Fishing Reports

Good day on the river with good friends. -- Posted on Saturday, May 18 2013
Fishing season has been open now for two weeks. The first week we had flows over flood stage. I tried one of or local rivers that is not overly effected by high flows. With the ice pack still on most of the lakes in the Northwood’s the river water temps were in the high 30’s to the low 40’s. The fish were not active at all.

I floated the ChippewaRiver Thursday with the Pondmonster and Bill from Wabashaw. The flows were high and the water temps had come up to the mid 40’s. Not much going on until after noon when the water temps came up to the high 40’s. With the temp’s up the Smallmouth Bass turned on. We had six really nice Smallie’s in the net. The largest was 21”. We have several other large ones on but the high flows made it very difficult to get them to the net. We had two Muskies on but again the high flows made it impossible to land them.

The flows have come way down and all the rivers are floatable now. I will be on the river again Monday and expect to a great day with the Smallmouth Bass.

Give me a call if you would like to float the river. With the flows down and the water temps coming up it looks like we will have a very good early season.

Great waters Fly Show -- Posted on Wednesday, March 20 2013
Tom Helgeson’s Great Waters Fly Fishing Expo will be THIS WEEKEND at the National Sports Center in Blaine. www.greatwatersflyfishingexpo.com Come on over to the show and emerse yourself in everything fly fishing. For beginners it is a great chance to learn a lot in a hurry. For old hands it is a great way to see friends and if you are like me, you’ll learn something too. There will be seminars, casting instruction, vendors, travel info, guides, fly tiers, and all things fly fishing. Come on out and say Hi! Fri 4pm-8pm. Sat 10am-6pm. Sun 10am-4pm.

Looking back at 2012 and forward to 2013. -- Posted on Thursday, February 21 2013

2012 was a great year at the resort. We had all of our regular guests back and also some new guests. We have a good snow pack and hopefully we will have a wet spring to bring the lake levels up.

For those of you who use cabin #3 you will find that we have made several changes to the great room. Hopefully you will like them.

Fishing on Ashegon was good gain in 2012. We started out this spring with a great Crappie bite. I caught several 13” & 14” Crappies right off the dock. The Tribe is still stocking Walleyes and the DNR is still stocking Trout. We also had a good year with the Largemouth Bass and some really nice Blue Gills.

2013 should be another great year. So tell all your friends and relatives to try a vacation at Ashegon Lake this year. We appreciate all your support.

I have change the name of my guide service to--

Chippewa River Guide Service.

2012 was a great year for Musky and Smallmouth Bass.

Again we had just over 100 Muskies in the net. The largest was caught by Kurt Pitney. He landed a 49” Musky which gave him a 30# line class world record. We had many very nice large Muskies in 2012.

2012 was a tuff year as far as water levels go. In the spring most of the rivers were at flood stage, with most running 2’ over the bank. Finally in early July the rivers dropped. The problem there was they dropped to minimum flows and stayed there the rest of the season, this made floating a challenge. There were lots of rocks to dodge. Thankfully my aluminum Hyde was up to the challenge.

The low water helped locating the Muskies easier. Anywhere you could find 2’ of water you had a good chance of finding a Musky.

My fly choices were different for 2012. We started out using 8 to 10 inch flies. Black and purple, white and lots of yellow worked well. As the water dropped we went to smaller flies with lots of flash.

The Smallmouth Bass fishing was the best I have seen on the river. We had some really great days. We found the Bass everywhere. When we were targeting Muskies we would end up with 20 Smallies as incidental catches.
When the guys were targeting Smallies we had many days where everyone was catching over 20 in a day. 2012 produced many 22” smallies with the average between 16” t0 18”.




2013 is going to be a great year. With the high water levels of 2012 the river changed quite a bit. The high water moved the gravel bars around, filled in some of the deeper holes and created some great new riffles and runs.

The high water also caused us to look for new water to fish. We have a good snow pack here in the North Woods and hopefully we will have a wet spring and stable water flows this summer.

