Great walleye and pike fishing at Domaine Shannon

Just got back from another great fishing trip to Le Domaine Shannon. As in the past few seasons, my son Eli came along for this trip. This time, he decided to bring Audrey along for her first attempt at walleye fishing. She has been on a few of our family fishing trips to Mijocama by now, but being that she has never been this far off the grid, I was a bit skeptical as to how she would take to the potential discomforts of biting insects, lack of plumbing, outhouse, etc. As well, there is literally nothing to do but fish all day out there, as we are the only ones on the lake I chose, and over 1 hour's drive from the main camp. So much for the social life we are used to on larger family trips, these are all about fishing and being remote in the wild forest of the upper Outaouais region of Quebec.

We made the drive up to Le Domaine Shannon late Saturday night, to give ourselves enough time to get there. While the highway driving is relatively good, conditions of the 100 km of dirt roads can vary from trip to trip. Reaching the first of the dirt roads around sunrise is typically what I planned on, getting there around 5 am Sunday morning. We were hoping to see some wildlife, and sure enough, within 5 minutes of driving on the main dirt road, we cam across a large black bear in middle of the road. We stopped, stared at each other for 5-10 seconds, and then it ran off into the woods. Eli and Audrey had never seen any bears in the wild before, so they were thrilled to start the trip on a high note.

We eventually made it to our cabin a couple hours later. After unloading, breaking camp and a quick breakfast, we got to setting up the boat. Portable rod holders, electric motor, and a new sonar I borrowed from my friend Jimmy. We planned to use a mix of trolling and casting, and after last summer's success with walleye fishing on the lake, I had an ide of a few spots to cast to get the trip started.

As we got started, I noticed that the sonar wasn't recognizing the transducer, and despite us trying all the available options we found in the menu system, we weren't able to get the sonar working. I was a bit upset that I hadn't brought along my old sonar as a backup, but at this point, I knew I could potentially make due without it, as I have been fishing and trolling the lake for well over a decade, and likely have over 50 full days experience on it.

Being that were were without sonar, we opted to start off casting so of my better spots on the lake. Unfortunately, my shoulder injury is still persistent, though not as bad a last trip. As such, I didn't plan on doing much casting. I controlled the boat and maintained boat position while Eli and Audrey got to cast with better precision. First spot, first cast, Eli landed a decent pike, which we decided to keep. Next cast, he landed a small walleye, which we released.

After a few more passes and no more bites, we headed over to other parts of the lake to cast some more of my hot spots. Sure enough, Eli landed another nice walleye, and Audrey landed her first ever walleyes as well.

We decided to keep walleyes for our planned fish meals on site, and I deboned and froze the pike to bring home. When we got back to shore, Audrey mentioned that Eli's new iPhone 14 has a built in satellite connection feature. This meant, that for first time ever, we were able to connect to the outside world from our remote location. We texted Jimmy about the sonar issue, and sure enough, he was able to guide us on how to get it working properly within minutes.

After our first log fire barbecue lunch of the trip, we decided to do some shore fishing before heading out on the boat again. Audrey's first cast landed a nice fallfish, and Eli landed a few small pike. 

I decided to try casting a top water lure for a bit, and caught my first fish of the trip.

Eventually, we decided to head back out on the boat and tried trolling with the help of the new sonar. Didn't take long, and we started catching some nicer sized pike.

We ended the first day with a total of 15 pike, 13 walleyes, and 4 fallfish landed.

Day 2:

After catching up on 2 nights of sleep overnight, we got started around 9 am, which became our daily routine. Casting in the calm morning breeze, Audrey landed another nice pike, which turned out to be her biggest of the trip.

As I was was snapping some pictures, Eli doubled up with another walleye.

Eventually, as the casting bite slowed down, we got in a good trolling pattern, landing a lot more keeper sized pike.

We'd stop to cast every once in a while, and sure enough, Audrey landed another nice walleye casting.

Back to trolling, some more pike landed mainly by Audrey.

We were lucky to encounter much fewer black flies and mosquitoes than usual, but eventually, they did show up about an hour before sunset. That didn't deter us from fishing, nor the fish from biting.

We ended the day with a total of 21 pike, 7 walleyes, and 1 more fallfish landed.

Day 3:

We started off by casting again. Bite was slow, but Eli landed his biggest walleye of the trip at our 3rd spot. A couple nice pics, and into our makeshift livewell it went, to join us for dinner.

Continuing with a mix of casting and trolling, Audrey landed some more pike.

Eventually, she managed another walleye casting a spinner in front of our cabin at last light.

We ended the day with a total of 21 pike and 5 walleyes.

Day 4:

Fishing started off quite slow, we struggled to catch anything both casting and trolling. A few smaller pike, but nowhere near the sizes or numbers of previous days. By mid afternoon, a storm system moved in, after 3.5 days of sweltering heat and sunny conditions. 

