Spring 2026 and it was time for the annual fly-in trip with Chris. After a great fall at Sunshine Lake, we were both eager to get on with our season of fresh water fishing. This spring we’d be at Harrogate through Leuenbergers. This was also the plan for Spring 2025, but I had open heart surgery last spring, at the exact time I would have been fishing. Trust me, I’d rather have been fishing, but I’m super grateful that I was around to get out this spring :). We have experience on rivers, having fished the Attiwapiskat and the Albany rivers. The plan for this year was walleye, some pike, good bush air, and a solid week away from everything. What we got was one of the more challenging trips we’ve had — and a few great sessions that made it all worth it.
The flight in was eventful before we even hit the water. We were on the Cessna, which meant our gear was too bulky, so the pilot made a second run with the overflow. We also circled on Cordinley Lake for a while when the radio wouldn’t cooperate. Chris lost his breakfast somewhere over Northern Ontario. We landed, got set up, and hit the water — and that’s when we got our first real look at what the week had in store. The main lake was sitting at 42 degrees. That’s the coldest water we’ve ever fished, by a long shot. Back in the creeks we could find 47 degrees, but the main body was brutal. The camp itself was tidy, a solid porch on the cabin, though notably missing a BBQ — something that required a bit of creative cooking throughout the week.
The first couple of days were tough. We were catching fish — walleye and pike — but we had to work for every single one. Almost everything came on in the creeks, often requiring vertical jigging or super slow presentations, which isn’t our strongest or favourite presentation. The fish weren’t interested in much else. I did ask Leuenbergers if we could switch lakes, the first time I’ve ever done that, but there was nowhere to put us as many of the other lakes were still iced over and had not been opened yet. We made the best of it. We refined our approach, identified a handful of spots that were producing, and reminded ourselves that slow fishing on a remote lake still beats a fast day at the office, or in the ICU.
Day three gave us our first real bright spot. We needed a fish for shore lunch and I put one on the stringer on my first cast — 17 inches, and a good one. By lunch we had seven on the stringer, including a 24.75″ walleye that was the biggest of the trip. The afternoon was steady with a repeatable trolling run producing consistently. We also pushed up to the end of the creek to the waterfall, which was absolutely beautiful. Two large beavers made it clear we were not welcome, tail-thwacking their way around our boat the entire time. We didn’t apologize.
One of the highlights of the week came on day four. Chris had resurrected an ice fishing rod we had actually caught on Sunshine Lake last fall and jigged up a pike with it. There’s something satisfying about a rod that shouldn’t work doing exactly that. We also had a great show from the local bald eagle family — a pair with a youngling in the nest — and I got video of one of the adults flying overhead.
We had explored moving further downstream earlier in the week, scouting whether we could get through the second set of rapids and into what would have been Patience Lake. The answer was no. Blind corners, no shoreline to scout from, high fast water, and no margin for error. We made the call to turn around and felt good about it. The fish weren’t there for us in the rapids anyway — we’d checked every eddy we could reach.
The evening of day five is the one we’ll be talking about for a while. We headed up to the waterfall after dinner and dropped anchor to fish the current. The walleye were there, in size and numbers. We were doubled up on our first casts and didn’t stop for 30–40 minutes. Over Twenty big walleye in one session. It was great to be rewarded with such a great session after working so hard all week.
In another first for us, we asked Leuenbergers if they could pick us up a day early. When we weighed the struggles we were having on the water, against the benefit of making the drive home and getting back a day early, we decided to go for it. They were happy to come and get us, and that’s also when we learned the water had risen a full foot since we landed (we new it was up but not how much), and that they were shutting the camp down for the early part of the summer. Subsequent groups had already been moved. That info helped. It confirmed that the conditions we faced weren’t just bad luck; they were genuinely unusual.
Before we left though, we had one more evening to see if the bite would still be one at the waterfalls…it was. If we could have found more spots that were active, it would have been tougher to leave early, but it wasn’t the case. In truth Chris and I have often said that 5or 6 days is actually the optimal trip. I like to leave a trip feeling like I wanted one more day, rather than thinking that I’d rather be leaving a day early. We’ll consider our options for duration in the future.
As for Harrogate itself — it’s an interesting lake. If you can hit it with average water levels, I think it could be exceptional. If it’s running the way it was for us, high and cold, I’d probably wait for a better window. If I go back, I’ll be watching the water reports closely before I commit.
If you have any questions about Harrogate Lake or Leuenbergers, feel free to reach out — I’m always happy to chat about lakes I’ve fished. Tight lines! Also, watch the video below for a walk through of the camp.