Fantastic Return To Ganglers
Greg and Tom Engel come from a family of die-hard passionate anglers who know their craft well. They have fished with Ganglers for over 25 years with their father Paul and continued the tradition after Paul’s passing. They missed 2024, a rarity, but picked right up where they left off in 2023. Within two hours of arriving at Clifton, they boated 38” and 39” lakers. Even thought the week was definitely on the cool side with bays at 41 degrees, they systematically plugged away as the weather and waters slowly warmed. Here is Greg’s story –
Ken,
My “Engel’s Anglers” group’s recent trip to Clifton Lake was my 25th week at a Gangler’s outpost since our first ice out trip to Maria Lake in 2000. We’ve fished Maria several times, Stevens-Nicklin, Bain Lake from 2002-2008 and fell in love with Clifton and have been returning there since 2009.
Our group numbers have changed over the years from 6 to 8 to now 4 fisherman annually as several of our legends have passed on or are no longer physically able to make the trip.
For 2025, a late cancellation had us scrambling to fill two spots when Tom Engel again returned with our Rookie 2nd cousin Garren Kelly who had been following our trips and jumped at the opportunity to join us. He is now hooked and looking to return in the future.
Opening week is always a challenge with the recent forest fires and weather but when we finally made it to Clifton Lake, my brother Tom and I were able to catch two healthy Lake Trout Masters within the first two hours of fishing. Water temps were initially around 41 degrees when we arrived and my multi-year fishing buddy Tom Moreland was paired with rookie Garren and found many Lake Trout schooling in shallow sandy drop-offs next to rocky shorelines where the wind was blowing in.
The higher water this spring allowed us to fish bays and rivers on Clifton and Wilkie that we have not fished since 2012. I was able to guide Garren to his first bucket list Arctic Grayling and Whitefish at the rapids leaving Woolgar Lake.
As the week progressed, the bays began to heat up with afternoon bay temps reaching 55 degrees which turned on the trophy pike. We ended up the week with 12 Master Angler fish but dozens of fat whitefish laden 39-40” Pike.
A big shout out to the Gangler’s staff, especially Vincent, for significantly improving the Clifton Outpost over the years. The new Alumarine Boats and 25HP Yamaha’s worked perfectly. We had mixed emotions about the mid week conversion from the long term noisy generator to solar power as now the snoring by all members of our group was enhanced by the silence. The solar was working great along with the Starlink system.
Vincent has become a great cook in addition to his camp manager skills. Walleyes are always available in big numbers at Clifton and our group feasted on walleye appetizers each evening trying out various hot sauces and rubs. We enhanced our traditional “cold day” Cajun 15 Bean Soup this year by bring up some Benton’s Bacon and Andouille Sausage to ensure we all stayed warm.
We are all looking forward to returning next year.
Thanks again,
Greg Engel