Moosebunk

Been there, done that. Except with 5 kegs of beer and 3 cases of whiskey.

Come on up for a visit. I'll show yas what "organized panhandling" can do for an entire society.

I know the spot, it's the dead end at the end of the Yellow Brick Road. Some call it, the Yellow Brick Wall. Thanks for saving the brainless Scarecrows with the "crop,"lol

Seems quite a few folks visiting out there this spring. Nice pikies fellas.

Chinooks aren't really fresh water fish. Muskies are cool and all. Lake Trout are cool and all. My vote goes to all of them. They all have their own kingdoms too.

Sens are being beaten right now by "1" team that's playing better, and in the end could be better. It's "a" difficult pill for me to swallow, but at least it only about "1/16th" the dose as that of what it must have been for another Ontario team to have to self administer some time back in March when they awoke to their own sick reality.

Sincerest and deepest sympathies Lew.

My Dora sleeping bag is my fave. Cinderalla a close second.... anything "princess" is really dope matter of factly. WTG dad.

Cripes Wayne! Having a project like that must really suck. lol.

Crotch is a tough fish for many. Any success on that lake is success nonetheless. Scenic area. Nice report.

Got back out the following day to the creek and picked up a total of 5 more searuns with my buddy Shawn. Fish were between 13 and 16.5 inches. And yeah, they made the pan. Heck, 2 fish took their own eye out by hooking themselves right through their skulls and out their own eyes. Sheeeesh, fiesty.