I wanted to remind every on the Great Waters Fly Show the will be held March 22, 23 & 24 at the National Sports Center in Blaine MN.

This will be our 9th year with a booth. So stop by and say hello. Diane and I will look forward to seeing you.



Tom & Diane

Hot weather fishing. -- Posted on Sunday, July 22 2012
We have had some really hot weather in July. Ashegon Lake water temps have reached 80 degrees. Most all the fish have gone into deep water.

We have had about 3” of rain so far this month. With all the rain the lake has remained very clear.

The Chippewa River has been fishing really well for Smallmouth Bass. We have had several 30 fish outings with several Bass in the 20” class. We have been finding them tight to the banks and in the riffles where the water is cooler and has a higher oxygen levels.

The musky have been a little tuff. We have had 9 in the boat for July so far. The water temps are keeping the Musky in the deeper pools & in the riffles.

The river levels have been perfect for floating. Hopefully we will keep getting some rain so the river levels will stay up.

Good day on the Chippewa River -- Posted on Wednesday, May 23 2012
Good day on the river yesterday.

We floated down Chippewa River from my landing yesterday. The day started off a little slow. Smallmouth Bass started to get active about 11:00am. The only problem was that they were tucked tight to the bank. With the high winds we had it was hard getting the fly in tight to the bank. If the fly landed away form the bank the Bass would charge out and but not hit the fly. A little later in the day the Smallmouth got more aggressive. We had several in the net by late afternoon. We only saw 3 Muskies. One follow one short strike and one really nice fat 45” on for a while until it rolled and cut off the leader above the wire. The Northern Pike were very active most of the day. We put several in the net.

Olive and yellow were the colors of choice for the flies.

It looks like we will have a good opening day on Sat. It was a long winter and I am looking forward to being able to target Muskies.

On Ashegon Lake the spawn is in full swing. The Crappies are in the shallows spawning. We have been catching (and releasing) many 14” beauties. The large Bluegills and Sunfish are also getting on the beds. We have released many in the 10” class. The Largemouth Bass are starting to show up in the shallows. The Northern Pike have been very active with a few in the 36” class being caught. The Trout have been active in the evenings when the wind lays down.

We still have cabins available for the summer if you a thinking of coming up North.

We have cabin # 2 available for the week of July 4th.

Give me a call if you wan more information on the resort, the lake fishing or about my river trips.

Tom

Opening weekend -- Posted on Sunday, May 13 2012

Opener was a tuff one again this year. The weather was cold and rainy.
We did manage several nice Smallmouth Bass. The largest was 20”. We had several Northerns and only one Musky follow. I expect things to pick up any day on the river. The water flows are perfect.

Fishing on Ashegon Lake is picking up. The pan fish are showing up in the shallows. The Crappies are also there. Yesterday I had three nice Crappies. The largest was 14”. Things should continue to pick up as the water warms. The lake levels have been coming up. We do need a lot more rain to fill it up.

We still have cabins available for the season. We have cabin #2 available for the week of the 4th of July.

Also now is a good time to book that trip on the river with me. I think we are going to have a great spring and early summer on the river. The Smallmouth Bass should really turn on soon.

Tom & Diane

The 2012 Bass Expo -- Posted on Sunday, April 15 2012

The 2012 Bass Expo will be held at the National Sports Center in Blaine MN. on

April 20, 21 & 22. This should be a great show. There will be more than 170 exhibitors.

Diane and I have decided to have a booth in the show. Hopefully we can convince some of the gear guys to try fishing on the river for the large Smallmouth Bass.

Last year we had several Smallies in the 20” class.

Ashegon Lake has some huge Largemouth Bass in it. We have been watching the large females swimming in the shallow bays the last few days. They are looking for some good spawning areas. I would estimate several of the larger females in the 5 to 7 lb. Class.

The Crappies should be showing up soon. Last year we had many in the 16” to 18” class. This Winter I was out on the ice talking with two ice fisherman. They found the large Crappies in 40’ of water. They were impressed with the size. The good thing is that they were releasing everything over 16”.

