The NetBoys visited Lady Evelyn Lake in June 2022, staying at the wonderful fishing lodge - Garden Island Lodge.
Our trip began in Cleveland, OH where Todd & Nancy flew in from Colorado and Josh drove up from Charlotte, NC. An overnight stay at Big Nick's home included an evening of sharing beverages and stories, comparing tackle boxes and lure selections, a cornhole tournament re-match for the ages, and an early Friday morning exit.
Lady Evelyn Lake is a remote lake located in Northern Ontario, so we had about a 10-12 hour drive ahead of us. Border crossing at the Peace Bridge outside Niagara Falls was uneventful, which is always a plus. As we made our way north our destination for the first night was a Holiday Inn Express we booked in the nearby town of New Liskeard, Ontario. Accommodations were perfect for what we needed - which was just a comfortable bed with a pillow. Dinner and drinks for the night were found in a nearby brewery, Whiskeyjack Beer Company, in Haileybury, ON which was about a 10 minute car ride.
The next morning (Saturday), we needed to be at the dock in Mowat's Landing by 10a.m. We arrived early to find dozens of people being ferried in & out of the 3 fishing lodges found on Lady Evelyn Lake. Unload all of our gear and supplies and the guys from Garden Island load everything onto their flat-bottom cargo boat. Passengers are loaded onto a couple other boats and the adventure begins!
First stop is at the dam that creates Lady Evelyn Lake on the Lady Evelyn River system. It's pretty cool to see the power of the water being held back coming down the spillway. The boats are loaded onto a trailer and hauled over land above the dam to the lake and put back in. Passengers are able to ride on the boat while being trailered or walk the brief 5 minute walk, although it is uphill, so plan accordingly if you're traveling with people it may be a challenge for.
From there, you're looking at a 40-50 minute boat ride out through the "narrows" and the northeast arm of the lake into the main lake area where Garden Island is located. In what seems like a chaotic, whirlwind of unloading the cargo and passengers - your gear and luggage are delivered to your cabin by the dockhands. Note - highly recommend labeling all of your gear with the cabin you're staying at with your name, etc. so the hands know where everything goes. For our trip we stayed at the lodge's Mountainview Cabin - which accommodates up to 6, but 4 fit 'comfortably'. The cabin has two single twin beds and two sets of bunk beds, a dining table, small fridge, and bathroom with a shower.
A quick visit with Mike (the owner) who lays out the rules of the lodge along with expectations for meals - daily breakfast served in the main lodge, choice of shore lunch kit or packed lunch in your boat daily, and a hot dinner served every night. With that, you're dismissed to the docks to setup your boats - dockhands have them cleaned, gassed, bait loaded (crawlers and/or minnows every day) and ready to go every morning!
The first day on a new lake is always a good time for a little exploring - learn the lay of the lake a little. We were lucky that one of our group, Todd, had visited the lake and this lodge before, so we had some knowledge of the area and how to fish it. The name of the game for us nearly the entire week was jigs. It almost didn't matter what they were tipped with either - crawlers, minnows, even a Gulp! leech did the trick. Highlight of the first day was a 27" walleye (happens to be my personal best) I caught on my ultra light setup with 4lb. test mono! What a fun and exciting fish!
Many of these walleye had this beautiful blueish tint to them which we found out were an old and different strain than your typical greenish/yellow walleye. Day 1 (1/2 day) ends with 4 fish for me - 2 walleye and 2 nice northern pike (23" and 20").
Day 2 (our first full day of fishing, Sunday) saw numbers increase big-time! The game was simple still - jigs on the bottom. Find the bait fish and find the walleye beneath them on the bottom. Most bites were on the fall after a light jigging-action. They just load-on to your rod most times. Totals: 5 walleye, all around 15"-20", 7 smallmouth bass and a new species - a burbot!
Day 3 (Monday) everyone started picking up the numbers and a few of us did really, really well. We took a trip up to one of the several waterfalls that you can reach by boat. We picked up a bunch of smallies at the falls including a couple real footballs! I finished that day with 13 walleye, 4 smallmouth, and a 21" pike.
Day 4 (Tuesday) was another day-trek to a waterfall. Again, pulled big smallmouths out of the bottom of the waterfall, including an 18" (also my personal best). I wish I had weighed this fish because he was thiccc! Finished the day with 2 smallies, a 21" pike, a random bluegill, and 3 walleyes.
Day 5 (Wednesday) started with rain and delayed our start, not that we started real early any day...we did go through 6 bottles of bourbon and about 12 cases of beer for the four of us...but turned into another fish-slaying day, even with the showers on & off all day! The best part of these days was the evening bite. After dinner - head back out with a fresh cooler of ice-cold beer and a flask of bourbon. Find a spot where you're marking bait and just sit there listening to some good music, and catching fish, drift after drift. Being it was a full moon while we were there and very clear skies - we could stay on the water until after 10pm. Just awesome. My total for the day: 13 walleye and 2 smallmouth.
Day 6 (Thursday) we really wanted to try something different, and with the threat of bad weather coming in the next two days, we thought today might be our only chance. In our pre-trip planning, we had talked about the possibility of a few day-trips that might include a portage. Talking with Mike, we said we'd love the chance to pick up a lake trout. If we wanted one, where was our best shot? He told us about a nearby lake, only available by a boat ride, followed by a 15-20 minute hike on a marked trail, Lady Sydney Lake. To his knowledge, no one had visited that lake in over 3 years! Obviously our sense of adventure and curiosity were peaked! He thought there should be a boat or two out there at Sydney. So he armed us with a little gas powered engine we could haul out there and a paddle and off we went! This was such a cool adventure. Hike was very overgrown, and at a couple points we had to ask if we were still on the "trail", but we made it - after a brief bear encounter. Nancy & Todd were bringing up the rear and heard a distinct grunt on trail-right. So we kept moving a good clip and increased the ringing of our bear-bell. To our amazement, we found the boat, hooked up the motor and were able to motor around Lady Sydney Lake for a few hours. Mosquitos out here were bad. Todd was the only one with a bug jacket. The rest of us got bit up pretty good. Fishing was hit or miss but we got a few small perch. Then, as we trolled around a larger island in the middle of the lake, Todd yells 'Fish-on!' and he knew right away it was a lake trout! After a nice fight, he brings in and measures a 21" laker! Some engine troubles and a fierce head-wind ended our trip a little earlier than we would've liked, but still...what an awesome day! (Click to watch the recording of the hike on YouTube)
Thursday ended with a beautiful sunset. We sat outside our cabin enjoying a cold beer and just soaked in the beauty.
Day 7 (Friday) was a bad weather day as we thought might happen. We made a few tries to get out and caught a couple fish, but really got blown off by a pretty bad storm in the early afternoon. We decided to call it a day and come back in. As weather continued to blow, we caught a few walleye right from the lodge's docks, but nothing notable really. We made the best of the rain & wind and got a set of poker chips and a deck of cards from the main lodge and setup a game of Texas Hold 'Em. Relaxing, drinking some beers, listening to some good tunes and playing cards with your buddies - can't really shake a stick at that. (And your boy won, so that makes it even sweeter!)
The hospitality, knowledge, and helpfulness of the staff at Garden Island Lodge was second-to-none. Thank you to Mike, Evan, Lisa, and Chef Mo! For anyone looking for fly-in type fishing without the added expense, check out Garden Island Lodge. Final fish count was 70+ fish over the week and uncountable laughs with good friends.
-Big Nick
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