Moosebunk

Spring 2003 was fishing with a bud. Kept telling him I was going to get a 9lb walleye. Cast a 1/4 jig and grub tipped with a piece of sucker into a foot of water at the shoreline then cursed when I got a snag. No snag though, it moved, and I told the bud it was the 9lb'er. Fight started slow until the fish decided it was hitting the current. Up came the anchor and we laid chase a few 100 meters down river to keep up with the fish. Then, it turned into the current and swam back up river to where we started. My buddy did a good job staying on top of it and when it surfaced off the back of the boat we saw we had about a 15-20lb sturgeon on the line. RIGHT ON!!! But I was trembling with adrenaline, only with a marlin have I shook like that since. The fish dove again heading down stream a little then turned fast going under the boat heading up. I was using a modified (broken and repaired) 4 1/2 foot light spinning Rapala rod with 6lb XT, and I tried to sweep the outfit quickly around the bow of the boat but the line just knicked the anchor rope knot and the fish was lost. I've sat for a number of hours over the years since, waiting in sturgeon infested waters, and never had another one bite. Places where a sturgeon jumps somewhere around you every 10 minutes. These great fish are totally on their own clock, living fossils that can certainly try any humans patience. But about the great whites out in BC... yeah, different story with better results. If you're going to try for them I'd suggest trying in a river before lake. That way the scent of any baits will carry better to draw them in.

Heaven on wheels. All it needs now is that BBQ on the back of your truck, some fuzzy dice and disco balls, a stocked bar and a few high priced plasticized escorts.

Here, For 10 times the price your kayak could have a motor and handle anyones extra girth issues... http://www.mokai.com/video-preview.html

And Bly

Fish much do ya?? Another good round of bows Cliff.

Actually, you did say for ice fishing. Go SLED. 250 Bravo all the way - YO!!! Fan cool if it's just ice yer running (no overheating), workhorse, climbs, light weight for getting unstuck, two guys can lift it into a truck cab, it'll run water pretty darn good too for those days you find the shoreline is 10-20 feet across water from the ice. I hope to keep mine running forever. There are few places a sled won't go in winter, but get deep snow in the bush or on the lake and the 4 wheeler has troubles. Too big a sled and it can make for troubles in deep stuff.

Get both.

What he said. Maybe a Wabler in the mix too. Tip yer Johnson all grubby-like too.

I pictured ya Chris at the comp for hours going over Google Earth Cayo Largo with a fine tooth comb, maybe even trying to spot bones swimming in the flats from satellite. The flies , the ground work, the learning curve... job well done. Check a bone and jack off the list dood.

Plump eye there TJ. Seems you and I pretty much do it up the same. And the 4:10 bite... damn man, did these fish not pay any attention to daylight savings time. it was 4:10 in February, they should be on 5:10 now.

Hey Cliff... good job with da PB man. What was that fish anyways... 10 inches in your wee hobbit palms. j/k Nice bow dood.

Living with the fishing, dying with the Survivor. Haha. Nice pike.

My guess is this response is too late anyway, but... I'll agree with Tangledlines here I think. Reason being, with 40,000+ lakes in the province do you really have to be a nuisance on one little 100 acre lake. C'mon... these people are doing what they want to do peacefully with their priziks and booty out. Do you guys really feel the need to just be priziks over a few pics? Nuthin personal, just my $0.02.

Great adventures Wayne. Another enjoyable Temagami report.

Great day off I'd say. Nice haul you two.

Some sharp looking work there fellas. I like the look saddle feathers give to the jigs, especially when wet. There's always a time and place for hair jigs. Most searun trout I catch up here are on black/brown or white, and a number of eyes have fallen prey to pink, orange, white and chartreuse or color combos of these. One bucktail can sometimes outlive a bag of plastics, when ya lose one though you're like DOH!!!

Great pike and certainly worth the bloody effort.

Crikey Dave.... your report is still on fire. Burn baby burn. Haha

Think you're right Terry... I guess that would mean hiring a guide to guide yer butt right off the lake into some backlakes

What if some bad karma had already happened to you and this was the good karma that came your way. For all those karma believers, (me too) turning down good karma would surely be cause for some bad karma to come your way. It seems to me that right now you're really munchin' on the tip of a big juicy karma pickle. Careful when you bite, cause karma pickle juice in your eye can really sting.

