about getting a long enough mold for a replica mount.
Congratulations to Ron and check out the picture on right.
Will update fishing report soon but the good news is that fishing has been very good and the better news is that the SANDBAR is in full swing for Walleyes. As everyone knows, the Sandbar is one of my favorite places on earth so I am a very happy fisherman.
The second big news story is the MONSTER Walleye caught by Ron Abel this past week. A 34 inch behemoth. Yes, this is no typo: 34 INCHES LONG. The great thing was that Ron was with his wife Cindy and son Matt. This is the longest Walleye that we know of in our 11 years as owners of Manotak Lodge. There have been alot over 30 inches but not many close to 34 inches. Ron and his family were here for two weeks and caught a tremendous amount of fish and definitely deserve this trophy for the time spent on the water. And the absolutely best part of the whole story is that Ron released this fish. He said he thought about if for less than 10 seconds about whether to keep it and quickly decided to let her go. We are now checking with our taxidermist about getting a long enough mold for a replica mount.
Congratulations to Ron and check out the picture on right.
Will update fishing report soon but the good news is that fishing has been very good and the better news is that the SANDBAR is in full swing for Walleyes. As everyone knows, the Sandbar is one of my favorite places on earth so I am a very happy fisherman.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Manotak Master Angler Winner July 16-23
Another week has past and another winner has won our Manotak Master Angler Award. This past weeks winner is Bill Rathke (picture on right). Everyone caught big fish for the week but Bill was hard to beat. 28 inch Walleye & 36 inch Pike are a pretty good combination. The weather is still quite dry and there are still alot of fires north of us. We have had a small amount of rain but nothing that will remove the fire ban that is currently in place. The fishing has been very consistent with big Walleyes being the norm. Quantities of fish are decreasing slightly but the size of Walleyes are remaining on the larger size. The reefs are definitely the place to be with early morning and evenings being the best time for Walleyes. The Sandbar is in full swing with last evening being very good. One boat caught 7 Eyes in 13 minutes. I am not sure why they were timing themselves but that is a good catch. Pike are still very active and there are some larger Pike being caught but the big boys are being found on the reefs alongside Walleyes. We did have one group that caught quite afew Pike on jerk baits and we have since started working them along weedlines and reefs. We will let you know how they work out. Bass are still one of the most active fish biting right now. It is common to see a number of 15-18 inch Bass caught in a short period of time. Leeches are definitely the best choice for the larger Bass.
The Jumbo Perch have been elusive. We are catching Perch but the bigger ones have been harder to find. Will keep you posted if we find the pattern for big Perch. Musky are being caught on a more frequent basis as of late. Most of our guests have been keying in on Walleye, Pike & Bass but they are catching a Musky or two in the process. August & September are always our best months for Musky so with the warmer weather to date we should see more action. Our remote Walleye/Pike lake has been on a good run lately. Big Eyes are the norm and the walk is very dry with our current weather.
We have recieved a few business cards for our Manotak Business Center Board at the dock so keep sending us any information regarding your business, or items for sale, etc. We also hope you are enjoying our live Webcam. So far it has been alot of fun hearing the positive comments from family and friends back home watching the fisherman here at the lodge.
Stay tuned for more updates shortly.
The Jumbo Perch have been elusive. We are catching Perch but the bigger ones have been harder to find. Will keep you posted if we find the pattern for big Perch. Musky are being caught on a more frequent basis as of late. Most of our guests have been keying in on Walleye, Pike & Bass but they are catching a Musky or two in the process. August & September are always our best months for Musky so with the warmer weather to date we should see more action. Our remote Walleye/Pike lake has been on a good run lately. Big Eyes are the norm and the walk is very dry with our current weather.
We have recieved a few business cards for our Manotak Business Center Board at the dock so keep sending us any information regarding your business, or items for sale, etc. We also hope you are enjoying our live Webcam. So far it has been alot of fun hearing the positive comments from family and friends back home watching the fisherman here at the lodge.
