Choosing a lake and lodge for a Canadian vacation can be one of the hardest choices for an angler. There are many excellent lodges and numerous outstanding lakes from which to choose. They all claim to have terrific fishing and great food and lodging, so many questions often arise like: Are the cabins updated? Are the owners nice? Do they have a good staff? Is the food good? What is their fishery like? Does it have the species we’re looking for? Does it harbor trophy fish? Can Mother Nature keep us off the water if she is angry? These are all valid questions and should be a key factor in choosing a destination.
I had the chance this past August to spend some long overdue time with one of my favorite, fishing partners-my father Dave Graca. This man had taken me fishing as a youngster and is responsible for my love of the sport. We fished many lakes in the States but this was our first opportunity to enjoy Canadain water. This trip was my responsibility, so it had to be perfect. I wanted him to experience the full Canadian adventure, so a fly-in trip was a must.
My Dad and I decided that our focus for this trip would be northern pike and walleye. We wanted to experience a lot of action, but at the same time be able to catch trophy-sized fish. Doing my homework, I re-read my Canada issues of MidWest Outdoors along with some brochures that I acquired at a few outdoor shows and began my studies. After looking through the literature, making a lot of phone calls and keeping by budget in mind, I chose Esnagami Wilderness Lodge as our destination.
Esnagami Lodge, owned and operated by Eric and Sue Lund, is an excellent fishing lodge located on Esnagami Lake in northern Ontario. There are a few options for reaching the lodge. By car, you can drive to the town of Nakina, Ontario. Once there, you’ll find a float-plane docked on Cordingly Lake that will take you to the lodge. There are motels, a restaurant, pub and a grocery store in the area. I recommend you get there the day before your morning departure. If driving is not an option, you can take a personnel plane to Nakina or Geraldton with taxi service to the floatplane. Lastly, Air Canada, Northwest Airlines or West Jet have flights from most cities to Thunder Bay with vehicle options to Nakina. Eric and Sue will work with you on these options.
The beautifully renovated lodge is the only one on the lake, and offers American and House keeping packages, to accommodate up to 42 guests. The natural pine log cabins have private three-piece bathrooms with flush toilets and hot showers. The living room area has a heater and a refrigerator to keep beverages cold. For those visiting under the housekeeping plan, a stove with pots, pans and utensils are furnished. After the day’s fishing you get a good night’s sleep on comfortable beds with daily maid service.
The main lodge was a great place to relax after a day on the water. The guests would all get together along with Eric, Sue and the staff and talk about the day’s adventures. If someone found that a particular pattern or bait that happened to be hot, the camp store had a good supply of tackle for such cases, along with fishing licences, beverages and souvenirs.
Breakfast and dinner was served in the main lodge dining room. The meals were excellent. Eggs to order with bacon or sausage, potatoes, bread, juice and coffee. Lunches were a choice of a shore lunch kit with all the trimmings, or one of the guides could prepare your catch on one of the islands. Boxed sandwiches were also available. If you haven’t experienced fresh caught walleye for shore lunch then you’re missing the boat. Dinners were wonderful. We had a variety of meals from steak to chicken to spaghetti. Fresh baked bread and desserts baked daily made for a great feed.
Esnagami Lake is 14 miles long and 4 miles wide. It’s renowned for its numerous islands, rivers and bays. It has many reefs, weed beds, breaklines and humps, which provide ideal structure for its abundance of walleye in the two to three pound class and numerous fish in the five to 10 lb class. Northern Pike are also prominent in Esnagami with fish ranging from 14 – 18 pounds caught almost daily, with a good chance at 20 plus pound trophies. If brook trout is something you are after, the Esnagami River offers fish in the one to two pound range.
The Esnagami River flows downstream for about 60 miles. We didn’t get a chance to fish it because brook trout was out of season during the week we were there. Talking to Eric, he claimed the brookies run plentiful and can be battled by fly fishing both wet and dry flies, to jigs and spinners on spinning gear. The scenery is spectacular with waterfalls and abundant wildlife. I was disappointed that we couldn’t take advantage of it especially when they offer one-day or overnight guided trips. I will definitely take advantage of it next year.
