Rich Clemens

Not such a good year for so many great people on here. Sorry to hear about your loss Joey. Always keep him in your heart and he's remain there forever. Patsy and I extend our condolences to you and your family.

They really seem to enjoy the trips and are great in the boat. We stop along the shorelines and let them out for a long run and to take care of business. With not much time for a good snooze during the day, they are wiped out in the evening. Unfortunately, Kia (The Airedale) picked up a viral or bacterial infection sometime during the trip. We had to 'call in' a vet this past Sunday as she was running a high temp, pretty lethargic, and just wouldn't eat or drink. Replace some fluids, shot of antibiotics, and pills for another week. It was just yesterday that she turned the corner and started getting more active and eating/drinking again. Good to see her getting back to her old self again. We gave them a lot of water time, but all we caught was one small pike. It just seemed that I was not having any action on the larger lures. The guys before me were having success with Double Cowgirls, and I threw them too. I eventually downsized my baits to bucktails with #5 and #6 blades. Seemed to have some better luck with the smaller lures. I know just the place to try these sweet things again, but that will have to wait until next June. And yes, Patsy really likes the purple one - special made just for her. I think she nailed the pike on it.) I have to admit the actual reports are rare, as I don't get out much. Heck I spend more time fishing in Ontario than I do in my own home state. I've only been out twice this year down here, and got skunked both times. Found a lake not too far from home that contains some respectible musky that I hit once last month. The place was just socked in with super thick weeds and no sightings at all. Gonna give it a little time and hit that lake again this fall and see what happens. With work, grand-kids, and other things I'm involved in, not too much time left. Who knows, maybe someday I'll get something worth reporting. I hear from folks looking for info on the French River from time to time, and occassionally the same places I have been. That gives me the opportunity to contribute and share with the others on the board. So, that's a good thing.

Well, our last fishing trip of the year has come and gone. We arrived on the North Channel of the French River on Friday Sept. 4 and would be there chasing muskies until the 12th. This was our 5th year at Rainbow Camp. Kinda limited on fishing as there are rapids on both ends of this stretch of the river, but we got about 5 miles or so in which to fish. We arrived in the late afternoon and unpacked the truck. While Patsy got the cabin set up, I prepared the rods and the boat. With a couple hours of daylight left, we took off. We started out in a bay where I have raised a musky the past couple years in a row. After hitting that pretty good, and seeing nothing, we went back out to the main channel and headed down river to some reed beds. Sure enough, after about 10 minutes of casting the weed lines, here she comes. Not a huge fish, maybe high 30"s. As usual with my luck, she takes a glance and moses on along. Figure-8 a little and a couple throw-backs, but never to see her again. I thought "Hey - this is gonna be a great week". Met the guys in the cabin next to us and they too were there for some musky action. Got to talkin' musky and learned they had boated 5 during the past two weeks. They reported a consistent weather pattern for the past couple weeks - blue bird skis, limited clouds, and no rain. When we arrived, it was quite warm - warmer than it was back home. We heard that the Temp-humidity-index was hitting 90F and it pretty much stayed that way the entire week we were there. The bite was really tough during the day and they did most of their fishing in the early morning and evening. Good enough for me. They sure were right, hot afternoons, we went out a few times and got the big ole' skunk-o. There were a couple other places I have spotted my quarry, so we hit those areas as well. Nice bays with scattered weed-beds. Kinda reminded me of Lakair and the West Bay. Early in the week, I raised two fish, but just like the one on the first day, she just stopped by for a look, and kept on going. I thought for a moment that one of them would be interested as she followed the lure for quite a few seconds during the F-8. But, twas not to be ... off they went. It was tough all week, just as the other guys said it was, few pike here and there, but that's about it. Thursday proved to be the most positive days when I started out with raising two fish in the morning. NADA, BIG ZERO, GOOSE EGG, you name it. So, maybe they had breakfast, so I'll pay them a visit for an evening meal. That evening, back we went to the same place where I saw the two fish earlier in the morning. This was the same bay, but on opposite sides, so I assume I am dealing with two different fish here. BY gosh, I raised the same dang two fish again - again, they just will not bite. Patsy took a throw-back for the one and by gosh, she followed Patsy's bait back to the boat. Figure 8 and nothing ... off she went. I think I need to do some re-evaluation of my current tactics when I am able to raise a musky like that. Past few years, I'm doing fairly well getting them to the boat, but I just have not been able to get them to bite. Maybe I need to be a little faster with th F-8 and give some more erratic action with my bait. What I'm doing now, sure don't seem to be working very well. But, even seeing them drives up the adrenalin. None of them would be considered trophies, probably not even legal size for up there, but some day, one of them will be real hungry. I guess we see next year. Although we took a fair number of pictures, we'll select a few to share with everyone. Hope you enjoy. These are from the first week of our trip - North Channel of the French River. Our home for the first week - right on the water. Kia and I on the hunt for the spot where she's hiding. Nice sunset shot one of the evenings: Patsy was able to pick up a few pike along the way. With fishing so slow, she spent most of the time sitting back and reading a good book. Of course, once I caught a fish, the book was put down - for a little bit anyway. One of my successes fishing for musky. This one tooka #5 Mepps bucktail. Left her go to grow a little more. Scenery shots. Boy - do we love the scenery up there: This was my largest pike at just 27". After fishing the weed beds most of the week, without a lot of success, I changed tactics and started hitting the shore lines. Caught this one off a rocky shore line. I should have though about mixing things up earlier in the week, as I did the same thing last year, and also hit on a nice sized pike. Our ride: It's been a long hard week eh ? The second week, we headed over to Rideau Ferry in Eastern Ontario to meet up with my father and step-mother for a week of bass fishing. It's a nice drive and pretty scenery going across Ontario on Rt. 17. Too bad it was so darn foggy that morning, that most of the trip was made with limited visibility. But, after a 6 1/2 hour drive, we arrived safe and sounds. I did the unpacking while Patsy ran into Perth to do a bit of laundry. We packed a mixed bag of clothes, focusing more on cooler weather, so we used up all our shorts and tee shirts the first week. Dad and I got everything unpacked and the boat ready to do. This week would be strictly bass fishing with an expected fish fry later in the week, where everyone in camp gets together. So, I was hoping the 'catching' would be a little better than it had been before. The week started out pretty good. Not too hot and a nice breeze going. We primarily just float fish for bass there - very little casting. After the first week, my arms needed a good rest. Just a nice little shop on the water is all we need to slowly drift across the weed beds. Landed a couple nice ones, which we kept for our contribution for the fish fry. As it turned out, this was to be the best day for float fishing for the week. After this, mother nature turned on the blower and we had some quite windy days for just about the rest of the week. Wind was just too strong and the lake white-capping to effectively fish the way we like to. Once in the while the wind direction would be such that we could sneak into some smaller, sheltered bays. For one or two days, it was so blasted windy, we didn't spend much time on the water. Friday morning, our last day ... rain. But, don the rain gear and we picked up a few more. We only kept a few fish to eat, while all the rest went back for someone else. Overall we had a great two weeks, just getting away from everything back home. Relaxing, catching up with old friends, meeting some new ones, and I'm already looking forward to next year. When's the OFC GTG at Lakair next year ???? (JUst 9 short months away ....sigh) Here's a few pics from our second week at Rideau Ferry. No book reading this week - Patsy is catching fish !!!!! Now she tries to beat my 27" pike, but she came up one inch too short. (sorry hon) Someone is on fire with the bass here. Ok. Let Rich catch one too. A nice burning sunset. We had a couple of these. Uh yes - the camp fish fry. Doesn't that just make your mouth water ??? Until the next time. Hope you all enjoyed.