Stay tuned for more updates shortly.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Manotak Master Angler Winner
Another great week fishing at Manotak Lodge and another MANOTAK MASTER ANGLER WINNER. This week we are congratulating Chris Alberts for reaching the pinnacle of the fishing world: "Manotak Master Angler Winner July 9-16". We might be laying it on alittle thick but none the less a great achievement. Chris caught some nice fish and also benefited from our unique handicapping system. We might change it up this next week. Any suggestions are appreciated. The intent is to make it fun and at the same time allow everyone to at least have a shot at the big prize.
It is also worthy to note that Chris's wife Jean has been coming to Manotak Lodge since 1959. It is extremely fascinating talking with them both to hear all of the stories such as the guides who fished for Manotak Lodge, or the boats and motors used at that time. And even the first private owners, King & Marge Johnson. Times have sure changed (a GPS unit in those days was an anchor dropped over the side of a boat to a certain depth until it hit something. An underwater camera was the guide telling the youngest in the boat to dive down and see what is underwater for fish). We might be spoiled in that regard but we still cannot make the fish bite on command.
We hope all of you have found our new WEBCAM on our website and have found it to be a fun thing to use. All of our current guests have found it to be a great thing just to call home and have relation or friends see them live at our lodge. Kinda strange to see people standing in the yard talking on a cell phone waving in mid-air.
Fishing this week was very good and also interesting. Walleyes have been very big almost to a fault. Guests are trying to catch shorelunch size Walleyes and are catching alot of "Eyes" well over 20 inches consistently. This is a great problem to have and we are not complaining. Manotak's policy about releasing all Walleyes over 18 inches is really paying off big time. Our guests have really become great stewards of promoting the release of big fish and they are reaping the benefits. We hope this is happening at all lodges.
The reefs are producing the most Walleyes at the moment and the best bait has been Leeches and Nightcrawlers. Dragging a Bait Walker, Crawler Harness, or Spinner rig is the best option.
Pike are being caught in good numbers but the size is down slightly this week. Mid-30 inchers were caught but the 40 inch plus Pike were elusive. Rattle Traps, Spinners and Spoons are still working best. Why change when they are working, right?
Bass are really on a roll at this time. Leeches are working great but Rattle Traps, Tubes & Flukes are still a good choice. Deeper reefs are now starting to kick in for Bass and we know that Walleyes are always right behind.
Jumbo Perch are being elusive at the moment. We are cathing Perch but fewer larger ones. This has been the pattern for the past two weeks. We think they are going slightly deeper and we have been fishing too shallow. Will let you know.
Our remote Musky Lake has been up and down for success. One day we will catch 5-10 Muskies and the next day 1 or 2. This is fishing and there is no predicting what will happen on any given day but the fisherman who hit the lower count day are being worked over pretty hard by the larger count fisherman. Fisherman don't have egos do they?
On a side note: we will be selling some older 20hp Yamaha 2 stroke engines. They range in the 1995-1998 vintage. They run great but we just do not use them any more as we have mostly all 4 stroke. If you are interested let me know and we can discuss via phone or email.
Keep watching the WEBCAM and we hope it keeps you excited to fish Manotak Lodge. Tune in on Wednesday evenings around 9:00-9:30pm and see our latest Master Angler be crowned).
Until next week: Hooks Sharp, Lines tight, Net ready, Camera focused!
It is also worthy to note that Chris's wife Jean has been coming to Manotak Lodge since 1959. It is extremely fascinating talking with them both to hear all of the stories such as the guides who fished for Manotak Lodge, or the boats and motors used at that time. And even the first private owners, King & Marge Johnson. Times have sure changed (a GPS unit in those days was an anchor dropped over the side of a boat to a certain depth until it hit something. An underwater camera was the guide telling the youngest in the boat to dive down and see what is underwater for fish). We might be spoiled in that regard but we still cannot make the fish bite on command.
We hope all of you have found our new WEBCAM on our website and have found it to be a fun thing to use. All of our current guests have found it to be a great thing just to call home and have relation or friends see them live at our lodge. Kinda strange to see people standing in the yard talking on a cell phone waving in mid-air.
Fishing this week was very good and also interesting. Walleyes have been very big almost to a fault. Guests are trying to catch shorelunch size Walleyes and are catching alot of "Eyes" well over 20 inches consistently. This is a great problem to have and we are not complaining. Manotak's policy about releasing all Walleyes over 18 inches is really paying off big time. Our guests have really become great stewards of promoting the release of big fish and they are reaping the benefits. We hope this is happening at all lodges.