We will have all the cabins open by the end of next week. We should have great weather for opening weekend.

The river levels are perfect right now. I do hope we get allot of rain in the next few weeks. If not the river levels will not stay up. The Chippewa Flowage is about 12” low right now.

May is going to be a great month on the river. With the warm temps we have had and with the steady flows the Bass and Musky will be very active.

Give me a call I have plenty of days available for Spring fishing.

Tom

-- Posted on Sunday, April 8 2012
Fishing season will be here soon.

The Great Waters Fly Show was a great success again this year. Diane and I had a great time talking with old friends and we met some really nice new friends.

I enjoyed talking with many of my clients. I did get some new clients and I am looking forward to floating the river and hopefully the new Musky hunters we met will call and book a trip.

We had allot of interest in the resort and picked up a few new bookings.

We still have cabins available so don’t wait too long to book.

The river levels are good and hopefully they will stay up for the season. We need allot of rain this Spring to make up for the lack of snow.

We should have a great early season because of the warm weather we have had.

We are looking forward to seeing all of our old and new friends this season.

Tom & Diane

Spring is here we hope. -- Posted on Thursday, March 15 2012
Spring is here?

We sure have had a few days of very nice weather. Yesterday we had a high of 71 degrees. The snow is disappearing fast. The lake ice is melting. It really feels good to be out in the sunshine again. Let’s just hope the nice weather continues.

With the lack of a good snow pack we will need some good rain this spring to get the lake levels up. When the lakes are full the excess water goes into the rivers.

I will have my permit to guide on the Namekagon River in 2012. (That should make the Fly shop happy.)

The Namekagon River is a great river to fish Smallmout Bass. The water is gin clear which makes the strikes very exciting. There is some very nice Musky in the river also.

The Chippewa River was again my go to river last year. We had well over 100 Muskies in the net in 2011. I am looking forward to more this year. We also had a banner year on the Smallmouth Bass. They were on the bite all season right up to mid Sept.

As a reminder to all I will again will have a booth at the Great waters fly show March 20, 21, and 22. Stop by the booth and say hello.


Now is the time to book a cabin for your summer vacation. I know that gas prices are high but we are only 150 miles for the Twin Cities and 300 miles for the Chicago area, much closer than Northern MN. or Canada. We are keeping are rates the same as last year. You can stay a week with us for $625.00 to $675.00.
We also have a nice two unit Cabinet that rents for $60.00 a night.

Also I have decided not to raise my guide fees for 2012. With the high gas prices I hope this will help ease the pain of coming up to the North Woods. I will keep them at $350.00 for two for a full day on the river. This is much less than anyone else in the area.

I hope to see you in 2012.

Tom & Diane

Mild winter temps -- Posted on Sunday, February 5 2012
Spring is just around the corner.

Up here in the North Woods we have had a very mild winter. We did have a few weeks of below zero temps.

We have only had about 18” of snow so far this year. We need a lot more if we expect the lakes and rivers to have plenty of water this summer.

The Great Waters Fly Show will be held gain this year at the Blain MN. Sports Center.
The dates will be March 23, 24 & 25. Last year the show was put on at the last minuet because of our Friend Tom’s passing.

This year we should have another great show.

I will again have a booth. So stop by and say hello and maybe book a trip or some family time at the resort.

Mention that you read this post and pick out a new fly to start off your season.

This year I will have my permit to guide on the Namekagon River. The Namekagon has a great Smallmouth Bass population and a few Musky. The best part of fishing the Namekagon is the gin clear water. We do allot of sight fishing. It is very exciting to see those big Smallies come up and hit the fly.

As usual I will be fishing the Flambeau and Chippewa Rivers.

Last year was a great year on the river. My clients boated more than 100 Musky.

Ashegon Lake fished very well all year. Early spring produced many 14" Crappie and large Sunnies. The Large Mouth Bass were very active all the way up till ice over.
The Walleye were active all year. Most were caught on the North shoreline using minnows and small crank baits.

