James77

Thanks for taking the time to read it Art, means a lot!

As Adam said, would highly recommend Hearst Air, top notch outfitter and if you're looking for big pike Napken or Pym is the way to go!

Thanks, the clams are aggressive up there. Need to catch at least one for a successful trip. Thanks for the kind words! We didn't end up getting to the other lake. We couldn't seem to find the trail to it. In hindsight we really should have tried to earlier. Super jealous about the northern lights. What time of year was it? Thanks so much! This was shot with a Nikon D5300 DSLR and a combo of a 18-55mm Lens and a 70-300mm Lens. Most the landscape pics were the first lens listed. I've now flown with both of them and they're great. Super comforting. Thanks! Hearst is top notch. We booked Hilmer for this year so we'll see how it goes! Any tips for me? James

Thanks! It definitely outperformed everything I thought it would be. Thanks so much! Luckily everyone that comes with us enjoys a nice swim and shower so no smelly fishing partners! Really appreciate the positive feedback. Cheers! Where are you heading? Thanks! Thanks Moosebunk, really appreciate the kind words and I don't think I've ever seen anyone say anything negative about Hearst. Incredible operation. Thanks! The rabbit actually did look very kangaroo like haha! Thanks for taking the time to read it. Couldn't agree more, they take care of everything 100%! Glad you got it working. Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! Hey Mitch, there wasn't access to any portage lakes that we saw. The lake is very surprising. I was worried about that as well, but when you factor in how much water there really is to fish, and all the depths there is plenty of area. We locked into 3 large fish that we didn't run into again and that tells me there's a good cycle. With 4 people it can be a little bit crowded when fishing together but there were days we lost the other boat on the lake, not to be seen from a far. Highly recommend this outpost. Thanks for the kind words. I don't think my reports are in the same league as Mike's, but we certainly got lucky on this trip and I'm glad we had such an incredible ending. I'm hoping to go big this next year we have a few drones and a couple more cameras. Should get some incredible shots. Hopefully I get the big one this trip Thanks! Thanks for taking the time to read it! He certainly always performs! Thanks, I have to admit taking the time to go through all these pictures really made me miss it. Can't wait until this summers adventure! Thanks so much! I know what you mean, I was going through some video I shot from the boat and I almost felt like I traveled back in time. Thanks Thanks Gordy, it was a nice escape reliving the trip in the winter. Take me back!

Fixed, sorry gents!

