Peninsular Lake Fly In, July 26 to Aug 2
As soon as I lifted the fat 17-inch walleye towards the gunnel I knew it was a mistake, I was coming in to low. Sure enough, he clipped the side, shook, snapped my line and swam away with my third to last Hot n Tot – and it was my best colour (Hot Firetiger). Angry with myself, I looked at Colin and shook my head “I am such a dumbass” Such was the story of our week on Peninsular Lake – the Hot n Tot was hot, the walleye and pike hungry but between snags, annoying 18 inch pike and bad boatside handling many of us were running low on the old Storm staple.
Beginnings
Our group makes these trips every two years, this particular trip was to be our 8th together and our 6th fly in. To date we had driven to White River and Nakina, pivoted and flew commercial to Thunder Bay to fly out of Sioux Lookout – all great trips for sure. For 2024 we decided we were interested in driving to our jump off point again, easier logistics for packing, we could avoid the dreaded fog of Thunder Bay and we could go back to bringing some premade meals which would simplify our time in camp. Coming from the Toronto area we zeroed in on the Nakina, talked to a lot of outfitters, searched a lot of forums and spoke to many helpful fishermen and in the end, we chose Peninsular Lake with Deep Wilderness Outposts. We also shifted our date – instead of the 3rd week of August we moved up to the last week of July – it worked better for some vacations but in the end in caused some complications
On the Road
We met up at 5 AM and surprisingly we were all on time, packed on our way to Nakina at 5:30. The drive up was smooth until New Liskeard. A gravel truck decided to pull out in front of my truck (no need to, jerk move!) , 1 minute later a golf ball sized rock shoots out of the back and onto my windshield “smash” and I had a new souvenir, a spiderwebbed view for the rest of the drive. We hit Geraldton around 5 PM, grabbed some ice, hit Subway for dinner and made our way to the Shores Motel in Nakina. Check in was easy, rooms were fine and our flat of worms was waiting for us – sweet! We did however experience a surprise – lots of hungry black flies ready to enjoy us as we enjoyed our subs – didn’t bode well for the week. John from Deep Wilderness was nice enough to pop into the hotel to give us an overview of the lake, mark up some fishing spots on our map and cover off the usual cabin details. He told us to meet him at the airbase for 7 AM ish and we would be one of the first flights out with Leuenbergers. We enjoyed a beer or two, donated blood to the black flies and had a few good laughs before turning in fairly early, lightheaded and excited for the next day
Day 1
After a quick stop at Pennocks to grab coffee and pick up our worms we made the 5-minute drive to Leuenbergers air base on Cordingly lake, The crew backed us right in and we loaded up the carts for the weigh in. I always find the weigh in stressful, visions of being asked to jettison precious beer, whisky or cigars running through my mind. However once again it did not happen, and I was left wishing I grabbed 12 more beers and kept those extra under wear in my kit! We were loaded into the Otter by 8 AM and after a smooth 45-minute flight we were pulling up to the dock at Pen! This is our second time flying with Leuenbergers and I would highly recommend them. Quick chat with the gentlemen coming out (how did boats run (fine), how was fishing (amazing) any heads up (watch for 1 or two shoals)
We have a tradition, one that was passed onto me by a kind gentleman on Walleye Central and something I would recommend to anyone doing a fly in trip to an outpost. Once the plane leaves us, we grab a cold beer, take a deep breath, light a stogie and toast the week to come. As many people who have done these trips know, getting to the lake is half the battle, rather than run to unpack, take a minute and celebrate that the real fun is about to begin.
Fairly quickly we unpacked, ate, readied our fishing gear, got the boats on the dock. It was time to fish. Peninsular is a large fly in lake – about 9,000 acres. We had great maps created by Willy and some starting spots from John, so we made our way full of hope and excitement.
