Marty

Too sweet. I didn't think Avery did manual labor. If I ever make it up there, I'm bringing scissors. He'd needs a hair cut.

Thanks for the comments everyone. They're appreciated.

Great report. I may soon try to take my first trip with all 5 kids.

This year’s trip was one for the ages. Instead of having a stag party for my brother, I decided to take him and dad on a 3 day trip chasing muskies with Marc Thorpe. After that we were off to Nipissing and the Upper French for 11 days of fishing. To say it was a trip for the ages is an understatement. Here it goes: After a 12 hour ride from Pittsburgh, we arrived at Marc’s place on the evening of July 27th. It’s been a long wait but I finally got to meet Marc. For those of you who haven’t met him, he’s a great guy and a very special person when it comes to muskies. Marc told us right away that we would be on the road by 6 a.m the next morning. We decided early on that Dad would get the first crack at a muskie. He’s been fishing his whole life and never got to tangle with the toothy critter. The weather was hot and tough and there was a storm front moving in. As the first day was about to come to an end, Marc said that we’d take one or two more runs and then it was time to head in. None of us felt like fighting mother nature. As fate would have it, it wasn’t mother nature who got tangled up in a fight. It was Dad. Here’s his first muskie ever, all 55 inches of her: I love this pic, the rod is pinned against the side of the boat and our faithful guide in backing off the drag. Incidentally, the pic was shot just before Marc coined the extremely animated phrase of the weekend “Reel M . . . Fr. . . Reel!” Dad obviously responded well to this unsolicited advice. Other than pike, that was the only fish of the first day. The next day we boated another one. Conditions were tough. Extremely hot and bright. The water was filled with water rats and skiers. It was still a great day and we learned quite a bit from our faithful guide. As we got back to Marc's place on the second evening, he said "Boys, we'll be up by 3:45 a.m. tomorrow." Apparently a secret Scottish/French moon/wind formula was supposed to make the fishing good. I'll never question the Scot/French thing again. On our final day, we boated 7 fish between 6:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., when we got off the water. I lost another one and we had a couple follows. The fish on the final day measured 49, 47, 46, many low 40 high 30s. My 49 broke the stalker. Enjoy: Fishing with Marc was an experience we'll never forget. He knows his stuff and we learned quite a bit from him. Some of it is obvious from the pics but other things we learned from and/or about him I just can't print. May be strange but he could almost be one of the Dietz boys. He's just a little more messed up than we are, eh Marc? During our stay, we were treated to a supper extravaganza by Roy and J. Unfreakinbelievable! Here’s Roy giving dad the extra special French welcome coupled with the ol' "atta boy" for nailing a 55. Thanks a ton buddy. On Monday we headed for the Upper French. We were going to fish it for a couple days until we met Uncle AJ and “Cousin” Dave on Saturday. Trouble started immediately. Launched my boat and something was wrong with the 50 hp motor. Put it in gear and it raced. Couldn’t get it to slow down and got worried. Just got it from the shop too. Tony’s boat ran well as usual so he dragged the gear to Sandy Haven and I ran the 9.9 the entire 13 miles up river. I got to soak in the scenery but it was an 8 beer trip up river. Suffice it to say that because my motor died, Dad and AJ had to rent a cedar strip for most of the week. They had to go from the comfort of a bass boat to this: Then, Tony’s trolling motor died. We took a trip to Sturgeon Falls and bought a new one and installed it. It was a great start to our trip on Nip and the French. Instead of fishing, we spent the first couple days playing mechanic. Finally we got everything taken care of and were ready to fish. The fishing, other than the muskie fishing, on the Upper French/Nipissing was fantastic. The walleye and bass fishing was hotter than I can remember in a long time. We bagged limits of eyes and could have filled quite a bag of smallies if were were in a tourney. The pike were very active and hit just about every big bait we threw at them. Even had one largemouth think she was a muskie: Here’s the lone muskie of the trip. Went down on a black and orange Eagle Tail. We did find one spot where we found the world dumbest muskie. Came up twice on two separate days on a Doc and a Weagle. Fish came completely out of the water both times and put on quite a show. Poor thing was just too dumb to actually hit the bait. Here are some other pics of some of the fish we caught. I don't want to leave out Cousin Dave's big fish for the week: It was simply a wonderful trip with wonderful people. Got to spend time with OFNCer Joe and his wife Andrea. They have a place on the Upper French and made us feel very at home when we stopped by. They were gracious to give Dad and AJ a break from the cedar boats: The ride home was a little rough. Tony’s boat got rear-ended during bumper to bumper traffic at an accident site on Hwy 69. I blew a trailer tire on the QEW. We've been doing this trip for 25 years with no real problems. I guess it was our year to have some issues. Oh well, can’t wait till next year.

REEL . . . MFr . . . REEL!

Excellent fishies Roy. Good to see Marc finally got a haircut! Only queation I have is where are the Steeples? As for the supper thing, we may have to stop by on the return trip too.

Roy, Make it 7 for the day. Three today over 46". Unreal! Pics will follow in about 2 weeks. Have to invade the Upper French now. Reel . . . MF . . . Reel!

Nice to see Poopsie doin some work. Place is looking good. I can't wait to see it in person. TJ, tell us the truth. Did you guys eat momma duck?

Shut up Phil. Leave those very wise people alone.

Lol Roy. I resent that comment but I can't deny it.

Don't be in any of my spots when I get there. Stop by at Sandy Haven. We'll be there each night between July 31 and August 10th. We Steeler fans will show you a good time.

Happy Birthday bud. One week and I'll buy an Old Milwaukee for ya.

Raf, I can tell you've been hanging with JP. What's the word on Kokanee? I had it for the first time last year and it wasn't too bad. I prefer Blue.

Great report and congrats. I'm be there for the first time in two weeks and I can't wait.

Huh? Who?

Nice report Lew. Good to see some muskies to get me ready for my trip.

Thanks a ton. Got my juices flowing. I'll be there in a couple weeks looking for that muskie and his momma.

Ignore those dang southern rednecks. Nice fish Roy.

Lokin forward to some Roy and some muskies soon. Cant' wait.

I'm glad Team Coona$$ made it home safe. Looks like I missed a great time.

Looks like we're gonna have to start some sort of tradition. You and your boys and me and my boy. Gotta warn you, he sleeps with a stuffed musky every night. Great report and it's too cool that your son is enjoying it too.

Congrats bud. Sure did miss you guys.

Sweet Jesus. This is the old blind squirrel and the nut theory. I KNOW your son caught all the fish. Congrats on a good trip. Give me a call.

Contact Lakair Lodge. www.lakair.com They definitely have them and they are the best ones you'll find.

We all know Sandy is 4'6"and 81 lbs. Those pike are small. Seriously, way to go Sandy. You did good. Tell the big guy I said hi.