Several months back Mr Moosebunk contacted me to offer up the opportunity to travel north for a week. The plan was to probe many remote northern rivers in search of monster pike and walleye... It didn't take long for me to sink my teeth into this one and so.... the adventure began... As the car door slammed shut on my tiny grey Hyundai I could barely contain myself as what lay ahead for me in the next 7 days was going to be, hands down, one of the coolest trips I'd been on... As per the usual no Phishfinder adventure is complete without misadventure, and it didn't take long for this manifest itself full force. As any of you in Southern Ontario will recall last Tuesday we got beaten silly by some insane rain and winds... I happened to be firing down the 400 towards my destination as this rain pounded my windshield. And that was all fine and dandy until my windshield wipers died... :? :? I just laughed though and I thought to myself, "BRing it on !!". (Little did I know that I had quite possibly just cursed my trip...) Arriving in Cohcrane late I grabbed a hotel and fired out on the PB express to Moosonee the following morning... As this had just happened to the tracks here a few weeks earlier, I kept my fingers crossed no misadventure would follow me here! Was funny too as I crossed over several points I had actually managed to find roads into on my northern advneture last year!! As I approached Moosonee certain things began to change and I saw structures I had never seen first hand before... And it sure wasn't long before I sat atop the mighty Moose river Was funny too... I remember thinking in my head at the time about it being called the "Mighty Moose".... little did I know.... little did I know... After meeting Bunk in Moosonee we headed across to the Island of Moose Factory where we joined his wonderful wife and children for an amazing steak dinner! (Moose even forced a pint or two down my throat... bad influence this guy is!) And off early the next morning in search of adventure and fish!! Moose even let me drive the dang' canoe!! LIttle faster than mine, that's for sure! :roll: We stopped at a few holes on our way to camp and scooped up a coupla' micro-pike with an small eye in the mix as well. Seemed many of the "usual" areas lacked the fish that usually resided there this time of year. We did have blast catching some suckers at one of Moose's favourite pike spots though! Hmmm.... wonder why the pike hang out here?? And on to camp we went!! . Really having no idea at this point, how signifigant this INSANELY rustic little cabin would become in our adventure.. The tent was placed inside as this structure had become swiss cheesed with holes over the years. And after a quick set-up we went out to scout the Cheepas river as we had planned to spend the entire next day probing the eddies and creeks that this hidden gem protected... Bite was slow when we arrived at our first hole, but a new technique(jig under a float) allowed me to boat a coupla' eyes and Moose managed a few as well... Moose had a quick talk with this guy concerning the whereabouts of his grandparents Little bugger' wouldn't budge though.... so up the rapids we went figuring we'd find em on our own. After probing several more inlets/eddies we had a couple more eyes and pike to show for our efforts... And as the sun dropped, We sped off the Cheepas to return to base camp with hopes high of things to come tommorow. Up nice and early (courtesy of me!!) we decided that we would check out another area and leave the Cheepas for when the weather kicked up A BIT... (the forecast was calling for some chilly temps the following day) So off we went to "the towers".... a tiny trickle of creek flowing into the mighty moose. Water was LOW and the area was EXTRA stained... after a coupla hours of wetting some lures Moose had our first respectable pike of the trip We managed a few others but nothing picture worthy... and off we went to try some back bays for some more pike. Weather was gorgeous and i was having a blast!! Even though fishing was slow we knew as the day wore on and the back bays heated up our toothy friends would come out to play... After nailing a few snot-rockets we noticed something on the horizon... looked like grey clouds to me... and it sure wasn't dang' long before the temperature began to plummet faster than I'd ever experienced before. Moose, being an area veteran, knew what to do and got us the hell off the river. Not long after we arrived back at camp grey blanketed the sky and the winds began to steadily increase. What the hell we thought... this wasn't supoposed to happen until tommorow. Filling many of the holes in our "rustic" cabin with leaves and moss become somewhat important as the winds cut