Multi-Species Magic

A drive-in camp with the fabulous fishing of a remote fly-in. That is the easiest way to describe the awesome angling adventures that await anglers visiting Cedar Point Resort on Cedar Lake in Perrault Falls located in Ontario’s Sunset Country near Vermilion Bay.

I had heard some great reports of the fishing on Cedar Lake and wanted to add this lake and resort to my bucket list of places that I have never fished before.

But which species to fish for?

This lake is known for its excellent trophy Muskie fishing, Northern pike over forty-plus inches, walleye in the high twenty to thirty-inch class, big brown smallmouth bass that are rarely targeted or how about the jumbo yellow perch or slab-sized crappies that inhabit the same deep breaks as walleye?

Variety?

Yes, this lake has it all.

We decided to shoot a walleye show with some slab-sized crappie thrown in for good measure and this lake did not disappoint.

Upon our arrival in mid-august, we were met by the friendly owners of the resort, Ray and Kathi Pfieffer who have owned the resort for over fifteen years and have upgraded the cottages, installed new docking and made the resort a ‘go-to’ destination for anglers from across North America.

Cedar Point Resort sits in an ideal location on the lake, almost in the middle, so there is virtually very little travel time to the hottest fishing spots on Cedar Lake. The resort is located in a sheltered cove that is protected from the wind and is a welcome sight for anglers departing and returning to camp after a long day of fishing.

Ray set us up with a local guide, John Jakobs to assist us with our angling scouting efforts on this somewhat large lake with a perimeter of sixty-one miles and a maximum depth of fifty feet. The lake is truly a fish factory in a natural structure featuring dozens of prime island points leading to slow tapering breaks that attract a lot of the walleye. Mid-lake reefs, shoals and humps attract all of the predator species of Cedar Lake. The lake even features thick green weed beds that are somewhat forgotten by visiting anglers as the rocky points and mid-lake reefs attract the most angling attention.

Our first morning was met with strong winds that limited the number of locations we could fish or hold our boat stationary over any marked fish on the sonar but John led us to a mid-lake reef that topped off at fifteen feet and tapered down to depths of over thirty plus feet, we tried to hold our position in the twenty-one to twenty-four foot depths and vertical jigged one-quarter ounce jigs tipped with a live minnow for any rock dwelling walleye.

We didn’t have to wait long! John and I almost immediately began catching walleye in all-year classes from fourteen inches to twenty-plus inches on the jig and minnow presentation. We were having a ball until mother nature decided to throw in some wind gusts in excess of forty-plus miles per hour that pushed us off our spot, no problem, John had many hidden hotspots that we could choose from away from the wind gusts.

We chose a small inlet behind a high rocky point and immediately located large fish symbols on the sonar and began catching more and even bigger walleyes in water depths ranging from seventeen to twenty feet deep right below the boat.

We hooked into some chunky northern pike and other toothy critters occasionally, but the walleyes were in the mood to eat and we just kept moving with the school of fish in this little inlet.

One of the true Canadian fishing traditions in Northern Ontario is the shore lunch. John made sure our break from the action included a feast that included baked beans, fried potatoes with onions and bacon and freshly caught walleye from Cedar lake. The thickness of these walleye was so impressive, we only kept two fish each in the fifteen-inch class, that’s four fillets per person, more than enough for anyone.

The morning of day two saw low-hanging clouds and the threat of rain and low winds which helped us position our boat over any schools of walleye or crappie on these same mid-lake points and shoals. We changed our sizes of jigs to a one-eighth ounce and began slowly jigging these shallower points on an overcast morning and once again the fish of Cedar lake came to play.

We hooked multiple walleye from twelve to twenty-plus inches which were all released to fight another day. As a bonus, we found some small schools of big slab crappie that kept our smiles wide and laughed even louder. Funny how a small panfish can do that to fully grown men. We kept a few of the larger crappie for pictures and then released them as well to assist in the future reproduction of this much sought-after little fish.

Looking for the ideal resort that features some of the most sought-after fish in north America with very little angling pressure then look no further than Cedar Point Resort on Cedar lake in Perrault falls Ontario.

Contact Ray and Kathi T- 807-529-6542 (summer) and 763-807-4624 (winter)

FishCedarLake@Cedarpointresort.ca   www.cedarpointresort.ca

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