After last season I wanted to sell the gear...too much money spent on tackle and little of it justified. So what do I promptly do this year but book a very expensive fly-in and then use a good percentage of my weekly cash to do what else?...buy lures for the upcoming trip. Worse yet I book two spots and I find out that no one that I know wants to, or can afford to... spend that type of cake. My wife after hearing that they have a top notch American plan at a LODGE pipes in that she would like to go. We had never spent more then an hour or so a year fishing together. If we do fish, I'd be putting on her worms, taking off her fish, and keeping her glass full. This on the other hand is a lake just south of James Bay where nasty weather is common. She was worried about bugs and I was worried that she wouldn't tough out cold driving rain. What was I getting myself into? The only plus to this arrangement was that Kesagami Wilderness Lodge offers a 25% discount for spouses. Still at $2200 a pop for the week this had the making of one large expensive mistake.
We arrived in the early evening on the first day. The delay was caused by what else, bad weather.
The view from the plane was amazing.
I had envisioned a modern cabin but we ended up in one of the oldest cabins with probably the lowest doorframe. At 6'3" and then some, I bonked my head three times bringing in the luggage and that was even with ducking!!
No probs, Charlie the director got us into the lodge where there was a toilet and shower in every room. My wife was ecstatic with the change of location. I on the other hand was ready to cry when I learned that my tackle box went back with the plane. I did get a very basic tackle box from Charlie. My mood changed with a few too many beers after dinner. Day 1 was over.
The next morning the outside thermometer read 7 degrees. Out on the dock the wind and whitecaps made the day's fishing look very unappetizing. As we climbed into the bouncing boat my wife gave me that look of this isn't what I signed up for. We headed south into the long (ten miles) some what sheltered lower arm of the lake. "Wow", even in this shallower basin the water temp was still only 57 degrees. As we went with the north wind I mentally identified one spot after another from my maps that had looked promising. Yet only a fool would fish for large pike in those exposed spots in this pounding chop. 10 k later I finally pulled into a sheltered bay more to appease my wife then with any real conviction that here was Pike Nirvana. There I was on this cold rainy day, hungover and without my tacklebox. I tied on the 99-cent leader. Weeds on every cast for me. I was totally off my game plan as the driving wind wouldn't allow for any sort of drift. We threw anchor and it is at times like this that one dwells on the money, time, and hours of planning spent to arrive at said location. My wife Leslie was dry and still remarkably in a good mood. Time for a breather after 10 minutes fishing. A scotch and cigar later I spotted a small five of diamonds on the back ledge of the boat by the motor that someone had left behind. It was a Johnston Weedless spoon, now I was standing on one leg.
Leslie kept us on the location because it was more sheltered and she wanted to practice her cast. When she did get a nibble she immediately pulled the lure out of the fishes mouth before they turned. We had many false alarms and I got to calling her "get the net". This was a nice place, above us an Osprey cried intermintently. The wind changed direction and it became a little brighter. This was a good location, add one to the plus column for the wife and I was glad that she kept us on this location. Finally we had a good angle to drift down the channel and we pulled anchor. On the third drift, boil, swirl...pressure and then hookset. Gotta ease up on the drag and hope the cheapest of cheap leaders and snap hold up. The fight was on. She peeled line good. Near the boat the pike became all cagey. She darted around the front of the boat and then to the back by the motor. I was clambering all over the large freight canoe to make sure that fish didn't find any sort of leverage to bust free on. There were some quick instructions for Leslie on how to use the oversized fish cradle and with some coaxing we finally got her in.
We had a 37 incher on our first day. That was a PB for me.
A quick snap of the cam and a little revival and off she went with a good flick of the tail.
All looked good until we left and the motor started acting funny. If I revved her up strange clanking noises matched the rotations in a symphony of protest. We settled for slow troll speed and made 2k in about an hour. Then we rounded a point and the wind from a long portion of the arm kept on catching the nose of the boat. I pressed the motor and she gave....out. The prop now had no push and there is no better way to state our condition then to say we just simply pucked. Soon the hard wind pushed us against the scrub shoreline. I grabbed onto a branch. My wife needed to go the bathroom and my "boost" as she got off the boat almost put her into the drink. We had seen no one all day and I became sullen as we experienced every boaters worst nightmare. Stranded in the middle of nowhere with no food and bad weather. I emptied out our dry yellow drysack to wave in case we did see someone. Luckily after about 2 hours another party came within visual distance, we waved frantically, that yellow sack may have made the difference.
