Mid Summer at Wildewood
While July started off looking like it was going to be a very wet month, the sun regained its hold on the north and once again, we had some beautiful days of sunshine and higher temperatures accompanied by a few very loud storms.
After bailing boats twice a day for several days in a row, we finally got smart and invested in a pump, which made it a much faster and easier task!
The Otter from West Caribou had to set down at Wildewood one day because of bad weather. It was a great opportunity to share a few hours of northern gossip over coffee and cookies before the skies cleared and it was business as usual.
The big news is that Wildewood now has beautiful new docks! Construction started out slow in the rain, but after bringing in three local hands to help out on the project, the job was done in a couple weeks. Photos will soon be uploaded, so you will see for yourselves how great the finished product looks!
Heavy rains have been causing a little more mud than usual on the paths throughout camp, but we’ve been remedying this with several loads of sand and gravel, which means a little less sliding around and dirt across cabin floors.
Guests continue to get great shots of local wildlife, from birds to bears, and as soon as the bears start leaving the berry patches, we’re hoping to get some even better shots of them on the trail cameras that have been strategically placed. Baiting has already begun, and berries are almost gone, so the August blog will hopefully include some interesting bear reports and photos.
During one trip out of camp, we came across a family of barred owls that must be nesting near the trail. A guest risked life and limb to get a shot of one of the two owlets peering through the trees while the anxious parents watched from higher perches. 
We haven’t heard about any nightmare border crossings, although there were some long lines and waits near the end of July at the Fort Frances point of entry. Hopefully that has been sped up a bit now.
Now, on to the fishing report!
Walleyes
Many guests did well with floating jigs this month, and leeches and minnows were the favorite baits. It was common to see fish up to 27” and, of course, a few anglers were lucky enough to have hooked some even bigger. The walleyes seem to have gone quite a bit deeper this month and guests were catching them in depths of up to 40 feet at times. The average fishing deapth was around 15-20 feet . The best walleye locations were the islands north of Big Sandy in the deeper water and Stillair. Of course, the Narrows is still the most popular evening spot for fishermen to gather for the last good catch of the day.
Northern
July was a great month for catching big northern and, as you can see from the photos, we had several. Many over 40″ were caught in weed beds and along rocky reefs. One group even had great luck fishing for northern with fly rods! The average depth was about 10 feet and, while some were caught on Rapala Jerk baits and spoons, many anglers nailed big northerns while they were fishing for walleye using a jig and minnow.
Lake Trout-
The trout have been sticking pretty close to about 60 feet of water, and the humps and Stillair bay were good places to try your luck. Two oz. jigs and sucker minnows or frozen ciscoes were the preferred trout baits of the month.
Well, that’s the news for July! We’ll update you again at the end of August.
