It May Be Hot, But The Fishing's Hotter!

Mark Vidas, a regular guest at Delaney Lake Lodge for the last ten years or so, recently had a once-in-a-lifetime day of fishing, landing a trophy trifecta of game fish: Walleye, Muskie, and Smallmouth Bass.

Mark’s day started with trolling for Walleyes in the English River System, a five minute walk from Delaney Lake to the waiting boats. His party had been taking some nice fish, and Mark and his fishing partner, Jim Watson, had a “double-header” going. After about 10 minutes, Jim’s fish broke off (caught later by their guide with Jim’s jig still in its mouth, 28½ inches!), but Mark was able to get his into the landing net. It was a personal record for Mark at 28 inches. 

After their usual shore lunch, the group headed out to cast for Northerns in the weedy bays where they could see some big fish were working. Jim soon took a 37 inch Northern and noticed a gash in the bruiser’s side. He wondered what would hit a Northern that large, but Mark soon solved that mystery in the next bay when a monster hit his Mepps Giant Killer 15 feet from the boat. When Jim asked him what he had, all Mark could say was “BIG FISH!” The fish made some ferocious runs, peeling off line from Mark’s drag, but fortunately he had rigged with heavy tackle including a 7’6” medium/heavy St. Croix rod, 65 lb. test Sonic braid line, and a 100 lb. test wire leader. 

After about ten minutes, Dennis, their Delaney Lake Lodge guide, netted the fish, though it took two men to lift the 53 incher out of the water and hold it up for a picture. Mark said, “We were all shaking, Jim had never seen a Muskie and was in awe. I was speechless, and Dennis said it was one of the heaviest Muskies he had seen caught. We got one photo and tried to get the fish back in the water quickly. It took several minutes to make sure he was okay, and finally he swam off.” Later that evening, Mark hit Delaney Lake for Smallies and took a fish pushing past 17 inches, capping off what he called “truly a fishing day-of-a-lifetime!”

Mark is having a replica mount made of the Muskie, but has decided to have it hung at the Delaney Lake Lodge, where he thinks it will be appreciated the most. He says his group has enjoyed the service and accommodations there so much that over the years their party has grown from eight members to where they now completely take over the lodge and actually have a waiting list for next year. Mark says he always looks forward to the clean, comfortable, and modern cabins at the lodge, and especially credits the hospitality, staff, and guides for making a stay at Delaney Lake Lodge what he calls a “world-class fishing experience.”

A life-long angler, Mark cut his teeth fishing Muskies with his dad on the Chippewa Flowage near Hayward, Wisconsin, home of the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame. Mark said, “My dad is probably looking down on us, smiling, and saying I finally caught the big one he had been after all of his days.”

Sort Out The Tackle Box: It's the Opener!

Sort out your tackle box, wind on some new line, break out the sunblock (and maybe the rain suit)—it’s the opener!

 

As the water warms up and the fish swarm the shallows, May finds Walleye, Northern Pike, Smallmouth Bass, and Lake Trout ready and waiting to test your gear, and Lake Delaney Lake Lodge is prepping and updating theirs as well. Among other improvements, this year the lodge has outfitted all of their 18 foot Lund Alaskans with new 50 horsepower, 4-stroke outboards, and boats carrying three anglers will be powered by new 70 horse Yamahas.

Anglers will  find hunting Lake Trout easiest in the spring when they invade the shallow water in big numbers before retreating to the depths for the summer. Jigging, trolling, and casting are popular strategies, with thin Doctor, Crippled Herring, and Williams Spoons being lure favorites. Mid-May through June can also be a hot time for Walleyes, and anglers often have the most success on fish migrating from shallow bays to rocky shores with a simple jig and minnow.

 

Smallie fans will want to load their reels with at least 10 pound test as these brawny bronzebacks are known for epic battles. Top artificial bait choices include jigs, soft plastics, tubes, and prop and stickbaits. May/June also often means electrifying top-water action. And speaking of electricity, imagine tangling with a 40 plus inch, post-spawn Northern Pike or Muskie, now that’s the way to kick off the season!

Whatever your target species, Delaney Lake Lodge will be raising the odds of bagging trophies this season by extending their guided fishing days one-half hour. This year anglers will return to the lodge at 5:15 p.m., just in time for bragging, relaxing, and getting stoked for the next day.

 

Opening day on Delaney Lake and the English River system is May 19th, so gear up and get ready for fishing days you’ll never forget!

Back By Popular Demand: Walleye Chowder

Last season our cook developed a Walleye Chowder that instantly became a favorite of our guests. While the recipe remains a secret we had so many requests that we decided to add Walleye Chowder to one of the shore lunch menus for each group.

