Fishing for Walleye in Dogtooth Lake—and loving the eating that follows
We’re camping at Rushing River, a little more than halfway to Jasper
When we reflect on our three days at Dogtooth Lake—camping at Rushing River Provincial Park and fishing with Darryl Herman of Dogtooth Lake Resort—we have a hard time deciding which we enjoyed most, the fishing for walleye or the eating that followed.
In short, the fishing was a blast and feasting on fresh walleye that we caught ourselves was extraordinary.
If you didn’t know, walleye are considered to be one of the best tasting freshwater fish. They are members of the perch family and a popular game fish in Canada because of the challenge in catching them and, more importantly, for their firm texture and light color which makes them a delicious fish to consume.
The walleye is the provincial fish of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and the state fish in Minnesota, Vermont and South Dakota.
The walleye is named after its large opaque and almost blind-looking eye. The large reflective surface of its eyes gives the walleye a sight advantage over other fish and enables the predator to find prey in the dark.
Which is why Darryl took us out in his 17-foot Lund to try our luck in the evening. It didn’t take us long to hook up fish: five or six walleye, three or four pike, one small-mouth bass. We released them all except for our limit of two very nice walleye for two delicious camp suppers and one fine lunch. Because we travel with only a 45-litre Mobicool, we really could not keep any more fish.
Darryl equipped us with 7'-0'' medium fast action St. Croix rods with 2500 Shimano reels and 8-lb Power Pro line. We slow-trolled using nightcrawler live bait.
Walleyes are usually olive and gold in color and can grow to about 31 inches/79 centimetres in length. They have been known to weigh as much as 20 pounds/9 kilograms. Ours were 15 to 20 inches/38 to 50 centimetres and 1 to 3 pounds/500 grams to 1.5 kilograms—the perfect size for eating, experts say.
We’re fans of Rocky Madsen’s Fish Crisp, a lightly seasoned coating designed to form a bond with the fish to resist oil absorption and create a firm fried texture. Main ingredients are wheat flour, corn meal and corn flour, and salt and spices. It’s made in Canada by McCormick, the multinational maker of many popular spices and seasonings.
We were first turned on to Fish Crisp by Jim Baird of Alone and YouTube fame. We also cut our fillets into smaller pieces like Jim does before pan-frying.
We warm up our GreenPan skillet on the Coleman Cascade 222, give it a splash of olive oil, add a generous dab of butter and after about 3 minutes per side on medium heat we’re done. Fish Crisp already contains salt and seasoning.
For three nights, we camped on a site with an unforgettable view overlooking Dogtooth Lake in Rushing River Provincial Park, a park we heartily recommend, especially Site 230.
Rushing River has a variety of electrical and non-electrical sites well suited to any equipment ranging from a single tent to a large motorhome. Many of the sites are waterfront and offer views of Dogtooth Lake. Each campsite comes equipped with a picnic table and fire pit with grill. Facilities throughout the campgrounds include drinking water taps, two modern comfort stations and a trailer dump and fill station.
When we first started reading about walleye in Northwest Ontario and how great they were to fish and to eat, the name Dogtooth Lake kept popping up, specifically Dogtooth Lake Resort, so we reached out to Kyle Jones, owner of the resort. He hooked us up with Darryl who has built a beautiful home at Dogtooth Lake Resort. He fishes almost every single day during the summer.
Darryl does have a day job: He has been in the commercial construction industry in Manitoba and Ontario for more than 20 years and now works in cottage country providing construction services in and around Kenora, Ontario.
Read more about Dogtooth Lake Resort here. Click here to reach Kyle Jones.
Dogtooth Lake is 1,900 km and 20 hours from home, so we can’t just swing by at any time but we will plan on another visit when we next drive out West. The fishing and the eating were just that exceptional!