Cabonga Water level as of 8/17/2010

Capacity: 360.88
Current: 358.11
Difference: 2.77 m
Lake Level: Still 9.09 feet down - No change!

Cabonga Water level as of 8/11/2010

Capacity: 360.88
Current: 358.11
Difference: 2.77 m
Lake Level: Still 9.09 feet down - No change!

I was looking through my pictures for past trips and I think back in 1999 or 2000 Cabonga was around this depth once.  I recall meeting this retired guy from South Carolina by the name of Lou who drove up every year and spent a couple of weeks at DHL and had a chart of the lake water depth spanning multiple years.  Of course his gripe with the low water was that it was harder to fish but from what we saw when we were there, while we got skunked a few days, when we were catching Walleyes, we were catching Walleyes!

I think Cabonga has definitely turned the corner as a Walleye fishery because Walleye fishing is getting better and better now.  Just look at all the big Walleyes being caught at DHL this past year as proof in the pudding.  I wonder if competition for forage fish is so fierce now that the Walleye populations are out pacing pike reproduction and that is why the pike fishery is in a state of decline.  While we weren't necessarily fishing for pike we were amazed at how few we caught this trip.

I might have mentioned this last week but I thought I would show you some examples of what 2 feet down would sort of look like.  Going to Stern's pass, you have to pass through this tight channel that I call the Water Falls.  In the picture below, this is in 3 feet of water.  Now imagine this section 2 feet shallower!  Yikes!

Cabonga Water level as of 8/03/2010

Capacity: 360.88
Current: 358.11
Difference: 2.77 m
Lake Level: 9.09 feet down!

Doesn't seem that DHL hasn't updated their website because on the English page they are still saying Lake Level is 5 feets down but on the french side there is bit more information:

Niveau du réservoir Cabonga = 5 pieds sous la normale et il baisse tout les jours.

Barrage Barrière ouvert!

La pêche aux doré est très bonne de la pointe aux Iroquois jusqu'au barrage.

Which translates to:

Cabonga level = 5 feet below normal and down every day.

Dam Gate open!

The walleye fishing is very good Point Iroquois to the dam

Regardless, they are almost off by half.  When I was there, it was up 2 feet then what I am reporting now which means WaWa pass is probably closed and getting to Sterns, you might want to bring a big pole.

What I would like to see is if someone could make an interactive GPS map of the lake that you could set the surface level of and thus get a feeling for what the lake is really like.

Cabonga Water level as of 7/27/2010

Capacity: 360.88
Current: 358.22
Difference: 2.66 m
Level Level: 8.73 feet down!

Found this little warning on the Réserve faunique La Vérendrye Sepaq Website:

I am still looking for some more up to date pix from the reservoir.  If anyone has any, let me know.

Cabonga Water level as of 7/20/2010

Capacity: 360.88
Current: 358.40
Difference: 2.48 m
Level Level: 8.14 feet down!

It's still going down and almost another foot from the previous week! Yikes. I don't think you are getting through Wa Wa pass unless you have a canoe. You probably could get down to the big water via Stern's Pass but it will be a slow go. The first time I went to DHL, a woman who has accompanied her husband up there since the 50s or 60s said at the narrowest point on the route to Sterns Pass, when the water was low enough, it was like a water fall or rapid (see image below). I could see that with the way the rocks are situated in there. To get to that point, I think the level has to go down to 10 or 11 feet, which according to Steve Hamel, it got to that point in 2000.

Cabonga Water level as of 7/13/2010

Capacity:  360.88
Current:    358.70
Difference:    2.18 m
Level Level:  7.15 feet down!

One thing is for sure, low water is great for walleye fishing, however, to get to the big water to fish for lake trout, unless there is another way to get down there from DHL, 2 meters is probably the absolute minimum.