I accidentally pressed submit before I was done, it'll be up soon haha. Sorry

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I've posted, I've had an absolutely crazy fall and winter season but hope everyone is doing well. I finally had a chance to go through my pictures from our Annual fishing trip this year and thought some people might be interested in the story. Luckily we wrote out a journal while we were there so I remember the order of events, but anyways here it goes: Uncle Scott and I had an absolute blast last year fishing with Hearst Air Service for the first time. We had an extremely interesting week fishing the Martison Lake Outpost Camp. Click Here for Report . Last year we booked our trip at the fishing show and Mel had lots of cabins available, so we chose Martison. We were extremely impressed with the outfitter and how well run the camps were. We also experienced the absolute best fishing of our lives on that trip. Scott and I have decided that over the next few years we would like to fish every lake Hearst has. We called Mel two weeks before the fishing show and found out that all the lakes we were considering were completely booked for our 3 week time-frame. Scott went behind my back and put a deposit down on Sunshine lake. I was less than impressed because during my conversations with Mel, I distinctly remember her telling me that Sunshine is a numbers lake, and an incredible fishery for quantity, but not for size. I was on my hunt for my first 40" fish this year! Scott doesn't quite remember whether he had caught a 40 or not, but he was also on the hunt to join the 40 club. I'm not going to lie, I was bummed. I wanted to try out Mcleister, or Napken, or Quantz. These lakes were all booked so I decided to make the best out of it. After all fishing is a blast. We also had two new members fishing with us this year, Howard and Kelly who went to high school with Scott and have become great friends of mine as well over the last 10 years. June 23rd 4am we were all on route to Hearst, Ontario. The drive normally takes us 10 hours, we've developed a pattern on our stops for gas and food, and we love staying at the Queen's motel in Hearst and enjoying a nice hot tub and relaxing night before flying into the wilderness. There are lots of cool landmarks and historical sites on the way up, the drive is quite enjoyable I love seeing the changes in the landscape the further north you go. Howard and Kelly having a bit of fun, it was a beautiful day for our drive. We were hoping for the same weather all week! There's a great little diner in Hearst where we enjoyed a lovely dinner. , I forget the name but they have great google reviews. Named after a person if I remember correctly. Fast forward to the next day. We arrived at the base nice and early, hoping to catch the first flight out. We weren't so lucky but I don't really mind. I love standing on the dock and listening to the people coming back from the camps and all their stories. Tons of big fish were caught the last week. We were all excited. Our Beaver arrived and docked, unloaded the last party and we were up! This might be one of the few times I've ever been caught on camera doing work but it happened I swear! We were up and away in no time! In the air for a super smooth flight over some absolutely stunning terrain. Arrival and the Bet Last year Scott and I made a small wager for who would catch the biggest fish. Unfortunately for me I ended up paying for Scotts meals on the journey home. This year we all made the same bet. $20 each, biggest fish takes it home. I had done my research, I was excited, I had the gear, and I was winning the money this year. After looking at the lake, my inner kid took over and I again became super hopeful we'd lock into some monster pike. Scott and I looked at our boat, there's a measuring tape sticker on the side that only goes up to two feet. "Guess there aren't any big ones in here" We modify it to fit our adjusted expectations. We went to 46" on the side. *Mel if you read this I would like to formally apologize for vandalizing your boat.* Day one of fishing was absolutely incredible. The fishing was ridiculous. The weather was equally as nice. Every cast I threw I was either catching a fish, or seeing a hungry pike chase after my lure which I found super entertaining. It was non stop action all day, Our normal strategy is to pick out the inlets, outlets, and structure and try prime spots. Move on to secondary spots. There were literally fish everywhere it almost was annoying because no skill was needed. This was great for Howard and Kelly as they have never experienced anything like this but Scott and I were getting a bit frustrated at our inability to locate the larger fish. We began venturing out deeper, and trying to read structure and find some "Big Fish" spots. After a lunch break we decided to sit down and scope out where they were. On our previous trip we found the large pike located close to a walleye feeding ground. Simple plan arose. Find the walleye spots close to shore but close to deep water and fish there. It payed off immediately. I casted towards a rocky point and felt a huge hit on my spinner. Set the hook and the battle was on. Scott walkey'd Howard and Kelly to come over and I had an audience for landing my personal best fish, a 38" fat pike. My heart was racing. It wasn't a 40 but my god, it was heavy and so full of life. Unfortunately uncle Scott can't use a camera to save his life so I have no pictures of this fish. It was a beauty though. We were all ecstatic, I couldn't believe day one we had so much action and a nice big fish like that to top it off. "Do you guys want to hand over the money now?" I bragged. Little did I know.... To top off this perfect day we were treated to an incredible sunset. Kelly and I are both into taking pictures and our prime targets are normally sunsets and animals. We kept calling each other out of the cabin as it continued to get better and better for an hour or two. I took about fifty pictures over the two hours but I'll only share three or four. The Penetration and the Pattern Another great weather day, day two we started locking down a patter of where we could locate certain sized fish. I had the chance to see 4 fish over 30" including a nice fat 34". Howard and Kelly's boat was also figuring it out as they broke the 30" mark with a nice 34" pike. The fish were again plentiful. We continued to catch Walleye's with bite marks and scars on them. Every time we'd see one we'd get excited as some of these walleye's were pretty big and the teeth marks were quite large. Late in the afternoon Scott and Kelly were tired and wanted to lay down for a nap. Howard and I decided to go out for a cruise before dinner. We were having great luck in a spot, catching fish after fish in the same location. We would catch one trolling, stop the motor, blow back, troll again and catch another one in this glory hole. We decided to cast it. I was putting a new lure on my line when Howard casted and his reel popped close and the five of diamonds spoon landed on my pants. I told him to wait a second so I finished attaching my lure and went to pull the lure out of my pants and realized two of the hooks were in