Here is our rescue squad and my yellow marshmallow wife. She was ecstatic again at this point. At the dock they asked us if we wanted to go out again. My wife looked at them as if they had truly lost their minds. Day 2 was over.
Day 3 was more of the same. We went south again and found another nice bay. The sun broke out finally and I hooked into something heavy.
This one was large and a scrapper. Gotta keep tight lines with a barbless hook. We got her to the boat and she came in the cradle and then thrashed her way out. Using the leverage of the cradle she busted my rod.
Off she went with me holding the bottom half of my rod. More fighting and then she came boatside again. I lifted her out of the water unhooked the lure and got the top half of my rod out of the way.
A quick pic and measure and she was back in, 41 inches. She swam away heartily.
Two large pike in two days. We were doing better then any other group at the lodge at this point.
Day 4 was sunny all the way. We went back to our new bay and really worked her for the whole morning...nothing.
At noon we stopped along the shore for lunch.
I lollygagged about watching the waterbugs dancing on the water while smoking a cigar. My wife called me lazy. She was chomping at the bit. Man, she was hooked on fishin'...we went back to our old bay.
Her cast now could be placed and she was getting the idea of the hookset.
I was changing lures when I start to here her line sing. She reels until her line doesn't budge. Weeds came up her line like clothes pegs on a clothesline on a windy summer's day. Leslie is unsure if she has a fish, "weeds"? Tip up, tight lines, I holler. She brings the pike perfectly into the cradle. I produce the puncture proof glove and she does the lift.
A father couldn't have been any prouder of a young lad then I was with my wife's first ever major catch. She measured her as 33 inches without the tail pinched.
I love this next photo. I asked her to lift the Pike's head a bit higher.
We stayed with her pike for a long time until she swam away on her own accord. Back at the lodge all the parties were in a good mood. The sun had brought a lot of 40 inchers boatside and everyone was laughing and ordering drinks.
Here is a pic from the lodge at the end of a great day.
Day 5 my wife wanted to try the main lake. I had a place in mind. The sun was out with dark clouds to the west and a stiff southern breeze. Stupidly I went to the north with the wind, coasting on the waves and after a long drive we landed on a northern beach. Immediately the wind and whitecaps pushed the boat sideways and we struggled just to get off this beach as the waves pounded us. These conditions were hostile and only now did it sink into my thick skull. We tried two other spots but finally gave up on the whole north end and "island hopped" so we could catch a slight windbreak on the leeward side of each island. We arrived back at the lodge and I was soaked having to face the waves and spray as I drove. We attempted going north into the arm but got pounded again on that main channel. I dropped my wife off at the lodge and attempted trolling. The wind wouldn't allow me to hold the nose in a straight line. I packed her in the early afternoon and we napped before dinner.
Day 6 was not much better. We headed south up the arm. The director was now recommending OUR locatation and it had been hit hard. We actually had to wait our turn to fish it as two other parties were fishing the area. We got scrap. Lesson learned, when talking at the dinner table keep the actual spots secret. We landed later that day for lunch and my wife was still diligently practicing her casts. She was throwing into some lily pads when she came to me and said look what the weeds did to my line and I also lost my lure.
Those weeds have nasty teeth.
That pic is of 100-pound Berkley floro cut about 60% through. I swore my wife to secrecy about our new spot but it didn't produce at the end of the day nor on our last day.
On our last day the conditions looked a little better. The sun was peeking out through the clouds but it was still windy and cold. We headed south. Throughout the trip my wife never let us fish any underwater structure like points. Nor could we troll. She didn't think trolling was fishing and what's the point of fishing in the middle of the lake, "you might as well fish the ocean". Who can argue with success? We did briefly troll up the Kesagami River and as she was complaining how she never caught a thing while trolling with her dad when she was kid...a fish was on. I got one shortly after. On our final day we decided to do the shore lunch. The lodge gives you a giant plastic storage bin full of everything you would need to do a shore lunch down to the kindling. I went to the river again expecting quick results but today was different. We trolled further and further up the river and after trolling for an hour I regretted throwing back the 10-inch walleye and half an hour later I regretted throwing away the only other fish caught that afternoon...a pike. We caught nothing after that on the troll nor could we find the shore lunch location. My wife needed to be feed so with my head hung low we headed to another shore lunch spot. She said we would have plenty to eat with fried potatoes, onions, and beans. I did the caveman thing and told her to get the fire going, lunch would be caught shortly. The wind was blowing heavy at the point and I worked that spot hard for a walleye. Nothing doing so I headed to the pads and rigged up a mepps number 5 weedless and worked the pads. A Pike's gotta hit that.
