Let me start by saying, Gods Lake Lodge is an amazing fishery. I go every year in August, and I am already planning my return for 2011. I will be putting a group of guys together for next season, if you are interested in going, contact me and I’ll answer any questions you have…

It was an amazing trip! We had satellite connection issues, so I was not able to post daily reports and photos like I had hoped. Here is an abbreviated version of our adventure:

We had an incredible night of catfishing on the Red River just outside of Winnipeg (the report and photos for that trip are below). Many cats, some over 30 pounds. Here is a video of one of Jimmy’s fish:

Saturday morning, we were scheduled to fly out to Gods River at 10. Due to weather “concerns” our flight was delayed for 3 hours. There was quite a bit of rain up in the bush and the airfields that we use are fairly primitive with gravel runways and no control towers. The pilots rely completely on visibility. We had a quick stop to make at Gods Narrows which was 30 miles or so from our destination of Gods River. As we got close to the Narrows, it became evident that landing would be a challenge. I was stitting in the first seat and could clearly see the altimeter on the dashboard of the plane. At 600 feet, the ground would briefly appear and then be gone again. The pilots tried twice to land but each time had to pull up. They decide to try the River next to see if it was any better, it wasn’t. From there, we flew about 100 miles to the south to another small airfield to refuel. The pilots told us that they would try the Narrows one more time, then the River. If we couldn’t make it into Gods River, we would return to Winnipeg and try again in the morning. About 30 miles away from the Narrows, the skies opened up just enough to be able to see the ground and the pilots dropped down through the hole. They were able to fly just below the clouds and we finally made it to the first stop. They unloaded a couple of passengers and we took right off again. This time the plane never climbed above 600 feet again. It was cool to watch the landscape whizzing by under our feet… I’m not sure that Jimmy appreciated it as much as I did. Here is a short video of the approach and landing at Gods River:

The lodge had a guide meet us at the plane. We quickly unloaded our gear and threw our rain gear on for the final 45 minute boat ride to the lodge. The ride was fine, I pointed out the spots we’d be fishing to Jimmy as we went. We lost count of how many bald eagles and loons we saw along the way. Lee, the lodge owner had dinner ready when we pulled in. A great meal of cajun spiced\blackened walleye with homemade bread and salad was eaten quickly. Jimmy and I wasted no time in unpacking gear and rigging rods, leaders and lures. This time of year, it’s still light out at 9:30 so we had time to get out and make a few casts. We caught a couple dozen pike in no time at all. It felt great to dust the gear off and get warmed up for a week of pike fishing!

The next morning, the weather turned real nasty. Steady rain, 42 degrees and windy. We were prepared for just about any kind of weather and Jimmy and I fished pretty much all day long. We totalled 81 pike between us. Nothing worthy of a photo but lots up to 33″. We fished till 6… It was somewhere about that time that I came to the realization that we were a mere 10 degrees away from fishing in a blizzard… Screw it, time to retire to the woodstove. . We spent the rest of the night laughing with Lee and the other guests back at the lodge.

The next morning was a little better, but not by much. The wind was still blowing but it wasn’t raining as much and it was closer to 50 out. These were the conditions we would fish in that day:

Once we ducked behind the islands and got in the coves, it wasn’t that bad. That’s the nice thing about Gods Lake, the lake is over 400 square miles with more nooks and crannies than you could fish in a lifetime, so no matter which way the wind is blowing, there is always somewhere to fish out of the weather. It became evident the cold front had forced the bigger fish out to deep water. I had seen it happen on previous trips, so this time we were ready for it. We made up some trolling rigs with a 3-way swivle, a 4 foot dropper loop with a 3oz sinker attached. To the third eye, we tied on a 7 foot fluorocarbon leader and a Revolution Shad. We had no trouble trolling  along the bottom in 40-50 feet of water. The size of the fish did go up considerably. There are so many places for the pike to go once they leave the shallows that they can be hard to find. We only had a few but they were up to 41″. Here is a decent one:

The next day, the weather finally broke. Still cloudy but less wind and warmer still. A couple more days like this and the pike would move back to their shallow water weed beds! Jimmy and I were able to get out and explore some areas way down the lake. The scenery is amazing.

As we worked our way west, I was watching the Humminbird when I noticed a sheer drop off that went from 20 to 40 feet. There were fish all around the 30 foot mark. There was a good chance that these were walleye. Jimmy dropped down a 1oz ball jig tipped with a 4″ Gulp Minnow, I tied on a 1/2oz Heddon Sonar. It didn’t take long to confirm our suspicions… Dinner!

The plan for the next day was to fish as a group with the other guests at the lodge. This was their last day on the water before heading home to Atlanta. We were going to target lakers and walleye and then meet on a nearby island for shore lunch. We showed the guys where we had found them the day before and everyone was into walleye right away. Big pike are a thrill but whupping up on walleye ranks right up there in my book. In addition to the walleye, Jimmy jigged up a couple of trophy classed whitefish. I’d never seen one before and was surprised at how much they look like our shad…

I also managed to find the only laker of our trip. This one was the skinniest fish I’d ever seen.. Lee seemed to think that the lower water temps had triggered the lakers to begin moving from the 100 foot range where they are normally found and up onto some of the shallow flats and reefs. They transition over a couple of weeks to much shallower water as they get ready to spawn in September. There are a million areas that they move to, so they can be tough to target as they move. Once they are on the reefs, I’m told they are incredibly easy to catch with fish on almost every cast.

We were all looking forward to the shore lunch. Lee does a great job and always make it look so easy. It felt great to get out of the boats, stretch our legs and warm up by the fire. While Lee filleted the fish, a guide prepared the potatoes and we gathered fire wood.

Walleye is one of the best eating fish on the planet and to have them as fresh as this, just doesn’t get any better. The hot food felt great and I ate waaaay too much.