my leg. I freed one with a quick pull but the other one was in there pretty good. Back to the cabin we drove. Howard felt horrible and was treating me like gold, offering me help up out of the boat and offering to drive home. "Howard I have a hook in my leg, I'm not paralyzed." We walked in to tell Kelly that her husband won the biggest catch contest . She freaked out haha. Luckily I watched a great video on how to extract these bad boys and Howard had seen the same one. We attached strong line to the lure, Howard gave it a good pull and out she came. Cleaned up and all good. Minus my pants which had to be cut into shorts. I screamed when the hook came out to mess with Kelly but it was rather painless. No one wanted to fish with Howard moving forward. I recorded it on the GoPro if you'd like to see it. Monster Time Here we were on day 3 of our trip. We had witnessed some amazing scenery, we were catching a boatload of fish everyday. I had figured out the trick to netting 30's, Howard and Kelly had figured it out, Scott had yet to catch a decent pike. The trick we found to catching the bigger fish was fishing the deeper pencil weed, and casting spinners or topwater buzzbait a couple feet in the weeds, and retrieving them outwards. Scott and I were still on the hunt for a monster. We did some thinking, seeing as we have one average sized brain between the two of us not much thinking was done but one thing stood out. We caught the biggest fish so far where we believe it is feeding on Walleye. We decided to hit that spot 6 times a day that we determined peak times. We would troll by the point, and then cast lures of different sizes and depths at the two distinct rock points. There seemed to be a fair amount of submerged stumps or logs, we had hooked into some good ones, one had Scott convinced it was a big pike as he reeled it in and it would hit various structure and feel like it was pulling. We were trolling by the "Big Fish" spot and Scott says ""*** I'm snagged.", He starts pulling on the line to try to free it, throws the boat in reverse. I look back and I see Scott's snag start to move to deeper water. "That's not a snag" I yelled. We go into full on panic mode. I'm grabbing the camera making sure it's on. Tried to get the GoPro going but before I know it it's already at the boat. I grab the net. Fish sees the net and says "hard no bud" dives deep. Scott reels him up again and I net the fish before it has a chance to turn around. Massive high fives and cheers from us and from Howard and Kelly who were close enough to catch the tail end of the battle. Crap, there goes my $60 !!**** This pike was 45", it's a good thing we vandalized the boat or we likely wouldn't have gotten an accurate reading. You'd think a photographer that gets paid to take pictures would have got the whole fish in the picture, but I'm blaming Scott for not moving to the back of the boat. Regardless I was jealous but also so happy. Scott caught the fish of a lifetime. This had been a rough couple years for him with losing some close relatives but that is the magic in fishing. When you're on the water doing what you love all of that goes away. People are always asking why I go on these trips when I could go to Cuba or Mexico, and the answer is simple. Spend a week where your sole purpose on this planet is just existing and trying to catch fish, where your cell phone, Facebook, or the news can't bring you back to reality. It really is magical. The Rabbit We had a cute little friendly Rabbit come visit us every evening. He'd hang outside and we'd feed him some carrots or other bunny friendly items. One evening Howard and Kelly were coming back from a trip, beached their boat and scared the little guy and he jumped in the lake. He kind of just layed there confused and then started taking on water. Howard saved the dumb bunny in the net. Kelly will send me the picture soon but for now here is the little trouble maker looking cute and innocent. We didn't have the luck of seeing any moose or bear this trip like we had hoped but we did see an abundant amount of nature. The Hunt Continues. Over the past few days we had great luck catching lots of fish and figuring out where the decent sized ones were. I hadn't lost hope on my 40" quest so I was trying everything I could think of to get it done. I was hoping the 50+ referred to inches and not quantity, so I gave it a go. Didn't work out for me and back she went. This cabin is loaded with great stories, A lot of lures have been left with notes by people wanting to pass on the good luck. I tried a couple but nothing seemed to work. Later that evening we were fishing the "Big Fish" spot, No pike were ready to hit our lures so we killed the motor and started jigging. Not two seconds after I hit bottom I feel a big hit. "Fish on!" This thing felt huge, possibly because I was fighting it from on top rather than the side but I was positive I was joining the 40 club if I could keep it pinned. It put up a great fight and into the net it went. A super super fat 36" fish. What a fight though, my heart was racing. Quick picture and away she went. We hit lots of fish over the next couple days Howard discovered that the pike would just destroy buzz bait on the surface and this was super fun to watch. At one point him and Scott had one fish hit the buzz bait 8 times in a row. They woke me up to come film it but of course the fish was camera shy. This being said, some of the best fishing on the lake is right off the dock. Howard got broken off by an absolute monster that swam under the dock and said cya later. I would encourage you to continue to try even if you don't catch right away, There seem to be cycles that come through and hit. Had a few surprise catches as well. I was very disappointed I hadn't caught a clam until this guy chomped down We were treated to an absolute pristine sunset on our second last day with some colours I've never seen before in the sky. Being this far north the sun sets crazy late. This video is a time lapse starting at 9 30 ending at 12. The GoPro wasn't as good at picking up the colours as the DSLR's were. This was a great last evening and goodbye to our beloved Sunshine Lake. There is a lovely journal with entries going back about 8 years that was a fun read. We left our own journal with our stories and some maps of the good spots. This is a great place to take the family, or even a honeymoon. There is a nice beach and amazing sunset views every night were gorgeous. Here are some pictures of the cabin and camp. I would absolutely classify this as our best trip to date, the fishing was so consistent and the weather was incredible. As always we can't thank Mel and Family enough. They run an absolute top notch operation and we are set on trying every lake over the course of the next few lakes. We booked Hilmer lake for this upcoming summer as soon as we landed. If you're interested I recommend not waiting until the fishing shows as the last two years we've been disappointed with our choice of lakes being booked up. Hearst has a lot of returning clients that come every year and they fill up fast. If you have any questions about Martison or Sunshine let me know! Monster hunt continues for next year! Thanks for reading