The reefs are producing the most Walleyes at the moment and the best bait has been Leeches and Nightcrawlers. Dragging a Bait Walker, Crawler Harness, or Spinner rig is the best option.
Pike are being caught in good numbers but the size is down slightly this week. Mid-30 inchers were caught but the 40 inch plus Pike were elusive. Rattle Traps, Spinners and Spoons are still working best. Why change when they are working, right?
Bass are really on a roll at this time. Leeches are working great but Rattle Traps, Tubes & Flukes are still a good choice. Deeper reefs are now starting to kick in for Bass and we know that Walleyes are always right behind.
Jumbo Perch are being elusive at the moment. We are cathing Perch but fewer larger ones. This has been the pattern for the past two weeks. We think they are going slightly deeper and we have been fishing too shallow. Will let you know.
Our remote Musky Lake has been up and down for success. One day we will catch 5-10 Muskies and the next day 1 or 2. This is fishing and there is no predicting what will happen on any given day but the fisherman who hit the lower count day are being worked over pretty hard by the larger count fisherman. Fisherman don't have egos do they?
On a side note: we will be selling some older 20hp Yamaha 2 stroke engines. They range in the 1995-1998 vintage. They run great but we just do not use them any more as we have mostly all 4 stroke. If you are interested let me know and we can discuss via phone or email.
Keep watching the WEBCAM and we hope it keeps you excited to fish Manotak Lodge. Tune in on Wednesday evenings around 9:00-9:30pm and see our latest Master Angler be crowned).
Until next week: Hooks Sharp, Lines tight, Net ready, Camera focused!
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Manotak Master Angler Winners/Fishing Report
Finally the weekly update for the past two weeks (I know that does not make sense but based on my schedule and workload it kinda does).
The Master Angler contest is still going strong with Matt Rau winning the last week of June and Ken Smith taking the honors this past week. Congratulations to Matt & Ken and to all the anglers who fished hard.
Walleyes are on an interesting bite right now. We are having absolutely moments of unbelievable fishing at times and then a slow period. As an example, last Wednesday the daytime was fairly slow but the evening saw catches of over 40 Walleyes in a 2-3 hour period. These different patterns are happening each day where the bite is really slow in the morning and then fantastic in the evening but then the next day it might switch. We know this is the way fishing is sometimes but we are trying to get a good handle on a pattern. The even better news is that the size of Walleyes are really big. Chris & Jean from Chicago this past Friday caught "Eyes" of 27", 24", 22", 21" & 19" in just one spot in a short period. This is a recurring theme. Baits of choice are still live bait with Leeches & Minnows being the first choice with Nightcrawlers a close second. Cranking for Eyes with small baits such as Fat Raps, Hot"N"Tots, are still working well but not as fast as live bait. The early evening has been best time for cranking Walleyes.
Pike are on a consistent bite at the moment. This pattern is more normal where we are finding them on the weed edges cruising for Perch and on the deeper reefs chasing Bass & Walleye. Perch colored baits such as Rattle Traps and Mepps spinners are working really well in addition to any crank bait that is Blue & Silver. Consistent Pike in the 30-40 inch range are very common. One interesting fishing story from last week was Mark from Illinois had tagged into a monster Pike over in Grassy Bay and had it fly out of the water acouple of times. Another boat from over 300 yards away saw the fish and came over to watch the fight. Unfortunately, the big brute Pike won the battle when it snapped Mark's line. They all said this fish was way over 40 inches. I am sure the fish story now being told has this fish now estimated at probably 60 inches plus(not that fisherman lie about length of fish).
Bass are still on a fantastic bite right now. Topwater is still in full swing along the rock piles. Our Master Angler contest had Bass in the 16-18 inch range consistently. Leeches are the preferred live bait but the smaller Rattle Traps and Crank baits shaped like a crayfish are working well.