Here is a video of our shore lunch:

Jimmy and I finished off the rest of the day exploring and catching walleye and pike along the way. I brought my underwater camera and got some video of a couple of fish at the boat:

Here are a couple of random shots from the day on the water:

We had a pretty good feeling about the pike fishing the next day. The weather had gradually improved over the last few days and water temps were coming back up. We decided to target the weed beds closest to deep water figuring that we’d intercept them as they moved out of the depths. That turned out to be the best decision we made…
I’ve never seen so many BIG pike. We saw close to a dozen pike between 40 and 50 inches, we hooked half of them. A couple were real monsters, weighing over 30 pounds. Some of the hits on the surface were absolutely heart stopping. Easily the most amazing and violent hits I’ve ever seen. I’ll let the pictures do the talking:

I manged to put the rod down and grab the video camera for one of Jimmy’s big fish. Here is the video:

 The next day wasn’t as good, the fish seemed to have spread out into the bays a bit. We still caught a ton of them with a few decent ones in the mix. We were still on cloud nine from the day before and were just happy to play around with the video camera and catch som of the top water action. I threw a 7″ Reaction Strike Revolution Shad for most of the day watching fish of all sizes explode on it as I burned it just under the surface. More often than not, the pike would miss the lure but I was having so much fun with them I didn’t care. We got some great footage of some of the crashes:

As the last day of the trip was upon us, we did a little less fishing and a lot more watching. It is a different world up there. Often harsh, but incredibly rewarding. If it was an easy place to get to, it would be a lot more crowded. I would much rather deal with the hardships of survival fishing and NEVER see another boat than fish a tourist type destination. If you want lots of big fish in a fantastic setting, thenm Gods Lake Lodge is the place… Here are a few more random pics from the trip that will give an idea of what it’s like:

We arrived at the lodge Saturday evening. Shortly after, a front moved in and it rained and the wind blew hard for the next 3 days. Jimmy and I still got out and fished every day, We have been averaging 65-75 pike every day with some nice fish in the mix. I didn’t take many pictures because it was so wet out. As usual, the scenery here is incredible. I’ve seen loons in groups of up to 30 and bald eagles are everywhere. There has been a fix hanging around the lodge, I hope to get a picture before I leave. Some of the other guys here have been spending a lot of time around the woodstove. It’s nice coming off the water to a hot cup of coffee and taking some time to sit back while the rain gear dries off.

Today, the weather let up enough that Jimmy and I made our way about 10 miles down the lake to fish in the lee of some islands. The pike action was excellent. I’ve been throwing a lot of top waters but suspending jerkbaits have been working too.

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As we worked our way between islands, I found a deep hole right up against the rocks. The Humminbird showed a bunch of fish holding on the bottom in 30 feet if water… Sure looked like walleye to me. There was only one way to find out! It didn’t take long to confirm our suspicions, I dropped down a Heddon sonar and was on in less than 30 seconds.

We stayed on them for the next hour and had a blast, jigging up one after the other.

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We were expected back at the lodge for 6 so we had to leave them biting. Dinner was waiting for us when we got back, grilled porkchops and pasta with alfredo and mushrooms, The food here is always outstanding!

Tomorrow, the plan is (if the wind lays down) to head back down to the big part of the lake and attempt to jig some lake trout in 100 feet of water. We’re planning a shore lunch as well, this is always a big highlight of the trip.

I have to admit, I wasn’t sure I wanted to start off my trip on Friday the 13th…

All went well with the flights, and we got to Winnipeg right on time today. We had time to check in to the hotel, grab some dinner and get dressed for MONSTER CATS on Manitoba’s Red River.  I have been talking to Lee, the owner of Gods Lake Lodge for a couple of years about fishing the red before flying out to the lodge. We always spend the night before in Winnipeg and can never sleep anyways, so I figured why not? Lee put me in touch with a friend of his that guides for cats and we set things up.

We met our guide Tony and his buddy Kenny in the lobby at 4 and walked out into a torrential rain. They had received over 4″ today already. We were going regardless… We had almost an hour ride back to Tony’s house. By that time, the rain had pretty much quit. We got our gear together and hopped in Tony’s 20′ pontoon boat. Another 45 minute ride down the river and we were at Tony’s honey holes. Along the way, he said that they have been doing over 30 fish per trip and that there were several in the 30 pound range!

We anchored up out of the main river is a 13′ hole. We set out 4 rods with a combination of shrimp sprayed with WD40 and beef hearts dipped in Tony’s homemade concoction. 30lb mono with a 3 oz no-roll sinker and sat back to wait. We didn’t have long to wait. The first rod got tapped and I waited for the take. 5/0 circle hooks kept me from hitting the fish, so I just started reeling… Oh My!!! This fish had some weight to it… A great fight and a few minutes later, Kenny netted my first significant cat…

I ended up cathing the first couple of fish. I’ve caught lots of cats at home and I’ve always been able to lip them… Not here!!! I was stunned and seeing stars when my fish clamped down on my hand. If they had teeth, my finger would have been gone. I might as well have smacked my finger with a hammer. It instantly swelled up and turned color… Lesson learned.

Jimmy had the hot hand for a while after that. He lost a BIG fish but made up for it a little later with the biggest of the trip. This thing was a BEAST! The only thing I can compare the fight to is a 50 pound striper when first hooked. They don’t make blistering runs but they gradually make their way to the boat absolutely refusing to come up off the bottom. They go completely nuts at the boat throwing water everywhere.

We fished till 11 or so, listening the the Red Sox on XM, watching lightning on the horizon and the Perseid meteor showers… What a show! We boated over 20 cats with the majority being 20 pounds or better. I have some video that I’ll put up when I get some time. Here are a few more pics from the trip…