Walleye are the most popular of our gamefish in the Clearwater - Pipestone chain of Lakes. Walleye season opener is the third Saturday in May.

This large waterbody has a healthy population of walleye with an average size of 1 to 3 pounds, although each year many of our guests catch them in the 5 - 12 pound range. The Ontario record for walleye is 22.25 pounds!

The lakes via the south portage including Rice, Despair, Footprint and Jackfish offer the best angling opportunities for quantity of walleye to be caught. These lakes are shallower, stained water with lots of weed growth. Fishing in or near weeds in depths of 4-16' will produce good results.

Clearwater Lake's gin clear water normally requires a more finesse presentation, but it's rewards our some very large fish. Sunrise and Sunset are the best times to fish Clearwater Lake in the summer months and it's common to catch 20-40 eye's during the evening bite. Spring season offers excellent fishing in depths up to 20' Early Fall time fishing can produce 15-20 fish per hour all day long once you find where they are stacked up, normally about 15-30' deep.

Pipestone and the other lakes via the north portage are deep clear lakes with smaller walleye populations than Clearwater and it's south lakes.

Pipestone as well as Clearwater provide open water opportunity for suspended walleye feeding on ciscoe (lake herring). Fishing points, mid-lake reefs, weeds and shoreline structure provides for some fine walleye fishing in all of the lakes. For the diehards, fishing well into the evening for old marble eyes increses your chances for catching some big fish.

Drifting or vertically fishing jigs tipped with a live minnow, leech or nightcrawler is the most popular presentation for catching these fascinating fish. A mixture of jig colors in 1/16 through 3/8 ounce should be in your tackle.

Other angling methods that produce well are trolling with bottom bouncers and spinner rigs or crankbaits such as the Rapala husky jerk and shad rap or the Storm thunderstick. When it comes to finesse fishing, live bait rigs such as slip bobber or Lindy rigs work the best.

Light to medium action rods and spinning reels spooled with a clear line in the 6-8 lb test range is suitable for most walleye fishing methods. For trolling bottom bouncers and cranks a medium action baitcasting rod and reel works well.

We encourage our guests to practice catch and release and to keep only enough of the 1-3 pound walleye for shore lunch or dinner. This will help ensure future anglers can enjoy this incredible fishery as well.