You probably remember when we said that this has been the best start to Perch fishing in our 11 years of being at the lodge. Well, I should have kept my mouth shut. This past week was more spotty for Perch than previous weeks. Some fisherman caught a mess of larger Perch but they really had to work for them while others were only catching the smaller ones. Numbers of Perch are still good but the larger slabs were more elusive. This is our best time for Perch normally so we will keep you posted.
Musky fishing has been about average this past couple of weeks. We had a couple in the mid-40's but did not crack the 50 inch mark. We had 2 musky "hunters" this past week and they caught a few and had a couple nice follows but it was not over the top. August & September are usually our best months but our waters are warming up pretty quickly so we think the action for Musky will speed up. Our remote Musky lake however is on a fantastic run right now. Catches of 10-14 Muskies caught in one boat in a day was not unusual. We highly recommend a day at this lake when you are here at Manotak Lodge for your vacation.
Speaking of remote lakes, our walk-in Walleye & Pike lake is unbeleivable at the moment. Huge size and lots of quantity is the norm on this lake. We hope that all of our fisherman take advantage of this remote lake and experience Canada fishing at its best.
I mentioned in our last Blog that we had some exciting news coming in the near future. Well, we are confident that Monay or Tuesday we will be able to announce what it is. Keep an eye on our homepage on our website of http://www.manotak.com/ We hope you will enjoy it.
In addition, we have our Manotak Business Center board up at the dock for our guests to promote their business or if they want to sell something. You are more than welcome to send me an email: (manotaklodge@gmail.com) stating your business that you offer, or of something that you would like to sell. I will print it off and post on the board at the dock. Remember, we have people from all across the country here at our lodge so if you have something to offer, someone else could be interested.
That's all for now. Stay tuned and check our website Monday or Tuesday. I might even send out an email with the news.
The Master Angler contest is still going strong with Matt Rau winning the last week of June and Ken Smith taking the honors this past week. Congratulations to Matt & Ken and to all the anglers who fished hard.
Walleyes are on an interesting bite right now. We are having absolutely moments of unbelievable fishing at times and then a slow period. As an example, last Wednesday the daytime was fairly slow but the evening saw catches of over 40 Walleyes in a 2-3 hour period. These different patterns are happening each day where the bite is really slow in the morning and then fantastic in the evening but then the next day it might switch. We know this is the way fishing is sometimes but we are trying to get a good handle on a pattern. The even better news is that the size of Walleyes are really big. Chris & Jean from Chicago this past Friday caught "Eyes" of 27", 24", 22", 21" & 19" in just one spot in a short period. This is a recurring theme. Baits of choice are still live bait with Leeches & Minnows being the first choice with Nightcrawlers a close second. Cranking for Eyes with small baits such as Fat Raps, Hot"N"Tots, are still working well but not as fast as live bait. The early evening has been best time for cranking Walleyes.
Pike are on a consistent bite at the moment. This pattern is more normal where we are finding them on the weed edges cruising for Perch and on the deeper reefs chasing Bass & Walleye. Perch colored baits such as Rattle Traps and Mepps spinners are working really well in addition to any crank bait that is Blue & Silver. Consistent Pike in the 30-40 inch range are very common. One interesting fishing story from last week was Mark from Illinois had tagged into a monster Pike over in Grassy Bay and had it fly out of the water acouple of times. Another boat from over 300 yards away saw the fish and came over to watch the fight. Unfortunately, the big brute Pike won the battle when it snapped Mark's line. They all said this fish was way over 40 inches. I am sure the fish story now being told has this fish now estimated at probably 60 inches plus(not that fisherman lie about length of fish).
Bass are still on a fantastic bite right now. Topwater is still in full swing along the rock piles. Our Master Angler contest had Bass in the 16-18 inch range consistently. Leeches are the preferred live bait but the smaller Rattle Traps and Crank baits shaped like a crayfish are working well.
You probably remember when we said that this has been the best start to Perch fishing in our 11 years of being at the lodge. Well, I should have kept my mouth shut. This past week was more spotty for Perch than previous weeks. Some fisherman caught a mess of larger Perch but they really had to work for them while others were only catching the smaller ones. Numbers of Perch are still good but the larger slabs were more elusive. This is our best time for Perch normally so we will keep you posted.