We headed back to the cabin, I got a few hours of napping, while Eli and Audrey casted a nearby creek in rain gear, catching a few more walleyes, pike an fallfish. Eventually, we decided to go out to do some trolling in the rain, which was now lighter than when it started. Trolling action was slow, but Audrey landed back to back walleyes on a couple passes about 10 minutes in.

We ended the day landing 7 pike, 6 walleye and 6 fallfish.

Day 5:

This was our last day of fishing. We woke up to calm/cloudy conditions. Seemingly better for walleye, but in reality, all we ended up landing over a couple hours of trolling were 2 more pike. We decided to do some more casting. At one of the spots, we noticed something white and puffy floating in the distance, I assuming it may have been a gull. After moving around and fishing back to the area over an hour later, it was still there. I decided to investigate, and we found a very long pike floating on it's back. It was very emaciated, but still alive. Our attempts to revive it didn't work, seems that it was probably dying of old age and had been starving for a while, as it didn't have any signs of damage or trauma. We snapped a few pics of the 40 inch pike, marveling at it's length while realizing that this was about as close to a monster pike we were going to see this trip.

Eventually, trolling started producing some more pike, as well as Audrey's biggest walleye of the trip at just under 3 lbs.

We ended the day with another 13 pike and 3 walleye landed, bringing the trip total to a whopping 77 pike, 34 walleyes, and 11 fallfish landed, mainly by Eli and Audrey. I was content just guiding them and resting my shoulder in between fileting sessions, as we ended up keeping 14 pike and 13 walleyes over the course of the trip. While we consumed all the walleyes on site, the pike are back home in my now restocked freezer, which should last us for a few months. 

We left bright and early the following morning, stopping by the main camp to meet Domaine Shannon's new owner. When I originally booked the trip early last winter, Serge was still there, but a couple weeks before the trip, the new owners explained that they but the camp and operation sometime in February 2026. I met with Luc, chatted with him for a while, He was impressed with the quality of fishing we were able to achieve, as well as the many fishing trips and experiences I have enjoyed at Le Domaine Shannon over the past 16 years.

While Eli and Audrey we sad to see the trip come to it's end, I'm content knowing that they had a great time, Audrey is a quick learner, and honestly, I don't know any gals (and very few guys) that would put up with the seeming discomforts of remote accommodations to get onto good fishing. Congrats to her.

As well, I'm scheduled to head back to Le Domaine Shannon for another fishing trip in 2 weeks, this time with my lifelong friend Jimmy. We'll see how that plays out, hope to have some good results to report.

I highly recommend Le Domaine Shannon to anyone looking to enjoy some excellent walleye and pike fishing in the upper Outaouais forest. While I choose remote lakes to fish for my peace and quite, they also have fully equipped cabins at the main camp, with electricity and  plumbing, as well as various meals plans at the main lodge, along with a bar, and the option of hiring their fishing guides on site for ensured success.

More information on the Domaine Shannon is available on my web site at:

https://freshwaterphil.com/ledomaineshannon.cfm 

Mijocama fishing summer 2026

Just got back from our yearly family fishing trip to Mijocama outfitter to kick off the summer. A growing number of family members joined, we were up to 9 of us in my chalet, as well as another dozen friends in 2 other chalets. Pike and largemouth bass were to be our target species for the next few days.

Unfortunately for myself, I'm dealing with some sort of shoulder injury that prevents me from doing much casting, so I had to content myself on guiding everyone else, using a mix of trolling and controlled drifting. Here's what happened...

Day 1.

Zev and I got up bright and early to make the 3 hour drive up to Mijocama. Heavy rain over the past few days had the previous guests leaving our chalet early, which meant that we were able to check in earlier than planned. After driving up, unloading, and eating breakfast, I headed over to the main camp to get our boat. Lucky for me, I noticed a brand new motor on on of the boats, so I was spoiled enough to get one that started up within 1-2 cranks using my left arm.

Zev and I started off by trolling jerkbaits, and it didn't take too long for him to hook our our first pike of the trip. 

He proceeded to land a few more, some of which we kept for future shore lunches during our stay at Mijocama.

By the time we got back to our chalet, everyone else was arriving. Next up on my boat, were Levi and Lindsey. As casting wasn't very productive, we trolled for pike as well. Both of them landed some nice pike, and Lindsey's first fish ended up being the biggest of the trip at just over 5 lbs.

After a late lunch, I ended up taking out Ezzy, who managed his first couple pike as well.

I ended up catching a pike on a topwater lure just before dark, didn't bother with a picture. That was it for day 1.

Day 2.

