Hello, I actually found your site looking for some history of the lake on the west end. I found your site very interesting and informative. When the lake first opened to flyins we were the second group to fish it. We flew in with Verne Hollett who owns Slate Falls Outposts. We knew Verne when he flew for Knobby’s who we have flown in with many times. Verne called and let us know he had the rights to the camp and knew we would love it. How right he was. At that time which seems like so many years ago that was the only camp on the east end of the lake or the whole lake besides the end you’re on. The fishing was fantastic. We went back for 5 years in a row. My biggest walleye was a little over 10 pounds and my biggest northern was 43 inches. Once at the mouth of Johnson’s Bay me and a friend must have caught and released over 100 northern in about 5 hours. We would drift across casting big spoons and get one almost every cast. We would try to troll back for another drift and wouldn’t move 20 feet and we both had one. His pulling the boat one way then mine would pull it the other way. It was a day I’ll never forget. I don’t know how many times we looked at each other and just laughed. We also went to the rapids by Dawson Lake and caught all the walleye you could ever hope to catch. While there we went up the river leading to Churchill Lake and there’s a stream feeding in and we caught lots there. Needless to say we made that trip to those rapids every year we went. We like to explore but caught plenty of walleye and northern close to the cabin. That 10 pound walleye came in so close to Eagle Island I could see it. What a fishery. That was before the people quota was put into affect. My big northern came from the narrows going down to the rapids by Dawson Lake. It’s in a sharp turn and narrows up for about 100 yards then turns right into bigger water. We found a small old Indian Village there also which fascinated us. We found the smallest pair of ice skates there hanging in a tree but we did leave them there. There was only one small cabin there about 5 ft high. It must have been a hunting camp. We saw many moose tracks there and left there quickly when we saw fresh bear tracks, LOL. At that time Verne’s cabins were in an old mining camp and he used the old buildings as cabins. At first he had a bunkhouse and started taking two groups at a time. That was when the cabins were in the big bay by the east end of Eagle Island. We went back after he put the cabins on the south side of the island. It must have been 5 or 6 years after he opened the first camp up to two groups. That’s why we quit going there as we liked the place to ourselves, LOL. When we went to the cabins on the south side the fishing was nowhere near as good as it was when it first opened. That’s to be expected I guess since many more people were fishing it, even shooting the rapids from Blackstone Lake to fish Johnson’s Bay, and it had been open for 10 years or so. We ended up going to the rapids by Dawson Lake almost everyday as no one else wanted to take that long ride there or for that matter find those rapids. It’s a little tricky to find the first time. You better know how to read that map, LOL. One time me and a friend took a ride down to the dam by the Root River. It was a long ride and we didn’t fish much, we just wanted to see it. Like I said we are explorers and it was something I’ll never forget. One trip we saw the best Northern Light show one could ever want to see. Amazing! What I was looking for was some history on that old mining camp on Eagle Island when I found your site. It brought back some wonderful memories when I started reading about the lake again. Some of the guys I used to go with are dead now but St. Joe was some of was some of our greatest times together. We lived in Chicago then. I moved to Alabama in 2000 and it’s so far away from the Cat River System I just can’t make it up there anymore but I do miss it so much. The only thing that makes me forget that lake is that I’m ten min from the Tennessee River and I catch some big catfish here. My biggest last year was 70 pounds but this year was slow and my biggest so far is 46 pounds. Anyway I hope this didn’t bore you and you don’t mind me writing this. It just brought back so many good memories I just had to write you. OK thanks for listening to me ramble on about the best lake I every fished and probably ever will. I envy you for being able to be on this lake every day and living in the most beautiful place, at least for me, in Ontario.

Take Care
Terry Weeks