Dave, Dave, Dave... you can surely make life harder to live with a soft water report like that which comes in the winter. I think I'll surely miss going there this summer, but hey... I'll be getting that ride on Hearst Air's twin otter instead. Will keep an eye out for the gnats. I think you did quite well during what I felt ended up being a difficult weather summer up here. It's great you keep the journal because when you mentioned some dates, how you did and what the weather was like I was able to look back into my own notes and see how I did fishing just 90 miles away. One thing as a newcomer that last year Float and I had not enough time to really concentrate (find) on were mid lake shoals. Not wanting anything to do really with walleye (in more suitable walleye weather) we kept after the pike. I love that lake man. Fishing northerns in shallow waters is the best way to fish-em. Float and I had some bad luck with the big fish. Losing a mid 40 on the west side first day while on a troll is etched in my mind as one of my biggest "one that got away" memories. Told Charlie when I was there how I'd had thought I'd like to guide... 2009 when I likely quit the north to move south that summer. I couldn't start as deckhand or anything else. If I wasn't in the boat everyday I'd slit my wrists. I wonder if Charlie would let me work there for free (just meals and room) if I could guide and fish everyday??? I'd seriously do it. We'll reschedule the fly-fishing lessons too. Keep working there as long as you can Dave. I'm going to stop in and say hi to Rob this week, I'll pass along the link for him. He'll love the bedroom pic and I think all of the report. You and the crew there were a great bunch... and man, I don't know how you couldn't get yourself into some fun with some of the housekeeping and other staff. lol Now that you've done this big report; which I'll be reading again because I enjoyed it top to bottom, what are you going to do next time??? People will be waiting man. I'll be expecting 2008's Kesagami report to not come like 7 months after the fact. I knew you'd do it well... You remind me of my best friend in highschool who was a real quick-witted jokester, to be that kind of person requires intelligence. To have both can easily create talent. You find time before or after your trip this way next year stop in and see Rob and I in the Moose. The fishing ain't as good but you'll have another story to tell I'd bet. And, buy some better waterproof fishing gloves, or keep a few pairs. If you were my guide there'd be no wimping out on the shorelunch over cold thumbs. j/k

Again superstar Wayne... very nice.

Thanks very very much Jen for the kind response. Appreciated, and happy you enjoy my reports. Thing of it is Dave they could be there for a number of reasons. 1. You know the Band here is in charge now. Their "Adventure Corp" has bought the lodge. Now that they are invested they will protect. It's hard to say if an MNR presence is found in there this winter, that it was the result (maybe even help) of the Band. 2. MNR has known for some time of the plane loads of walleye being scooped up out of there by poachers out of Quebec netting and fishing illegally in Kesagami. (especially down Newnham) The local outfitter here counted 13 private planes on ice over one weekend a few a years back. Poachers filling their planes, flying out, picking up beer and flying back in. They all head east to cross the boarder where they're then out of OMNR jurisdiction. I've been on the ice and see a few planes come and go myself, but, they're a little shy to land around us now. 3. MNR has been in there the last 2 out of 3 years. I've been checked by them. They've come with OPP air support before too, so they're looking to fry big fish I'd think. One of the fellas involved with the Band's "Adventure Corp" is a racist pr!ck. I wouldn't put it past him to complain to the MNR that I'm going in there, or that "whiteman" in general are going in there, because afterall... anyone non-status is just a trespasser on Traditional Lands. (as an aside) - Heck, I took a group skidooing into a rarely visited back lake about 5 years ago, only to go back a week later to find trail accesses signed up with "Traditional Territory" signs, and word from a hospital employee that this fella was at our work telling people to make sure we have our fishing licenses and to not leave garbage in there. (we left a burnt out fire pit in the middle of the ice and four auger holes) You should see the dump he and his father have left in there. 5 years of his "respect for the land and waterways" has settled the little lake with a couple cabins to get drunk at every spring. 4. Charlie seemed some interested in my winter excursions in there. Heck, I published my successes fishing on that lake. From the Detour Mine Road it's not all that far to skidoo in there, even though snowmachines aren't allowed in the park. I am sure that winter ice fishing exposure for that lake wouldn't be in Charlie's or The Band's best interests. Again, protecting assets. Charlie did not like hearing about the netting when I told him. Thing is this Dave. If the lodge was to fold up again because of mismanagement it's still a win - win situation for MooseCree. They will continue to have it making money, or it'll remain protected park from non-status and yet with full Native usage.

Not this weekend Dave but the one after is when I'll likley start the trips in with Bren. She's picking up live minnows next week and I have a dozen or more frozen fallfish for deadbaiting. I can tell ya, I live all winter for these 3-4 weeks in March. Aiming for a 25+ pounder or a 45+ incher. MNR is reportedly setting up camp in there this winter.

Anyone sees Pete Robert Plant Maina this weekend do me this favor.... Give that "Heartbreaker" "A Whole Lotta Love" by "squeezing his lemons ti'll the juice runs down his leg." I tell ya, "Since I've Been Loving You," Pete from "Over the Hills and Far Away," I've had nothing but "Travelling Riverside Blues" dude. We sure shared some "Good Times, Bad Times." A definite "Communication Breakdown" now exists, and I'm feeling left "Dazed and Confused," "Trampled Under Foot" because "You Shook Me" yet "I Can't Quit You Baby." You had "All My Love" man, especially "In The Evening." "The Song Remains The Same" though Pete. "What Is And What Should Never Be," buddy. I have "No Quarter" otherwise I would have called to tell you you're really "Somethin' Else." I'm "In The Light" now finally, so "Thank You," ...not really. I threw on my "Kashmir" duds for a "Night Flight" "Boogie With Stu" to some "Houses Of The Holy," met some new "Friends" one of them "Down By The Seaside." A "Black Country Woman" who is now "The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair," not those curly blonde locks like you, says I'm her "Custard Pie." Take that!!!! Pete. So there Pete, I hope "Your Levee Breaks." "Nobody's Fault But Mine" for ever getting involved with a muskie fisherman like you. "Ten Years Gone" ...what a waste. "Rock And Roll" John Paul Moosebunk Jones... OUT!!!