I had very little time to fish, as I was driving back to Montreal after lunch to attend my daughter's graduation later that evening. Got out solo bright and early, and with the calm mirrorlike surface, I opted to cast a PopR. Only took a few casts, and I got my first bass of the trip.

After a while, I decided to tie on a spinner and cast a weedbed on the other side of the lake. Sure enough, I landed back to back pike on a few casts.

Early morning success was nice, and before leaving I asked my boys to snap some pics of their catches while I was gone, as Eli and Avi were running their own boats. Eli, Audrey, Avi, and Ezzy, all had a pretty good rest of the day catching mainly pike, as well as some nice bass.

Seems like they did just fine without me there.

Day 3.

I made the drive in from Montreal bright an early, getting the water by 6:30 am. Landed another bass on the PopR, as well as some small pike. Kids slept in a bit, so I was solo until after breakfast. Being that his older brothers trash talk him about only being able to catch fish when I guide him, Zev asked me to teach him how to run the boat, and effectively toll for pike. I was more than happy to oblige, and Zev was the perfect student, adapting to my instructions rather quickly, for someone who'd never driven a boat before.

I showed Zev how to effectively troll sunken branches and weedlines visually, being that we were fishing in clear water without any electronics. I showed him how to avoid shoals off point based on water color changes, and how to orient himself using shoreline markers. Hoping he remembers most of it for next time...

I took a while for the pike to start biting, but when they finally did, Zev landed them one after the other.

Eventually, I also showed Zev how to drift fish large areas, using the wind and intermittent motor power to place us in casting position. He landed 2 pike back to back.

After heading to shore for a late lunch, I took Levi and Lindsey out again, and we landed a few more pike while trolling late afternoon/evening.

Day 4.

Most of our group was leaving for home mid morning, so they were busy packing and tidying the chalet. We were down to 3 of us fishing for the rest of the trip, and wasted no time getting out for the morning bite. Eli and Audrey tied on some a couple topwater lures, and sure enough, we got a few missed hits, followed by Eli landing a tiny pike. On his next cast using a One Knocker  Zara Spook, Eli landed his first bass of the trip, a nice largemouth in the 3 lbs range. I was very glad to see this size bass landed, after most of the bass in Giles lakes seem to have died off a few years ago. 

After the topwater bite died down and the wind picked up, I took them drift casting for pike on another part of the lake. Audrey tied on a #5 Mepps spinner, and she and Eli landed a few pike on our first few drifts.

Afternoon/evening bite was a bit tougher, but more pike were landed, mainly by Audrey.

The day ended off with Eli hooking a nice pike that ended up cutting off his One Knocker spook. He was pretty bummed by it, so I lent him one of my Zara spooks for the rest of the trip.

Day 5.

Our last day fishing Mijocama on our yearly family fishing trip. We headed out extra early to cast topwater lures again. Eli started off casting the frog patterned Zara spook I lent him. Our first spot paid off with a small pike.

For our next spot, I took them to another calm bay where I had spotted a couple bass in the shallows the previous day. Eli's first cast at the spot resulted in a smashing topwater explosion, and I knew that he had hooked into a nice fish. After a couple good runs, I netted the big largemouth bass that hit Eli's lure.

A respectable bass weighing just under 3 1/2 lbs, haven't seen one that size caught at Mijocama in over 5 years. As well, Eli got redemption for the lost pike & lure the previous evening, as this bass was likely just as big as the pike he lost.

I then pointed to a big boulder where I had seen the bass swimming on the previous day, Eli casted to it. Within seconds, he had another nice bass making summersaults at the end of his line. Landed it as well, another solid 3 pounder.

Landed another 7 pike on our last day, brining the total for the trip to a record 66 pike landed. They seem to be growing longer every year, but they a mostly a lot thinner as well. As opposed to the small perch and baby bass I normally find in their stomachs when cleaning them, these we mostly empty, except for a few that were stuffed with crayfish.

More impressive, is the comeback the largemouth bass have made after nearly being wiped out a few years ago. Hoping they will be able to grow even bigger, given the shift in predator/prey relationship over the past few years. 

Weather was perfect, warm sunny days, not too hot, with cool nights that made for perfect sleeping conditions. with less biting insects than usual.

As always, I'd like to thank al the family members and friends that joined us for our yearly trip to Mijocama, as well as my friend Jocelyn (the owner) for providing us with a brand new motor boat, and upgraded appliances / full time power in our chalet. I highly recommend Mijocama outfitter as a perfect family fishing vacation spot only 3 hours from Montreal, you can view previous blog posts detailing many trips to Mijocama by clikcing: https://freshwaterphil.com/mijocama-outfitter.cfm 

I'll leave you with some more images shared by some of the aspiring photographers in our group. Already looking forward to my 25th Mijocama anniversary trip booked for next summer.