Since we are 5 guys, we constantly rotate boat mates throughout the week (with one guy being single), another rule is that each guy has a half day to be the "captain". It works for us and makes sure we all get a chance to fish together and at least a shot being solo. We met up at an island about 10 minutes from camp, Dave and I already jigging and picking up a few walleyes. The other guys spread out, we stayed put and we used our radios to keep in touch. Dave and I found a spot that would pay off throughout the week (however only with a decent wind) – a shelf off the island that quickly gave up 16 fish ranging from 15 to 20 inches. Meet Up Island was named.
We all tried a few spots and consistently picked up fish, mainly trolling crankbaits with a little jigging and casting mixed in. Did I mention it was hot? Probably 80 degrees w a surface temp of 74 – without the wind I think it would have been unbearable. Dave and I ran into Scott at around a shoal that we had found. We circled the marker buoy getting a lay of the land, casting and jigging when a call came over the radio from Colin. “Uh, guys, I think we need some help” My initial worry was someone had a hook in them or some other ailment when I heard “The motor just stopped and we cannot get it to start again” Thankfully we were all close together, we headed over, all took a shot trying to get the engine going but eventually we determined that we needed to tow it in. Colin jumped in w Willy, Mark stayed in the busted boat and Dave, and I followed them back to the cabin. What seemed like hours later, soaked to the bone (our way in was sideways to the wind and water splashed frequently onto me and my boat partner) we made it back to camp. Okay, no worries, lets ditch this motor for the one on the 4th boat. Motor switched, started and. shit – it died to. Many pulls starts, tinkering discussions later we decided to make dinner. Perhaps some cool off time would help the boats and us. After dinner we decided to head out, Dave was going to chill at camp so being down a boat wasn’t an issue, we thought, Colin and I headed to a small island within eye shot of the camp while we waited for the other guys. We picked off a few pike and walleye when another call came on the radio – guys, this motor just died. F$%#! We ran over to tow the guys in, they changed gas tanks and literally yanked the motor until it fired again. We ran to the outlet of the Atwood River – very shallow, 2 small walleye and getting dark – we headed in for beers and to plan for tomorrow. Did I mention the bugs? Basically we had the trifecta of bugs with us – on the deck and around camp – ravenous mosquitos, on the dock near the water – blood thirsty black flies and on the lake – devilish ankle biters.
Total Fish - 66
Day 2
Thinking through how we now had 3 motors that all seemed to have the same issue we figured it had to be bad gas. Scott got to work collecting all of the gas cans and dumping them out – sure enough in two tanks there was clearly water mixed in. New tanks, motors flipped we all took turns pull starting the engines, hoping to clear the bad gas. Sure enough after Mark took a marathon turn we got the motor that died the first day to turn over! We were back to three boats and ready to fish again – woo hoo! Note: When chatting w John about gas ahead of the trip he mentioned we should only use Jerry Can gas in the boats and the pump gas for the generator. Our guess is that somewhere along the line the gas tanks in the boat had been filled from the pump and eventually the motors just got gummed up.
With new engines and new life we decided to head out but stay close to home because a) we didn’t want to be far until we were 100% confident motors were fixed and b) the sky looked very foreboding. We picked off fish here and there, but they seemed scattered, not as tight to structure. We did head to an area John had highlighted, a deep bay with a hard breaking shoreline, eventually nicknamed the Wall. Using hot n tots, we all picked off fat walleye and annoying little pike. Within 30 minutes the Thunder started to roll, and lightning flashed in the distance. We headed in for lunch, a little siesta and maybe a beer or two.
