fishing around piprell

[SHAUNP]

a group of friends and I are staying at Piprell in a few weeks and want to try some of the other lakes that can be accessed by the sled trail. Does anyone have any recommendations on some decent walleye and pike lakes? Its our first time in this area and with so much water here we would like to narrow the options down a bit. Thanks for any help.

[LOTALOTA]

well there are plenty of lakes with in half an hour there is Lost echo just east of piperrell  jack and walley in there.  Pinkney has lots of jack and walley if you can find them. Heritage lake has both in there.  Jasper is north in clarence steepbank Park has jacks.   you will have to sled into all of them

[SaskWatch]

The ice on Lost Echo can be a little scary. There is quite a few springs feeding that lake and makes for bad ice conditions. Fishing has never been great there but a really nice little lake. There is creeks flowing in and out of it so stay away from the ends of the lake. I heard good things about Baldy for pike in the summer but have never fished it. Pinkey is good for small jack and walleye. Most guys say fish right out in front of the boat launch to target walleye. Lorenz lake is across 913 from Pinkney and closer to Piprell, has both pike and walleye. There is a lake just behind the Gem Lakes called Fox lake. I've hiked into it and saw an old Couquette shack on the shores and have been meaning to sled into it but never have. It's about 4kms off the 913 grid. It doesnt' see much traffic as you can't get in there with a vehicle as the road has been deactivated. I can give you some directions if you decide to go to this one. If you look at it on a map it's pretty interesting, lots of little bays and should have some good jack fishing due to the low pressure from anglers. Piprell has some really nice accomodations now that they moved that Chalet in from Ships lantern at Candle lake. We stayed there in the fall for some late trout fishing.

[LOTALOTA]

summit is another lake you could explore has pike and walleye

[SHAUNP]

The ice on Lost Echo can be a little scary. There is quite a few springs feeding that lake and makes for bad ice conditions. Fishing has never been great there but a really nice little lake. There is creeks flowing in and out of it so stay away from the ends of the lake. I heard good things about Baldy for pike in the summer but have never fished it. Pinkey is good for small jack and walleye. Most guys say fish right out in front of the boat launch to target walleye. Lorenz lake is across 913 from Pinkney and closer to Piprell, has both pike and walleye. There is a lake just behind the Gem Lakes called Fox lake. I've hiked into it and saw an old Couquette shack on the shores and have been meaning to sled into it but never have. It's about 4kms off the 913 grid. It doesnt' see much traffic as you can't get in there with a vehicle as the road has been deactivated. I can give you some directions if you decide to go to this one. If you look at it on a map it's pretty interesting, lots of little bays and should have some good jack fishing due to the low pressure from anglers. Piprell has some really nice accomodations now that they moved that Chalet in from Ships lantern at Candle lake. We stayed there in the fall for some late trout fishing.

Thanks for the help guys. Saskwatch, if you wouldn't mind writting down some directions for Fox lake, that would be great.
Thanks again

[Water Wolf]

Ispuchaw Lake also has pike and walleye as does Little Bear Lake + Little Bear also has lake trout & whitefish.
Not sure what the fishing is like, snow depth or ice conditions on any of the lakes up there.

Alot of those lakes up that way have springs, that's why they are so nice and clear, but it can also make for weak ice spots, so be careful as you travel.

Ask some of the locals and lodge owners about the pike and walleye lakes, they should be able to help you also.

WW

[SaskWatch]

Thanks for the help guys. Saskwatch, if you wouldn't mind writting down some directions for Fox lake, that would be great.
Thanks again

I will pm you some details and coordinates tonight. Not sure if you have this map, but it's pretty handy for that area. Interesting that Fox lake was once stocked with brookies, but now it only has pike and Whitefish.
http://www.flatlandflyfishers.com/Maps/NarrowHillsmap.pdf

[coldazice]

summit has pike, walleye and big perch. Baldy lake has a wack load of pike as well as splake. So many good lakes up there, that's why i'm up there every weekend during the summer, winter accomodations are my only limiting factor for not being there in the winter.

[sandman66]

summit has pike, walleye and big perch. Baldy lake has a wack load of pike as well as splake. So many good lakes up there, that's why i'm up there every weekend during the summer, winter accomodations are my only limiting factor for not being there in the winter.

Have you actually caught Splake at Baldy? Its been a long time since it was stocked. Just wondering as it sounds like you must fish it if you know it has a wack load of Pike. I used to fish the Narrow Hills alot, and after moving back to PA this past summer will be again. Not many lakes around there that are known as great Walleye lakes.

