The Fly Shop800·669·3474

Included in your package at Epic Narrows Musky Camp are all food at lodge, accommodations, flies, rods, reels flies and a multitude of fly lines, beer and wine, shuttle to and from Winnipeg to the cottage, multiple sessions of fishing throughout each day (common to fish 12 hours of more per day all combined).

Not included in your package at Epic Narrows Musky Camp are flights to and from Winnipeg, hotel in Winnipeg “Courtyard Winnipeg Airport”, hard alcohol (available at duty free), gratuities for kitchen staff or guides, 8 day Ontario Non-resident Fishing License (Zone #5) ($54.38 CAD & Outdoor Card ($8.57 CAD).

The Fly Shop® is not in the insurance business, but we recommend Travel Guard coverage as a service with a desire to see your best interests protected. It is impossible to know when an unfortunate situation (loss of luggage, fly rods, illness in the family, or an accident) may occur. However, such things can and do happen, and this insurance can provide a means of recourse against non-refundable financial losses.

• Travel Insurance Information

Saturday:
Very early on Saturday morning, you will be picked up at your hotel and shuttled to the small town or Kenora, followed by a short boat taxi to the lodge, an approximate 2 hours in total transfer time. Fishing will immediately follow, allowing for a full day on the water.

Sunday – Wednesday:
These are full fishing days, starting early in the morning after a delicious breakfast. Expect to be fishing as many as 12 hours per day – dawn to dusk in some cases. Fishing starts as close as a 10 minute boat ride from the lodge. Lunch is taken on the fly and often includes a shore lunch, freshly prepared by your guide. The dinner schedule is flexible depending on the fishing day.

Thursday:
On day six, after a hearty breakfast, you will be shuttled back to Winnipeg, Manitoba (YWG). Baring any travel delays, you should be able to catch a 12:00 noon flight back home.

The rooms are tastefully decorated, and are plenty large enough to get unpacked and get organized. The three bedrooms share three bathrooms featuring hot showers, sink and vanity, and flush toilet. 24 hour power is available through a hydro-plant.

There are massive decks overlooking the water and where the fishing boats are moored. The decks are a great spot to relax with a cocktail, take a swim or fish for musky in the adjacent cove.

Delicious food is prepared by professional chefs, who have mastered their craft cooking for anglers fishing at Epic’s British Columbia steelhead lodges and camps and paired with wine and beer. There is no set meal schedule, meals are centered around the best fishing times for musky – usually dusk and dawn.

The fishing program is centered around casting large surface and subsurface flies to trophy musky in predominantly sheltered waters. The biggest fish feed during moon rise and moon set, sunrise and sunset which are called majors and minors. The top water fishing can be very exciting and productive right at dark so we really like to make sure we are on the water at this time.

Our most productive fishing will consistently be early in the morning and late in the evening. Mid days we often take off but occasionally there is a very good mid-day bite. Multiple fishing sessions per day will be offered and guests can fish them all, or take some sessions off to catch up on sleep. Musky on Lake of the Woods average around 42 inches, but guests will have a real opportunity to beat the coveted 50 inch mark.

There may have been a time where slinging big musky flies was just too much work, however modern technology in lines, rods, and flies has made relatively easy. The flies range from 6 - 12 inches and are tied as light and as sparse as possible. The new shooting heads take care of all the work. The outfitter likes to use 2 handed, overhead casting surf fly rods which really takes the effort out of it. It takes a bit of practice to make sure your rod is doing the work and not your shoulder, but once you get it down it is no different than any saltwater fishing.

Our outfitter will supply the flies but guests are welcome to bring their own. Check with us before you buy any to make sure they will work on our waters as musky files can cost as much as $40 each. 10 and 11 weight rods are ideal and we will go over the best lines in detail in our pre-trip (however floating lines or light intermediate shooting heads are ideal). This is not a dredge game at all. In fact, most likely 30% of takes will be on giant poppers on the sun phases. Musky are hard to land on surface bites, anglers need to wait for the fish to take the fly and sink with it, then drive home multiple hard strip sets. Razor sharp hooks are a must!

In addition to trophy Musky, there is great small mouth bass fishing in June using poppers, as well as crayfish and minnow patterns. There are lots of 4-pound smallies to target in the Lake of the Woods. There are also big pike that frequent the shallow bays and lagoons along grass lines in the lake that can be targeted or caught as a bycatch while Musky fishing.

Quick Musky Facts:
● Musky can live up to 30 years. They are old, and smart; however, this area allows you to have musky encounters nearly every single day. Mysteriously, the musky has never left the North American territories and can only be found in the Northern parts of the U.S. and the Southern parts of Canada.

● There is no doubt in our minds and we can say this with confidence, Lake of the Woods is the finest musky fishery in the world today.

● Conservation – one of the few examples of a fishery that is far better today than it was 25 years ago. The musky fishing is even better today, thanks to the modern management and high-quality fishing regulations. You can leave the warm water trout and salmon closures behind and have a reliable healthy fishery to explore.

● The underlying bedrock of Lake of the Woods is among the oldest of geological formations to be found on earth. It is a beautiful lake to explore with over 14,000 islands.

● The IGFA world record musky, landed in 1948, weighed over 67 pounds, measured over 60 inches long and sported a girth of 34 inches.