Minor Bay Lodge, Wollaston Lake

July 1 - 8 Special

We invite you to celebrate Canada Day and Independence Day with us at Minor Bay Lodge in 2013.  We are once again offering a great deal for the week of July 1 - 8. 

Save $1,300 per person with our offer of a 7-day American-Plan fishing package at Minor Bay Lodge for the price of a 4-day package.

July 1 - 8 American-Plan Special Price:  ...............................  $3,695 p/p

Minor Bay's 2013 brochure is now available on0line for viewing and / or download.  We have made the brochure in a printer-friendly 8-1/2" by 11" letter-size publication for those people who would like to read a hard copy.

In order to be more eco-friendly we have decided not to print and mail our lodge brochure this year.  The brochure will be available 24/7 for viewing, download and printing on our web site.

Our 2013 fall newsletter is now available on-line.  Just click on the Pike Tales thumbnail or on the link below to view or download the PDF file.

May 31, 2012

We left Saskatoon and headed north bright and early on Saturday, May 26th.  We had great weather for our 12 hour drive from Saskatoon to Minor Bay Lodge with a few scatterd showers along the way south of LaRonge.  After a stop in Prince Albert to pick up staff and to buy our groceries and supplies for the opening crew we continued north, stopping briefly for lunch in LaRonge.  The truck finally pulled into Minor Bay's drive just before 8:00 PM and the bus arrived shortly afterwards. 

With the days growing longer in the north we still had plenty of daylight left to unload the supplies, take the boards off the windows and doors of the lodge and staff quarters and get settled for our first night in camp.

It was great to see nothing but water in Minor Bay.  There wasn't a speck of ice to be seen on Wollaston's south end, although the main lake past Trout Narrows was still still mosty covered with ice.

The camp seemd to winter well with minimal damage from weather, man or beast. 

Although we haven't had time to get out and do any fishing some of the staff had good success casting from the dock, catching several lake trout in the 6 to 8 lb range.

Our daily flyout lakes are ready to go for our first guests who arrive June 5th and the fishing should be fast and furious as the pike should have finished their spawning early and now be on the feed.  We have opened a couple of lakes which we haven't used for several years and are resting other fly out lakes which we have been using regularly over the past few years.

Our project list is getting shorter, and although you never run out of things to do during our short operating season, we will be ready,  waiting and looking forward to receiving our first guests of the 2012 season next week.

June 11, 2012

With the early spring we decided to add an early trip ahead of our normal opening date of June 11th.  The last week of May was warm and sunny with above normal temperatures, which continued into early June.  However the weather changed the second week of June with rain moving into the region and temperatures dropping below normal.

Our first group of the season arrived at Minor Bay the evening of June 5th and enjoyed a beautiful, warm evening.  The nice weather held for a couple of days with sun and day time temperatures reaching the high 60's to low 70's.  The good weather didn't last however, with temperatures dropping to well below normal.  We recorded overnight lows at or below freezing during several days and day time highs only reached the 50 degree mark.

In spite of the incelment weather the fishing started out well on the "Big Lake" - Wollaston.  Big pike honours during our first four days of fishing were shared by Scott Davis, Vince Waters and Don MacRae - all catching and releasing 45-1/2" pike.

The first group into camp made good use of the DeHavilland Beaver float plane that was based at the camp to do optional daily fly outs.  On a daily fly out to Umpherville Lake, which is known as a "pike factory", a group of four anglers caught and released 272 pike over 32 inches with about a half-dozen pike in the 36 to 42 inch range.  Umpherville Lake consistently provides our guests with similar spectacular fishing days.

We were off to a good start with both good numbers of pike and good-sized pike being caught and released during the first trip.

June 15, 2012

Although the rain abated somewhat for the second group to arrive at the lodge the temperatures remained well below normal with lows dipping right to the freezing point.

Big pike honours for the second trip go to John Durisek who boated a hefty 48-1/2" northern - setting the mark to beat for 2012.  Bryan Janosek was tops in the number of big pike caught in one day on the main lake, catching and releasing 6 pike over 40 inches in one day.

