Guest Comments
Date: 2006-07-21

January 17, 2006


Nagagami Lodge said...
Pullen's Nagagami Lodge
By Ron Johnson
This article will chronicle my annual fishing trip to Ontario. Until the passing of my good friend, our party consisted of six anxious fishermen. The last two years, four of us have continued the journey north. The camp we visited this year is called Pullen's Nagagami Lodge. This is just their second year of ownership and they are doing a very commendable job of whipping the camp into shape. The past owners were not very kind to the facility and a lot of work had to be done. Pullen's were gracious enough to donate a trip to their lodge for this past February's fundraiser. A 100% donation, I might add. Our group has been to Nagagami Lake many times. I think next year will be my twentieth visit. We have stayed at three of the four lodges on the lake, which is fly-in only. The time-line of our trip is as follows:

We left the Greenville area shortly after 6:00 am on June 11th. The 500-mile drive north to Hornepayne, Ontario, normally takes us around 100 hours with our normal stops for breakfast and lunch. We spend the night in Hornepayne because our scheduled floatplane flight requires us to be at the base by 6:30 am. The base is only about 6 miles from town. The twenty-minute flight to the lake is very scenic. It is always fun to greet old acquaintances on the dock as we arrive. We all value these new owners as very good friends. Our seven-day trip (Sunday to Sunday) is in a housekeeping cabin. We prefer to do our own cooking and set our meal schedules to accommodate fishing outings.

As many times as I have been to the lake and experienced the great fishing, you really had to be there this year to understand how good it was. There were times that we were truly tired from catching walleyes in the 18" to 22" class on the morning outing. Since the slot size limit was put on this lake, the fishing just seems to be better every year. We had a couple of days that we encountered some good yellow perch. Our boat caught two nice stringers of 9" to 12-1/2" fish. While fishing walleyes we caught several northern pike up to 36". Many times when two boats were near each other, we would all have fish on at the same time.

Some of the highlights of the trip include a wine and cheese reception in the lodge the first evening in the camp to meet new fishermen and renew past friendships, a mid-week picnic / shore lunch that the whole camp participates in, and 18' cedar strip boats with 15hp Honda four-stroke engines. You sleep in beds with sheets and have a mid-week towel and bedding change. Hot showers are available anytime you want and each cabin has flush toilets with 24-hour electricity provided by a diesel-powered generator.

The week went by very quickly. Our boat caught and released our largest walleye ever from the lake on the last day. IT was 28" long and must have been around 8-9 pounds. Next year maybe it will be even larger. Our boat also caught the largest pike - 36" - which we released as well. During the week the wildlife we saw included black bear, moose, loons, osprey, bald eagles, otter and many different ducks.

After eating fresh walleye for seven days straight, we were picked up at 7:00 am on Sunday morning the 19th by a Beaver floatplane with four anxious new fishermen aboard. The dock crew quickly unloaded their gear and reloaded ours. We bid our friends goodbye until the sport fishing show in Grand Rapids next spring. They have a booth and we will look forward to seeing them there. The drive home was uneventful and we arrived at Brookside Golf Course shortly after 6:00 pm.

Of all the trips I take hunting or fishing, this one seems to go by the fastest. If you have any interest in this trip or want any information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

January 17, 2006

The description above gives a lot of detail and it "spot on" with the week I just encountered at Nagagami Lodge!! In a nutshell - Lots of big walleye and pike, and the most fun, hard-working "hosts" imaginable made my most recent trip - June 25 through July 2 - the most memorable fly-in fishing trip ever!!!! In addition to several other lodges in Northern Ontario, I have now visited Nagagami Lodge under all three different ownerships, and I won't waste time comparing. It is amazing what the Pullen family has accomplished in three "short" years! I highly recommend Nagagami Lodge to anyone interested in great fishing, great service and friendly people! I suggest you make your reservations early, because with the improvements they are making the camp will be filling up fast!!!
"Right On!!"

July 03, 2006