Thanks for posting this. I heard he was gonna do it ... not too bad of a pitch/cast either.

Definitely some unusual looking fish there. Thanks for posting them Cliff.

Love the nostalgic pics Rob. Cool.

Just a little memorial to my fishing partner we had to say good bye to about 1 1/2 years ago. She was just as excited as seeing a fish caught as I was.

Now that's the best one I've heard in a long while.

Yup - soon have to hook up a wheel chair to haul the wagon around. Hope ya have a great one Paul.

Great report Joey. Nice to see you guys were able to make it back up again. Next week, I'll be putting some new musky baits to the test up that way Can't wait.

I'll second, or third the Garmin Nuvi. I have the 255W. An yes, go with the larger screen, you won't regret it.

No apologies needed Rick. We all know you're doing the best you can. I get the same crap here at work, even though we have a lot of filtering on our networks already. The crap still keeps coming in.

The parts of the French I fish are below the dams. I have no knowledge of the upper areas. Where I am, most of my fishing is off island points and rocky shoals. This, with weed beds within the spot or very close to it. I also fish in more open weed-ebds, but no luck at all for musky there - not even a follow. All those I've seen were in the combo kind of spots mentioned above. We will troll from time to time as we travel to a particular spot. Latched into two musky trolling. One was a nice hard hit, but never saw the fish. Another, my wife had on and was a 40" class fish, but she did the rolls and clipped the time. That was back when I was only using a 12" leader ... now I use 24" for casting and either 24" or 36" trolling. Started using top waters a little more last year and had one huge blow-up on the Top Raider, but the blind fish missed the bait. Wish I could help more, but I just don't have any information to make a comparison to the areas I fish. I look for areas listed above and that's where I try.

Not sure how much help this is, but I was there back around 1994. We were looking for pike and bass at the time. I fished the main lake right there for pike the entire week and caught NONE. My dad and step-mother were along and they did pretty good on smallies, but nowhere near the numbers Steve-13 was catching. If I recall correctly, looking out across the lake frmo the camp, they went down to the right, where the lake takes another right-hand turn. Along the shore lines is where they were hitting the bass. There is an island out from the camp and to the right, with some ncie weed-beds behind it. Surely I would catch a pike in there ..... NOT. We did a one day fly-in to an outpost like, which I think was called Pike Lake. Did pretty good there that day and got into some nice-sized pike - into the 30" range. Didn't do any of the portages to the local lakes that week. We were only there that one time.

Great times John. I'm already looking forward to coming back up there next year. I know there's a big girl up there with my name on her.

Crappy photos ??? Looks prety darn good to me. That must have been a thrill for that one to smash a top water. Set the hook and hang on. Congrats on that one.

Patsy and I send along our condolences in your lost. I know it's been a tough year for you Wayne, but hang tough bud. Hang tough.

Congratulations. From the pic, he's already thinking of his first bass. Glad everyone is doing great.

I'll be on the Rideau in several weeks. I can only hope for some action like that.

Now that's the most sensible thing I've heard all day.

I concur ... a beauty. Congrats Jim.

I release just about everything I catch. I may keep a couple bass or a mess of crappy for a fish fry, but that's about it.

I knew that Musky fishing catching in the West Bay would be contagious. Congrats on each of you catching one.

I picked up two last year. 1). Red. 2). Red and Black. But, I didn't have much action on them so far this year. Should be good colors though. (At least I hope they are).

Ah ... yet another Richard on the board. Welcome cuz.