right through our shelter. Holes like this created a little more work :roll: But we laughed and ate and spirits remained high as we tucked away in our little cabin for the night... Awaking in the morning , something was odd. The winds seemed to be howling harder... and as I rose from my sleeping bag I was greeted by snow-squalls out our front window. As I balked at the freshly fallen snow now blanketing the forest floor Moose muttered something about his frozen toes.... and yeah, I was dang' cold too!! 8O With only a single useless layer to add it was VERY apparent that we needed to warm our rustic swiss cheese somehow and FAST.... a fire outside would just be pointless. (Shot taken in between one of the squalls) There was a nearby cabin that had been destroyed in years past and the suggestion was made to search to rubble for whatever the hell we could find... much to our luck (someone in the sky dang' well likes us!!)we found a BADLY beaten up tin stove and a few sections of chimney piping.. After a serious MacGyver/Surivorman style effort, our creation sprung to life!! And I don't mind saying probably one of the most rewarding things I've ever been involved in.. Thanks Moose! We spent the afternoon chatting, laughing and listening to really bad music...ROTFLMAO THe sky finally broke around 5:00pm but the winds continued to HOWL and the temperature still kept us on our toes. We shore fished the area with nary a bite but the sunset provided hope that better weather would prevail the following morning.. We awoke to much of the winds and bone chilling temperatures... we made the decision to leave the river while the wind was at least manageable and headed for home. We fished many holes along the way and although it seemed the odd pike was biting, including this 7 lber, the eyes were nowhere to be found. Not surprising following the insane cold-front we'd just been nailed with!! As the wind chilled us to the bone we made our way down river. When we finally arrived as Moose's house I'd never been that happy to enjoy a warm shower... We shared a few pints and made plans to get out again the following day. Awaking again to the same bone chilling temps we headed out to the North French river anyways in search on some eyes or pike, and after several hours of probing the accessable areas of the river with a fine toothed comb could not even buy a sniff. It was great though as Moose shared many techniques and thoughts on how to fish this great area, including this fantastic impersonation of cold front walleyes With our tails between out legs we headed back towards Moose Factory.... it was funny though because the closer we got, the less familiar the area looked. Took Moose to explain we was taking me to try something COMPLETLY new in a last ditch effort to ham some fishies in the final hour... we sped many KM's north towards the Mouth of the Mighty Moose were she collided with James Bay. We would be riding a high tide into an otherwise hidden side creek for coaster brookies... rumour had it they ran into this tidal creek just as the buds broke on the poplars/alders in the area... and it just so happened they had opened today. As we approached the area the creek was supposed to be we saw NOTHING.... sand everywhere but no creek... :? Moose suggested we stop for lunch and allot the tide to rise to see if she would reveal her magic... within' 30 minutes the tide went from this to this And the mouth of wavy creek revealed herself!! Once inside she seemed little more than some sand and water.... not what I'd heard of as a typical brookie area. But it became apparent something was up as we trolled by a couple of other boats.... they suggested we troll white twister tails..... for brookies???? Well didn't take long before Moose hoisted a nice 15" inch Sea-run brookie into the boat( I believe Moose has this pic) followed just after by my 16" As we trolled up and down we missed several fish and then Moose grabbed this guy.. A nice 16" As we sat taking this picture Moose's rod sat dangling in the water.... and BANG!! Number 3!! It was dang' nuts... we were literally hammering sea-run brookies. The bite seemed to die and we missed several hits but were rewarded with this final treat A gorgeous 17" and by far my biggest brookie to date.... so cool. As we left the river we felt a sense of accomplishment.... The sun was dissappearing on my final evening in God's country and we had hit the Moosonee grand slam.... some eyes, some pike and we topped it off in the final hour with some fine coaster brookies. What a trip!!! I had a blast fishing with Moose and couldn't have asked for a better person to share the water with. Until next time... PF

That's it Mike. I'm taking my family and moving into your cottage.