Rested and ready we headed back out in hot and sunny weather. Pushing our luck, we decided to run to where the Atwood river flows into Peninsular. Older reports and some intel highlighted this as a must visit. It took us about 40 minutes to get to the inlet, leading us I was a bit nervous as the outlet had been to shallow to hold fish, heading towards the rapids it was very shallow but just as I was starting to curse the water dropped off again and the current picked up. We dropped jigs and within seconds had a double header. The rest of the fishing was as the kids say “off the hook” Basically we would run tight to the top of the rapids and drift down the river until we eventually hit 25 feet. It was mayhem and well worth the run. Sadly storms threatened again and being so far away we made our way back to camp. By the time we were halfway back the rain rolled in making it a miserable return ride – into the cabin for an amazing dinner of smoked brisket (thanks Colin), some beers and an early night – all in all a solid day
Total Fish – 154
Day 3
We awoke to another big thunderstorm – can you sense a theme? July sucks! With lightning flashing all around we stayed cabin and had a lazy breakfast. Around 10 AM the weather cleared and out we went. We barely got lines wet when the storm turned back! Being cautious of running back to camp we decided to pull up on shore (running at 10 MPH in a tin boat didn’t seem like a good plan) We pulled the boats up, got a little fire going and man did it roll in – lightning, thunder and rain squalls we were stuck on shore for an hour. Soaked and chilled we headed in for lunch and stayed there until after dinner. One mishap at the dock, between the wet and in all honesty the uselessness of the dock at Pen (small, no cleats/tie downs, crappy ropes in the boats) we had two members bail – bruised knees and egos only but a fitting ending to a crap morning. A quick night fish but once again the storms rolled in, and we headed in for the night
Total Fish - 50
Day 4
The plan for today was to head into a new section of the lake, a long finger kind of center between where the cabin is and where the inflow is. The weather had a different idea though, super foggy morning, probably the thickest fog I have ever driven a boat in. At one point I completely circled and was heading towards the camp as opposed to where I wanted to go. We stayed tight as our two of the 3 walkie talkies we had weren’t working – more than likely water damage was the culprit, so we decided to fish down at the Wall and wait for the fog to burn off. I was fishing solo and decided to troll with a hot n tot. Right away I picked off a decent walleye and then a small pike. Turning around I started again and honestly missed 3 fish in a row. Eventually I would come to understand that the pike had bent the lip of the hot n tot, and it was running crooked, in the moment however I just switched to a different Tot and started catching again. Pike at the boat, lazy Andrew decides to not net it and snap, another hot n tot gone. Damn – I started with 7 and now I am down to 4!
The other guys also picked off fish trolling – while we did jig a bit during the week trolling was definitely the best tactic. Hot N Tots were the standout but deep husky jerks, cotton Cordell wally divers and a weird relic Willy had (kind of like a shad rap) also worked. As the book says bright colours worked best/most consistently except on sunny days where metallics were also good.
The fog left us and we made the run down into large bay at the end of the finger the outfitter called Nogies Bay” Relatively shallow and featureless the bay wasn’t that great. Didn’t help that it was really hot with 0 wind. We puttered around for an hour or two and decided to head back to the main lake. Fished around the White Buoy Shoal (official Northern Jacks name) and eventually headed to a beautiful sand beach for lunch. After lunch and partway there we ran back to the inflow – while it was okay, it did not come close to what it was the day before – not sure if the storms scattered the fish but definitely not the same bite. In for dinner and out for a night fish by the wall, same story, we caught fish, but they were scattered.