These are amazing!

I should mention, I wrote Salmon fishing but I'm really just hoping to put some fish in the boat regardless of species. Whatever/wherever that might be I am unsure. Thanks James

Thanks for all the info folks, so I'm going to pick up a couple dipsy divers . Do you think I can use my musky setup for the salmon? I have a 8' MH St.Croix Premier Musky with 80 Pound Power pro. Alternatively I have two ugly stick gx2's with 30 pound test power pro,6' MH rating. I am thinking we will try in that spot recommended near bluffers, thanks for the tip. In the blue zone, are you literally just looking for the deep water and sending lines out at different depths and hoping for the best? Is it better to run along a depth break, or is it better to travel over them? Thanks for all the advice. I really hope we can get a few in the boat and make this a weekly thing. We will make sure to be very careful and will hopefully not have to call anyone, but thank you for those numbers! James

Hey folks A family friend has purchased a 32' boat and has offered to take me out for an afternoon of fishing. Who am I to argue? I have been on a few charters, but other than that I am clueless on how to fish for them. Is it possible to do so without downriggers? The boat is parked in Bluffers Marina, does anyone have any advice on where to start my quest? We would be happy to catch anything, would love to lock into some Lakers or Rainbows. Any help is appreciated, I have been wanting to catch a lake trout for years. Thanks in advance James

Caledon Enterprise By Danielle Marr Shawn Galea and James McGregor have owned and operated Caledon’s Advanced Taxidermy for decades and now, after a devastating robbery last Friday (Aug. 12), believe they may lose the business that they started more than 30 years ago. The pair spent that Friday, as well as the two days leading up to it carefully preparing and loading a trailer full of 69 sets of moose, elk and stag antlers that were to be shipped to another facility for the next stage of the taxidermy process. What they were preparing to do was bleach, clean and disinfect the skulls of the animals attached to the antlers, which is usually done off property due to a lack of space. “We are seeing people wondering why we were storing this stuff outside, but if it takes you three days to load a trailer – what do you do in between?” Galea continued. “What you do is you barricade it, you block it off. You back it up against your building so the back door can’t be opened, you park it next to a shipping container so the side door can’t be opened. You hook it up to the truck and put another trailer in front of it – that’s what you do.” But, despite all necessary security and safety precautions, somehow, someone managed to get into the secured area and take off with a pick-up truck, the trailer containing the antlers, and a second trailer with two all terrain vehicles (ATVs) inside. The ATV's, Galea says, was the only thing that his disabled son was able to use independently. Galea and McGregor estimate the loss to be about $1.5 million – a figure which has come under much scrutiny since being released. According to the business owners, given that many of the hunters travel from international locations to northern Canada and Alaska to go on the adventure that eventually ends in a kill - there are a lot of costs incurred before those antlers get to Advanced Taxidermy. “The cost is in the hunt. To go hunt an Alaskan moose or a Yukon moose and fly all the way from Belgium, France or Germany to the United States or Canada, to get to that destination and harvest an animal of that magnitude and that size, to have an outfitter guide you through those mountains to get that animal back to us would be closer to $30,000 US,” said Galea. “For me to be able to replace that, I would have to pay him to recreate that entire experience again. It’s like someone telling you to just have your wedding day all over again if the photos go missing. It’s just not the same.” The antlers themselves are worth next to nothing because there are steep restrictions when it comes to selling or moving wildlife of any kind. According to Jolanta Kowalski, Sr. Media Relations Officer for the Ministry of Natural Resources, fines for selling such items can be as much as $100,000 and two years imprisonment as they are commercial offences. “These guys think that they are sitting on a gold mine. If it was that easy to sell them, I’d be selling stuff like that all the time,” said Galea. “For us to ship a client their elk – we have like 20 hours invested in paperwork to be able to transport that across the border or from province to province. It is a huge process. You can’t just sell them or take them anywhere.” Galea and McGregor are reaching out to the community to keep an eye out for all of the missing items. “We need people to look in their barns and look in their sheds and look in trailers, look behind the field in the back bush, we need people to look around and see if this trailer turns up. The trailer has not come up. This is our livelihood.”