Definetely some great looking smallies. Right on Seto.

Wicked numbers on the pannies for the fam. nice.

Very nicely done Dan. I feel ya on the chilly part. The pelican shot is different eh...? Caught a few brookies of my own but just waiting for my guest to type up the report. Have a great season.

Toss up for Wednesday and Thursday May 9th and 10th. Go for trout then go for pike, or vice versa. Weather decided my fate and so it was pike first. North and East winds, little gusty at times the war canoe carved it’s way up river. Figured every shallow backwater bay or eddy would be worth a hit, and so with the sun trying it’s darndest to break free from the clouds, the 16km to the first spot the feeling grew ever more optimistic. Tucked in behind Arrow Island and reached down to test the water. Warmer, not much it seemed. New weed growth totally absent still. I looked up into a tree ahead and looking down on me was a bald eagle. If he’s hanging around I figured chances could be good. I was wrong. Nothing. Little creek coming in at the end of the bay, years passed I’ve always found minnows in the shoreline shallows near to it, this trip only tonnes of insect larvae. Pressed on. Hit Neskoshiyashi, Makishibayou, Nipiminanak, and Waterlily back bays. Usually one or the other is a hotspot, all with incoming creeks, shallow shorelines, less stain, and a quickness to warm in the spring. Nothing found but again tonnes of insects and no new weeds. Newer weeds being key I think to signaling prime water temps for that short stage of aggressive feeding pike. The favorite bay, Nesko, which had coughed up a dozen bigger pike last spring had a new resident. A beaver had sealed off the creek. No warm runoff, means no baitfish or sucker to spawn, probably means little pike. I was at a loss. Back in Moosonee some of the locals had been snaring pike on route to a specific spawning area, maybe they were around but just busy with other things. Desperation I switched gears and decided to head to a couple predominantly walleye spots but, places that have coughed up pike to me in the past. On route up the Cheepas River I realized I didn’t bring any extra gas. I was close to where I wanted to be so kept going and finally reached the big shallow eddy I was headed to. It’s a pikey spot sure enough, not as calm as could be but the smaller Cheepas is quicker to heat up. I probed the site with the usual Red Devle and came up empty handed. After swtiching to a gold Mepps Aglia #5; one on my top spring pike lures past, I felt a good thud on second cast. I thought I had a log. My boat anchored in the current working casts into shore this smart fish made a b-line for the current and, once in there was heavy. I prayed the hook would hold. The fish first showed itself well behind the boat and I saw a lot of flash, like silvery white, and just then I thought I had a BIG spring speckle. But the fight died in the fish and when it surfaced again mouth gaping wide open I had on the line a big OOS walleye. Took some time to drag it up the current to the boat, even with 20lb braid, but when I got it there things were setup ready to go so the pic was taken, the fish quickly put to the scale and I just measure it to the cedar strip marks on the gunnel. Came in around 24 inches and just a hair over 5lbs. Decided to stay and try some more but nothing else was caught there. Fearing my gas was maybe too low to get me home the canoe turned around and I fished another half dozen or so spots on the way home, picking up one more small eye and a small pike, finally. When I made it to the launch the tank had about 1/4 gallon of gas left. Quite impressed with the new Honda 4 stroke at home I measured my route and all my stops on the Fugawi software and came up with a total of 84 km’s, on 4.5 gallons. Not bad considering it was all upriver the first half and all against a good gusty wind home. Thursday trouting on the creeks in Moosonee was... weird. I’m still dressing like it’s winter but the temps today rose to 31C. I snuck away at 9:00am, grabbed a taxi boat to the mainland then borrowed my friend Megan’s car. Zipping around I was confident again that today would be a good day. First stop Butler Creek. “The Dam” Jiggin first a brown bucktail tipped with a salty, then casting a homemade inline#3 followed by a small five of diamonds tipped with minnows as well, it was quick to be noted there weren’t any searuns about. So I took off. Next stop, Maidman’s Creek. “The Culvert” Same tactics, no results. One thing about searuns I find is, if they’re there in the pockets they’re there to feed. You don’t miss them, as it takes little time to cover the area. Next stop Maidman’s Creek. “The Quarry” The Creek pours into the quarry real quick. You can see in this pic the water comes around a bend and hugs one side. Way up the creek, many miles, are ponds that pike go to for spawning. The locals have set up here at this corner a series of four ledges, made by rocks, to create pockets for the travelling pike to naturally want to stop in, or, use to climb through, instead of battling the big current. This is where those pike get snared and taken home for the dinner table. The other end of the quarry can be pretty deep by standards around here. There’s a hole about 18 feet, but much of it is around 4-8 feet. Not much of a trout area I figured while here I’d cast for pike. Best day here in the float tube was 12 pike a few years back, and although one of locals I know who regularly snares here said pike sizes are getting smaller and smaller (go figure) he does tell me a 25lb pike was caught on line here. But no one owns a scale in these parts that I’ve met, so it could have been a 12lb’er Next stop was the beer store. It was 10:30 and I knew it was open and needed some for the hockey game that night. Rolled over to Store Creek. “The Train Bridge” Three doods already fishing there, I asked if they’d caught anything. Nada. Last stop was back over on Butler’s Creek. “The Treatment Plant” I took some casts but again got nothing. I watched the helicopters go by with full slings of food and supplies for Moose Factory. Thursday is a good day at the store cause the fresh produce comes in. Airborne bananas and oranges and everything else had a great warm day for flying. Could have been 0C today and the produce not so good upon arrival. Barge should be in soon so then it’ll be good stuff all the time. Note the chopper flying by in the pic. So, trouting sucked. For a one fish report this one is really long. Fingers are flying tonight. Local in the know told me last spring when I was struggling to catch trout in the first weeks of May, that, until the trees (poplars and alders) are sprouting leaves from the buds, the searuns won’t be in. Wishful thinking. Today was my last day out before what I’ll be calling the "opener" come this weekend. Today sucked. Today was cold at about +4C with strong NNE winds. While up on the French river about 11:00 am a little snow came through. Underdressed I had the chills much of the day but had to get 20 gallons of gas stashed away somewhere in the bush near to wherever I was planning to camp this weekend. By about 2:00pm I finally found that spot. On the way home I tried a couple pike spots but wasn’t much into it. The winds were bad, I was tired of battling it and the chop. I did manage two very small pike and a real small eye that hit an orange Syclops. And so it ends. Before opener last year I had already picked up one searun and 17 pike with a skinny 38" being the best. Hope things pick up this weekend. Should be busy out there with a derby on for the Saturday. Win or lose, I’ll never know. Won’t be anywhere near town until Monday.

