Overall, this was BY FAR, the best fishing trip that I & my 4 fishing partners have ever had! Thanx to all.
Air travel, provided by Nakina Air Service was great for our trip, which ran from 27 AUG – 4 SEP 2021.The camp itself is accurately depicted on the web site and cabins were clean, appeared well maintained & laid out to easily accommodate at least 8, although there were only 4 in our party. All the appliances, including full size frig, stove/oven, freezer & propane heaters in the kitchen & cabins worked well, along with the satellite TV. Wifi also worked. Elec power was provided by Honda generator & worked flawlessly. Shower caused a problem toward the end of the trip but a new pump was installed by Wayne (Camp Caretaker) & issue was resolved. Although he just arrived at Beteau, Wayne was, in a word, incredible! He is a “jack of all trades” & master of many!. A real “keeper”!! Boats were 14 foot Lunds or equivalent with new 15 HP Mercury motors and were excellent.
Now to what you are wondering. HOW WAS THE FISHING???? In a word AWESOME!!! The river was VERY low, which created some challenges, but also probably served to “consolidate” the fish some. Anticipate that higher waters in the spring would open up lots of additional water to fish, especially bays which during our stay had only a foot or two of water & were essentially not fishable (but don’t think there were many fish there anyway).We caught 450+ Northerns & 250 Walleyes. Had we targeted Walleyes, I’m sure those numbers would be reversed. Additionally, If anything, these numbers are conservative as it is very hard to keep track of things like this, but we did our best. The walleyes averaged ~17+ inches, with the biggest at 24.5 inches. Lots of 19s thru 22s. We caught most of them within no more than 5 minutes from camp & primarily fished for them when we had fish on our menu. The majority of the fish were caught within about 5 minutes or so from camp. We caught 8 x 40”+; 5-6 x 37”+; a bunch in the 34”+ range as well as many over 30”. Within a 2 hours the first afternoon, I caught two 40″+. I’ve been on 15+ trips to Canada without a 40″+ & I got 4 myself! Both the Northerns & the Walleyes were exceptionally healthy-looking fish, especially heavy for their length & put up fantastic fights. Perhaps that comes from living in & fighting the river current vice living in a lake?? I have no idea of how many fish we lost but there was a bunch & some were real monsters too! All the Northerns were released in accordance with Camp policy, which has always been our policy as well. Adam Wood of Gray Wood Outfitters, texted several times to ensure that all was going well & see if we needed anything. His level of interest is commendable & I’m confident that if a quest needs something that he & the other owners will expend whatever is necessary to resolve any issue(s) that may arise. Overall, this was BY FAR, the best fishing trip that I & my 4 fishing partners have ever had! Thanx to all.