Jim Daugherty
Big northern pike on big Finnish raccoon flies, walleyes on the surface on small minnow imitations and dry flies, and beautiful orange-bellied brook trout with sinking fly lines and cone-headed muddlers and wooly buggers. That was Bolton Lake and God’s River June 22-25, 2011.
Bolton Lake Lodge in northern Manitoba, Canada, is a family business that does things right. From the coffee delivered at 6:00 am each day to the great dinner meals, Trevor and Jodie do a great job. The cabins are clean and very comfortable. The fishing guides are knowledgeable and very helpful. Their shore lunches are over the top. If you are hungry after shore lunch, it is your own fault. It’s on my annual “place to return to” list.
The northern pike seemed to be in a transition phase from the shallow bays to deeper water. They were caught in the shallow reef areas where the wind was blowing in on that area, as well as in the main lake “cabbage patch” weed beds. Red/white and Chartreuse/orange seemed to be the most productive colors of the finn raccoon flies. Mike and Marc hooked up with trophies of 42 inch and 41 inch pike, respectively. I managed a 39 inch and about 30 others on one red/white raccoon fly. It was retired at the end of the day, mangled and with both eyes missing, to an honorable spot on my fly tying bench.
The walleye were plentiful to say the least. The first thing each day was to catch our walleyes for shore lunch. That took about 10 minutes, then we were looking for the big `eyes. White/chartreuse clousers, white minnow imitations (white bass flies in Indiana), and Whitlock’s near `nuff crawdad were all winning flies for the deeper water approach. There were a couple of spots on the lake where the walleyes were feeding on the surface. There was a very small white fly of some type hatching and the walleye didn’t just sip them in like trout, they came sometimes completely out of the water to feed. When they were “porpoising” like that, Marc was able to catch some on dries and surface lures. These porpoising walleyes were not the small fish either. They were 23 to 26 inches. Marc watched a 29 inch caught by the float plane pilot.
The water conditions of God’s River were quite different this year compared to 2010. Last year we fished on the rocks or on shore most of the day. This year the water was higher by 4 to 5 feet and there were no rocks or shoreline. The water was rocking and rolling. Our groups fished the river two days. The water conditions did not change between the days, but the fishing certainly did. The first day the brookies were in the slower, “softer” water, the gentle flow, and behind rock piles. The second day they were in the fastest water, the big rapids, and on the edges of the swiftest water. Of the 42 brook trout we caught, 19 were over 20 inches and several were 22 inches. Besides the beautiful colors, brookies are a tremendous fighting fish. The orange belly, the silver spots with red dots, the golden spots, the fighting spirit….how can you not love the brook trout? God’s River is the perfect spot for them to live.