Mike. I think you're spoiled. lol. No more complaining about how tough it was. C'mon... how tough IS it going to Algonquin to camp, fish, and take pictures. Although, you'd have to carry most people after the first fifth of that portage into lake D.

I dunno.... OK results I guess..?.?.? lol. Nice stuff Dip, Raf and Ben.

Avatar is old news dude. Sens have been there sure, but, it doesn't hold true anymore. This is the farthest they've been. They beat the League's best scorer and his support of young talent, then they turned around and beat the League's best goalie and cast of seasoned veterans. Buffalo or Ottawa is a toss up. Should be one heckuva series though, and, either team is worthy of beating the other. Win or lose for the Sens at this point... no one can say they choked. They've rolled over Pitts and NJ like a team possessed.

Nothing as planned yet Wayne. Would love a tour up there with a local Normally I drive through there a couple times a year but this summer I only have one trip planned down home. I'll be flying there as I have a detour out to BC first for some sturgeon and salmon fishing. You'll be first to know if I'm coming through with time to spare.

We're doing much of the same for the rest of the month and through June. North French, Cheepas, Moose River and a good few creeks along the way. Next report, or the one after, will be told by a visitor who has a great way with words.

Said I wouldn't mind one pike and one trout as with that I'd consider the weekend successful for fishing. Water is still near freezing, blown and stained right out. It's early yet, the river only broke last sunday and the ice flows didn't allow the first boats on the water until wednesday. Bren and I were eager come friday to bust out of town without the kids and take full advantage of the high river waters. Destination, way up the North French River 55km south of home for camping, fishing and exploring. Loving the new boat but even more so the new Honda 4-stroke. Quietly stalks the war canoe now. Loaded to the teets with comfort, lotsa blankets as the temps were to drop to -8C friday night. Riding up the North French with good levels is tonnes of fun. Full throttle everywhere without a care, unlike years past when it has been shallow drive and depth probing for miles in many places. First spot we stopped to try was a little sluice between a point and island that has undercut banks eddying out on both sides. Looking at the trees not one was showing the first sprouts of leaves... not even the buds. Thinking trout at this time would be unlikely, I was right. Next spot got anchored and started casting about. Third cast snag. What the f...... a gill net. Didn't even notice it. Annoyed and cursing we left. Mid afternoon and a few fishing spots gone by we stopped at the mouth of an incoming "trout" creek called Kagowask Creek. Anchored in fast water this spot could cough up trout, walleye, pike, sucker or fallfish... any mixed bag. This time it was two pike, one for Bren she lost boatside and mine. We left rather quick to get up river to our campsite. A cluster of 3 islands ahead had two suitable spots for pitching the tent. I named the islands while there beaver, owl and heron islands. We camped on owl as both nights an owl visited a dead tree looking over our site. Crane was across the way and two evenings a pair of cranes could be seen or heard there. Beaver was out back and it was a noisy tail smacking rucus when he swam by our camp each night at bedtime to warn us we were in danger. Camp set, Bren and I took off to Menigan Creek for some evening fishing. She did well picking up a pike and the only walleye of the trip. And by 7:00pm we were back at camp for supper, a sunset and some down time by the fire. I toasted a few "Salmon Slammers" as I said I would, more than once....nearly half the flask of single malt to be precise. The sun went down, the air got cool and..... ... it dropped below zero. Brrrrrrrrr. During the night our air mattress obviously suffered a puncture. I woke about 4:00am for a pee and was laying on hard ground. Outside the tent there was a thick frost on everything. In the moonlight I could make out the water in our jug was freezing and at river waters edge in a couple slack water spots it was freezing up there too. Nipples and toes getting stiff I B-lined it back into the tent. Saturday was miles and miles of travel and many stops at many fishing spots. Tried everything I knew, everywhere I knew, leaving no stone unturned. Pike, trout and even walleye spots nothing was biting anywhere. Boating up through a long set of rapids called "Quarter Mile Rapids" which, is actually 1 1/2 miles long, the Honda's skeg took it's first good knock. That knock turned out to be the last knock of the trip too. After it occurred though, the pull start cord slipped off a little pulley inside the wheel encasing and when trying to start the motor later it was jamming up and shearing the cord. That set me back a few minutes fixing that up. We turned back down river quite soon in the day as the fish weren't co-operating. Truth be told, normally by this point I'd be disappointed with my luck, but the weather was phenomenal, the river open to travel anywhere in it's short 2-3 week window of the year, and the new canoe and motor were just fun to test. Bren and I happily explored, and, by early evening we were way up Kagowask creek taking in the scenery and scaring beavers off the banks. And yeah, being it's a supposed trout creek we had to try a spot or two. Besides, Bren could only hold off on her addiction for so long. Coming off the creek around 6:00pm we tucked in behind an island and after a couple casts I picked up something kinda fiesty... ... my only fish of the day. And so we retired back to camp. No fresh fish for supper I had to substitute with bacon, cause we weren't about to eat sucker. A bigger fire on a warmer night, the owl, beaver and herons returned and we partied into the sunset. Picked up this nice shot of the boat too. That night we slept on the hard ground again. The tent frost leaked right through my crappy old tent and got the sleeping bag wet. I slept great. In fact, I woke both mornings feeling less stiff than if I had slept at home in bed. Bren on the other hand...... Pocahontas. Winds completely changed direction overnight. The northern cool breeze was now tropical from the south, and so it pushed us along home quite comfortably. Along the way we made a dozen more stops to take some casts, and although I picked up another small pike (3 days = 3 fish) Bren picked up a couple more of her own. She outfished me again... think she got six. Bren used only three lures for the three days. An orange bucktail, a yellow bucktail jig and a silver in-line #3, all on a bent out of shape six inch steel leader. Homeward bound on the Moose River we took time out for some pictures of the shore ice lining some areas of the river banks. Cool seeing the walls of ice nearly 25 feet high in some places. Great first open water trip of the season.

I like what Lew said. OK Mike, thanks for putting me #1 too. I'll have ya up, we'll go winter camping on Kesagami for a few days in a prospector, and just pound pike and eyes ti'lls we just cants pounds'em no more. Planes, trains and automobiles to get there. Seriously, I really hope this works out for ya. There are a good number of fishing shows that are just like a good number of fishing shows. Your concept will break the mould. People like new and interesting. Remember though, we're not all hardcore bushwackers like yourself, so, like Survivorman... give us some insight.

Fished barbless out west Dan. All new species and territory so I can't really compare, but, after a week long trip this July where it's mandatory, should be able to formulate a solid opinion on this one. The penetration think... don't think any hook can go much further beyond the bend in the shank. lol. Caught my first brookie ever on a barbless mickey finn.