Moosebunk

Islanders are going to spoil it all.

I'm just totally blown away by all the posters here whose names I've never seen posting here before. lol.

Fallfish, herring and sucker. Big spoons.

Hmph, didn't really think the sport fishing "industry" or "numbers involved" was really suffering. What's it worth just here in Ontario, let alone Nationally and Internationally. What do we need here big purses for the tourneys, more shoreline anglers, more motors polluting, more money to make more high-tech rods and computerized and robotic reels. In Canada not every kid gets to try every sport. Yet, the one I would think that nearly all of them from Inuvik to Windsor at one point get the chance to try is fishing. The child could be competetive, passive, handicapped, purple, 10 legged or blind... wouldn't matter, as, they'll decide wether or not they enjoy the experience they were provided. A smart thread might include... what are some significant points, we as adults with varying degrees of love and enjoyment in the sport, could offer here today in order to possibly produce some sort of concrete plan or idea that will enhance the new anglers experience? Could OFC with it's high participation by anglers actually map out an intelligent, comprehensive tool, that anyone could refer to in order to "assist" them in making that first experience for a newcomer as positive as possible regardless of the particulars of the day planned on the water. And yeah, my first vote would be to leave the competetive attitude at home and instead aim for open-mindedness.

Power Pro, Stren then Fireline, in that order. Spiderwire on some of my ice gear has served me well too. Trying Crystal this spring.

Looking very forward to this year Buck. A week off for the opener in May, just hanging around home as always. Summer trips to Kesagami and then later to BC. Possibly either Hannah Bay (James Bay) or maybe the Sutton as well. If no Sutton, maybe then the Attawapiskat in the fall. And finally Costa Rica in January. Starting on the 2008 plans now too, dedicating that year to char.

Fished a fair bit up north and I'll say, I think river walleye are better fighters than lake walleye... if both were being fished in slack water, and were the same pound for pound. River pike vs lake pike are about even, but, if they escape to current they can obviously become a little tougher. Heard good things of Hearst Air too. A guy like Solopaddler may have info on that area as he's canoed up and around large parts of the Albany.

It's my belief that Berkeley actually makes the Fenwick Spinning/Casting rods. And yeah, as a cheaper alternative I'd agree the Lightning Rods are great with good sensitivity. Mike, I think you're not far off base with that "brittle" comment.

Exactly. Rapala rods are snappers too though. Owned 3 Fenwicks now. 2 med/heavy Walleye class and the other was a slightly lower end, maybe g2 or something like that. Anyway, snapped 1 a year. As much as I love them when they're intact; their great sensitvity, a product with such poor reliabilty (even if Pure Fishing will easily replace) will not get repeat business from me. That and, at the joint the rods were always twisting.... Too bad, used to love these rods but I have to give 'em 2 thumbs down nowadays.

Motor runs well and boat floats at 2300.00 it's worth it. The rest is gravy.

Great stuff Solo. I might have to bug you one day for trip details to do that for the first time. Looks like a blast. Man, did we ever have different opps in March. lol.