Thanks! You definitely should, it's amazing. Hit Hearst up- surprisingly affordable. Thanks! Thank you for the kind words! Thanks, glad you liked it!

https://www.facebook.com/figureateguideservice/

Thanks! It was 100% the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. We definitely had a great time! Thank you my friend, we were very scared that the fishing would turn on the last day like it did because it left us wondering "What if". I wonder what we would have caught if the weather was nice all day. I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thanks. Thanks! Glad you liked it.

So True!

Thanks! I'm glad How did Mcleister go? We were torn between that lake and Martison. Still not sure which was the better choice. Thanks man, it was a blast! Thanks! Thanks! I'm hoping to put one or two out a year from now on!

Thanks Mitch! Good luck on your trip- make sure you post some pictures! Well Chris you asked me to, so I really had no choice but to buy a new camera and document everything for ya! I'm glad you liked it. It is an amazing lake. Thanks! You and Terry should totally do a trip like this, you guys would tear it up. Thank you sir!

Thank you sir! I would absolutely recommend that every angler take a trip like this. Thanks Bunk! That means a lot to me coming from the king of write ups himself. I saw a picture of you on the wall actually. We are planning to try Pym next year if I can gather a big enough party. I was very excited to share this with my fellow OFC'ers. Thanks! We kept motivated with the fishing because we knew the fish didn't just up and leave. We hoped it would clear up and they'd be hungry after a few days not eating and it paid off!

