Featured Lodge

In your side view mirror you can see the dock hand as he guides you… “A bit more… a bit more. That’s good,” he shouts. Then, you shift into park, turn off your truck and get out. You look over and see a Canadian classic float plane at the water’s edge, the Dehavilland Beaver. And, you know it… you just know it. That legendary float plane is about to take you and your three fishing buds deep into the wilderness of the world-famous Ogoki Region, which just happens to be right square in the middle of northwestern Ontario’s incredible walleye factory.

Okay, you can open your eyes now. See? Didn’t hurt. Nothing weird happened. Did I have you dreaming for a bit, there? I’ll bet I did! Well, stop dreaming and start thinking – about how YOU can be the very guy or gal who just finished backing their truck up to the loading dock in the parking lot of Ogoki Frontier.

Let’s go back in time a bit now. Dateline: August 30, 2000. About a year and a half before my television series, “Officially Rugged with RD” went to broadcast on The Sportsman Channel, USA, I was the guy backing his truck up to the loading dock in the parking lot of Ogoki Frontier. That was just the first time I had flown in with Paul and Judy Boucher, owners and operators of Ogoki Frontier and in fact, that was the very first show I ever taped. Since then, I’ve been back a handful of times and each trip has been simply amazing. Out of the nine outpost camps they operate, I’ve been to Mojikit Channel, Kathleen Lake, Grayson Lake, Whiteclay North and just last week I returned from an awesome trip to Chipchase Lake, about 65 miles north of the base camp.

One thing I can always rely on when I go fishing in this part of the province is that I’ll never have a problem getting enough fantastic footage for a show! And, believe me, I have actually been on fly-in fishing trips with plans on taping a show and gone home without one. That’s right – a fly-in fishing trip that couldn’t produce enough half decent fish for a 24 minute television show. Sad, but true.

Last week at Chipchase was a great trip for several reasons. First of all, the camp itself was simply amazing… something I’ve only seen at some, make that some American Plan lodges. The building itself is only a couple years old and when the Boucher’s decided to build it, they spared no expense. I’ve never seen an outpost camp with tongue and groove pine on the entire interior! The main room is a big, open space with a high ceiling. There’s a brand new propane fridge and stove, hot water on-demand and plenty of it too. You’ll find a nice big walk around deck and a wooden walkway down to the dock. This is important, especially for people who may have a leg injury, a bad hip or maybe even for some of the older folks for when they’re getting down to the lake and back.

The Chipchase outpost is the only camp on the lake, which is not always the case on fly-ins today. The lake itself is about three or four miles long and oval in shape. It’s easy to fish and impossible to get turned around on, even for me… (There’s an inside joke there, but I won’t embarrass myself any further, thank you!)

At Chipchase Lake you’ll find a ton of walleyes in the 18 – 23 inch range. My fishing partner on the trip, Steve, caught a couple of nice 23 inchers that were pushing four pounds, easily. Catching a dozen or so walleyes in a half hour was easy. One problem we had on this trip was catching a few under the 18 inch mark. That’s typically the size you want for your dinner; somewhere between 15 and 17 inches. They’re tasty as hell and you’ll feel good about putting the prime spawning class back so they can make walleye babies the following spring. And, you guessed it… we did manage to find a few smaller fish for dinner on the first day and I promise you there is no better tasting fish anywhere in the world that our Canadian walleye!

Walleye fishing in late summer often calls for some deeper water presentations. One thing about Chipchase that I really like is that the main lake basin is fairly constant meaning much of the lake will give you that classic 20 – 35 foot depth that you look for in August. This is perfect for trolling medium-sized crankbaits around. Suspending walleyes often look up for their next meal and this presentation was the ticket for most of the trip. Any long, slender, minnow imitations will work for you, but we found that brighter colours seemed to work best. Ya, no kidding… (I’m so brilliant!) The water in most of the region’s lakes are “tea stained” as we call it, so brighter lures make sense.

After a day or so of trolling around the lake with my eyes glued to the sonar screen, we found a couple of reefs way out in the middle of the main lake. Um… uh, okay, like… one of the reefs was actually pretty easy to find, since that guy who was camp before us marked it with a white jug. But, I did find the other one… or was it Steve who found it??? Well, one of us did.

Once you locate a mid-lake reef, you can usually kick the living crap out of ‘em with small jigs, of again, brighter colours. We found pink, white, orange and chartreuse worked well for us. Not saying that black and brown wouldn’t work. After all one of the walleyes favourite meals are leeches and they’re brown. Try anything, but keep close to bottom, even if there’s only 10 feet of water.