So Jazman pm’s me last August and begs the question, “Bunk, you ice fishin’ Kesagami again this year? I don’t want to miss it this time.” And it begins. I tell Jaz, bring a buddy out of Ottawa and he’s quick to mention RJ. I hummed and hawed over it for about... a second, then told Jaz I’d talk to RJ myself. Wasn’t long after and we were all on board, but with half a year to wait. The boys arrived in Moosonee Friday evening after the long train ride on the Little Bear thru the day, and having driven the Redbull redeye from midnight to 8am to arrive in Cochrane for the Little Bear’s departure at 10:30am. Long road for fish, when they arrived they didn’t seem too whipped at all, more like completely jacked for the fishing to come. Quick tour of Moose Factory and some surf and turf for dinner, RJ let’s it be known that it’s better up here than he expected, and on that we retired for the night. Saturday morning it’s on. Weather is calling for SW winds 5km, mainly sunny and a high of 6C. Perrrrrfect. By 8:30 our pilot John has us in the air heading to fishing heaven. Gentle touchdown on the lake we’re quick to setup for pike then drill a few for eyes. Jazman takes no time, drops his line, counts to 11 seconds and ices himself his first plump and golden Kesagami eye. Jaz simply taking no prisoners, then shows us fellas about 20 minutes later that the lake has a few pike too, and so while jiggin’ eyes with the toughest little Rattlesnake he tags this 35" pike in the lip and sinks into the beast with a good venomous bite. Things go quiet awhile. The eyes just keep coming with reckless abandon and Jaz puts the biggest hurt on the populace icing one after another, but, other than me tagging a 32" snot rocket, the pike shut down until 2:30. Then all he!! breaks loose. RJ’s rod in the distance is getting play, and from his butt on the ice the big fella’s up and ripping out there for it like a teenager on Viagra. Jaz and I are quick behind him. At the hole, a violent hookset is followed by the screams of reel peel and so Jaz get’s the camera rolling to capture it all on vid. We’re quick to understand this is a BIG pike. A big pike that didn’t want to come easy, but, after 8 minutes or so it did succumb to the big mans charms.... and then it was RJ holding his first trophy pike.... a humbling 44" at 22lb’s. And yeah, Fatty Granny came on a big ‘ol herring...... happy..? The action didn’t stop there though. RJ’s rig kept firing and a few fish were missed, then mine started going and I missed a few too. The walleye slowing we cut that out and got more lines down for pike, and before long my rod tip dropped into the hole and I was into a good fish. No one started the camera for me though... lol... probably cause I just horsed the "little" 38 incher up the hole in no time. Score one for a big Red Devle with a chunk of fallfish. After a special photo shoot and this pike going back to the swim, only a short time later PikeSlayerinator 007 ringalings off in the distance. Bolt of lightning I’m there and hand-lining another bohemoth pike that’s locked right onto a Williams Whitefish. “Hammer of THOR!!!”my bicep strikes blows to the stubborn leviathan below, until I am victorious. Another one bites the dust. Heading home that night John our pilot flies higher than usual so we can all have a great view of James Bay. The boys in my opinion though, were already flying high enough. RJ’s big fish turned out 2 inches bettering my personal best. Jaz had caught his own PB pike, and half of the 70 walleye we caught for the day. A 38" and 37" for me and I was actually feeling defeated. lol. But we all did well on the pike in actuality, with Jaz picking up 3, me 3, and RJ the 1 Gran-momma. Sunday rolled in cloudy, breezy, but with an expected high of 11C. Waking up stiff we three rode back over to Moosonee to meet our pilot Dexter for the new days trip in. Not long, us back on the ice, it was quickly apparent that RJ still had that horseshoe lodged firmly up his colon. A couple other planes around, I’m sure they heard the crack below the 4 feet of ice when RJ snapped another herring firmly into the maw of his first pike of the day. A healthy looking 38" special. Not so quick to be outdone, a herring down on PikeSlayerinator#1 lassoes a 38"er of my very own. Yeehaw cowboy. Jazman, a couple hours later, just disgusted by it all, having watched RJ lose fish after fish after fish, takes on a half bowl of my chowder and walks off to take a nap beside his tip-up. Out for about 40 minutes laying in his floater suit in the slush, I look over at Jaz and then say to RJ, “his flag’s up.” RJ’s response, “HEY JAZ. YOUR FLAG!!!” And so from a lying position we see Jaz raise his right arm and give us a thumbs up, then, in a sloth like motion rolls over to his belly, puts his hand on the tip-up, gets to his knees, grabs the line, and sets the hook. When RJ and I see him pull some line to the ice then suddenly see all that line get pulled back under by a fish, we get moving to his aid. Finally, and again, Jaz has a newer personal best pike. A 38"er to call his very own. A lull in the pike action after Jaz’s fish and we fellas take to jiggin’ some eyes for awhile. But, it turns out eyes aren’t the only thing around to be jiggin’. RJ hooks into a fish and remarks that he’s got one with a little pep. Surprise at the hole, he’s also got his first ever whitey...... or blackie by the looks of it. “Bitterman” comes out for the second time this trip but is quick to fix his foul mood by simply getting a whitey too. Thing with this fish was, when it came to the ice it flapped around and sprayed it’s fish poop all over Jaz and me. Grrrrrrrr. Late afternoon RJ and Jaz might as well have packed up and gone home. It became the Moosebunk show. Over yonder PikeSlayerinator#1's tip dropped like a stone and the bell called me over. Gripping the line I struck, and it was on. The boys arrived and I told them it was a heavy fish, and when it finally arrived at the holes bottom we were stuck in a stalemate. For a few minutes it seemed all I could do was just bump the pikes head on the bottom of the ice and try and get it to move. Desperate for something to happen I let a little tension off the line and the fish sunk just enough for me to make a sharp short pull up and right. The fishes head was in, and came up heavy as it was tugged up a 40" deep ice hole. OHHH Yeah... new personal best of my own. Aunt Girthy rolled into my arms for a 20+ pound hug and 42.5 inches of slimy kissing. I told her to come and see me again next year when she’s a little bigger. Always told myself I was going to mount my first 20+ lb pike, but, RJ made it right when he said that I’ll get a bigger one. And just 10 minutes later, I could have nearly had that bigger one on. My rod tip dropped on my other set-up and off running I picked it up, clutched the reel and drove a Williams home. A shocked pike just then about pulled me down the hole, and off in the distance that got RJ and Jaz running to me. A good battle and the final pike of the day was on the ice. A wily 39"er this one was. The boys had their fun. I had my fun. It was another stellar Kesagami experience. Jaz picked up a personal best 38" pike, about 20 some eyes, and a second small pike for the day. RJ caught his 38", a second 32", a first whitey and a few eyes, and I managed 3 pike with the 42.5, 39 and 38 inchers. No complaints come the end of day two. That’d be it for fishing Kesagami. The warm weather was cause to flood the ice road and runway for the plane and so come Monday we all rested our tired bones, had a good meal of garlic butter pike and whitefish BBQ smoked on a cedar plank, and, relived in our minds what was a real festive time for us three doods. Time flies, but these memories will last.

