Yeah Dad, you can hold MY fish for a picture
The camp is clean, the accommodations incredibly comfortable and modern, the view from your cabin breathtaking – BUT this isn’t the MAIN reason guests return year after year to Bear Claw Camp. The fishing on Wabaskang Lake is! Combine the quality of fishing Wabaskang offers with the fact that from our camp almost all of our fishing is done within 15 minutes of camp-you have a great combination that is hard to beat!
Fishing Wabaskang Lake and its adjoining waterways is productive all season long. Walleye, northern pike, smallmouth bass and jumbo perch are all in abundance, with lake trout and whitefish also present in the lake. If you are looking for a lake that can provide A LOT of fishing action, with legitimate chances at trophy fish of the above species, Wabaskang deserves a close look.
Wabaskang Lake-One of the BEST MULTI-SPECIES fisheries in NW Ontario!
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Wabaskang is a lake that is sure to please almost any angler in terms of both number and size of fish caught and most importantly it is NOT a hard lake to fish. Many of our camp veterans of twenty and thirty years have commented that it is even better today than ten years ago. Wabaskang Lake is part of the Cedar River watershed and is somewhat unique in that it offers a wide variety of fish species including walleye, northern pike, smallmouth bass, lake trout, jumbo perch and whitefish all within one body of water. You will have a hard time finding another Canadian shield lake that can boast this quality of fishing for walleye AND northern pike AND smallmouth bass AND jumbo perch all in the same body of water. Add the species of lake trout and whitefish and you can see why Wabaskang Lake is a very unique fishery.
- Abundance is above average (compared to other walleye lakes in the Northwest Region)
- Good size range of fish
- Two very strong year-classes (ages 1 and 2) are entering the population
- Male growth is similar to Northwest Region average. Female growth is higher after age 4
- Male and female condition is slightly higher than the Northwest Region average
- Egg production is much higher than the Northwest Region average
Walleye fishing is outstanding most of the season with good catches often coming in less than 16 feet of water around the many weed beds, rock shelves, sunken islands and points around the north end of the lake. Gawleys Bay, The Hotel, Devils Point, Doe Island, Painted Rock, Birch Point, Duck Point, Sandy Beach, Beavers Dam, Eagle’s Nest to name just a few are- all great walleye fishing spots and less than 15 minutes from camp. Wabaskang Lake has a great population of 1-3 pound walleye and it produces many fish every season from 4-12 pounds too. Typically not known as a strong fighter, you might be amazed at the “head-dogging” determined nature of our fat and chunky walleye here on Wabaskang.
For big northern pike, anglers do very well from late July thru the first week of September, although we see “trophy” size fish caught all season long. Northern Pike in Wabaskang 10 pounds and under are plentiful and provide our guests with a lot of excitement and action with their vicious strikes and drag sizzling runs. While we can’t guarantee you a trophy northern (15-25 pounds) on every trip, we can guarantee that there are many of them here to be caught.
Jumbo perch fishing is excellent all season long. Because of the large perch population in Wabaskang, anglers who target these fish report good catches pretty much every month of our season. Incredibly underfished for such a tasty treat–you will struggle to catch many perch from Wabaskang UNDER 9″. The vast majority of our perch population on Wabaskang is 9-14″ with very few of them being “buggy”. Add 50 of these bruisers to your cooler for the trip home and watch some eyes get big back home when the plate of steaming fillets is put on the kitchen table!
For anglers interested in smallmouth fishing, Wabaskang Lake has developed a great reputation as a quality smallmouth fishery, with good numbers of “footballs” being caught in the 3-6 pound range, including many right from the camp docks. This species is a bonus and have provided guests many thrills with their aerial acrobatics and “battle to exhaustion” mentality. It’s still hard to match the excitement of casting a topwater bait around the reeds and rocks on Wabaskang on a cool, crisp Canadian morning and have a smallmouth explode on top of the water to take it. They say, pound for pound, the smallmouth is the hardest fighting fish in freshwater and after hooking into some of these “hogs” you just might agree!
“This year was our 32nd year, which says a lot. When I tell people that we catch 500 to 600 Northerns and Walleyes on a slow year and up to 1000 to 1300 on excellent years they don’t believe me but it’s true. All the fish are not “monsters” but a number of trophy fish get caught each year. As important to us as the fishing is, it is equally important to have good accommodations and equipment especially the outboard motors. The motors are always either new or in excellent shape and the facilities are clean, neat and comfortable. I have recommended the camp to numerous people over the years with no fear of them not having a good time and catching fish. Your camp sets a standard that other camps would be proud of.”
– Bob Stromberg (32 year camp veteran)