Musky fishing has been about average this past couple of weeks. We had a couple in the mid-40's but did not crack the 50 inch mark. We had 2 musky "hunters" this past week and they caught a few and had a couple nice follows but it was not over the top. August & September are usually our best months but our waters are warming up pretty quickly so we think the action for Musky will speed up. Our remote Musky lake however is on a fantastic run right now. Catches of 10-14 Muskies caught in one boat in a day was not unusual. We highly recommend a day at this lake when you are here at Manotak Lodge for your vacation.
Speaking of remote lakes, our walk-in Walleye & Pike lake is unbeleivable at the moment. Huge size and lots of quantity is the norm on this lake. We hope that all of our fisherman take advantage of this remote lake and experience Canada fishing at its best.
I mentioned in our last Blog that we had some exciting news coming in the near future. Well, we are confident that Monay or Tuesday we will be able to announce what it is. Keep an eye on our homepage on our website of http://www.manotak.com/ We hope you will enjoy it.
In addition, we have our Manotak Business Center board up at the dock for our guests to promote their business or if they want to sell something. You are more than welcome to send me an email: (manotaklodge@gmail.com) stating your business that you offer, or of something that you would like to sell. I will print it off and post on the board at the dock. Remember, we have people from all across the country here at our lodge so if you have something to offer, someone else could be interested.
That's all for now. Stay tuned and check our website Monday or Tuesday. I might even send out an email with the news.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Manotak Fishing Update
June is almost over and what a fishing month it has been. This past couple of weeks have really produced some monster fish. As an example, just this past week there were countless Walleyes over 25 inch with a common theme being that the "Eyes" are too big and we cannot find any small enough for shore lunch. This week is only one day old and already we have had a number of fish between 25-29 1/2 inch. The reefs are really kicking in big time so this will be alot of fun each day listening to the fish stories.
Pike have been on a binge with 30-40 inchers being caught each day. Just ask 5 year old Tanner who battled a 30" toothy critter and won. Topwater Bass is in full swing. I was fortunate to sneak out fishing Friday night and threw a Skitter Pop for a short time and had a few boils. There is nothing more fun than to have a large Bass explode on your bait. (I also snuck out to my favorite place on earth, "THE SANDBAR" and caught 1 Walleye and lost two. Not a good ratio of catching to losing but this is just the start of a great relationship between me and The Sandbar. The Sandbar does not dissapoint)
I can only say one thing about the Perch fishing so far: INCREDIBLE!. In our eleven years of being at Manotak Lodge we have never seen so many large Perch this early in the season. Last week as an example was amazing. We are starting to catch them off our dock so this should be very interesting. We will keep our knives sharp.
The weather has been quite cooperative as of late. In fact, we actually need some rain to insure that it does not get too dry. There are some big fires to our East and had a day of smoke haze which always makes us nervous. The fire fighters here in Canada are some of the best so we know they will succeed. We are supposed to get rain tonight so this should help.
In regards to the exciting news I mentioned in an earlier post, we hope to announce possibly this week if all goes well. Will keep you posted.
Thats all for now. Heading down to the dock to help Earl. He is always on the go doing something.
Pike have been on a binge with 30-40 inchers being caught each day. Just ask 5 year old Tanner who battled a 30" toothy critter and won. Topwater Bass is in full swing. I was fortunate to sneak out fishing Friday night and threw a Skitter Pop for a short time and had a few boils. There is nothing more fun than to have a large Bass explode on your bait. (I also snuck out to my favorite place on earth, "THE SANDBAR" and caught 1 Walleye and lost two. Not a good ratio of catching to losing but this is just the start of a great relationship between me and The Sandbar. The Sandbar does not dissapoint)
I can only say one thing about the Perch fishing so far: INCREDIBLE!. In our eleven years of being at Manotak Lodge we have never seen so many large Perch this early in the season. Last week as an example was amazing. We are starting to catch them off our dock so this should be very interesting. We will keep our knives sharp.
The weather has been quite cooperative as of late. In fact, we actually need some rain to insure that it does not get too dry. There are some big fires to our East and had a day of smoke haze which always makes us nervous. The fire fighters here in Canada are some of the best so we know they will succeed. We are supposed to get rain tonight so this should help.
