Moosebunk

Tired, excited or into the booze and my yap spews a little crap. Try and keep a lid on it sometimes, but, it's not something to seek therapy for. When women swear in casual conversation for some reason it bothers me more than when guys do it. Wierd, or does anyone else feel that way too???

3 or 4 buddies are headed up to Tamar the week of february 25th. This might be the first hardwater season I will not be joining them. Good luck with the lakers this season Wayne. May ya find that 53 lb'er that lurks in the arm off your dock.

Dooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood!!! OK, so you caught some dinner. Big whoop. Where's the Kesagami report. Nice suppertime haul though Dave. Thanks for the report.

Thanks for the interest and info. It would be a cool opp for a meet and greet granted if people go the distance. Myself, I am travelling up with a friend in his vehicle towing his boat. We have invites out to a few others now for a third friend to join us but may just end up going with 2 because of my/our questionable departure time, and, it's my buddies ride and boat so I'm not really the boss. lol. I can't speak on behalf of both of us, but if a day or night gets planned for a M&G swill and/or fish, well, I'll be doing my darndest to try and be there. Fish ON DOODS!!!

And ohhhh yeah... NO TARPON available where you'll be. The Carribbean side of the country is supposedly amazing for that.

Papagayo is on the Pacific west of Liberia in Guanacaste, in the northwest corner of the country. You'll be arriving at the end of the dry season so don't expect the lush green tropical scenery usually associated with this country's rainforests and landscape. You are in the countries "farmland" province. Your timing is good for marlin and sailfish. You'll be catching the end of their season (Jan-Apr) for both species. Sailfishing is better in the south of the country, marlin in the north. Yellowfin, dorado and wahoo are a few other species you may hook up with. First trip I took there was near that area and we paid $600 US for a charter to catch 1 sailfish (80-90lb) and 1 yellowfin (120lb) and lose 1 other sailfish... that was April. This past January we paid $720 US for a day and caught 1 mahi mahi, 1 wahoo and 1 marlin. We lost 1 other mahi mahi and missed 2 marlin. Worth every penny. Your hotel will make arrangements for you, but, if you do the legwork yourself you will likely save $100+. Expect $600 - $1100 US to charter a boat for the day. DO NOT take any charters that offer a day offshore for $50-$100 US. You will be sorry when you're crammed in with 10 others and catch nothing. If I can suggest a couple excursions nearby to you... "Hacienda Guachipelin" and whitewater rafting on the Terrorio. (may be too dry for that) Beautiful country... Have fun and Pura Vida.

I'm in for boozing. Gotta get there first. My buddy I can imagine would be up for it, if not... I am. hehe. Dates are 18th - 26th for us. Ohhh yeah... I'll be the smelly guy curled up under a tree by some lake access somewhere. lol.

I think I've seen that link Wayne. Always looking myself. Kinda 50/50 on Bren's next move for school... Lakehead or Queens are the options. I'm good to move either way. 18 months and maybe no more "Moose" to the Bunk. BTW, when are you flying up for a weekend this summer? June or July? Early June for best fishing bud. Man, I can't wait for this trip or a couple others in the works for this summer.

Still looking into this... but, it seems there's little info on anything really. (was checking out the jig flies again though... cool stuff) Like I said before, brookies, lakers and pike are the plan. I've been looking online for cabin rentals, motels, crownland to camp, or pay campsites to camp at... anything really. We have about 7-8 days out there and I'd love to have at least one thing in mind to drive towards, and then options for other stays as well. I'd break down those days camping and renting or motel'ing it, just looking for something reasonably close to South Bay. Any places exist??? Is the camping relatively safe from idiot robbers??? Anyone know of crownland or any campsites available?

Yep, got the BPS Gore-Tex coveralls. Sweet. Helly Hanson raincoat... Not to shabby at all.

We got our 30cm yesterday. And it blew, and blew and blew. Thing about living on an island is, the wind blown snow get's ya from any and all directions. Shovelled 4 times. Glad it's over.

If you're going out there now, salmon are pretty much a mute point. If you're headed there in the summer or fall (fall especially) you might as well get a day of sturgeon in. They are tough little buggers that'll test your skinny girly-man biceps too. I'm Hanz and he's Franz.