Cairns Lake continues to produce excellent quality pike and good numbers and size of walleye.  On an overnight trip to Cairns Lake, Regan, Denny and Lenny caught and released well over 100 big big as well as catching walleye right off the dock.

The guests who chose to spend some time lake trout fishing had a great time catching and releasing high numbers of lakers trolling and casting in shallow water.

The cool weather is keeping the water temperatures low so that the big pike are still being found in the shallow bays and other areas where the water is warming first.

June 19, 2012

Our third groups of the season arrived in camp the morning of June 15th.  The weather was improving, but temperatures were still well below seasonal normals. 

Dedicated fly fisher and longtime guest, Gary Gracke, topped the big pike board for the trip catching and releasing 46" and 45" pike on flies.  Gary had brought his grandson, Thade, to Wollaston to experience the thrill of catching big pike.  Thade did very well in his own right catching 6 "Board Fish", with the largest being a fat 42-incher.

Good numbers of both pike and lake trout are still being caught by our guests in shallow water.

June 23, 2012

The Brackin party arrived on June 19th along with some good weather.  The group enjoyed some excellent fishing along with the good weather.  Courtney Brackin and Troy Jack shared top honours for their 4-day trip, each catching and releasing 46 inch pike.  Courtney caught and release a total of 12 pike of 36 inches or larger during his visit to Minor Bay.

On a daily flyout to Cairns Lake four of the group reported catching and releasing 39 "Board Fish" of 36 inches or larger.

June 27, 2012

With the warmer weather the pike have started to move from their shallow spring habitat out into deepere water.  The weed beds are just starting to come up in many areas of Wollaston, but our guests are only finding a few pike in the weeds.

The LeBenger group took advantage of the DeHavilland Beaver floatplane based at the lodge to do a couple of daily flyouts - one to Umpherville Lake and the other to Bird Lake.  The anglers going to Umpherville had a great day of fishing catching and releasing almost 300 mid-sized pike between 30 and 36 inches between the two boats.  Bird Lake is known for its excellent walleye fishing and the guests reported some great walleye with many of them in the mid-20-inch range.  The group also caught some good pike with the largest a nice 41 incher caught and released by Rick Nitzberg.

The largest pike of the trip were a couple of 44-inchers caught and released by Mike Bilenker and Ben D'Errico. 

July 1, 2012

The last trip of June started out warm but very wet and windy with winds gusting to over 40 kilometers per hour and 32 mm of rain dumped on Wollaston on June 27th.  The rain stopped on the 28th, but the winds stayed high limiting our guests to fishing close to the lodge to avoid the big waves on Wollaston.

Mike Bouton recorded the largest pike of the trip with a pair of 43's.  Between Mike and his father. Gene, they caught and released 20 pike over 36 inches in length during their 4-day trip.

2012 Trophy Log

Our 2012 "Big Fish Log" is now available.  Just click on the link below to see the fish our guests have recorded in our log book.  Not every guest has entered their fish, but the log entries will give you a good idea of the quality fish our guests are catching and releasing at Minor Bay Lodge.

2011 Trophy Log

To view all the great trophy pike, walleye, lake trout and Arctic grayling our guests caught and released on Wollaston Lake during the 2011 fishing season just click on the link below.

Wollaston Lake Weather Forecasts

If you are taking a trip to Minor Bay and want to check the weather conditions just follow this link to the Accuweather weather forecast for the Wollaston Lake area:
http://www.accuweather.com/canada-weather-forecast.asp?partner=accuweather&postalcode=S0J%203C0&metric=0

2010 Trophy Fish Log

Our 2010 season has produced some great fish both on Wollaston Lake and at our flyout lakes and outpost camps.  Our guests have caught and released good numbers of trophy quality pike, walleye, lake trout and Arctic grayling this season.  We'll try to keep the "Big Fish Log" current so watch for new fish to be posted weekly.

2009 Trophy Fish Log

To check out the trophy fish caught and released by our guests this past season just click on the link below.  Come visit us at Minor Bay and add your name to the 2010 Minor Bay "Wall of Fame".