Domaine Shannon fishing trip - part 2

Back from my second trip to Le Domaine Shannon. This was my final weeklong trip of the season, having done two other such trips over the past 5 weeks. This time, I took my childhood fishing buddy Jimmy along for the trip. Jimmy is one of those special people that can match my commitment to putting in 10 hour days on the water, no matter what the weather of fishing conditions may be. He and I have shared many great fishing moments and trips together over the years.

We headed out late Saturday night, hitting the main forest road around 3 am. Normally a 1 hour drive during daylight, this one took 2 hours at reduced speed in the dark, being that it was cloudy. Another 1.5 hours drive from there to our cabin on lac wahoo. Lucky for us, Le Domaine Shannon is under new ownership / management this year, and they are putting in a lot of effort into revamping their operations, including refurbishing all the roads on their territory, which made for a much smoother ride. 

We made it to the cabins early enough to break camp, eat, setup the cabin, and get a decent start on our day. As usual, we were hoping to get into a trophy pike or 2, and planned to pick up a mixed bag of smaller pike and walleye to keep for the table.

Day 1:

We got started by trolling, picking up a lot of smaller pike, harvesting one for Jimmy to take home. Action was steady. We eventually switched to casting. Being that my shoulder is still injured, I was quite limited, and Jimmy got most of the action, catching a few walleyes.

Having secured some tasty walleyes dinners, we made it through most of the day catching more pike. mainly trolling. At one point, Jimmy and I hit a double header, with mine being the first trolled caught walleye of the trip.

Later that evening when the wind calmed down, we decided to cast the calm mirror like lake. Again, Jimmy and I hit a double header on our first casts, with mine being the larger of the two pike.

Decent days we ended up landing a decent mix of pike and walleye.

Day 2:

Any hot sunny day, bite started of slower than the previous day, with us landing a few more smaller pike. Walleye bite died down, but luckily, we already had 5 of them in the fridge, securing 2 fish dinners. By the late morning, we had just started another trolling pass around the lake after short break on shore. I landed a small pike within the first minute or so, and a couple minutes later, my rod hooked a much nicer pike.

After a decent few runs near the boat, we landed the nice 30 incher, which ended up being the biggest fish of the trip.

More small pike throughout the day, We ended up with mainly pike and only one walleye. At least the nice pike I caught was released in good condition, hoping we meet again when she's grown a bit.

Day 3:

A heavy thunderstorm blew in over night, and by morning, it had turned to steady rain. We took advantage and slept in for an extra hour or so, hoping the rain would taper off. It didn't, so we donned our heavy rain gear, and got out to trolling in the cold wind. In contrast to us having to keep dousing our t shirts in the lake to stay cool over the past couple days, we were now in sweaters and waterproof gear, determined to put in a full day no matter the conditions.

Fishing for pike was very slow, and the few hits we got were light taps instead of strikes. Walleye were a bit more active, we caught a few during the rain, which lasted until late afternoon.

By evening, the rain died down, but we were still fighting a cold wind, so we stuck with mainly trolling until dark. We tied on spinnerbaits for a shallow troll near weed beds, and not surprisingly, the pike bite turned on fast and furious. We ended up catching a good 10 pike or so during the last 90 minutes of the day, including another nice pike I landed to end the day.

Day 4:

Another cloudy day, with strong winds blowing all morning. By early afternoon, more rain, that lasted until the evening. Bite was extremely slow, but Jimmy and I persevered, grinding out another 10 hour day on the water in cold weather gear. Most of the catches were small, so we didn't bother with pictures.

A nice walleye dinner with some good beer and fine single malt that Jimmy brought along.

Tasty way to end our day.

Day 5:

Our last day of fishing at Le Domaine Shannon for the season. Sunshine and heat were back, and we were hoping the bite would pick up enough for us to get one last shot at landing a trophy pike. We fished hard all day in the heat, catching more pike and more eater sized walleye.

By late afternoon, we decided to cast a shallow flat. Throwing a spinnerbaits, Jimmy managed to raise a big trophy pike, probably in the 10 to 12 lbs range, It followed his lure to the boat, made one swirl at the figure eight pattern, and turned and swam off. A close call during the last hours, would have been an amazing fairy tale ending to the trip if we manage to hook and land the big pike, but that's all part of the game, and what keeps us going back to Le Domaine Shannon year after year.

We ended the trip with a total of 67 pike and 18 walleyes landed. Better yet, Jimmy and I ended up putting in 48-49 hours of fishing in 5 days, despite scorching heat, and a couple days of cold wind and rain. Best of all, the fun moments shared with a great friend, who I've been fishing with for over 40 years.

On the way home the following morning, I stopped by the main camp to discuss with Luc, one of the new owners who now runs the office and main lodge. The family operation is committed to opening many of the untouched lakes on their territory over the next few years, as well as upgrading some of the remote camps with plumbing, toilets and showers, making them a bit more "user friendly" than what we have been used to over the past. Being a family business, their adult boys work in the camp as guides, doing maintenance, etc. After meeting a couple of them as well, I'm confident that they will take the Le Domaine Shannon fishing experience to new levels.

For more information on fishing at Le Domaine Shannon, see my page at:

https://freshwaterphil.com/ledomaineshannon.cfm