Any lake that offers the variety of at least 3 species, with at least one of the species being of trophy size, one of the species coming in phenomenal numbers, and for me at least one has to be a trout specie. If it did not have those qualities I'd expect great fishing of at least 4 species of fish. For Ontario... Nipigon. A solid four species lake where good numbers of all species can potentially be caught and all of them in trophy sizes. LOTW offers the same but substitutes the brookies for musky... an almost fair trade. The Albany or Attawapiskat Rivers. Walleye, brook trout, trophy pike, sturgeon and whitefish. Hawley/Sutton Lake/River. A most underfished gem full of lakers, searun and resident brookies, and totally overlooked big pike and abundant walleye. Lake Superior or Ontario. Tonnes of crap. Across Canada... I think any trophy northern lake with lake trout, pike and grayling would be perfect. First choice Great Bear so I could throw in the Tree River and fish the worlds largest arctic char after I get bored of the best lake trout fishing there likely is. God's Lake/River too in Manitoba. Pike, walleye, lakers and brookies. Like Nipigon, my dream combination right there. To pick only one, Nipigon.

Some nice size eyes for what looks like a busy lake. Walleye aren't often tested for chemicals. Being a coarse fish they don't tend to retain them in their flesh. (unlike fatty fish such as trout or salmon) Mercury on the other hand....

Last name is Bunker. Live in Moose Factory, work in Moosonee, located on the Moose River, all of which are in Moose township. Grew up in Perth though, then lived in Ottawa, then Attawapiskat... but, PerthOttawaAttawapiskatMooseFactoryBunk kinda made me sound retarded when I would say it 5 times fast. Tonyb. haha, Tonya was taken.

Cabin is coming along very nicely Carl. Good show. Some nice fishing in the mix... keep it up.

I didn't like Snare. I went July long w/e. I understand it fishes better earlier in the spring, especially on the river portions. Edgar and Nettogami are both good choices. I can't speak about them personally though... just what I've heard.

I thought it was 144 - 12 dozen. Best refresh on the rules. My bad. Trap my own and now and then I swear one trap has that and more. I ain't counting, it's never been way beyond....

Beauty of a lake... Beast of a fish.

Bumped into one fella that had been fishing on the beach everyday for the week. NOTHING. Although, one evening a school of fish that I swear were bonefish were seen feeding everywhere and the locals were handlining them into their buckets in pretty good numbers. Joey - buckets for washing blood off the deck. Hooked - no biting bugs. Thanks again all. Was a long report to do up this one. Will be awhile for another as my big skidoo is having it's engine pretty much rebuilt. OUCH.

I read this just last night and found it quite amusing.

EXXXX-ACTLY. Or, the very least, buy a piece of land, build a tent frame and an outhouse, and make a little getaway like TJ has done. When I finally move south I'll likely be looking to join some friends with fishing camps. Hopefully, one in particular about 3 hours from Ottawa up into Quebec that has the only cabin on one lake and nearby access to about 10 more. Brookies mostly.

They didn't see it as too bad at all. That's the way it's done Wayne, fish get's cut off once they get it boatside. It's not like you can put your hands on a fish that big and hold it for a pic either. It's like a thrashing 8 to 10 foot long fish with a spear on it's nose. They don't keep 'em that size either where we were. They release all billfish. I found it weird at first cause I didn't know it was going to happen, but I understood later on.