You can always call for up to date fishing information at 715-945-2781


Tom

The end of another great season. -- Posted on Monday, December 12 2011

Well winter is here and there is snow on the ground.

We had a great season here again at the resort. We had all of our regular guests back and also some new ones. Spring started out pretty wet. We had plenty of rain which put allot of water into the lake.

Fishing on the lake was great again this year. With the high water we had a good Bass, Crappie and Bluegill spawn. There were many very nice Crappie caught. Allot in the 14” class. The Largemouth Bass were everywhere. The Walleye are getting bigger with a few 18” caught. There also were several large Northern Pike caught. The Trout were still most active in the early evening.

I was very busy guiding on the rivers again this year. Again we had unpredictable water flows. Many of my clients were successful at landing some very nice Musky. We had several days when we put 5 in the net. The largest in the net this year was a very fat 48” female. We had several larger ones on but did not seal the deal. We will be looking again next year for those few 50” + ones that we missed. I do know where they live. We had over 100 Musky caught and released again this year.

The Smallmouth Bass were hot all season. We had several days with 25 + Smallies in the net. We did have many over 20” again this year.

So if you want a chance at that line class world record Musky or if you want to chase a Smallmouth Bass for a world record give me a call and I will do my best to get it for you.

I hold two line class world records and my clients hold 12 others.

I’m looking forward to another great year on the rivers and spending time again with my clients.

As a reminder I do sell my Musky, Smallmouth Bass and Northern Pike Flies. Give me a call and I can tie you what you need.

For those of you that have not been on the water with me. I float the river in a 14’ Hyde Drift Boat. Very comfortable and safe at all water levels.

Also I will be at the Great Waters Fly Show again this year in Blaine. The show is March 23, 24 & 25.
Stop by, the show will be bigger and better that before. I will again be tying and have all my flies available.

Hope you all have a great winter.

Tom & Diane

Fall in the Northwoosd is here. -- Posted on Friday, September 30 2011

Fall is here

Well Fall is here and the trees have beautiful colors. We are not in full color yet but will be in a few days. Now is the time to come up and see those great Fall colors. We still have the cabins open because of the warmer than usual temps. Also we do keep the cabinett’s open all year.

Deer season

The deer season is looking good so far. We have been seeing several large Bucks along the river banks. For those of you who hunt the temps might be a little warm this year but there are allot of deer around. The acorns are dropping and so will the leaves, so come on up. We will keep cabin # 3 and the cabinett’s open thru the deer hunting season.

Grouse

It looks like we will have another great year for Grouse. We see them everywhere.


Fall Musky

The fall Musky bite is starting to get hot. We have had several Musky in the boat in the last week. Every trip we make we see bigger fish. On our last trip we had 3 in the net. We had 3 very large (45”+) Musky follow but could not close the deal.

River levels are down and conditions are making the float a little tuff but still floatable. The good thing with low water is the fish are easier to find. I’m sure the water levels will come up again soon. Last Fall and this Spring we were dealing with high water.

We are starting to use our 300 and 350 grain lines. I recommend lines that have floating running riles. This helps keep your line from tangling around rocks on the bottom. S/A makes a wet tip express that works great. Jim Teeny also make some great lines. Try and stay with cold water lines. Most of your striper lines work great.

Now is the time to get your trip booked. It looks like we will be able to float right up to the end of the season.

We have lodging available here at the resort if needed.

Give me a call and we can set a date.

Tom

Lake and river levels. -- Posted on Tuesday, August 9 2011
Well the river levels are finally starting to drop. If we do not get any more rain the water levels will stabilize the fish should turn on. Before the 6”+ rain storm we had Tuesday and Wednesday (1st & 2nd of Aug) the Smallmouth Bass fishing was hot. We had several days with catches in the 25 +. All were respectful and in the 16” to 20” range.

We floated the Chippewa River today. The water levels were high. We had one large Musky roll and miss the fly, we had two others on and off at the boat. We had 10 Smallmouth Bass between 14” and 18”. Not bad for a high water rainy day.

