TennesseeGuy

I'm into buying bananas that show a little yellow, not all green, so I'll be waiting until around mid February to make my purchase. I've bought a bunch of non-resident fishing licenses for Ontario. Got a good return on my investment. Every time.

Thanks Roy. Thanksgiving has always been an important day for our family.

Amount of annual profit will show on your tax return. We might have a tax man lurking on this site.

Congratulations Roy! What a prize for your family.

Hey Joey, do you remember the nice present you wished for me when I turned Canadave's present age? It was quite a while ago.

You'll be okay as long as fishcop, Don Maw, is in NW Ontario. He'd love catching you with illegal pike slime on your hands.

FRANKIE65 & MrSimon, I have May 18 and August 3 trips planned to NW Ontario for 2013, but might slip in on you and have you show me a couple of good walleye spots in July at Happy Day. Haven't fished the Chapleau area since 1969. Keep me posted.

From being acquainted with the Zimmerman family I'm pretty sure Dylan will perform better when given another chance. Working in the bush from late April to late October can be quite a stretch for a 15 year old. I've seen 30 year men hit the wall around the beginning of August. Dylan may have been expecting a couple of 15-17 year old females to be in your party.

Enjoyed it. Thanks for posting. Could the "young man" who delivered fuel have been Ethan Zimmerman, son of Bob and Sondra? Dylan's brother? Ethan is the manager/owner of Prairie Bea Camp, almost adjoining Windemere. Ethan is 17 and has been guiding for a few years.

True. Our founding fathers were very, very wise.

My wife has a sienna and I have an odyssey. I expect both to be performing well at 300,000+ miles. My 2002 odyssey has right at 170,000 miles (that's 272,000 short miles) with over half round trips from Cookeville, TN to Red Lake, Ontario, which means lots of going and very little stopping. Brakes hold up well for interstate driving. We've followed all recommended service at the Honda and Toyota dealers. I strayed for a few months, but I'm getting better pricing at dealerships.

Negative reinforcement is effective. I've been given several doses.

I'm looking forward to reading Mike's articles.

Great combination of a truck and a man.

You're where you belong. Grow roots. You have a lot of friends in Ontario.

Nice report. I appreciate your sharing it with us. Good photos of big fish.

Your family is making it happen. Thanks for including us in your experiences.

Nice trip Mike. Beauty walleyes. Thanks for sharing.

I'm in Tennessee, after arriving home at 1:00 a.m. yesterday morning. Late Saturday afternoon I hitched a flight out of camp, but not to where my van was waiting for me. A truck ride got me to my van. Wayne, I was amazed and impressed with the cooperation among pilots and plane owners in coordinating their efforts to pick up hunters from outpost camps. No float plane went anywhere without a load. Fuel stashes were shared when extra runs needed to be made. I would have stayed another week with a hint of decent fishing conditions.

Take all of your warm clothes out on the lake with you. Good luck with some huge fish.

After 3 days of so-so fishing success, I was rewarded yesterday. Wind shifted from S to NNW, and picked up enough to provide a strong chop. A temperature drop fired me up and somehow brought walleyes into an eating mode. On my usual milk run I was picking up only a few 14" - 16" walleyes, but that turned around when I reached a big reef at the north end of LV. Fishing the wind blown edge I got into the walleye bite of a decade. It stayed extremely hot for 4+ hours. Little Vermilion Lake is know for holding lots of huge pike and tons of small to medium walleyes. Yesterday's walleyes were bigger than usual for the lake, with many from 19" to 23". That's not big walleyes for some waters, but I was into catching what's here, not what's somewhere else. I enjoyed over 4 hours of constant catch, release, drop the jig and then all over again. At times my jig didn't make it to the bottom. Not quite a feeding frenzy, but close at times. Fish did everything for me except hit on the surface. Try to overlook my excitement if you're in an area where 6-15 pound walleyes are the usual October catch. Weather has Brett, son Mason and Mike Fliss in camp today until they can fly north. Mason went out with his bow for a moose hunt this a.m. A brisk wind kept him from calling in a moose, but he had a pack of wolves moving in on him. The wolf population is up and clear cuttng has cut down on their space. It's not a good situation. Wolves are becoming awfully bold. Wind is brisk from the south. North winds have always been kind to me, but it's not my call. Fried walleyes head up my menu for tonight's dinner. Five straight days of walleyes and counting. Plenty of moose in the freezer and hanging. Chickens on the path offering their head for a whack with a stick. Gotta check our weather forecast. If it's nasty enough I may sit out a day to wash my hair and do my nails. Gotta stay pretty, even in the bush.

Sandy, Clive & Whopper, you know where I'll be next May. Hope we can all be there. Figured out how to strain oil without making a mess. One cup at a time gets it done. My oil is clean and ready for a few more fish.

Roy, I flirt with 50", but wouldn't bet the house that I've ever boated one. Weather could have me heading home October 6, but a change might encourage me to stay another 6 or 7 or so days. We'll see how it goes. With rifle hunters around I'll not want to be fishing shore lines and back of bays, but will need to be finding fish on humps and reefs so I don't spook a man's moose or catch a bullet. We're expecting a cold snap starting Thursday. Great for moose hunters. A little snow will be okay, but I'm less than excited about fishing 2 or 3 days in cold rain.

Left home last Wednesday morning and 895 miles later spent the night in my van as a guest of Sams Club in the parking lot at Eau Claire, WI. Made a token purchase at the Walmart, but mainly used their restroom for a squirt and brushing what's left of my teeth. After a good night in the sleeping bag I hit Walmart again with another token purchase, a long squirt and another brushing. The checkout lady remembered me from the night before and I admitted the true reason for my visit to her nice store. Thursday I made it through scenic moose country and ended up at Brett Geary's airway office, by the Chukuni River bridge near Balmertown, Ontario. Having my own key to his office, I turned the couch into my bed for the night. Before turning in I had thoughts of hunting down a burger, but saw my odometer sitting on 1498 miles for my ride up and decided not to go over 1500 miles. No motels for the ride up and no restaurants. All my food and drink came from my ice chest. Remember when Dave Cameron was heading for a Florida trip a few years back and he referred to himself as a "Cheap Canadian." Guess I'm the equivilent, from the other side of the border. By 9 a.m. Friday I'd hitched a ride to Little Vermilion on a 185 that was headed up north to assist in the Native moose hunt. Lucky, because there's not much flying going on for a few days. That'll change Saturday when rifle hunters move in. Several bow hunters were in camp, which meant I got cabin #6, rather than my usual cabin #2 that is closer to the boats. Bow hunters were successful and the last 3 left yesterday. The lake is all mine now. And the camp too, because Brett is ng to heading up north to close down a couple of outpost camps and he'll be tied up at least 2 days. Fishing conditions are great, but I'm really working hard at catching. I'm not catching a lot and I'm not marking fish. Low water level is keeping me from getting to moving water. My favorite humps, reefs and points are not producing as usual. I've drifted flats near points, but without the usual success. I'm finding 14" walleyes and getting my limit of 15" - 17" for a walleye dinner, but it's a challenge. Same with pike. I haven't hit them hard, but so far, nothing over around 28". I have no complaints. I'm with really nice people and I'm enjoying life. So far I'm asleep by 10 or 11 and wake up at 7 or 8 a.m. My only problem comes when straining my gallon of peanut oil after frying walleyes. I could use an extra set of hands. WHOPPER, ARE YOU LISTENING? Time to head out. One lake. One boat. One fisherman. October visits to Little Vermilion Lake have made my life better, a lot better.