Late season trip to Le Domaine Shannon

After our last trip to Le Domaine Shannon in July, I didn't have any plans to return until next summer. Then, my friend Jimmy contacted me about another potential trip we could do, this time to Buckhorn Lake in Ontario. When that trip didn't work out, I suggested going back to Lac Wahoo at le Domaine Shannon, for another shot at some big pike.

While I have fished for walleye at Le Domaine Shannon late in August on a number of occasions, I have always been to other lakes, targeting walleye. Namely, Lac Lenotre in 2010, again in 2014 combined with Lac Fig, and then LeNotre again in 2015 and 2017. This trip would be my first attempt at pike fishing on Lac Wahoo this late in the season.

Knowing that the weather up there can change on a dime this time of year, we came equipped for a variety of scenarios. Turned out, that we experienced every scenario of weather we had planned for, and made good used of our gear.

Day 1:

We arrived early Monday morning. After unloading and getting the boat set up, we started off by trolling for pike. Surprisingly, we were able to get any hits, so after about an hour or so, we switched to casting. Again, fishing was slow, but I did manage our first pike of the trip casting a topwater lure. We achieved our goal of catching one for the table.

After a couple missed hits while trolling, it was evident that the pike bite was about as slow as I've ever experienced on Lac Wahoo, despite seemingly perfect conditions.  Jimmy and I managed to land 1 more pike each, before calling it a day after 8 hours of tough fishing. Mirror like lake to cast or troll in hot weather, one would expect better results.

Day 2:

Still not much wind, but heavy clouds and increasing rain were what we were up against. Almost immediately, I landed my first walleye of the trip while trolling, a smaller under slot size fish, returned to grow bigger until next time we meet. As it became evident that the pike were still off, I suggested we simply target walleye. From past experiences at the other lakes at the outfitter late in August, the walleye bite is exponentially better in the rain, and with the pike bite non existent, I figured we'd switch it up for the day. Sure enough, I landed a bigger walleye while casting the Rapala Husky Jerk I had been trolling with.

Jimmy followed up with another walleye, and we headed back to the cabin for a succulent meals of pan fried walleye.

After lunch, we headed back out to try for some more walleye. Sure enough, I managed another walleye as well as a pike, before lighting and a strong thunderstorm  chased us off the lake for the rest of the day.

Day 3:

The storm that increased overnight, ended up being blown out by powerful winds, while the outer temperature dropped well into the single digits. By the time we hit the lake on Wednesday morning, the windchill was likely below freezing, in contrast to the t-shirt weather we enjoyed the previous couple days.

With heavy cloud still covering the skies, Jimmy landed another small walleye on our first trolling pass, again, too small to keep. As the day progressed, the winds kept intensifying, and eventually got rid of the clouds, at which point I knew that the walleye bite was very likely over. Sure enough, I landed another keeper sized pike, and after a few hours of nothing, I finally hooked into a bigger pike while trolling. I fought it to the side of the boat, at which point I realized it was barely hooked, Sure enough, it came off a couple feet away from the landing net, Jimmy and I estimated it to be in the 8-9 lbs range, as we both got a good look at it. That was all she wrote for day 3, despite us putting in a good 10+ hours of fishing in tough conditions.

Day 4:

The winds calmed down overnight, and the cool morning soon gave way to another warm and sunny afternoon that had us back in our t-shirts again. Unfortunately, this turned out to be the slowest day of all, with neither of us catching any fish, until Jimmy landed another keeper sized pike casting a spinnerbait about an hour or so before we called it quits, choosing to make an earlier fire and enjoy watching the lake calm down for sunset.

All in all, while the fishing was much slower than expected, Jimmy and I had a great time as usual. It's easy for people to put in many hours of fishing when the bite is on, but when the bite is off as it was during this trip, less dedicated anglers would likely not have put in the effort we did, especially given the weather we faced on 2 of the 4 days. The bonus was the non existent mosquitoes, black flies and horse/deer flies we normally deal with in July. For the first time, I was able to get by without using insect repellent or coils we normally light to fumigate the cabin. That being said, I'll gladly trade more bugs for better fishing any day.