Moosebunk

But, but, but Chris... It is really cold. Dark, not so much actually, not for Arctic standards. Lots of digging and prep to do for this summers trips. Kinda because they're still all up in the air except one. Don't forget to drop me a line though with your tour dates. Seriously will try and meet up if home and able. Trips to the Tree have increased in price Bill, Looking back it was kinda just dumb luck that the first trip was taken, leading to our second one won. It's become a popular spot too, and the only week or two a year that an exclusive 7 day trip is allowed, it's heavily booked in advance. Same with some other char outfitters as well though. Hoping to travel each summer to different communities for work but eventually find a place that is "set-up" and "reliable" enough to return to for just a great char fishing vacation. Preferably at least half the average cost of these outfitters.

Can we get all the stuff at Princess Auto for doing these same mods to our own bikes Terry? That thing is gnarly... but it kinda makes me giggle too.

Daylight is lasting nearly seven hours up here in Nunavut this month, but cold days dipping into the -40's with -50F windchills have been keeping me indoors a little more than I'd like. A bit stir crazy, the work and on-call hours have helped pass some time, as well as eight seasons of Entourage to watch. My room-mate and I have been talking char now and again, as he lives full-time in this place atop of Hudson Bay on South Hampton Island. Last summer he found fish, and plenty of them once he bought an ATV to get him out onto the land. There were July days the rivers were thick with returning silver fish, fresh from the ocean, and well upstream found in some of the smaller, shallow holdover lakes there were some reds to be caught come August. From town is a rough, 70 mile tundra road which stretches a ways along the coast then turns inland. Along it's route are a few rivers and lakes that connect with the sea. The hope is my friend is still working here in July and there's some work to be had for my return, but there's even more hope to explore and find char... In the meantime it all got me thinking back... again! A seed to one day fish for arctic char had been planted sometime in the late teens, early twenties. And it was these first short trips to Nunavut with Brenda which watered that seed. The Tree River is world class, holds world records, and yet I remember it seemed not quite of this world. Today I took some time to piece two pieces of two trips into one "sorta" story about fishing char the first couple times. Some inspiring landscapes and intensely beautiful fish in this look back... http://bunksoutdoorangle.com/a-nunavut-nomad-iii-tree-river-roots/ Bunk.

Thursdays windchill was -52C. Fridays windchill was -54C. School canceled for the kids because some children's faces will suffer frostbite just walking the few minutes to school. Warmed up to about -40C something in the afternoon and while sitting in my office reviewing charts I look out the window and see a girl, mid 20's ish pull up on her skidoo. Two kiddies on with her, she had to stand cause there was no space on the seat. She's got a cigarette hanging out of her mouth, her face totally exposed with just the hood up and I'm thinking, EVER HARDCORE THAT CHICK! Today is breezy out. Gonna warm up to a -40C windchill this afternoon. It's my only day off to get out there but the skies are dreary. Chased caribou last Saturday but the light was bad, the bous were fast and after a couple hours the sweat was starting to freeze. Was invited to seal hunt at some point but exposed and standing still for hours out on the ocean at the floe edge would likely kill with these temperatures. Looks like best option is a day of movies, internet, cooking stuff and snoozing. Same for you Matt and everyone else. The extremes man, they're tough to play with... except for the EVER HARDCORE THAT CHICK!

What a beautiful thing to wake up to and enjoy. Makes me miss those James Bay skies. Mel and the gang at Hearst do it up right. All of their cabins and the outfit as a whole is flawless. Looking forward to seeing them soon. Great pike, enjoyed that timelapse, and writing about others writing on the wall brought back some memories. Takes time, work and care so big thanks for doing this up,

This one is just a few hours down the road from me and I've always wanted to check it out. Even just day trip up that way. Reason being, have seen some really great spring pike and some equally great fall walleye pics and reports come from the area over the years. Don't think it would break the bank and there's some wicked speckled trout lakes you can backroads tour to up in Zec Dumoine. http://www.holdenlakelodge.com/

