On the long weekend in September, I had the opportunity to fish with my cousin Paul and his son Rodney at Winefred Lake in Alberta. Paul and I flew into Fort McMurray and met Rod (he works there) and drove 3 hours to the lake.
A 4 x 4 is needed, the road is rough but passable, the final mile or so from the main dirt road into the lake can be muddy in spots (good tires).
The Lodge, cabins, rooms and staff are A1, the food that’s served is great and they have 16 foot boats with 2ohp motors for rent. You can rent cabins, bring your own food and boats.
Big spoons, 7 of diamonds, Williams Wobblers, and spinner baits all worked well. Absolutely, no live baits or scented baits can be used. Barbs must be pinched. Even so we caught at least 150 fish in 3 days of trying, many in the 6 pound range but at least 10 tipped the scales over 16 pounds and one bruiser was 20.7 pounds. We caught most fish in very shallow water and we even caught a few walleyes on large 7 of diamonds.
You can’t fish after dark, unless you have your own boat but you really don’t have to, day fishing rocks.
A GPS can be very handy on this lake which is 15km x 10 km, everything starts to look the same when your 10 km from the camp.
We had 1 afternoon of decent weather and the wind blew at about 20 mph for the other 2 1/2 days, which made getting out fishing tough but we were troopers and went out each day. Although I must admit the passengers and guide (Me) were getting tossed around quite a bit, at times. It was great having our Helly Hanson rain gear with us.
There were quite a few birds such as Eagles, pelicans, grebes and ducks on the lake.
The airfare (WestJet seat sale) to Fort Mac, 3 days fishing and hotel night before and after, all under $1500 , I would go again in a heartbeat.
Great Choice Rod
Ciao for now…….
BIRDQUEST2004 