First Timer Trip to Kab begins tomorrow

[baldav]

Can hardly wait to get going. This will be my first trip to the area. Will be staying at VPL and hope that they (Casey?) will be able to put me on some fish (walleye). Hope to report on my success throughout the week as I believe the lodge has an internet connection.

From what I've gathered so far, minnow and jig on humps and sunken islands in 15-20 FOW and rigging with a leech in the sand in 10-20 FOW. Any corrections or additional tips would be appreciated.

Hope to post a report of success on Sunday evening. Thanks to everyone for their contributions to this board!

[guts]

balday, I guess I'm on a differnet frequency than your informat, harvest size fish are coming out of deeper water, like 35' and deeper, jig and minnow, leeches just turnin on.

One of the best bites has been shallow water, 4-12' pitch a jig, 1/8 to a 1/4 and jerk it back to the boat so it bottom hops, most folks using minnows, double hooked slow retrieve and its been workin good. Was a good bite on white beetlespins, and XR10 x-raps, shallow as well. good luck, guts

[SquirrelBait]

Guts, What do you mean buy double hooked on your minnows? Do you fish with dead minnows?

[baldav]

Guts, thanks for the clarification. Indeed we did find bigger fish in the shallower water (4-5 FOW). Got started a bit late when my sonar unit decided to go on the fritz. First the lakemaster chip didn't register, then the whole screen went blank. The afternoon brought more frustration surrounding my sonar/gps unit but we did manage one keeper for the freezer in 25 fow.

Not sure where I'll end up fishing over the next couple days, plans sure change when you're on a unknown remote body of water without the electronics that you're so dependent on. Makes me wonder what they did 50 years ago to catch fish.

[guts]

Squirrelbait, double hooking a minnow, at least fatheads or rainbows, the hook goes through the mouth, out the gill and then back through the minnows body. When using jigs, I get the jigs with no collar/shank. Surprisingly it doesn't kill the minnow, and it tends to snag less in shallow water or weeds. The minnow will stay on cast after cast.

balday, as of yeasterday, they are still catchin g fish in the shallows. Tom Cod, bittersweet, cemetery island, three sisters and etc on the West end. guts

[SquirrelBait]

Guts, Ive never heard of hooking a minnow like that. What a great Idea! It seems it would also combat the short bite and replace a stinger hook! Thanks!

[baldav]

To wrap up this post... Had a great time at Voyageur Park Lodge on Lake Kabetogama. Casey was an excellent host who was able to help point us in the right direction for walleyes. We'll be coming back next year for sure.

I mentioned earlier that my new sonar/gps unit went on the fritz at the start of the trip. I bought the unit from Reeds at the Northwest Sports Show and they were able to overnight a new replacment. With that kind of customer service I'll be shoping at Reeds again.

I was very impressed with the Kab fishery. You know things are good when you find yourself complaining about too big of fish. Also, there is so much structure across the lake there's always an opportunity to find a new "hot spot".

Looking forward to coming back next year. Thanks to the posters for their tips on this forum!