Total Fish – 76
Day 5
Another hot day with little wind, we planned on coming back to camp for lunch to take a break from the and have a swim/shower. I was paired up with Colin – mainly relevant as we call him the Hot n Tot kid. He loves the tot and his mastery of the boat and the way he works the contours was very cool to watch. We ran to a spot we called “shi#$ers Point” So named because it was used in a bowel emergency but a group member. From far away it looked pretty innocuous but once we started to run the contours it was a riot! Colin had the first 7 fish when I finally asked for help – he passed me one of his Hot N Tots and within 5 minutes I was on the board. This is when I figured out that the Hot N Tot (at least on this lake) must run very centred with little swaying to be effective. All of the boats were doing well trolling different points and shorelines – the common theme was that the fish were sitting off the bottom rise of structure (re if edge went from 24 to 12 feet the bulk of our fish were sitting in 19 – 17) We headed in for a lunch and a swim and then headed back out. Colin and I continued to Hot. Sadly I rushed a pike into the boat and lost the Hot n To the gave me. I took one that hadn’t seemed to work for me, bent the lip, checked that the action was right and threw it out. Thankfully it was a hit. Colin spun us around an area called 5 Points and it was a blast. We had multiple double headers which is not easy when trolling cranks. Basically unless we thought we had a monster the other guy would reel in slowly to clear the lines – many times that second guy would hook up, sometimes another walleye, sometimes another pike. The other lads were also doing well – Scott and Dave have a great troll going with large baits off shoals and Mark was picking them off pulling various cranks. In for relaxed dinner and beers, Mark and I decided to run out mainly to take some pictures, The cabin at Pen is West facing and with all of the storm activity and clouds the sunsets were spectacular! We fished quickly and I caught my biggest walleye of the trip (on a Hot n Tot!)
Total Fish – 102
Day 6
Another crazy day with the weather. Sunny morning without a cloud in the sky we decided to run again to the inflow, then fish our way back to the same beach from the other day. I actually wore a bathing suit thinking I would swim at lunch – ha! We were only a few minutes at the inflow when the weather turned again quickly – for the second time we pulled the boats onto shore and sheltered from the storm. Thankfully it blew through quickly and we got back to fishing. Once more the fishing wasn’t what it was that second day, it was okay but not fast and furious by any means. While I have had pike t bone a walleye before I did see something new – I had on a small walleye, maybe 10 inches and just as I was about to lift it out a feisty 20 inch pike launched himself out of the water, snatching the walleye and holding on until I poked him with a net – crazy. We made our way back into the main lake a split up. Dave and I wanted to troll for big pike – on the way down we had spotted a large bay that had a small creek running in and at the mouth it was still very deep. A Mike Borger spot for sure lol. I tied on a large spoon and Dave a Grandma probed and… nothing. Not even a snot rocket as good as the bay looked. At one point we sat on the shelf and pitched out spoons into 50 feet and ripped them back but still nada. We switched gears, pulled out the walleye gear and trolled an interesting point. Again we picked nice fish of consistently as we had all week – not as effective or fast and furious as jigging but very fun. I should also mention that the average size of walleye on Pen was very good, maybe the best in all our trips. The bulk of our fish were between 17 and 20 inches, fat and well fed. We had 6 fish over 24 inches (although all under 25) and too many to count between 21 and 24. Not sure if the fact that we were using crankbaits so much influenced this, but it was impressive. Off to lunch and for a swim, turns out I was right - it was back to sunny skies again! Post lunch we went back to a few old haunts – Shoal Buoy, SH%^%ers Point and Meet Up Island 0 – decent fishing again. Sadly however we had a boat issue again – Willy was the solo boat and after lunch I would not get out of trolling speed – most likely a remnant for bad gas. He putted back to the cabin and Dave, and I said we would check in an hour. We headed to camp when we said we would and sadly the motor was not back running, another round of changing out gas, pulling and no go, grabbed the motor that died the second day and after a of work and finagling it ran again! At this point it was time for dinner. Since it was early the beer and whisky flowed and we decided to do another ritual – dock time to check out the stars and listen to some Pink Floyd! With all of the storms it was unreal – above the dock was dotted with stars but also what we believe was the start of the northern lights – grey/yellow pillars coming down from the sky but also incredibly to our right, miles away a crazy intense lightning storm was lighting up the sky every 5 minutes. A great reminder of the beauty of the north and doing these trips. Sometimes it’s easy to get so focused on catching fish or feeling beat up because you have bailed on the dock twice or the fact that storms and boat issues are keeping you off the water and you forget to really enjoy the experience, I mean let’s face it – we spend a lot of money to chase fish around a lake – how bad can it be?
