jackpotjohnny48 - 6/29/2019 12:10 AM
As Musky Brian mentioned, Pipestone Lake is near Nestor Falls
(technically Emo
) rather than Ear Falls.
There are two full service lodges on the lake, which are located right next to each other, and offer either housekeeping or American Plan.
1. Pipestone Lodge - Art and Jenny Perchuliak
2. Cedar Island Lodge - Todd and Carrie Baker
There are also two or three outpost cabins.
1. Slender Lake
(Slender is connected to Pipestone and is north of the railroad portage
) - operated by Mike Henry of Pipestone Fly-In Outposts.
2. Hideaway Lodge Outpost in the Northwest Arm of Pipestone- run by Doug and Kathy Johnson
(This is a different Doug Johnson than the famous LOTW guide
).
3. Border Country Outfitters - If I remember correctly, they also are still running an outpost cabin on the Northwest Arm of Pipestone.
I've stayed at or taken a tour of all of these places, and they are all nice places.
As musky Brian said, it is deep, ultra clear lake trout water.
(If you're going to fish Pipestone, I would highly recommend reading chapter 3 of Dick Pearson's book
). I'm going up there for a 9-day trip from August 8-17, and plan to do a bunch of fishing for suspended fish, as I don't believe that shallow water casting techniques work very well on Pipestone.
Last year, we didn't target muskies on Pipestone. Instead, we tried to figure out the suspended / open water walleye bite, and did fairly well trolling crankbaits anywhere from 3 feet to 20 feet down, over water that was 70 feet to 140 feet deep. I caught a 30 inch walleye and a 28 inch walleye, and we also lost a few 27 inchers, and caught some fish in the 23 to 26 inch range as well.
(Trolling high in the water column over very deep water after dark, when the ciscoes move up in the water column
).
This year, we are planning on applying similar tactics to the muskies, and targeting the suspended muskies.
(Maybe even cast blue and silver Havana Jackpots out in the middle of nowhere in 100+ feet of water at dusk and after dark. Or throw Triple D's, Bulldawgs, and Suicks out in the middle of nowhere
).
I think that this year will be my 5th trip to Pipestone. What I'm starting to learn is that, for the most part, the muskies don't seem to be on shallow water structures
(at least not once the water warms and the ciscoes go deep
). I'm starting to think that the vast majority of big fish
(at least in August
) are suspended out over open water most of the time waiting for the ciscoes to make their daily vertical migration in the late evening.
(I think this holds true for the walleyes as well as the muskies, and maybe even the really big smallmouth bass
).
Anyway, I'm attaching one minute of video footage from last year, as we were trolling for walleyes after dark in water that was 80 to 130 feet deep. We caught most of our walleyes on Magnum
(16.5 centimeter / 6 1/2 inch
) Yo Zuri crystal minnows, running them 3 or 4 feet under the surface in VERY deep water. If you take a look at the depth finder screen, I think there's a good reason to believe that the muskies are out there in the abyss as well...
Anyway, good luck wherever you decide to go.
"Jackpot" John Schroeder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C9w8C5H7Ro
Pipestone Lake, Ontario