Hey Everyone! A good family friend and I took a fly-in fishing trip in Hearst, Ontario this year. This is our third annual fishing trip, the two previous involving a fly-in in Cochrane and a drive in near New Liskeard. Mel at Hearst Air was absolutely amazing at helping us pick out a lake that would cater to our needs and after months of debate we settled on Martison. She is the friendliest host you will ever meet and truly cares about every guest she has. I could not be more impressed with her Customer Service and the whole organization. Martison is great for big pike, but Mel warned us that it can be sketchy in the summer. We moved our trip a couple weeks earlier than we were originally planning. We departed Toronto at 4am Friday morning and drove straight there. My Subaru Crosstrek only used 1 and a quarter tank to get up there! ($80)! Quite economical. We arrived in Hearst and stayed at the Queens Motel. It was a bit pricey but not only does it have a hot tub, it has two hot tubs. - Sold. Day One - We were told we would be flying out Saturday Morning. The weather was not great and I am always sketchy about planes. I met Mike, and instantly his confidence calmed all my nerves about the flight. I asked Mike how many hours he had flown and his answer was a chuckle and "over 17 thousand." That kind of experience really impressed me. When we asked further it turns out that Mike is the son of Georges, who has been with Hearst from day one. Mike was practically born in a plane and had been flying guests since age 17. I snapped a couple pics of the Cessna Caravan while they took the first guests out. Off We Go! We ended up flying out in the Caravan with Mike. What a beautiful plane. Super comfortable and quiet, purrs like a kitten.Crazy fast. After a stopover at two lakes near us to deliver some goodies, we were finally flying over our lake. Our hopes were high seeing as by the time we got to one camp, they reported over 60 fish in the hour between 4 of them. Martison Lake : Distance from base: 59 miles Lake Size: 7 x 2 miles Average Depth: 8' Sleeps: 4-6 Species: Northern Pike , Walleye Unique Feature: Two feeder creeks and trail to another lake. Immediately after landing we decided to hit the lake! We set up our rods and tackle and got out in the boat in the crappy weather. Within a half hour we had a couple nice Walleye, and I looked over beside our boat and I was shocked! "Scott, Look!" I still couldn't believe we were within 50 feet of this beautiful animal. Scott had told me many times about seeing a moose and a calf at a fly in years ago, I finally got to experience it as well. Sadly I left my good camera in the cabin as it was spitting rain- one of the bigger mistakes I've ever made. I pulled out my cellphone and snapped a few pics. Just like that they were gone into the bush and we were left shocked. For both of us this close call encounter made our trips. We were out for a couple hours before being blown off of our lake by huge whitecap waves. Day 2- 4 Remember that wind storm I told you about ? It was brutal and lasted for hours and being a shallow lake, it kicked up all sorts of sediment and turned our lake brown. It amazed me how this turned the fishing from great to barely catching anything. It became frustrating as the weather was a bit off sometimes and we put every effort and technique in the world into trying to catch fish. The only thing that kept us happy was the beauty of our surroundings. We were still able to catch some walleye, but we were having a tough time finding any pike. On Day 4 I was scheduled to go out on the check flight to take some photos of other camps and some Gopro footage of the plane rides. Immediately when Andre and Kent arrived they couldn't believe how brown our lake had turned- Andre who has been with Hearst forever didn't recall seeing it like this in the last ten years! They picked me up in their Turbo Beaver- probably my favourite plane of theirs, the thing is a hot rod with wings. Kent would be flying me around today and his resume was just as impressive as Mike's. Andre comes along for all the check flights. Andre is the maintenance man, and I can not even express in words how much care he takes in his equipment and camps. Not only is he a gem in terms of fixing everything, but Andre is the man to talk to if you want the hot spots on any of their lakes. He put us on a gold mine which we will touch on later. At every camp we flew to, Andre ensured that every boat and motor was in perfect running condition. I met two great older gentlemen at Mcleister Lake- they had four boats between the two of them and Andre still insisted on making sure they were all perfect! They even refill your gas for you. Service you just don't see often these days. It was no surprise that our motor started with a half pull for the full week we were there- no issues. Here are a few pics from the flights: The sad part - everyone I talked to was catching non stop fish and over the moon happy! I tried to get the guys to leave me at another lake but sadly I couldn't ditch Scott lol. One party in Hilmer had caught over a thousand fish including a 47" pike. We had seen one pike by this time. The TSN Turning Point Thursday was a much better day for us, we had some absolutely amazing weather, an extremely calm lake, and this would really help us change our luck! We count tonnes of beautiful walleye- still not as many pike. My explanation for this is Walleye's eyesight is amazing, we consistently catch them at night in low light situations, and for me that means they would have an easier time finding our lures than their Pike counterparts. We still caught a few nice ones. Thursday night Scott hooked into something big. Peeling drag like crazy- finally it emerges and it's a 28" Walleye! The thing fought like some Musky we've caught at the same size. This was the biggest Walleye Scott has ever caught, and he was thrilled. We could sense that something had changed and things were on the up. The Perfect Day Friday morning we woke