In regards to the exciting news I mentioned in an earlier post, we hope to announce possibly this week if all goes well. Will keep you posted.
Thats all for now. Heading down to the dock to help Earl. He is always on the go doing something.
Friday, June 10, 2011
FISHING REPORT & MANOTAK MASTER ANGLER AWARDS
I know, I know, you have all been waiting for a fishing report and here it finally is. We cannot believe that 3 weeks of the fishing season has passed already. The weather was fantastic before the season started and sure enough, as soon as the season opened the weather turned cool. Go figure. The fishing on the other hand was absolutely HOT. Walleyes were plentiful in Ord River, Rainy Lake & in front of Jackfish Bay right from the start. Not much was happening out on the main lake at first but slowly you could see Ord River slowing and the some of the main lake areas improving. Ord Bay, East Bay, Camp Island, Twin Islands, Snake Pit, and Rainy Lake just to name a few are hitting Walleyes now at a pretty good pace. Minnows are the live bait of choice with nightcrawlers coming in a close second. Trolling crank baits have been producing some big Walleyes but have not caught the numbers of fish as live bait has. Depth of Walleyes have been in the 7-14 foot range. Pike have been nothing short of huge. I can truly say that guests have been catching Pike repeatedly in the 32-38 inch range with "eater snakes" harder to find. Don't get me wrong, this is a great problem to have. We have also cracked the 40 plus inch mark a few times already this season on Pike which is not unusual. Most of the Pike have been coming on live suckers but Mepps Spinners & Husky Jerks are working really well also. We can say with all confidence that this is the best start for Smallies and Perch since Linda and I have been at the lodge. Huge size and numbers of both Bass & Perch are common. We know the Smallie fisherie is one of the best in North America and so far we are proving this to be true. We already have topped the 20 inch mark on Bass and 17 to 19 inchers are becoming popular. Flukes, Tubes, & small Rattle Traps have been the bait of choice so far. We have tried Leeches but have not had as much success as of yet. They will kick in soon. As mentioned, Perch have been unbelievable in size and quantity. We normally don't even think about Perch until maybe mid to late June. What a bonus to see fisherman catching good numbers of Perch in addition to Walleye, Pike & Bass. Minnows & Crawlers have been working for Perch but seeing as how everyone is catching them we thought we would experiment with a very-unconventional bait to see if they continue to bite. This could be big news!
We also need to bring you up to speed on our MANOTAK MASTER ANGLER CONTEST 2011. The winners are so far: Mike Shulze - WI. May 21-28, Ray Ragsdale - MO. May 28-June 4, & Dave Beamon - NC June 4-11. We have changed the contest slightly for this year with a new grand prize that we think will challenge any fisherman to stay out and pound the water. We are still throwing in a few twists just to make it more interesting. I will post all of the winners pictures shortly.
We are still accepting names for "Lunches" new mate the Drake Mallard. Keep the names coming. She has been coming in less frequent as we believe she is nesting but I can usually call her from the dock in the evening and she will come and pay a visit and get her daily fix of bread. I did have an interesting question asked to me this week and that was why I was not feeding "Lunch" seasoned bread. While I was not amused at first I did have to admit this was brilliant. Maybe we should direct those briliant ideas toward catching more fish. EH?
Thats all for now. Stay tuned, more to come.
We also need to bring you up to speed on our MANOTAK MASTER ANGLER CONTEST 2011. The winners are so far: Mike Shulze - WI. May 21-28, Ray Ragsdale - MO. May 28-June 4, & Dave Beamon - NC June 4-11. We have changed the contest slightly for this year with a new grand prize that we think will challenge any fisherman to stay out and pound the water. We are still throwing in a few twists just to make it more interesting. I will post all of the winners pictures shortly.
We are still accepting names for "Lunches" new mate the Drake Mallard. Keep the names coming. She has been coming in less frequent as we believe she is nesting but I can usually call her from the dock in the evening and she will come and pay a visit and get her daily fix of bread. I did have an interesting question asked to me this week and that was why I was not feeding "Lunch" seasoned bread. While I was not amused at first I did have to admit this was brilliant. Maybe we should direct those briliant ideas toward catching more fish. EH?
Thats all for now. Stay tuned, more to come.
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