Just as my wife puts the oil in the pan I have a fatty walleye and there was lunch. Such is the Kesagami fishery.
Could life be any better then this?
Pleased with ourselves and also full I brought my wife to a bay where we had steady hammer handle action previously. I knew she would get a kick out of the steady action on our last day. Our rain gear came off and we relaxed in the warm afternoon sun. I started pulling out some of the lures I hadn't used and my wife was steady working her go to lure the Johnston silver minnow. A slight splash and then the slow steady retrevial...my head cocked with the sound of the first peel of line. It was long peel like this zzzZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. I looked at her and then the line peeled even longer and louder zzzzZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. All hell broke loose as I clamored over our gear like a drunken solider during an air raid and helped her pull her rod tip up which was dangerously low. She looked at me as her line brought up yards and yards of weeds. I didn't dare loosen the dragged because we cut away a birdsnest earlier in the day. Here is the time where this brute will find any kink in your armour. From your hook to the snap to your leader to the line to the drag. This hunk of fish had her head buried down hard and wouldn't budge. Is it a weed, Leslie asked? We didn't reel in this one, more like we met in the middle as our boat turned and moved towards her. Eventually after some smaller peels she came out from the bottom and showed her big ugly head. My wife was a little ill at ease with this brute. Yet, she guided her in nicely into the cradle. She wasn't done yet and popped out several times. I lifted the cradle up slightly over the water so she couldn't get out. It was hard to measure her and keep her still, I told Leslie to get the measuring tape. It's like she didn't even hear me, she went for the puncture proof glove. Time was ticking and I worried about this monster in the air. In the background I could hear Leslie complain about what a mess the boat was..."where is that bag?... our clothes are everywhere". I lowered the cradle and grasped the Pike by the jaw with a firm grip and lowered her into the water. A little tug removed the lure. My hand was on the inside of her jaw and I could feel the fast steady thumping of her heart. What a big beautiful beast. And then as quickly as it started...WOOSH....with one strong thrust of her strong back tail she broke free of my grip and was half way out the cradle. I leaned forward and grasped for her but got nothing but air, another flick and she slid into the darkness like a German U-boat. I was profoundly disappointed. Not one pic. My wife must have looked at my face and said in a staccato rhythm, "it's okay. I measured her. She was 44. We landed her. I saw it". I sat down and said something like, if that were my fish I would have killed you. Could it be true...44 inches without pinching the tail..................?!!! She had no idea that could have been the largest fish caught this year at the lodge and most have never hoisted such a prize.
Leslie had been slightly afraid of this one. It was a beast and she didn't look forward to the task of lifting it. Lesson two, which I should have learned multiple times by now, always be prepared. Leslie wanted a breather but I turned the motor on and went up for another drift. As we moved to the spot for the next drift another pike hit my lure and clanked against the gunnel. The lure had been on the surface at the side of the boat. Leslie had to grab my rod and this spooked Leslie further. Now her nerves were a little shot. With bad weather coming in we headed home an hour later. I started bragging about her fish and when people asked, I told them it was 22 inches. Where was that spot you ask, the bay we caught her in was in south arm of Kesagami lake!! There were weeds there!!!
You pay top dollar for Kesagami. Not too many couples go, especially younger couples. It was an excellent choice for a first trip together. There is a maid for your room. You are pampered there. We had hot coffee and hot chocolate ready each morning for the boat. Service was top notch. I gotta say, for the sheer quantity of large pike that this lake holds, I can't see any other lake in Ontario holding more and being as accessible and worry free. For me it was the best fishing trip of my life. I hope to do it again with her.
I'll have a day to kill as I make my way from Cochrane to Nipigon in early July so I was hoping that someone knew of a nice little resort on a really nice lake inbetween those two towns.