Walleye fishing in Canada

Hello fellas-

I just returned from Canada from a Walleye fishing trip to Carroll Lake with the Showalters Fly-In Service out of Ear Falls, ON. If any of you ever get the chance to go to Carroll Lake Walleye fishing... GO. It's a fly-in camp. They fly you in, drop you off, and leave you for 5 days. Well, they'll check on you once or twice, bring more beer, ice, bait, etc. but other than that, you're pretty much on your own. It was AMAZING. In 5 days I caught at least 500 walleye and countless Northern Pike. I had to switch my reel from left hand reel to right hand reel so I could set the hook with my left arm halfway through the trip.

My biggest Walleye was 25", and roughly 6 lbs. The biggest one caught on our trip was 28.5" and about 7.5 lbs.

Anyway... just wanted y'all to know.

You mean you just wanted to rub it in, lol. Sounds like a fun trip.

Sounds great. We did a few fly-in 4 or 5 years ago and are planning one next year. Did they supply the food or did you bring your own? Aslo, where did you enter Canada. It is neat to be the only ones on the lake.

Love them walleyes! Congrats on getting home safe with some great stories.

I hate a bragger,lol. Good job on the eyes buddy.

I'm leaving in about 2 weeks for MN. Lake of the Woods can't wait!

Sounds like a GREAT trip! I just got back from MN and caught several nice northerns and lots of nice largemouth bass (especially for MN), but didn't have much luck with the walleye. We've talked about doing a Canada trip and everytime I read something like your post, it makes me think we probably should. It's just all the out-of-country-passport-with-a-couple-of-DWIs-ten-years-ago thing that kinda becomes an issue. I can't even imagine catching that many walleye .. well done! I'll be looking up Showalters.

Thats awesome we went this spring and also had a great time. Sure glad you made it back safe and sound

Great report. I've driven in many times but not flown in. Can you post a little more detail about how the cabin works? I mean its clean when you get there then you clean it before you leave? Was the cabin generator powered and was the weight restriction any problem? Thanks.

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Originally Posted by CrappieCoz

Sounds great. We did a few fly-in 4 or 5 years ago and are planning one next year. Did they supply the food or did you bring your own? Aslo, where did you enter Canada. It is neat to be the only ones on the lake.

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We entered Canada at International Falls, MN. There is a paper mill there on the Canada side so it smells like rotting night crawlers or minnows. It's easily the worst part of the whole trip. They do not supply food. You have to bring your own food and beer. The other camp used to be owned by the Creamette's people (the macaroni people) but someone else bought it. There were people there, but they don't fish it very hard at all.

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Originally Posted by go dart

Great report. I've driven in many times but not flown in. Can you post a little more detail about how the cabin works? I mean its clean when you get there then you clean it before you leave? Was the cabin generator powered and was the weight restriction any problem? Thanks.

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There are two cabins. One of them sleeps 6 and one sleeps 8. If you don't have more than 10 people... say you only have 8... they may book in another group of 5 or 6 just to make sure the camp is full, or closer to full. But if you get 10, they'll just put your group in there and you have the camp to yourself.

The cabins have solar power for the lights, but if the batteries go dead, they have a generator that you can start up (its a quiet honda) and run the lights at night. They have two gas fridges in each cabin, as well as a gas freezer for each cabin. There are two gas grills, two fish cookers, all the propane necessary to run both. 7 boats with 15 HP Yamaha 4-stroke motors so they're quiet. All the gas you need for the boats and the generator. There are weight restrictions so I packed as light as possible. Just keep that in mind so you can save weight for food and beverages and bait. We bought 150 dozen live minnows and 150 frozen minnows. IMO the frozen minnows are the way to go. About 1/3 of the live minnows you take will die b/c the only way to keep them is in 5 gallon buckets with holes drilled in them and sunk to the bottom of the lake with a rock. It's the only way to keep them up there, but leeches can and will get into the buckets and reek havoc. They came in twice on camp checks. Once they brought more live minnows, some ice, and some more beer.

These are the people that we used. They are the BEST! I would recommend them to anyone! http://www.fishshowalters.com/

Our group had 13 from ages 29 - 70. Several members of the group, including one 39 yr old has went up on average once a year for 33 years. The Showalters treat you like clients and have an 80% return rate. August is the best month for Walleye fishing up there and Carrol Lake is the best lake they have, however, it's extremely hard to get in in August. Fortunately, our group has a 5 day slot in August guaranteed... :)

Also - I forgot - the cabin is clean when you get there, and you have to clean it before you leave. It's not that hard as long as you keep up with it.

A long time ago when I was a teenager we also went to Canada. I remember that paper mill well. We would go to Perrault Falls and fish on Wabaskang Lake(?). Also a few othr lakes that connected. It was a drive to place no fly ins. It would be fun to go back after almost 40 years.

Very nice, got any pics

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Originally Posted by Frank C

Very nice, got any pics

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I haven't gotten the cd back with all the images on it that my buddy took, but I got a couple from his phone that he sent me. Below is the nicer photo, and actually this is the first fish I caught. It was not the largest, but it was a 22" fish.


http://img709.imageshack.us/img709/2641/dhwalleye1.jpg

Sounds like a great trip to me.

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Originally Posted by perchplucker

A long time ago when I was a teenager we also went to Canada. I remember that paper mill well. We would go to Perrault Falls and fish on Wabaskang Lake(?). Also a few othr lakes that connected. It was a drive to place no fly ins. It would be fun to go back after almost 40 years.

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fished out of tall pines camp for several years wabaskang is still a great lake to fish

I am one of those Creamette guys that has fished carroll lake many times. Creamette also leased a camp in Manitoba called thunderbird lodge.
Went up there to entertain customers at least once a year. Carroll lake was owned by the president John Westerburg, along with a partner in the food industry.

Thanks for the memories.