Day 6 & 7. PESCA EN ENCANTO All other days so far were making me miserable. NOT. But, these next two days which I left for last were the real good stuff. Our eerie friend wished us luck on our way to the deep sea. Out of Flamingo we set sail by the power of twin Johnson 115hp 4 strokes, and while onward to the continental shelf's edge under the deep blue Pacific, I snapped some pics. Life at sea was rich. Not so much on day 6 but on day 7 while inshore fishing did I get such a great show of wildlife. Stingray schools and individual fish were jumping everywhere. Flying fish. Sea turtles going solo and even mating. Two humpbacked whales, a few schools of dolphin, a mahi mahi chasing the teaser, baitfish feeding and birds diving all around set a grand stage for Bren and I. This big donkey sailboat was a nice site too. But onto fishin' already... 20lb for mahi mahi and wahoo, 30lb for sailfish and yellowfin, 50lb for marlin. 12/0 for marlin. Bren was drowsy on Gravol and hadn't yet got her sea legs when at 0935 the line on the port side outrigger fires. Very quickly the rod is off the Captain's deck and down into my hands. Feels GREAT to have that rip and tug. No one knows what's on the line. The deckhands are quessing small marlin or big mahi mahi but the fish won't show itself. I don't much care... it's fun whatever it is. At boatside we finally see it's a wahoo. Great. I never caught one before. They guess it around 45-50lbs but I tell 'em by the time I'm 60 it'll be closer to 80. I'm just shaking out the burn in my arms still when at 10:00 the Captain up top yells out MARLIN!!! A huge fish comes smoking up through the propwash waves chasing a starboard teaser. It gives Bren a scare as it rolls up beside the boat swimming on it's side just below the surface. It's an oil slick of bright blue, silver and navy and as quick as it came it disappears into the abyss. The Captain starts a figure eight pattern and the deckhands are at the ready. Minutes later a porpoising fin coming up the chute torpedoes right up between the teasers and pegs the lure. It so stupid on that you can't even imagine. Bren is up. I motion her to the fighting chair but she's not only scared stiff the hands say, "NO YOU!!!" And when I get grip on that rod I was instantly tembling from the adrenaline rush. The guides laughed after a minute or two when they saw both my legs bouncing off the toes of my feet while holding on to that fish. It took 5 minutes or so just to get control of my own body and collect my frazzled mind to think straight. The marlin pulled unlike any other thing I have ever experienced. A lot of boat work needed to be done just to keep up with it, sometimes the Captain had to put the throttle right down to lay chase. It was nothing on this one surface run for the fish to peel off 60-70 yards in mere seconds heading straight back from the boat. When it did crap like that, with both hands on the rod it felt like the fish was splitting me straight down my spine. The hands were cheering and yelling "REEL REEL REEL" so much so that one would think they were in the chair. One handed me a full bottle of water during the fight and I downed it in 3 gulps. Sweating from every pore and aching from fingertips, through arms, shoulders, scapula, back and right to hips I was exhausting faster than anytime I can ever remember in my life. It was a tough task for Bren to get pics. The boat was whipping around not just from the waves but from the maneuvering. Two co-captain deckhands, me, a fighting chair, sometimes the boats structures and two outboards all were obstacles. Bren had to stay back out of the way on the starboard side, find her sea legs best she could and expect to capture the marlin while my camera was stupidly set to macro because the wahoo shots hadn't actually been taken yet and the last pics were of fishing hooks. Suffice it to say, the few glimpses she managed as pics were not at high percentage for quality. That said, she did get one that really counted. A marlin is nuts. Diving, jumping or running it did all of it with immense strength and an unpredictable lightening fast speed. The fish dominated me to a point where I didn't even care if the fight ended, yet, unable to reel because of not being able to hold the rod with just one hand, nor grip all that well with my fingers on the retrieve, I just wouldn't say die. I wasn't strapped into the chair and I was getting a blister on my thumb and tight muscles in my calves from trying to brace myself at times from going forward. The Captain kept the boat moving and sure enough the fish got to port side where one deckhand made an attempt to cut the line just above the 10 foot 120lb leader. He missed. The fish slowly krept back, trying to sound, and so to remedy this he came over and sinched my drag tight. When he did this I lifted up out of the chair to my feet from the weight of this diving beeyotch of a fish. Both arms burning to just hold on I yelled at him right then, "it's too tight loosen it." And so, as one hand went to do so the other guy told him no. The fish was hardly away, probably just 10 feet below the boat. But, when it dove hard again and pulled me to my feet, I fought to sit and moments later leaned back hard on the marlin and the line snapped. I was like stunned. The boys were happy as pigs in poop and they congratulated me and pat me on the back. The fish they told me was 400 to 450 pounds and there was no way it was ever coming in the boat. The plan was a release by cutting the line at the leader but just that I didn't know that. So, when they missed, the tightened the drag knowing they would lose the line. Truth of it all was, I didn't have a milli-ounce of energy left to go on. This marlin was a battle which left me absolutely humbled, postively spirited, and somewhat physically nauseated. It was godly for me to just experience. Very short time after the marlin Bren's chance came at 1150 when she sat down for a challenge of her own with a feisty mahi mahi. Didn't take my girl that long at all really. She proves again that she can fish with the best of them. I lost a mahi mahi of my own later in the day actually. Good thing she caught this fish cause we couldn't have had fresh mahi mahi for dinner that night had she not. 1345 and 1435 two more marlin came up on the teasers but were not hooked. Thank God for that, unless they were maybe 100-150 lbs or so. Haha. I couldn't say enough about the amazement of fishing come the end of that day. Fast forwarding, the second half day (day#7) of inshore fishing ended as a skunk. I had wished we'd gone back to the deep sea but it was Bren's vacation too and she had scheduled appointments for a massage, pedicure and other pamperings. I'll live. Day 8. ADIOS. Final day. Time to go home. Outside our door on the wall waited the usual freakish pest. And we made our way out. The trip back to Canada was pretty uneventful this time around, but, after picking up the kids and staying back in Ottawa for a few days we were forced to fly again with Air Canada to get home. True to form they didn't disappoint us this time. We were dealt one bizitch stewardess who gave Bren some attitude; and was speechless after Bren gave it right back putting her in her place. Yet, when we arrived in Timmins the Air Canada counter said because my bags were checked right through to Moosonee as my final destination I should "technically" not have been made aware nor seen this........... .......... and so it is therefor Air Canada's policy that I am to make the damage complaint at my final destination with an Air Canada customer service there. I said, "You know full well I'm flying AirCreebec to Moosonee now, there's no Air Canada counter in Moosonee. What are you trying to do, pawn off the damages on AirCreebec? What is you name?" I asked the AC rep. "Jenifer." "Jenifer" what I asked, while reaching for my trusty Travellodge notepad." "Just Jenifer," she replies. "I can't believe you people with Air Canada," I announced. "I know, Air Canada sucks." replied their Timmins service rep "just Jenifer." DAS FINITOS