As if you need another reason to head out in search of 'eyes!

Delaney Lake Lodge Welcomes Back Head Guide Calvin Wellman For 8th Season

Delaney Lake Lodge is delighted to welcome back Head Guide Calvin Wellman for his eighth season.

Calvin’s fishing expertise, along with his colorful commentary on the natural beauty and wildlife found on Delaney Lake and the English River (not to mention his scrumptious shore lunches!), have made him our most requested guide.

Walleye, Northern Pike, Smallmouth Bass, Lake Trout and Muskie are all targets of Calvin’s tackle box of fishing skills, and our guests have boated Master Angler qualifiers in all categories with his help.

Calvin and his wife Micheline hail from Gallix, Quebec, which is located in the eastern area of the province on the Gulf of the St. Lawrence. He retired from construction work prior to becoming a fishing guide, but carried his work ethic and attention to technique into guiding, which, coupled with his love for being on the water, provides Delaney Lake Lodge guests with unparalleled fishing adventures.

Calvin says one of the most gratifying parts of his job is teaching anglers new techniques, especially methods that lead them to success with species like Lake Trout, which they may have never caught before. Guests guided by Calvin find his enthusiasm for fishing and the outdoors infectious and leave Delaney Lake Lodge with not only new skills, but a new appreciation for life on the lake.

Lake Trout Action on Delaney Lake

As the temperature heats up in May and early June, so does the Lake Trout action on Delaney Lake, not to mention the world class Walleye and Northern Pike fishing in the English River system.

Anglers find it much easier to score on Lake Trout early in the season since they commonly feed in 10 to 25 feet of water, as opposed to the 80 to 100 foot depths where the trout lurk in the summer. Fish are also more concentrated in these shallower depths, so the action can be sizzling!

Trolling, drifting, or casting are the most popular strategies, with Williams Spoons, Johnson Silver Minnows, and Daredevils the hot lures, though crank baits and Mepps Spinners also produce. Spin or bait casting rigs loaded with 12 to 20 pound test are the standards for terminal tackle.

The beauty of early season is that after an all-you-can-eat shore lunch of Delaney Lake Trout, anglers can head into the famous English River system to do some scorching combat with trophy Walleye and Northern Pike.

If this is the kind of hot and heavy fishing trip you’ve been dreaming of all winter, why not give us a call and let our experienced guides show you a new dimension in fishing adventure!

Welcome to our Delaney Lake Lodge Blog

Beth and I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to our new blog.  We intent to use the blog to keep you informed of activities at Delaney Lake Lodge.  The blog is part of a major overhaul to our website, and we invite you to join!

For our first blog post we wanted to discuss our updated website.  We have been told by our guests that they really like our website because it gives them all of the information they need when planning their trips to the lodge.  We certainly want that to continue on our updated website, in fact, we have included even more information that is relevant to planning a trip, and more and bigger pictures.  You can go to our website and check out our facilities and location, meet your hosts, get a wealth of information about our fantastic fishing, look at a map of the area, check out available packages, use our secure banking site to pay your deposit, check on what to bring, check the weather, and in general, get a great feel for what a trip to Delaney Lake Lodge is all about.

Our updated website features many new pictures, a new shore lunch page, an expanded menu with more links, a link to our new blog, and links to Facebook and Twitter.  We have also added some links for Lund Boats, Yamaha Outboard Motors, St Croix Fishing Rods and Cabelas.  In the future we are going to be adding some YouTube videos of our guests fishing experiences.

In 2007 an important addition to our website was the addition of our Master Angler fishing pages.  Each year we take pictures of all of our guests that catch fish that qualify for our Master Angler list and post them on our website.  At first we were only going to post the pictures for one season, but due to popular demand we have continued to post all pictures going back to 2007.  We are going to continue our Master Angler web pages, but we are going to improve the picture size and formatting beginning this season.  We invite you to come to the lodge and catch a Walleye that meets or exceeds 28" in length, a Northern Pike that meets or exceeds 40" in length, a Smallmouth Bass that meets or exceeds 18" in length, a Lake Trout that meets or exceeds 28" in length or a Muskie that meets or exceeds 40" in length, and we'll put your picture on our Master Angler web pages!

Our goal is to continuously update our website with new and useful information to market our lodge and provide our guests with all of the information they need to plan their trips to the great Canadian wilderness! 

If you are a returning guest we invite you to look over all of our pages to see if a picture of someone in your fishing party is now a part of our website, and if you have never been to Delaney Lake Lodge, we invite you to look over our site and check out what we have to offer!