I grew up along the shores of Lake Winnebago in east-central Wisconsin where I first fished for walleyes. Later, I traveled to Northern Minnesota to fish for walleyes on some of their best-known waters, like Cut Foot Sioux, Lake Winnibigoshish, Lake of the Woods and lakes within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. For many years, I did fly-in trips to various lakes in Ontario. None of that fishing prepared me for walleye fishing at Lac Seul. 

This is no tentative strike. The fish slammed my bait, and when I set the hook, my rod is doubled over. Nothing seems to move at first, when suddenly the fish tears off. The drag on my spinning reel whines as it gives out line. I just hold on until the fish stops running and then slowly regain line, rod tip plunging. 

There are several shorter runs until I feel the fish coming toward the boat. As I get it closer, we see a long, golden shape in the clear water. “That’s a big walleye,” Doug yells.

Once next to the boat, the fish thrashes on the surface as it bursts off a couple more times. Finally, Doug gets the net under the fish, pulling it in the boat.

“It’s a pig,” Doug said as I reach into the net to pull it out. We quickly lay it on a fish ruler and it measures 26 inches. This is on our first day on Lac Seul and is only the third fish I catch that morning. From the very beginning, Lac Seul is living up to its reputation as Ontario’s walleye factory. 

There are four of us on this fishing adventure. I am with Doug Hurd of Inver Grove Heights, Minn., in his boat. In Ben Aeilts’ boat is Jim Hatterman. Ben is from Brainerd, Minn. and Jim is from Henderson, Nev. Originally from the Midwest, the lure of fishing Lac Seul brought Jim all the way from Nevada.

Ben was introduced to Lac Seul by his late father-in-law and has been coming back once or twice a year ever since. The walleye fishing there is just that good. 

Late afternoon on our first day. Doug and I run out of minnows, so we put plastic minnow bodies—Mooch Minnows by Rapala—on our jigs. The walleyes keep on hitting. Doug pulls back to set the hook and his spinning rod comes alive as a fish charges off. I ask if he needs the net and he tells me he thinks so. But before I get my line in, a fish races off with my bait, both fish doubling over our spinning rods. The fish stay deep, fighting hard, resisting to the very end, still thrashing once we get them in the boat. Both of our fish measure 20 inches.

Ben and Jim are a hundred feet away. We see Ben holding a net as Jim is fighting a fish, rod bent in half, fish staying deep as it takes a while before the fish is splashing on the surface. Ben lowers the net, and a moment later pulls up on it as a fish thrashes in the mesh, twisting and turning, spraying water. Jim reaches into the net, pulling out a heavy walleye, twisting out the jig and slipping it back in the water. 

By the end of our first day, Doug and I estimate we caught about 50 walleyes along with a couple northern pike. Over half of our walleyes measure over 20 inches. What a way to start a fishing adventure! 

The walleye fishing at Lac Seul is so good that it overshadows all other fish. However, Lac Seul has trophy northern pike fishing, too, as Jim tops the first day off with a 30-inch northern.

There is a sense of excitement as the sun is coming up. The docks at the resort are busy with fishermen getting ready for a day on Lac Seul. Guys, as well as the occasional lady, are carrying buckets of ice and containers of minnows, hands clutching stacks of fishing rods, tackle bags, and ice chests. Expectations match the excitement as the day begins; it going to be a great day. 

Lac Seul and the shore is covered in a blanket of fog. As we pull away from the dock, we can only see the tops of trees protruding above the fog. But as we travel down the lake, the wind begins to pick up and the fog thins. 

We stop at a rocky hump and drop our jigs and minnows to the bottom. In the next hour, Doug catches four walleyes measuring from 20 to 24 inches. We hear a yell and look up to see Ben and Jim moving closer to us. They are standing at the front deck of Ben’s boat. They are holding two big walleyes, telling us they caught both fish at the same time. Jim’s fish is 26 inches long and Ben’s measures 24. 

Doug and I again catch about fifty fish, half of them over 20 inches. We find most of our fish on rocky bottoms in 24 to 36 feet of water.

In late afternoon, Doug and I catch two 20-inch fish at the same time. The size limit for keeper walleyes on Lac Seul is 18 inches so we are looking at 17-inch walleyes for our eating fish. With the size of the fish we are catching, we find ourselves fishing hard to catch enough “eater” fish to keep. This is a good problem to have.

Our most productive baits are jigs with minnows; 3/8- and 1/2-ounce seem to work best. We try several different colors for jigs, and they all seem to work, but chartreuse is usually the most productive. Plastic grub bodies and swim baits catch their share of walleyes, too. It is worthwhile to try them from time to time as a change of pace or as a back-up if running out of minnows.

Lac Seul means Lake Alone in French. It is a huge lake, over 150 miles wide with over 3,000 miles of shoreline, covering 560 square miles. It is a man-made lake. In 1928, Ontario Hydo built a dam at Lower Ear Falls where Lac Seul flows into the English River. No one knew then what an incredible walleye fishery Lac Suel would become. 

One morning, there is a cold wind blowing across the lake with dark clouds touching the water on the horizon. Boats are rocking in the waves. The magic hour starts at nine when Doug catches the first walleye of the day. I catch the second. In the next hour, we catch 18 walleyes. One of Doug’s fish is a 27-incher, thick with a deep belly, his best walleye of the trip.

Regardless of how turbulent the weather is during the day, evening subtly slips into quiet peacefulness. The water in front of our cabin is flat as we see darkness slowly descend across the trees. We had deep-fried walleye fillets with potato salad and cottage cheese for dinner, and now sit on our deck overlooking the lake. We see a muskrat swimming by, a vee of ripples behind it, and a family of Canada geese floating on the lake. There is much talk of fishing and what we expect tomorrow will bring. Jim and I smoke cigars. It is a moment of reflection for us. We know that regardless of what the weather is tomorrow, we will be catching big walleyes. 

It is our last day, and we are fishing for seven keeper fish to fill out our limits to take home the next day. The sky is gray, and a cool wind rocks the boat as we fish deep water on a rocky point. All four of us are in Ben’s boat. Doug catches the first fish, a 20-inch walleye. Jim, sitting in the bow, has a huge strike. Lifting his spinning rod, we see the rod bent in half with the rod tip plunging. A minute later, after a strong fight, Jim nets the fish. It is a 22-inch walleye and is returned to the water. A few minutes later, Ben has a fish and another tough struggle, Doug nets the fish. It is 17-inch walleye and goes into the livewell. Fifteen minutes later, Ben has another fish on the line. This one is 24 inches, making a couple short runs, taking line off his spinning reel. This fish goes back in the water. Once again, the big fish outnumber those under 18 inches that we can keep.

The rain we saw coming our way hit us. Big, cold rain drops splattering on the surface of the lake, making a splashing sound. The fish continued hitting through the rain; spinning rods doubled over, line slicing through the clear water, drags on spinning reels clicking as fish pull off line. The fights are spectacular, fish staying deep, coming to the side of boat still full of fight.

The rain stops and we are soaked, but the wind dries us out. The fish keep hitting, and slowly we start collecting the few remaining fish we wanted. Finally, Jim catches the last keeper fish, and Ben announces, “It’s a wrap” as we get ready for the ride back to the resort. It seems almost anticlimactic as we skim across the water, knowing it is the end of our adventure.

The next morning, Doug and I are driving through the rocky, forested land of Ontario, on our way back to the border and our homes in the Midwest. Doug looks over to me and says, “This has been the best walleye fishing I’ve ever had.” 

I totally agreed.