On Friday, May 24, Matt Speicher and I left Ames, IA, with Matt’s Spectrum boat and headed north for Lake Lac Seul and the Golden Eagle Resort. We stopped at Albert Lea, MN, to pick up Tim Ellerbroek from Sibley, IA, who was joining us for the third time on our annual trip to Canada. We hooked up with Chris Speicher and Dave Zapf from the Chicago area along with Carl and Colton Seidler from Winterset, IA at International Falls, MN, for the night. After a quick trip through Canadian customs, we headed north for the last five hours to the Resort. The travel weather was great and we were able to get to our cabins, unload the boats and gear, and get fishing yet Saturday afternoon! Resort owners Alma and Scott Angove were helpful in pointing out the areas we should concentrate for fish–this is the earliest time of the year we’ve ever traveled to Lac Seul so we had a new learning curve to work through. Sunday through Wednesday were glorious weather days–partly sunny and temps in the 60’s. We went to our usual spots to look for fish, caught some, but did much exploring this year. Bottom line–the fish were shallow, in less than four feet of water. So, the bite was primarily jigging, using floating jig heads, and slip floating. Carl and Colton rented a lodge boat for two days and were fortunate to catch some really nice fish including the biggest award winning Pike of the trip…a 43 incher! Tim caught a 27 1/2 inch Walleye to best Carl’s 27 incher for the big Walleye award! Carl caught the only Perch while trolling Flicker Shads with me back in Ballantyne Bay so he received the big Perch award! We did catch some nice over slot fish on about every spot we went this year on last year’s winning bait, a Rapala F12 or F14 in the blue/silver/orange belly color pattern. Chris, Matt, and Tim had a day together in Matt’s Spectrum when everything worked as they went exploring new territory for fish–lots of Walleyes and Pike fishing shallow water areas in bays just off the main lake. Unfortunately, the rain started on Thursday with temps back down to the 40’s and continued through Friday. Carl and Colton left for home Friday morning early and we went out in Chris’s Lund Tyee and Matt’s Spectrum to fill out our limits of Walleye in the front of the Wenasaga Fish Sanctuary. Matt and Tim had the hot sticks Friday in the rain while Dave, Chris, and I caught some nice overs to finish off the week of fishing. We pulled the boats and packed gear in the rain Friday afternoon and early Saturday morning before we left for home to get “dried” out! My thanks to Alma and Scott for working hard to accommodate our needs at the Resort plus everyone’s efforts with the chores of cooking and cleaning up during the week. We fished hard, ate good, and stayed safe–the way an annual trip to Canada should be!! (Oh, I think I left out the part of drinking good, too!!) Spike