Nice pike but... how do we even know that's you. lol

This is actually a 3 piece rod but sold with 5 pieces. One butt end, plus two mid sections and two tips. Combining different pieces gives you different actions and strengths. It's a great rod actually, Fenwick has a solid reputation in the industry as well. I have used it in Costa Rica on the salt and, NWT/Nunavut for lakers and char. Cast, jig, whatever. Hooked what was probably a big rooster off the back of a catamaran that spooled out my 50lb PowerPro on a 4000 series in seconds. The rod bent right into that fish it held until the line was gone. Many of the bigger char caught in Nunavut Nomad 1 were played out on this stick. On a trip it's great to have those two extra pieces as back-up as well. Accidents happen, and Fenwick has that covered with those extra that make sense and have purpose. Right now, SAIL has this rod same on clearance... https://www.sail.ca/en/fenwick-canne-a-lancer-leger-methods-pack-7-pi-m-mh-5-pieces-384501

A Happy New Year to all of us OFC'ers, Chase those bigguns and your dreams, best wishes and fishes for 2018.

A desktop picture of my girls is on the "away" laptop while this picture below is on the PC at home here.

Have fished other people's "spots" as they have fished other people's "spots" and fished "spots" that I have fished too. Darn fishing spot thieves everywhere... Thems the only criminals I know!

Solid mix of fish to make anyone happy, especially your dad with that dandy pike. Thanks for posting.

Ohhhh she's a helluvalot smarter than I was at her age... maybe smarter than me at my age now too. The sturgeon are from France... or some country like that. Can't actually think of any cool incidentals this year dood! Gar would certainly surprise ya if not used to them. Toothy nightmare. Few fish are as stubborn at the end of the line, that's for sure Rick. Sadly it's at the bottom of the river. This spring some rainy day or two I'm looking to make another. Losing the careful work is more annoying than losing the dollars put into one. Total confidence it'll be a great summer bait to troll up top. Thank you sir.! And thanks for reading gang.

The autumn season finished up and finally found some down time to piece together the second of two reports, both which pretty well sum up a great fish at home. Really taken to the muskies in recent times, and this fall they were the primary target. Did quite well in the end, catching more 50+ inchers this year than any before. Bren caught a great best and I managed a couple true Larry tanks that really did make all the time and effort worth it. It was about five or six years ago and a trip down to St. Clair with my friend Andy when he kinda put the fire into me for these awesome fish. Since then, its been hard not to appreciate the hunt for skis. Last fall I tried targeting sturgeon as well. This year with friends and family along we took that up a notch. A few great days were had on the water with everyone boating multiple fish and a sixty-incher or better. A couple outings I broke away from both these fish to enjoy a half day solo back lake fish for smallies. My only day bass fishing this year, it turned out alotta fun. That second day out was a BOQ troll for fall eyes with a couple buddies. It started slow until early afternoon when we found 'em! Those interested in the usual from me can read on if they like... LUNKER'S OF THE FALL. FALL'S FIVE FOOTERS FOR FAMILY & FRIENDS. Careful on that fresh ice and Happy Holidays gang. Bunk.

Those scutes are razors... Teach 'em the safe ways. Leah loved her sturgeon fishing this fall too.

That's a haul!!! Salivating.

Me too man! Just need the work done at his end to get it posted. One problem may be, that it's slower than dialup some days here in Nunavut. As for this report, pretty sure some of these pics were on my PC for two years. Difficult to get Mike motivated when it was brought up. Quite liked this write up and the fish but really, it's part two that takes the cake. So hurry up Mikey!!! Git'er done.

Ahhhh... enjoy both Chris. Specks followed by some sunny R&R, you're living it this month man! Solid fish.

Welcome aboard. Three easier fisheries to fish with Clair the easiest, closest and best shot for a bigger fish. Just gotta watch the winds outta Belle.

This weekend has been totally depressing John. I'd be fishing in this but the boat went away Friday cause work starts Monday. Yesterday through ti'll Wednesday are all awesome days for Quinte winds and some for the muskie barometer. Not to mention, backwoods trout. Gawdammit!!! Wish there was one more week.

One of the good guys here for sure... Always liked Photoz. Condolences to family and friends.

If that's the end of it Gordy, that's the end. But a good finish. Those bows are super fat and surely gave your daughter a good fight on the line. Great to see her getting into it, hopefully she keeps up with it.

You're not a little fella Bill... so I know those are good fish. May have to follow suit and put in just one day of bass this year. Fall fishing has been pretty well been all muskie. Bit hard by that bug. Smallies are a tonne of fun though.

Gordy, Mike, Chris... Thanks for reading doods. Mike... get that write-up started.

Great pic and it would have been cool sitting on that log with ya sipping some java too.