Reports coming soon. For more info on John and Sandy Kugler's Rough Rock Lodge on the Winnipeg River north of Minaki, Ontario, Canada go to:
http://www.roughrocklodge.com/
Brett Erickson

Rough Rock is getting different wx everyday, however our guests are picking up wallies on jig combos anywhere from 18 to 32 ft up to 25" alot of slot wallies, bass are schooled up just waiting for a few more degrees to spawn. Pike up to 36" on Mepps #3 and 4. That's all for now, maybe it will quit snowing!

Kugs here, Sunshine finally!! water temps in the bays in the upper 60s, smallies are spawning. wallies anywhere from 25 to 32 ft, pike great action along the shorelines using spinners and ratl traps. All for now
Sandy is one of the finest chefs in NW Ontario! plan on adding a few pounds when you dine with us!

Just got back from Rough Rock Lodge. It finally stopped raining for two days and the smallies went NUTS! Yesterday I hit the water for 3 hours before heading home and it was damn hard to quit! 8 smallies over 19" with a 21-1/4" and a 20-1/2" on back to back casts with a Gambler 3" Ugly Otter in White Lightning rigged on a Gamakatsu 2/0 EWG hook.

Walleyes are spread out and covering water with bottom bouncers is the most efficient way of catching them.

Muskies are spawning. Hopefully they will be done by the muskie opener this weekend.
Brett Erickson

Hi everyone, Kugs here. We have stable river levels and water temps in the mid/upper 60s, smallies have moved out of the spawning bays on structure 6-8 ft. Wallies anywhere from the weeds on spinnerbaits to 32 ft on structure. Muskie season just opened, text book, post spanw movement of fish ie. first structure just outside the spawning bays. Big pike are moving deep with with walleye. Coontail about a foot to 18 inches. More rain coming. Time to mow.

Jim Murphy (who guides on Leech Lake, MN) and I were up for the muskie opener and had a blast. Boated 1 to 3 fish a day with the biggest being a 47"er that Murph got. Had a shot at a monster but she missed the #9 Llungentail--TWICE! Caught one on a Big Fork Deep TwitchDarter and 4 on Jackpots, but the Llungen-tail was the ticket last week.

Main lake water temps are rising quickly with the warm temps and sunny weather being that it FINALLY stopped raining. Main lake temp varied from the low to mid 60Fs with the warmest bay we found being 73.5F. Weeds are slowly coming up. Coontail is still low. Cabbage is coming along nicely in 6' to 8' with some sparse patches in 9'. Early in the week, the majority of the muskies were moving in to spawn. By mid-week they were spawning and by the end of the week they were starting to show up on mid-lake spots.

Smallies are aggressive and smacking muskie baits when you get your baits near them.

Pike action was very good and we boated 5-6 over 36" with one just over 41".

Walleye fishing was very good. Camp guide Bobbie and his clients boated a ton of fish each day last week.

It was nice to see Stu up again and meet Sully, Tony and the rest of the crew. Hope to see you all again in August.

My hands are all gill raked, legs are all mosquito bitten and I set a new personal best of 8 wood ticks in one day! Can't wait to get back there next week and do some more damage!!!
Brett Erickson

Hey Brett, where's your bilge switch pretty much sums up the WX, water back to 60-63 degrees, if you want to catch fish today, use a jig/minnow/gulp combo. Walleye at 40 ft along with the pike and muskie, Roger's boat was the only one to sink after big storm mon into tues morning @ 6 to 7 inches in 12 hrs! Bass are still the ticket in North Channel, warming trend coming, break out the top waters... again?

Water temps. in the upper sixties/low seventies,outstanding walleye fishing on the mid lake reefs! 5 fish over 25" c/r. Muskies showing up where they should be, no super fish spotted yet. A 42" pike was caught and released by a guest two days ago. Smallies near the shorelines in the evening being caught on crayfish colored cranks and tubes. All for now.

Summer peak is almost here! Muskies are almost fully transitioned to their summer haunts. Got to play with a couple of big girls last week, but they wouldn't play nice and take the bait.

Mid-lake water temps varied from 68F to almost 73F depending if you were in Rough Rock, Big Sand or Little Sand. This has probably dropped a little as the high was only 60F yesterday. Weed growth is still a little sparse compared to normal for this time of year.

Smallies are on a rampage. Caught them on any boulder covered shoreline or point. Rapala DT4 caught the most, but also caught some twitching #10 X-Raps and Storm Thunderstick Jr. and even caught a couple on Skitter Pops.

The walleye fishing has been very consistent. 25' to 40' is where they are hanging out. Neckdowns or current areas are producing best. Saw a couple of days where we were starting to see more suspended fish. Might be time to start dragging some cranks soon.

The pike fishing is amazing. Lots of upper 30" fish caught with almost everyone encountering a 40"er and they are eating everything from little Mepps to giant muskie baits. If the water temp stays in the upper 60s, many big pike will be caught. Any hotter and they will start suspending in the deeper/cooler water until it cools down again in the fall.
Brett Erickson

So hot here that the guests are fishing the mornings and evenings, walleye are below 35ft with the larger pike. Bass have schooled up and are being caught on just about any midlake reef. Excellent top water bite for the muskies. Several 40-45 inchers caught with a few big girls terrorizing guests boat side. We still have two cabins available for the "Rumble" call/email to join Sandy and I for a great week of fishing.

Aug. 9th. Water temps. pulled back to around 70, still having good success on muskies in the evenings. Walleye are in their summer spots just moving up and down the water column. The "Rumble is 10 days out, we have two cabins remaining, Join Brett, Murph, Sandy and I for a fun week of fishing and socializing.

Fish don't read!

Kugs

The Rumble starts this Saturday and I can hardly wait! Last week the walleyes were all over from 21' to 37' and biting just about everything. The smallies are sitting on any point you find--it is just a matter of finding out the depth they are sitting at that day (depends if it is sunny/cloudy). Muskies are moving very well and Double Cowgirls, 8" Vipers, Mid-size Lowriders, Magnum Bull Dawgs and 10" Jakes are getting the most action. Here are a couple of photos of our hosts at Rough Rock Lodge. The first is John with a 52-1/2" from a little over a week ago.
Brett Erickson

And here is Sandy with one of her MANY muskies.
Brett Erickson

The "Rumble" started of with a great afternoon/evening. The walleye fishermen had 31 fish up to 20" in 1 1/2 hr. using bottom bouncers and jigs/minnow. A 34" pike was c/red and two muskies 42 1/2 and a fat 46 1/2 er both caught on 8 " vipers. Sandy and I will keep you posted.

We're ready for the first snow soon and the walleye fishing exploded this afternoon, guests using jig/minnow, jig/black twister tail combos had a good problem... fish too large to keep, pike fishing is good along the weedlines and smallies are staging along the rockpiles anywhere there is back flow off the main river channel. A guest had a three muskie afternoon, actually within 15 minutes with one fish at 51"using a #5 Mepps casting for pike! Our bear hunters each scored, one of the bears was a 350lb cinnamon phase color, a trophy of a lifetime! All for now, better find our stocking caps and gloves!