Joeytier

I took a drive by kipawa today and it ls completely open as of about late last week so you should be hitting ice out beautifully up there

Well that's encouraging. I think it'll be damn near may before I get my paddles wet

Harness the web/maps/many other resources. The vast majority of this province suits your description

Well the OFAH is officially a joke...and nipissing was pretty stellar this year for a 'collapsed' fishery. Articles like this are doing more harm to the local resorts than MNR regulation changes ever could.

Lady nip was very giving this year. Never got my big girl though

Sweet footage. I can't wait until I can fish in my tee shirt haha

2 to 3 times a week, sometimes more...rarely less

Awesome recap Nick. Can't believe how well those panoramas turn out.

What a fantastic experience for you! Thanks for sharing, sounds incredible. Beyond not having the right footwear in what ways were you not prepared properly? I'd be curious to know and it may help someone else planning a similar trip.

 

Congrat's on the new job as well, that's big news!

 

 

Cheers

We were somewhat jaded by the forecasts fantastic outlook, which proved to be anything but correct, of course.

I'd say the biggest learning lesson was dietary planning. We were focused simply on keeping things compact, so we ended up relying largely on food that was nutritionally useless (aside from fresh fish and some canned veggies).

Thanks Mike.

Some other funny notes...

The only wildlife encounter we experienced the entire time was an extremely curious pine marten that wouldn't think twice about coming within 10-15 feet of us. Later in the same day, we went fishing in front of our camp for maybe two hours, and watched him scurry in and around our campsite digging up trout scraps and licking our cutting board. It wasn't until we got back when we realized he had stoled an entire foil-wrapped pound of butter!

And on our last full day a CO actually hiked into the lake we were staying on and fined us for having cans in the park, which was a huge bummer (a $125 bummer)

Can't help with US waters, but 5-7 hours north will get you into some potentially good late-ice or early ice-out trout fishing

Chad, that 15 pounder must have been incredibly fat to only be 30 inches. I've caught a couple in the 8-9 lbs range out of Lake O. that were high 20's...

Those look great. Do any of them have bead heads?

I can see smaller versions of those working great for spring brookies as well.

Lovin' all the Nipissing reports this year. Definitely had some stellar days this winter that's for sure.

Ding-a-ling! You whacked 'em good!

I'm in Temang...I'd be in for something closer to Latchford maybe??

Any outdoorsman can relate to the feeling of anticipation of a trip that has been in the works for months on end. I don't think I have ever personally anticipated any trip quite as much as this one, for a variety of reasons, but primarily because this would be our first exposure to truly remote winter camping.

10:30 pm...depart from North Bay wide-eyed and excited. By 6:30, we had arrived, and quickly geared up for what we knew would be a killer hike in. The area had gotten a huge dump of snow a few days earlier so we were dealing with 3-4 feet of powder without any sort of packed trail just about everywhere [more in some places]. We decided to both lug in our flashers and a couple other goodies in which definitely didn't help our case on what was a 99% uphill journey to the lake, but it proved to be worthwhile.

Digging out camp...

Which eventually became...

It didn't take long for the cold, mostly windy weather and deep snow to point out the flaws in much of our equipment. Battles with wet feet (actually, wet everything), sore muscles, and a seemingly constant hunger and thirst was met with mostly open arms and good spirits. It didn't take long to realize that we were in for more than we prepared for, and in a way I'm glad it turned out that way. Amidst all this, we squeezed in a couple hours fishing each day, and iced some truly gorgeous (and truly delicious) lakers. Fishing was relatively slow, and with only salties, having the flashers to coax fish was the dealbreaker. 10 fish were hooked in what was probably a total of 12 hours fishing.

The nightly huddle ritual...

The morning of departure greeted us with what was probably a sustained 40 km/h wind with frequent gusts to at least double that, which may have just been a blessing in disguise, as we packed everything up in record time!

Since I'm starting a new job in northern Quebec next week, this will likely be my last trip of this caliber for some time, but my love affair with this park has only just begun...

I like my hooks n minnows...with a stop on the way for some Export golds...

But seriously, that's a great way to put things into perspective, and it seems like you have the right motivation to stick with it.

That's why there's so many Sushi bars on Church Street....

Heyooooooo

Way too busy man..LSPP bound this weekend

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The lx-6 will be upgradable next year to my understanding. Only difference between the two is size. The analog flashers [lx-5] have much better battery life and are obviously cheaper, but aside from that the digital is probably the superior unit.

Amazing looking bows!

Great job. I'd love to order some taller ones off of you [maybe 36"?] before next season.

Mike, I hope you ate that sucker