[coldazice]

I haven't targeted splake at baldy so I can't confirm. As for the pike its loaded and I can confirm that

[Big Burk]

X2 on baldy for being loaded with pike. Summit is also a good lake and some big jack can be caught on big sandy. I spend every free minute I can in this area during the summer but don't make it up as much as I would like to in the winter

[SaskWatch]

I think there was a stocking program for splake on Baldy years ago but they didn't take, so now there is only pike and walleye. The test netting from 2011 didn't produce any splake, but moderate pike and poor walleye. It is stocked every second year with 200,000 walleye fry. Much like Lost Echo, which is also stocked with walleye fry but it's still pretty tough to catch any there. I only limited out once there on walleye and it was at the drop off straight out from the camp site, we were jigging with leeches. Lost echo is jammed full of Cisco. If you go to the second lake on Lost echo on a calm night the water is almost boiling with Cisco or Whitefish sipping bugs off the surface. We caught what I think was a Cisco using a pickeral rig and minnows, cast from shore at night. It was 3lb-4lbs and slightly darker then what I would expect a whitefish to be. But due to the size maybe it was a Whitefish and the darker waters are just a result of the bog stained water that is characteristic  of the narrow hills water bodies.

[coldazice]

gotta love finding cisco in trout lakes, i found a nice school in little bear, followed them for 2 days and nailed 26 lakers in 6 hours total fishing, oh man... maybe i should try for lakers in the winter.

[sandman66]

It was probably 6-7 years ago a buddy and I had a great time hammering Walleye at Baldy, and not bad sizes either. I don't think I have fished it since then as I usually fish the stocked trout lakes when up there.

As for the new (to them) rooms at Piprell, a group of us stayed there this fall while quading the area. Very nice and well equipped. Hopefully they can keep it full enough to keep it going.

[bigk]

Tried hard water on summit once on way back from gems with no luck but also not much effort. We just walked out from the tappers cabin. Where does a guy wanna fish this lake there was nothing for tracks or drilled holes to lead the way.

[SaskWatch]

ShaunP, did you get my PM?

[SHAUNP]

ShaunP, did you get my PM?

sure did, thanks for the info. I will take a look @ the links when i get back home. Phone is a little sucky

[dsab]

Has anyone been fishing on Piprell lake recently?  How is the fishing?  I went maybe 4 weeks ago 10am-4pm and between the 2 of us we caught one tiger trout and one splake.  I love ice fishing trout and may try again this w/e.  Any info on FOW or Bait that are working?

[bigk]

Anyone have info on any lakes in area? Staying at rainbow 8th 9th and 10th. Good fishing? Bad ice? Any info is appreciated.

[dsab]

My father-in-law and I fished Piprell March 2/13 from 8am-6:30pm.  The ice was good, approximately 18-22 inches everywhere we drilled.  We walked on and stuck to the North deep pool, drilling about 25 holes and trying various depths from 6 FOW to 25 FOW.  I caught a beautiful 19.5 inch rainbow within half an hour of starting (15 FOW)......then nothing the rest of the day.  The father-in-law caught a small tiger trout, and a small splake late in the day.  Overall, great day of fishing, but pretty slow.  They were always around, and you could see them checking out your hook, but just not aggressive enought to really take it.  Can't complain about that beautiful rainbow though - my first one ever.

[bigk]

Very nice. 4 day work week for me 15 of us heading up Friday morning for the weekend. Not sure where we are fishing yet. Probably stay on piprell one day possibly summit and somewhere on the way home Sunday............ Maybe whelan for some lakers No matter what the out come good friends and good times and hopefully some good fishing.

[Water Wolf]

That is one colorful rainbow. Nice catch dsab.

WW

[bigk]

Tigers and spake were biting at piprell Friday and Sunday. Nothing over 2 -2.5 pounds and not a lot but enough to keep us interested.  Saturday got into pike on summit. Had some 10 pounders on but just couldn't get any on the ice. Ice on both lakes was really soft and tough for any of the 4 augers we had new, old or brand. My jiffy stx with 8 inch flighting self destructed and spit gears out the bottom. The new lodging they brought into piprell from rics at candle was good and well priced. Anyone looking for somewhere to stay up there should give them a try. Only warning would be cabin they say sleeps 10 only sleeps 5 without cots. They have queen beds so want you to double up I was kind of expecting bunks. Luckily we had 4 people back out so 9 of us fit comfortably into the 2 rooms we had. Once again anyone who hasn't stayed in new rooms at piprell try it out next time your up there very friendly easy going people close to enough lakes to keep anyone busy.

[SaskWatch]

the chalet is actually from the old Ships Lantern that burnt down at Candle. Very modern although like you say, it would be really congested with 10 people in there.

[bigk]

We had 9 people in 2 rooms not congested at all. 4 bedrooms in one and 3 in the other both having hidabeds. Playing cards with at night with all of us in 1 room yes it was congested. And yes ships lantern is correct my bad. Still some scars on the chalet from the fire.

[bigk]

Sorry saskwatch I misread. 10 people in the one room is unrealistic but with all the rooms in chalet I would guess a guy could  comfortably sleep 16 to 18 people. And of course they still have their rustic cabins. Chalet sure makes " roughing it"  quite comfortable.