I guess you could say this story began back in 1956 with stories from my roommate in college. Mike and his folks had vacationed on the Manitou for a number of years. Mike used to guide some in the summers for walleye, bass, and lake trout and to some extent muskies. I remember his stories well and always longed to get there some day.
Well, that day became a reality in August, 2002. A fellow Muskies, Inc. member, Tom Stark, had been sending me information on the Upper and Lower Manitou Lakes since 1998, encouraging me to come up. Tom has spent a number of years fishing the Manitou and probably knows it better than anyone, including the local residents. Well, needless to say persistence, on his part, paid off. At the Fall Board Meeting of Muskies, Inc. Tom convinced me and four other couples that a mid-August trip, around the full moon, peak fishing time for August, would be perfect timing. We booked our reservations that next March and began the agonizing five-month wait to leave. There were 10 of us, including our 5 wives.
It just so happened that Muskies, Inc had a membership photo contest and a young fellow and his brother (Jon & Joe) won a trip to the Manitou in July. Their success 50, 40, 40, 43, 36, 52, in a seven day trip is enough to get everyone's attention. More on them later.
At the Spring Board meeting I had an opportunity to sit down with my good friend Al, who had sent me his "marked" map of the Manitou Lakes. The Upper Manitou was his favorite place to fish and he had spent time on those waters also. Following the meeting and being somewhat of a map freak, I ordered maps and read everything I could find on the Internet.
I found the map of the Upper Manitou through the Manitoba Conservation, Land Information Division. Their address is 1007 Century Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3H 0W4. Phone: (877) 627-7226 (toll free) and their Email: mapsales@gov.mb.ca The Upper Manitou Lake map is (52 F/7) 2nd Edition.
I sent an Email to Tom asking about lures, colors and seemingly a few simple questions. Well, Tom responded with a sixteen page, hand written, comprehensive, report on fishing the Manitou. It was an outstanding summary with 103 hot spots marked on a map and details of everything and anything you needed to know for a successful trip.
The Upper Manitou is a 32,000 acre lake with depths of 300 feet. It is classified as a "trout" lake, similar to many of the shield lakes. This means extremely clear water. If there is no wind or no low light conditions it will be tough fishing. Best colors seem to be white/yellow, brown/yellow, green/yellow, and black & white. For lures, try bucktails, Mepps, Buchertails and Eagletails with silver blades. For jerkbaits, try Reef Hawg, Burt, and Suicks. My favorite is still the green/brown/orange, weighted Suick. The crank Bait selection would include Bagley DB-6 or 8. The DB is a perch pattern. Also a jointed Depthraider and a non-jointed Shallowraider in brown/yellow or perch. Top water lures like the Dancing Raider, Top Raider, Hawg Wobbler and Giant Jackpots are best in solid black. Make sure to have a couple of Mepps #5 with silver blade and black skirt. When all else fails, these seem to really work.
Things were proceeding well now and Emails were circulating between each of those of us who were getting anxious to head for Fort Frances. The countdown had started…Three weeks and counting, one Email said….another 13 days. My wife Lynda and I left Colorado on Sunday and arrived in International Falls on Tuesday. The rest of the gang arrived in the afternoon. Talk about a bunch ready for an adventure!
We caught the floatplanes out on Wednesday morning and arrived at our lodge for breakfast. After dropping our gear in the cabins we were all introduced to our guides and headed out for a day of fishing.
It was interesting to me flying in to the lodge, how much water there was. You get an entirely different perspective of the area from the air.
Our guide Steve had wonderful stories about the area and the history of the old cabins, even the mail drop of the old Watson cabin. He was terrific and a very knowledgeable fisherman. We spent a little time catching fish for our shore lunch.
Shore lunch, now there is an experience. I must share this recipe with you as some of you may not have experienced anything this fun. This recipe was liberated from some rather famous guides on the Manitou Lakes in the summer of 2002. This recipe and other similar ones have been righteously guarded secrets for many years. The taste can only be duplicated on a wooded shoreline on a remote muskie lake, preferably in Canada. You probably know what I mean.
Manitou Shore Lunch
1# Thick sliced bacon
3# Lard in 3-1# packages
Assorted fish filets: walleye, bass, pike
4-5# potatoes
1 bag (approximately 3 cups) fish seasoning. Seasoning may be purchased pre-packaged or may be seasoned and made from flour, corn meal and an assortment of good things.
Cut potatoes lengthwise into fries.
Cook bacon and 1# of lard in hot skillet over open fire. Remove bacon when crisp and drain in paper towel. Serve.
Now add another pound of lard to bacon grease. When lard is hot add sliced potatoes. Fry potatoes in deep skillet, in bacon grease and lard.
In a second skillet, heat 1# lard. Roll/shake filets in seasoning and place in hot lard. Fry to a golden brown and serve.
Lunch finished, we cleaned up the area and headed for those bays, weed beds, and rock structures known to hold those big Manitou muskies.
That night at dinner we discussed the day's events. Most everyone had seen fish, a few lazy follows, but no releases. After dinner Tom and Steve went out for that last hour of daylight. Still nothing to report.
The rest of the week was pretty much uneventful. For the four days there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Everyone saw fish, Lynda and I saw two in the 40:" class and our guide, Steve had one follow him that got his attention. It appeared to be in the 55" range. For the week Mary caught and released the only muskie-a 33". With the exception of the fish not cooperating, the trip was awesome.
We all arrived back in Fort Frances on Sunday morning and said our good-bys.
Now, for a little follow-up on Jon and Joe. They had been up the month earlier and obviously had hit it "right". Tom went back with another group from work the following week and did well, and in another trip in October he released a 47 ˝". There is no question that there are huge muskies in the Manitou. As we say, "it's all in the timing". I can't say enough about this trip. Releasing a muskie or two would have been the "frosting on the cake", but sharing this trip with my wife and our eight good friends was worth it all. Lynda puts in a lot of time on the water with me and enjoys our travels. This was an ideal trip for taking your spouse or fishing buddy to share a great experience.