On the third day of the trip, Steve and I decided to spend some time travelling down a river that flows into to another lake called, Grinch Lake. Going very slowly with the prop tilted up to the highest position, Steve, with paddle-in-hand was the navigator watching for rocks. And, a great job he did… we didn’t hit any at all, but I know I would have had I been alone at the time. One very important thing to inquire about if you are considering booking your trip with an outfitter, is whether or not they have rock guards on all their propellers. Ogoki Frontier does - on all of them. This can mean the difference between a great day on the water or a long paddle back to camp. Hitting a rock at idle speed with a rock guard on the bottom end will cause no damage, especially if the shaft is set to pop up if you hit something. Don’t ever drive around with the shaft locked in the down position… But, it’s nice to know you always have that “back up” in case you happen to crank one somewhere at higher speed.

After a three hour trip we came to a small lake which we assumed was Grinch. The lake was shallow and to me, looked more like an early season pike lake. We wanted walleye! So, we decided to go back out to the mouth of the river and look at some of those places that we saw on the way in that looked they might have some depth to them. In no time we found a nice little honey-hole that frankly, you’d never know was there if you didn’t have a sonar unit with you. So, out came the six foot spinning rods and ¼ ounce jigs and away we went! This was a hot spot, but truth be told, Steve caught two to my one. jerk… he kicked my ass! Wait until next year…

We were hoping to catch a glimpse of a moose or something on the trip back to camp, but luck wouldn’t have it that day. But, this area is full of moose and we could see tell-tale signs up and down the riverbank. Steve is a very good photographer and he was at the ready, but it just didn’t happen for us. Oh well, maybe next year. The pepperoni sticks we brought in a cooler bag took my mind off moose for a while. At least until they were gone.

Back at camp it wasn’t long before we had a couple rib-eyes on the propane grill which was set up on the front deck of the cabin. I had them marinating in canola oil and garlic all day long in the fridge, so they were just crazy-tender! Along with garlic mashed potatoes and a stir fry of red and green peppers, mushrooms, onions and broccoli, we were sittin’ pretty. Wash that all down with a cold brewskie and I doubt I could think of a better way to end the day. Well, accept for maybe watching the sunset from the front deck. At Chipchase, the camp is facing west, perfect for evening sunsets. If you’ve never been to northern Canada before and have not yet seen one of “our” sunsets… get on it!

Let’s take a look at a typical fly-in fishing trip in general for a minute. There are many factors that affect how good or, frankly how awful a trip can be. Typically, the quality of the fishing on most fly-ins is pretty good, although, some areas or regions have better reputations for producing fish than others. This may surprise you, but when I am assessing whether or not a certain outfitter will provide a good fly-in trip, the fishing is often one of the last things I think about.

Since I began taping my show back in 2000, I have been on many fly-in fishing and hunting trips all across Canada. I’ve been to American Plan Lodges and Resorts, spike tent camps up on the Arctic tundra, duck hunting outfits out west and I’ve been to many outpost fishing camps. These are my favourite. I really like to solitude and basically, the lack of people at an outpost. This is the type of trip you’ll find at Ogoki Frontier.

When I travel across the country speaking to outfitters and teaching my guide training course, I always say the same thing, right off the bat. “You cannot guarantee that your guests will catch fish or that they will harvest, or even see a moose. But you can almost guarantee that the customer service end of the trip is top shelf.” Basically, what I mean is this – you can go to almost any region of northern Canada and you’ll find good or sometimes fantastic fishing or hunting. But, what are the cabins like? What are the boats like? What are the beds like? What are the planes like? What are the showers like? And, most importantly - what are the owners and operators like? How long have they been around? Do they really “get it” when it comes to service?

Customer service is everything in the outfitting business and I can tell you from first hand experience after being on 150 fly-in fishing and hunting trips that Paul and Judy have that whole deal nailed down. Son, Dave, a pilot, will likely be the one flying his Cessna 180 in to your camp for a routine check just to make sure everything is in good working order. And, if you need anything halfway through your trip, he’s on it. If Dave is not in camp at the time, you’ll see Paul in the cockpit of the Cessna.

Believe it or not, I have actually walked out of three camps right in the middle of taping a show. Why? Well, to be blunt, the places were pieces of crap, the people were rude and the fishing was horrible. There’s no way in hell I’m going to promote a place that on my show! Why do you think I keep going back to see Paul and Judy every other year or so? It’s not just the fishing, ya know!