# Change of plans for Canada trip: Esnagi Lake



## unclepaully (Nov 26, 2007)

For the past year my group has been booked for Shekak lake with White River Air. There were some scheduling conflicts and we are now going to be flying into the Northend Outpost on Esnagi. I've probably spent 20 hours researching Shekak and talking with guys who have been up there in the past. Well now the process starts over.
I've searched the site here and read everything I could about Esnagi. I still had a few questions for those of you who have fished there. 
Would you recommend leeches, crawlers, or minnows? (We are going in Aug)
I know for Shekak quite a few guys recommended red, pink, and orange as good colors. 
Also looking for a depth map of the lake. Haven't been able to locate one. Any other advice on the lake, maybe a starting point or two where some good action might be found. It looks like the scenery on the lake should be great.


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## frenchriver1 (Jul 5, 2005)

http://www.northwestontariomaps.ca/hydrographiccharts.cfm

try this one...

Found a number of site that advertise charts, but obviously easier to find charts for navigable waters such as the French where we fish.....


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## kzoofisher (Mar 6, 2011)

Never been but I hear good things. I'd be surprised if you need much bait at all but if you want it I'd take a flat or half flat of worms and tip jig and plastic with 1"-2" pieces.

http://www.walleyecentral.com/forums/search.php?searchid=30954170


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## fishlogic (Feb 28, 2010)

Here's a map. It's from the Ontario MNR. Not great, but at least it's something.

http://www.lineonfishing.com/images/Ontario_Outpost_Lake_Maps/Esnagi_Lake_2k.pdf

btw, the scale shown on the map is wrong because it's been resized- it's not 2 inch = 1 mile.


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## unclepaully (Nov 26, 2007)

fishlogic-

Thanks!


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## michimac (Aug 19, 2011)

I've been in Northend. Mind your food scraps, fish guts, and coolers. There be bears about. We had good luck with gulp twist tails and 1/4oz jigs. Don't bother buying leeches. After you catch your first keeper place the skin in some reeds at the lake edge (away from camp) and you will get all the leeches you need. We did well in Mozambique Bay in the NW end of the lake. Saw a group of otters in there, too. The outfitters will do a great job of marking a map for you with areas to try. Keep an eye out for buoys placed by others for good spots as well.


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## unclepaully (Nov 26, 2007)

michimac,

Did you tip your jigs any live bait at all? Any particular jig head color that seemed to produce more than others? 
I'm a little curious about the cabin itself. I've only seen pics of the outside. I was told by the outfitter that it is on par with the cabin we had booked at Shekak lake which looked very nice inside and out. How was the mice situation. One camp we were at was literally over run, others you wouldn't see one the whole week. I like to know ahead of time and I will bring my secret weapon...the old 5 gallon bucket and peanut butter trap. 

Did the boats there have swivel seats? Did you see bears of any size to speak of in the vicinity of the cabin? Might have to bring my bear spray.

Thanks for the info.


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## michimac (Aug 19, 2011)

First, let me say I was wrong when I said we stayed at Northend. We stayed at nearby Merekeme. It is a couple of coves away. When we arrived, there were fresh bear claw marks on the outside walls and some screens were torn. Pretty obvious a bear had recently tried to get in. We never have seen bears up there, but we are careful about leaving food out and do see sign often. Check on the regulations about taking bear spray into Canada. It may not be allowed.

Merekeme was in pretty rough condition and needed a lot of cleaning before we used the kitchen. One of my biggest complaints with North to Adventure/White River Air is they don't really seem to care much about the condition of the cabins. We have stayed at Merekeme, Garnham (South), and Bulldozer. The fishing everywhere was phenomenal! However, we came to expect mouse problems and used lots of traps while we were in all these locations. At one lake, beavers had built up a dam at the lake outflow and raised the level of the lake to the point where the dock was unusable. It wouldn't have been a big deal except my 75 year old Dad has knee issues that made getting in and out of the boats from shore a challenge. At another lake, we were delayed getting there by poor weather. The people who were at the cabin we were headed to had a Sat phone and kept calling in to check on flying conditions. They were very concerned about making flight connections elsewhere. Fair enough. I'd be worried, too. When we finally did get a break in the weather and got to the cabin we found the folks flying out had done NOTHING to clean up after themselves. They were obviously big spenders and left lots of batteries, bait, gear, and food behind. That was fine with us, but did we really want to start our trip by doing their dishes and picking up all the trash all over the camp? The pilot didn't care at all. All he wanted to do was get back in the air. These people had LOTS of time to clean up, they just didn't feel the need and the pilot (probably in fear of losing a sizable tip) didn't care at all. 

All that said, we caught hundreds (and I do mean HUNDREDS) of Walleye at these lakes. We are not super serious fishermen and kinda learn as we go. We used chartreuse and sometimes white jigs while drift fishing. 4" Rapalas (I used a metallic blue top/white bottom to great effect) were good to us when we were motoring around sightseeing. We didn't bring live bait except for the one camp where the people before us left hundreds of minnows behind and an entire case of crawlers. Compared side by side, the chartreuse 2" Gulp Minnow Grubs lasted longer and did just as well as the live bait.

The boats do not have swivel seats but were just fine overall. I took seat cushion throw-able PFDs in addition to our regular life vests. 

Northend, when we were there 6-ish years ago, was empty but was in obviously better condition than anything else we saw. I find it funny how the web page still lists it as "brand new", though. If you don't expect too much out of the outfitter, but expect great fishing, you will have a absolute blast.


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## unclepaully (Nov 26, 2007)

Great info. Thanks for the reply.


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