Colin was keen to get up later on that night, I said I would join him but just happened to wake up about 1:30 AM needing the head. As I walked out to the porch half asleep, he came out (as he set an alarm) and drew my attention to the sky. WOW – all of those pillars of light had grown in size, shape and movement – the best way to describe it was milky way looking barber poles coming down to the lake and spinning surrounded by massive clouds of pale light shimmering around the pillars and the stars. I would 100% say Northern Lights except for the lack of colours – but it was really amazing
Total Fish – 82
Day 7
The final day – always bitter sweet, sad about leaving but also ready for my “normal” life (less bugs, better bed and air conditioning – oh and my lovely family) - I was the solo boat today and since we wanted to maximize time on the water, be mindful of the boat issues and get some packing done at lunch we fished the main lake. The sky was cloudless, not a drop of win and it was hot – thought we would be facing front conditions but in the end, it was one of our best days. Meet Up Island, Shi#&ers Point and the Wall were on fire.
I had tied on my final good hot n tot and was picking off fish at a solid pace. I went on a 5 fish streak where the largest was 24 and the smallest was 20 until 19 inchers spoiled the run.
Dave and Mark nailed them at the island pulling cranks and back trolling with jigs. Not to be outdone Colin and Willy were on a hot streak of their own trolling the wall. It was a blast. In for lunch, some packing and a swim everyone decided to take a nap, as the nights festivities had us slightly tired. I could not sleep, way too hot but luckily Colin couldn’t as well so we headed back to Shi$ters Point – one pass and I nailed my largest walleye of the week, a 24.5 incher and Colin hit a beauty 23 incher. But surprise again, cloud rolled in quickly and we barely made it back to camp before the skies opened up.
Dinner, some more packing and we went for our final fish – the same spots produced, maybe not quite as well as the morning’s runs but still very good. Reluctantly we called it a night around 8:30 – into beach and clean the boats, pack up our fishing gear and play some cards. The plane was picking us up between 9 and 10 so we had time in the morning for the full pack and clean up
Total Fish - 128
Day 8
Awoke to clear and sunny skies which meant the plane should be on time. Some whirlwind packing, leisure coffee and lots of laughs we were ready. Leuenbergers showed up at 9 on the nose, smooth flight back, load the vehicles and head home. The drive was smooth as could be, pulled into the GTA around 11:30 at night – tired in body, rested in soul (cheesy I know)
Total Fish for Trip - 658 which I believe is our 2nd or 3rd best week (to date Root Bay w Slate Falls has been our best at 859) Big pike was 30 inches and biggest walleye was a 3 way tie at 24.5
Impressions of Deep Wilderness Outfitters and Peninsular Lake
· John from DWO was really great to work with – responsive, informative and thorough in our prep. Would definitely recommend DWO (and Leuenbergers for flights as mentioned) john also provides a Garmin InReach at the cabin which was also great – we could let our families know we arrived at the lake, had it in case of emergencies and check in w John. I will comment that when the motors were down, we weren’t able to connect with John and in the end we were “on our own” to solve the issue. While I totally get that a surprise flight in would probably kill outfitters profit we did lose a full day of fishing throughout the week trying to clear the issues which is a pain considering the expense of the trips.
