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May Too Early For Voyageurs?


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If I recall, didn't the lakes still have ice on them for opener? So would the week after be too early for successful multi species fishing? Maybe july (right after the 4th) would be better? Kab is most likely where I'll go, but am open to try crane if I hear it's better.

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I have been going up to Kab since 1996 for the opener. Only 1 year were we limited with open water & I believe that was 97.

We camp for the entire week. I've caught smb,northern,crappie,

perch and walleye through-out the week. I wish we had the spectacular scenery in Illinois like you folks do.

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Lodda people come up from ill. Where do you camp? if you dont mind me asking... My uncle has a cabin by Tom Cod. Ive never mad it up for the opener but ive heard it can be great fishing if you dont mind the weather. Ive been going up as long as I can remember and I have only seen one crappie. I really want to try and get up there this spring to try and get some nice big slabs. Are they still somewhat easy to find for the opener weekend?

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OK, what about early july? Might be taking my vacaction right after the 4th instead.

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I have been going up to VNP for over 30 years. I have been there for openers and pretty much every month during the summer. I go up five to eight times per year. Guts can surely help you out more than I can, but I will give you my two cents worth.

I have found that opener can be excellent fishing if the ice is out at least a week before. The years (like 2008) when the ice was out a day before the opener, the fishing can be tough. You can definitely catch fish, but there seems to be a lot of boats competing for the same spots during opener. There is a lot of ‘monkey see monkey do’ going on which I have found to usually be an indication of tough fishing.

My favorite time to be there for quality of fishing is a few weeks after opener. The fish are usually still in shallow and they are more active. It seems that if you cast lures along shorelines you can pick up eyes, northerns, and smallies. The weather is also much better if you’re camping.

I find that over the last couple of years I have enjoyed the trips in July the most. I have gone through this progression as I’ve gotten older where my trips have become more ‘camping and fishing’ than ‘fishing and camping’. The fishing in July for me is completely unpredictable. It seems to change every year where I will find fish, and how to catch them, but the camping is excellent that time of year. July is also the time when the blueberries are ready for picking. Nothing is better then fresh wild blueberries in your pancakes in the morning!

Keep in mind that if you plan to camp, it is more difficult to find camp sites while schools are on summer break. I have found that the best time to find a site is Sunday between 10:00 AM and 5:00 PM. I think that most people camp for a week and head home on Sunday. It seems to be really tough to find a site on Thursday or Friday for me. I have heard stories of people (I heard from resorts), going out and setting up tents to save campsites. Then someone would pay them for saving he site. It’s too bad it’s come to that. I know someone personally that couldn’t find a site last year. They burned through a tank of gas and still couldn’t find an open site. They came upon a very nice, very popular, site at 8:00 PM that had a single $15.00 Target tent out on the point where nobody in their right mind would put a tent.

They pulled up to the site and walked around to find that it was the only tent on the entire site and nothing else was set up or in the bear locker. Since they were out of gas they took down the crappy tent and set up their camp. They said they would deal with whoever came looking for the tent and site when it happened. They never had anyone come looking for that tent the entire week. When they left, they put the tent in the bear locker in case someone wanted their tent back.

I’m glad that my friends did what they did. The campsites in the park are first come first serve. Not first saved and who wants to pay the most for a good site. Maybe whoever was saving sites learned a lesson!

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Well since the 4th is on a saturday this year, I was thinking about going up on the monday after...shouldn't be too bad. The 2 times I've camped at wooden frog it was like a ghost town both times...was in august, so don't know if that made a difference. Thanks for info though.

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JB, give me a shout when you are coming up. I have a seasonal on the Ash River Trail. Maybe we can meet for a beer and compare notes.

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Hey, you are my age!! eek

Actually, Grain Belt Premium works, but Hamm's in a pinch!!

Of course there is never a shortage of Windsor to be found around my place.

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So what runs out first while your up there...the booze or the bait?

I'm not a Walleye guy so I only use artificial baits, they never seem to run out. smile

I generally only will have a couple of drinks around the fire so the Windsor never runs out. whistle

The only thing I run out of is energy. That is due the all the boat and water time combined with the fresh air. Some nights I barely get through the Twins game. grin

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Amen on the fresh air. Not to mention the sun beating down on you, only to reflect right back up at you from the water.

But yeah, looks like I'll have my vacation in july...so now my problem will be deciding wether to come here, vermilion, or ely. That's a pretty good problem to have smile

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Hockey Guy, you write almost in poetic form. Fishing and weather are like you say unpredictable, especially on opener. And your statement about the ice being out a week or so ahead of opener is right dead on. I hope the saving camping sites practice is over, with the better enforced campsite registration, and better educated rangers that have wised up to this problem.

Don't know if you know Mingo or not, I presume you do, last week he caught a 31 1/2" eye, just under 12#, should be on the Kab Fishing site soon, although he did catch it on Rainy, he used rosy red minnows. He caught it on Sand bay, so my wife figured it must be Kab. Oh well. guts

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Guts, That's an awesome fish! What site will he post pitcures on? I thought this was the Kab Fishing site!! Don't tell me I've been missing out on another good site all these years...

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Looks like I will be up the week of Memorial day. I think I will come up on Monday (memorial day) and stay thru the following Sat. Gutz or anyone else feel I will have a tough time finding a site then? I have been going to Crane and camping on Sandpoint for the past 4 years. I was gonna come to Kab last year but was talked out of it by a few others who were going with me then turned the outing into a 5 tent fiasco. Well, no more. The new slot there has not been in place long enough and I am not doing another group grope in late June. So, this year I have vacation request in for the week of memorial day and I will be coming up with my son and a buddy and his son. Anyone willing ot share some tips for a newbie to the lake?

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I fished Namakan and Sand Point for 25 years until I was transfered to New England. I went during the first 3 weeks in June and year in year out weeks 2 and 3 of June were the best with week 2 my preferred time. The first week was good but some years it was just to eaqrly for the smallmouth.

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There is so much snow on Kabetoga that they will ikely have extremely high water this spring for openers wich translates in to "not so good ya know". I hope it doesn't turn out that way but it ain;t looking good for openers right now.

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Troutyammer, I hope you"re wrong about high water, right now we are good in the rule curve, they are lowering water levels as we speak. The water level experts do get caught off guard occasionally, however they have plenty of reaction time now.

Timing wise for fishing, Memorial weekend is usually great, tent sights do get taken quickly if the area has a nice forecast for the long weekend.

guts

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  • 2 weeks later...

July it is! Just have to see if my fishing A.D.D. allows me to pick voyageurs. Nothing will be final until I'm actually there.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • mulefarm
      With the early ice out, how is the curlyleaf pondweed doing?
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
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