After unpacking our gear, we made our way to orientation at the main lodge. We purchased our licences, as Eric and the head guide Derrick Cressman, gave us a topographic lake map and briefed us on the history and make-up of the lake. They also told us some productive areas and how to fish them, while marking the map. After leaving orientation, you had a feeling of confidence as if you had been there before. The length Eric and his staff went to in order to have us adjust to the first time unfamiliarity of the place was terrific.
Eric offered to take us out on the first day. He asked us what primary species we were after. Dad and I screamed “Pike!” before he could even finish his sentence. Meeting at the boat dock we loaded up the 18 foot cedar strip boats with our gear and fired up the Mercury 9.9 hp motor. We were happy to see the boats were geared with swivel seats, landing nets, float cushions and bait containers, not to mention a full tank of gas. I’m usually not very comfortable unless I’m in my Ranger bass boat, but after sitting, I knew my lower unit would be without pain.
Arriving at our first weed bed, I attached a Manta jerk bait to a six-foot Shimano Compre muskie rod. Dad decided on throwing a Strike King Magnum King spinner bait. On my second cast an explosion occurred and my extra heavy rod was loaded up – 18 pounds of pike put a hurt on me. After posing for a photo and releasing the beast my Dad yelled, “Fish, big fish!” duplicating my catch with another pike pushing 18 pounds. Five minutes later, I had another fish on and what I thought was a small pike turned out to be an eight pound walleye. Yes, big walleye on magnum-sized baits and it happened numerous times throughout our stay. By the time we finished fishing that weed bed, we caught nine pike and one walleye. At the end of the day we had caught 27 pike between 10 and 22 pounds and three big walleye on these huge offerings. It was absolutely amazing.
We continued duplicating our pike success for the next three days. One of the days we went out with Derrick who promised non-stop pike action on a portage lake called Betty Lake. I told Derrick to be careful of his words, but he knew what he was saying. I have never caught so many pike in my life. We estimated well over 100 pike on one weed hump. While we didn’t catch anything over 12 pounds, the action was unbelievable.
We were so tired that after dinner we went to sleep. That never happened to me. Usually if there is daylight, I’m fishing.
The last two days we saved for walleye—wanting to take some fish home to enjoy. At breakfast the next day, we met Tom Lutz from Columbus, Ohio and Dave Liddle from Aylmer, Ontario. They had been going to Esnagami for many years and were kind enough to share some walleye spots with us. Eric joined us afterwards and said Derrick was going to put all the food scraps from the last couple of days on a rocky bank after our shore lunch that day. He said that a mother wolf and her cubs were in the area and we might be able to view them feeding on the scraps. Neither of us had ever seen a wolf in the wild and we were excited about the possibility. While previously blessed with picture of moose and bald eagles, this would really top it off. Sure enough, the wolf showed up with her cubs and we got some great shots on the digital camera.
The walleye were plentiful that morning on a mid bay rock hump with jigs and minnows. As the day progressed, we changed tactics and worked wind blown mid-lake points with the same success. We easily managed our limit. It was like fishing Betty Lake for pike—numerous fish between one and five pounds.
The final day brought tougher conditions with a passing front and air temps dropping 30 degrees. Winds were out of the north at 40 plus mph and it was pouring. We decided to wait out the storm and hang in the main lodge with the other guests. Sue offered us freshly baked cookies and we all took advantage. When the rain stopped it was time to get our last fill of the walleye Esnagami had to offer. I knew the cold front would have a negative effect on the fish, so we decided to work some deep breaks. We trolled Lucky Craft Staysee crank baits over 15 – 20 foot breaks. In the last four hours of the day, we managed to catch 16 walleye including a seven pound lunker. It was a great close to a wonderful week with one of my best buds- my dad.
The Beaver floatplane docked at the pier after breakfast and sadness overwhelmed us. The trip had come to an end and it was time to get back to reality. The experience we had and the friends we had made had boiled down to a wave good-bye. Then I realized it wasn’t goodbye, but see you next year.