Day 4. HACIENDA GUACHIPELIN. http://www.guachipelin.com/ Another early start, Bren and I had a big day ahead on a canyon and horseback tour in Rincon de la Vieja National Park. High winds earlier in the week had altered some of the trip operator's plans. So, for a tour that normally hosts 50-100 people, Bren and I were more than pleased to learn that we were the only two booked for the day, and, that we would therefor be getting a private tour. Ronald was our driver and main guide for the trip. A well educated and super polite fella it was great taking the tour with him alongside. Like the guide the day before, he spoke interestingly about Costa Rica (meaning: Rich Coasts) all day. Upon reaching Guachipelin we were suited up for the canyon. 9 zip-lines, 1 rappel, 1 tarzan swing and a couple climbing stations all amongst the visual splendors of a deep spring and volcanic canyon were the morning challenges. The zip-lining was tres cool. The longest was well over 100 meters. (the longest in Costa Rica is actually 785 meters and has 2 people zipping together down an overall 400 foot drop through rainforest clouds) Bren was pretty quick to set aside her minor fears of heights on this day. When Bren reached the top the safety guide told her that he didn't even need to help her. She muscled through all on her own. Sadly, he didn't say the same to me. The canyon done, next stop was a pit stop. Bren said she didn't need to go that bad after being greeted at the bathroom door by this thing. Just the main body minus the antennae on this critter had to be nearly 5 inches long. We took to the horses. Ronald tells us he's picked the finest steeds for our ride, Psycho and Killer are their names. I'm not much for saddle sores, but from time to time Bren sure takes pleasure having a stallion other than me to ride. (And no, that's not an invite Markus or Bill) We rode the beasts to a waterfall then turned them ponies around and giddy-up'd back to da ranch. Scenic spot. What normally takes 8 hours with the large group we finished up in about five. Got back to the resort early which was nice. Gave us the chance to take a swim, have wee siestas in the sun, suck back some tropical rum based drinks and make reservations with one of the a la carte restaurants. Come evening we hit the Blackjack table and actually remained even after two hours of sin. Day 5. EXPLORAR GUANACASTE. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanacaste_Province Nothing planned for the day Bren and I slept in until 8am. The locust was already up and sunbathing. After breakfast it was decided we'd rent a moped, go on tour, have lunch somewhere and do some shopping. Having had some recent vehicle rental issues I gave our ride a good going over. This chariot built not really for two was deemed unworthy. Roads out there range from freaking horrible to freshly paved. One gaurantee though is that they'll all be windy somewhere. Zipping along at a max of 70km/hr was refreshing in the open air. Twenty klicks from the resort is the little surfer and beach resort town of Tamarindo so we headed there. Arriving at the turnaround at the end of the road I parked the moped. A real mouthy and persistent loco transvestite barked spanish at me until I gave him $5 to watch my Harley for me while I was gone shopping. We bought a few little things but our stomachs got the better of us. Day before I had asked Ronald where his favorite restaurant was, he answered "Golden Trip. In Brasilto." Golden Trip...??? I thought. Turned out "Trip was Shrimp" but the way he said it was messing with me Canuck mind. Anyhow, Brasilto was only about 25km's away so we skooted our butts over there for lunch and found the place with no problemos. Fresh catch from the morning was red snapper, mahi mahi and fresh prawns. Bren went all shrimp while I had the snapper and prawn combo. DEELISH. Late afternoon it was more poolside drinks, filling our faces and gambling. The show that night had great dancers doing retro-boogie. I asked for a scotch on the rocks at the bar and the tender filled me a beer glass full to the top with scotch. From that point on I ordered scotch every evening. TO BE CONTINUED AGAIN.....