Kabeelo Lodge - Perrigo Lake

As I said last week, my Uncle, Dad, and I spent last weekend in Canada fishing a fly-in lake called Perrigo in search of toothy critters.  We went out through a lodge called Kabeelo - my Uncle has known the owner, Harold, for quite a long time so it was an obvious choice.  It was nearly a twelve hour drive to get there, but that included a quick return trip because one of us forgot his passport (not me!) and a stop for breakfast in International Falls at a place called Shore Lunch Cafe (highly recommended if you're up that way). 

Opting for the extra night, we got there Thursday afternoon and since there wasn't anyone at the cabin already, Erik, Harold's son and pilot, flew us out to the lake when we arrived.  This was a fun experience as it was my first plane ride, ever.  I was able to sit up front and I got a great view of everything and took a video of the take off and landing, which still needs editing before being posted

Once we arrived at our cabin, we found a great site.  It sits on a hillside nestled in thick pine trees with a permanent dock  made of pine.  The cabin was in great shape, of course, being built in 2011 as a replacement for the old cabin.  Everything is solar powered or propane - meaning no charging my phone, which does double duty as my camera.  That meant it was only on when I needed it, and that was in the boat which is why we were there in the first place.

The lake is secluded, and when I say that, I mean that Kabeelo's cabin is the only one on the lake and there is no boat launch, so we had the run of the place.  However, Perrigo Lake is giant, at least it is when you're cruising around in a 14' boat with a 9hp tiller on the back...  Before leaving, Harold had clued us in to some spots on the lake that had been active for walleye and some for northern pike.  Luckily, we didn't have to go far to find the fish as I caught the first fish of the trip off the dock on an Original Floating Rapala in perch color.

Since we had a little time before sundown the first night we went out to the closest spot and drifted through a channel between an island and the mainland.  There was a pretty large weedbed and my two co-anglers were pulling spinner rigs with minnows as we drifted through.  I wanted to throw something different in case the bite wasn't happening for them so I baited up with a gold jawbreaker spoon and started casting ahead of the boat.  It was a good choice because not too long after that it was fish on!  I could tell from the way the fish ran from side to side randomly that it was a pike, and I don't like those things any better in Canada than I do in Minnesota!  We were only out for a couple hours and only managed three more walleye.
 
The morning of day two was a different story.  We hit our original spot and really nailed down a pattern of pike in and throughout the weedbeds and walleye on the weedlines, both inside and outside. This turned out to be a working pattern for the entire weekend, the only difference between spots was color.  I wasn't getting the bite I wanted with the spoon so I switched to a beetle spin with an orange/yellow grub as I felt it was a good perch imitation and it good fishing from then on.  From spot to spot I'd find myself changing colors, one spot they would only bite on white/red beetle spin bodies, on another only on a yellow Mr Twister..  But, as bass anglers, we adapt.

My boat mates did well with the spinner/live bait rigs, but at the end of the weekend, particularly our last day there, by casting ahead of the boat I was able to target the weedlines better and multiple times as opposed to a spinner rig which only gets one real shot at the spot.  I wasn't really expecting to use my knowledge of bass fishing while chasing walleye, but at the end of the trip I used pretty much the same approach as I would have while chasing bass. 

To sum it up, it was a great trip to an awesome lake from a great lodge.  Harold, Ann, and the Kabeelo staff are friendly and the effort they put into the cabins really shows - just bring a towel for the shower!  We are already planning to head back, the only question is when.