· The cabin at Pen is functional, the generator was a big plus as we could use it to keep the freezer (and our precious ice) cold all week, charge batteries and phones, run CPAPs and so on. The cabin is situated on a nice beach, has lots of tree cover and faces West for some amazing sunsets. There is a shower house and sauna which worked and worked even better when we figured out the on-demand water heater
· Boats and motors - so the bad gas thing was a real challenge but would be unfair to lay that on DWO but it certainly cost our group downtime and made for some stressful times trying to figure it out. The boats were older 14 foot Nadens and 9.9 engines. When the engines ran they were serviceable
· The docks – well I think I mentioned it, the dock needs some work including adding boat cleats and new ropes in the boats, hindsight 20/20 we probably should have used the beach (but with motor issues much easier for trouble shooting on the dock)
· DWO does not offer mid-week check ins – we knew this, so it’s not a complaint just an observation but for me (and I think our group) we like having the check in – ensures we can get more supplies in, would have been nice with boats as I am sure John would have figured it out faster than us. Going forward I think our group would consider mid-week check in’s a “mandatory” for Outpost trips
· The lake was phenomenal, beautiful, great fishing, big enough to explore, dotted with lots of sand beaches and the inlet and outlet provided a scenic run (and at times great fishing) I would highly recommend it – while there is another cabin on the lake I do not believe it is occupied most of the summer so having a “single cabin” experience on a large body of water was really cool
· Fishing was very good – even with all the storms and boat issues we managed to slay fish and almost anywhere that looked like it should hold fish did. Numerous times we were expecting a big change due to weather and while the fish may have moved slightly, they were still in the vicinity and aggressive tactics like trolling were still very effective.
Closing Observations
· Bring more Hot n Tots! I started w 7 and ended with 1 that functioned properly (the other lip had been bent back so many times it broke). For us the running without any side to side was key and always 2 ½ inch models with the straight metal lip
· Go back to 3rd week of August – although this is a group decision for me it’s a no brainer. Our experience in August has had way less bugs and storms IMO and typically we have had cool nights which is much better for sleeping. I will say on nice part of July was feeling like there was still a fair amount of summer. Campfires are normally a big part of our nighttime relaxation, but the bugs were so bad we only tried once – another strike against July.
· Driving to Nakina was less of a grind than I remembered, and I think within reason the advantages of simpler packing, make ahead meals and not worrying about flight times (both the commercial flight and coming out of camp) was less stressful
· Our group (a least some) are interested in looking at an American Plan lodge again, ideally a fly in. Our first trips together were to American Plan lodges closer to Toronto (Lady Evelyn Lake, Brennan Harbour) and while fishing has consistently gotten better as we have gone further north (and flying in) there is a certain relaxation mode that AP affords one – no boat maintenance, no cooking or cabin clean ups and so on. We will meet shortly to get some high-level idea’s but personally I am up for a trip to a AP. I realize it’s a tradeoff - giving up being captains of our ship (and could look like weirdos hanging on a dock at midnight listening to Dark Side of the Moon), be on a schedule and so on but I am interested to see if full services adds a little more “vacation feel” to a fishing trip.
· I am always impressed with our group – everyone has a role to play, we figure things out, have a lot of fun and even when things aren’t working we manage to still enjoy ourselves and each other – we often talk about adding a 6th man or more but I think we are leery because the group is so solid. Colin is a wizard in the kitchen, Dave is the key conduit between us and the outfitter, Willy is our go to man for prepping boats and creating maps , Whitey is our filet expert, even training more of us this trip and me – not sure what I bring – writing of trip reports and internet scouting maybe
· We have become much better walleye fisherman over the years. I think if we had the amount of weather curveballs, we experienced this trip a few years ago we would have struggled to change tactics or reestablish a pattern. We caught them so many different ways in a lot of different area’s this trip – a testament to the lake for sure but also a nod to our ability to switch it up and find new ways or places to catch
· While the average size and numbers of walleyes were great, we really didn’t get into any sizable pike, could be our abilities or could have been the weather, I am not sure. The gentlemen who came in after us mentioned that they fish pike hard and have caught some beauties out of Pen including a 45 incher, so they are there, just not for us. We owned the 18 – 22-inch class – just not many above that :)
· Enjoy the journey – as mentioned nothing makes a trip easier than catching fish – spirits are buoyed, bellies are fed but as I do more of these I am also realizing that it’s just a part of it – disconnecting, enjoying nature on a more intimate level, hanging with good friends are also big drivers of satisfaction. Fishing can change based on a lot of things out your control but enjoying the full experience is important and easier to own
Cheers
The Northern Jacks
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