up early for a morning pee and couldn't believe how calm the lake was. We had to get out and fish! Boy are we glad we did because they had finally turned back on. We were catching pike and walleye all over the place on this lake. We trolled between a log and a rocky point on the lake and had our first double header of beautiful walleye. We decided to try trolling it again and basically discovered that this spot Andre told us about was absolutely money. We kept going until about 12 when it got really hot and the fishing slowed down. In this session we had countless numbers of Walleye, Scott added to his lead with a FAT 24" Walleye that grabbed his lure as he had it sitting 2" out of the water. Nearly gave the guy a heart attack. Imagine trolling a 50 foot stretch and catching a nice walleye or pike every pass! This was what we flew here for, this was by far the best fishing either of us had ever had, and Scott has been on over 10 fly-in's. We had two lures that we were absolutely putting a spanking on these fish with- a Silver Flat Rap 10 for Scott, and a Blue HJ14 for Me. I had actually found it floating in the lake earlier that day and put new hooks, split rings on it, and used it. I kept trying to take videos with my camera showing how consistent the fishing was, and I kept having to put it down to handle fish. (Not complaining.) We decided to start our cleanup mid day so we could get back there and stay up late if we had to catching fish. We headed back to our spot around 6 pm and immediately the results were even more impressive than earlier in the day. Scott hooked into a 25" Walleye- just as thick as the one from earlier. We were killing it, just nailing fish after fish. We were both really hoping to hook into a 40"+ fish this trip, and time was ticking and we were losing hope until ... We saw a Walleye floating belly up, we went over to go grab it and Scott hooked into something, he was reeling it in and we were both more focused on the dead walleye until it got close to the boat and Scott looked down and his rod almost snapped in half when this Pike took off under our boat. Getting this fish in required teamwork- we both took turns with the rod maneuvering it around to avoid obstacles. Disclaimer: Hearst Air does not Provide Nets. Bring a good net. We had to try to get this beast in the boat, and tension ran high as we had no net. Eventually we were able to get him in, quick measurement, picture, and he was off to grow some more so he's 40" for us next year. It was at that moment we both agreed this was the best trip ever, and neither of us wanted to leave. We were haunted by what fish we might have caught had the lake not been so muddy the first 4-5 days. Not only were we catching amazing fish non-stop, but we were surrounded by some of the most surreal surroundings I could have imagined. As it got darker, we had a gorgeous sunset on one side, and the moon coming up on the other. For those that have never been on a trip like this, most lakes are fishable until about 11pm when you're this far north. Even the Clam fishing turned on! When we finally arrived back at the cabin at 11ish, we finished our cleaning so we could head out in the morning. Leaving Day. Earlier in the week we couldn't wait for this day to come, but now it was breaking our hearts to have to leave. We headed back to "our spot" to try our luck- there was a fair amount of chop this morning, but the results were the same. Fish after fish. Scott caught a nice fat 33" pike, and as we were unhooking it we saw our plane arrive to come pick us up. Man did that thing put up a good fight. Conclusion- We could not be any happier with the service and quality of Hearst as an outfitter. Mel is the sweetest and is extremely knowledgeable on all of their lakes. She has a lake for pretty much any parties needs and if she can't take care of you she would be happy to point you to the right place. We flew into some of the most amazing scenic country and had an absolute blast. There is something amazing about being the only one's in that whole area. Being unreachable for a week (Sat Phones for Emergencies.) is just precious during this day and age where everyone is so connected to their devices. Mel has a few openings available for the rest of the year- call her and ask about some potential last minute deals. I was really excited to do a write up about this lake because quite frankly I have not seen any on the internet. Would I go to this lake again? Absolutely. This lake can be a challenge, and can be very temperamental, but at the end of the day I would take 2 days of fishing like that again if I could. The party before us had a 42" pike, and lots of walleye. Why did Scott catch all the good fish? I have no clue. The guy caught a 39", 33" ,30" pike and a 28", 25" and 24" walleye. I maxed out at a 32" pike and a 24" walleye. Who caught more fish? Still Scott! He used a smaller lure from the get go. I tried a lot of bigger profile and bigger vibrating baits to try to get strikes in the dark water, sadly that didn't pay off like I thought it would. I leave you with this photo, completely unedited. The beauty of our own country and province will leave you breathless. Thanks for taking the time to read about it. If you guys have any questions about this lake or even some of the others, I am more than happy to answer and let you know what I've heard.

It was recommended to me for big pike in the spring. Most of my lure selection is for shallower lakes anyways so I'm pretty much set. Hopefully we get into some monsters! We fly out Saturday, but are going up Friday Afternoon.

Holy Crap that is one hell of a list! Thanks! James

We are headed to Martison Lake . Thanks I definitely forgot about the baby wipes!

Beauty fish!

Hey Guys! On Friday at 2am I will be departing for Hearst, Ontario with the hopes of taking pictures with many massive pike. This is my second fly in fishing trip, and I'm curious if you guys had any suggestions for helpful little items I may forget. Thanks! James