Things should continue to improve over the next few days.


Here at Ashegon Lake the water came up almost 3’ in two days. The changes in water levels have made fishing a little tuff for some. Bev from Oshkosh landed a nice 20” Lake Trout. The Bass have been in about 12’ of water hitting on plastic worms and night crawlers. The pan fish have been in the shoreline vegetation.

We still have cabins available, so come on up and enjoy the North Woods.

Also I am starting to take reservations for the Fall Musky season. Don’t wait to long to book I get pretty busy when those big girls start feeding.

Tom

Summer in the North Woods -- Posted on Wednesday, July 13 2011
July has been a good month for fishing here in the north woods. Ashegon Lake has been producing large numbers of big Bass, Walleye and Crappie.

The Chippewa River has excellent water flows and fishing has been really good. The Smallmouth Bass have been very tight to the banks all summer. With the water temps starting to rise and the bass will start moving into the riffles. The Musky fishing has been great also. With the water temps on the rise you can find the Musky in the shady areas of the river and in the heads of pools where the water is a little cooler. Soon they will migrate into the deeper pools during midday.

I have several guide days available so give me a call.


We also have cabins available for late July and August. If you can’ make it up for a week give us a call for our daily rates for long weekends.

Tom

Summer is here and the fishing is great. -- Posted on Tuesday, June 7 2011
It has been a busy time here at Ashegon Lake Resort. We had a lot of clean up after our long winter. But we are up and running.

Fishing on Ashegon Lake has been really good. The lake levels are good. The spawn was delayed a few weeks because of the cold-water temps. The pan fish are up shallow and spawning. I caught 6 nice 13” Crappie for dinner two days ago. The Bass are on their beds along with the Blue Gills. The Trout have been very active in the late evenings and early morning.

We have cabin # 2 available for the week of the 4th of July. We also have a few openings in June & August. Give us a call.

The river levels have dropped and the fishing is hot. We have had several nice Musky and a whole bunch of large Smallmouth Bass. I think the Musky fishing will continue to improve over the next month. The water temps are at 56 degrees and will warm a little more this week. The air temps have been in the mid 80’s and are supposed to drop to the mid 60’s by midweek.

Now is the time to come up and catch that large Musky if you don’t like to endure the cold Fall weather.

Diane and I are looking forward to seeing all of our old guests and of course meeting all of our new ones.

Tom & Diane

2011 opener is almost here -- Posted on Thursday, April 7 2011
I would like to thank everyone who stopped by our booth at the Great Waters Fly Show in Blaine last weekend.
The show was well attended and everyone seemed to enjoy it.
I think the Helgeson family did a great job putting everything together.

Spring is here. The water in the rivers are at a good level. Let’s hope that they stay that way. I was down on the Chip yesterday and saw some spawning activity.

We are looking forward to this season. I would like to thank those of you who booked trips at the show.

We still have cabins available for the 2011 season. So give us a call.

With gas prices being high this summer our resort will be a better choice than going to The Arrow Head area of Minn. or Canada.

Remember that I guide on all of the Hayward area rivers. There is no need for a guide here on Ashegon. I will gladly give you all the information I can to help you catch fish here on Ashegon or anywhere else you might have questions about.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone this season.

Tom & Diane

Something to think about. -- Posted on Friday, February 18 2011
When my grandson Billy and I entered our vacation cabin, we kept
the lights off until we were inside to keep from attracting pesky
insects. Still, a few fireflies followed us in. Noticing them
before I did, Billy whispered, "It's no use Grandpa. Now the
mosquitoes are coming after us with flashlights."

It's time to get those kids and grandkids together for some quality time at the lake.

We still have a few cabins available for the summer. Give us a call and build some unforgetable memories.

Spring is going to be here soon. -- Posted on Wednesday, February 16 2011
Well it’s looking allot like spring. It’s 46 today and supposed to be 50 tomorrow. Of course we know that this weather will only last another few days then it’s back to cold and snowy. But I have learned to take good weather when we can get it. We have had a good snow year and with a mildly wet spring Ashegon Lake should have good water levels. Right now we have 24” of ice on the lake so I expect it to still have ice late into April.

Diane and I are looking forward to having all our regular guests back again and are looking forward to meeting the new ones. We still have cabins available so please tell all your friends and neighbors about us.

We are also very glad to here that Tim Q is recovering fine from his heart surgery.

As for Musky fishing this year, it should be great. Last season was a little tuff because of the high water levels in the rivers.

I will be at the Great Waters Fly show again this year. It will be held on the last weekend of April at the Blain Sports center. This new location should be great. Lots of parking with plenty of restaurants near by.

Check out Mid West Fly Fishing’s web site for more information on speakers,vendors and location.

Hope to see you all there.

Tom

End of another great season -- Posted on Saturday, December 4 2010
Diane and I wanted to thank all of our guests and friends that came to stay with us at the resort this season. We enjoyed having everyone back. We also want to thank all of our new guests for joining us. We hope all of you had a great vacation and enjoyed being here as much as we enjoyed having you.
Please let us know if there is anything we can do to make your stay a better one.
We did have a bunch of rain in June and July. I’m not sure what our rain totals were for the year but I’m sure we went over the 30” mark. The lake came up about 3’. We sure needed the water. The lake is still low. We hope we get plenty of snow this winter and plenty of rain in the spring. It would be nice to see it full again.
We had a water line break in Motel A this summer. It was quite an ordeal getting all the repairs made. So those of you that use the motel I sure you will like all the changes.
Fishing was good on the lake this year. With all the water level changes it did make it a little more difficult. There were many nice Walleye, Crappie, Bluegill and Bass caught. In June I found a dead Northern Pike on the shore. It measured 44” and weighted 29 lbs. This is the largest one that I have seen in the lake. I have no idea how it died.
The river fishing was another challenge this year. We had record high water flows all year. We had to travel a little further and fish several different waters. All in all we did manage to put close to 85 Muskies in the boat. The largest this year was a really nice 48”. We had so many large Smallmouth Bass we lost count. We had many over 20” with the largest at 23”.
We had hunters again this year. They managed to take 6 deer. Nothing real big but some good eating eaters. One of the hunters was a young boy on his first hunt. He did manage to shoot a nice 6-point.
We look forward to seeing everyone again next year.

We hope you all had a very happy Thanksgiving and we hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas.

Tom & Diane

Fall Muskies and Guides -- Posted on Monday, October 11 2010
Well Fall is here. The leaves are almost gone and the weather is great.

Musky fishing is starting to get to its peak time. We have until Nov. 30. We have had high water all summer and now the water levels are down and fairly steady.

Last week I had the privilege to fish with Peter from Wayzata MN.
Peter had a great day on the river. He put 7 Muskies yes I said 7 in the boat and had several follows and also had a few come off. He had one 39” and the rest were in the mid 40’s with the largest at 45”. This was a banner day.
The water level dropped we had some cold nights and the Muskies went nuts. I wish all days could be like this one was. My hat is off to Peter for doing such an outstanding job.
I don’t get on the soapbox much but I have something to say about hiring guides. If you are going on a trip and spend allot of money on a guide you should do your self a favor and do some research. Check out the local guides in the area you are going to. Make sure you hire one that specializes is the fish and also the waters you will be fishing. Your local guides know their water.
This time of the year we only have Muskies no Smallmouth Bass. For us it’s all about catching large Muskies. Sure the rivers are nice to float and the wildlife is great to look at but we hunt Muskies. We will fish sun up to sun set, what ever it takes to get you the Musky you came up to catch.
So hire local guides. Always ask if your guide is a local and how many days of the season they are on the water.

So if you want to hunt Big Muskies please give me a call. I guarantee you that I will do everything I can to get you into that big Musky.

We still have plenty of days to fish so give me a call. If I'm booked I can refer you to another great Musky guide.

Tom