If it's not some pen raised fish-cow that escapes to the open waters, and it's not some insignificant bait species or pannie then my guess would be on a northern species such as a laker, or maybe even sooner an arctic char or grayling. Global warming or not, winters are slowly shrinking in the north making for longer, warmer, feeding and growth periods. A possible bonus for slow grow species of the north.

I have a 10L blue jug for water with the spout and all. I pump through my MSR directly into it, then usually fill a Nalgene or two as well. The pump, and two bottles will just fit into the jug for travel and all together weighs probably 3-4 pounds.

Can't help ya with places to fish around Toronto, but I will tell ya I love to float tube and wish I did it as often as I used too. My old Browning started splitting as well but a buddy with an industrial sewing machine reinforced it by sewing a seatbelt into the worn spots. Got me 3 more years so far out of it. I have a V shaped Outkast as well that goes with me to those places that don't require as light a craft for carrying into. One of my annual routes is a float down Maidman's Creek near Moosonee, back to town. Trip is about 7km and if there's no incoming tide takes about 4-5 hours. Perfect day out. Dont agree about not being able to fish shallow or only go short distances. My favorite lake is about 3km by 1km and if given a full day in good conditions you could kick that. And, getting that tube to some secluded brookie lake atop the hillside comes easier. Would like to try a Kayak but don't see it being all that different from the HobieCat style boats I've tried. Sure they're faster on water, but also bulkier and not as easy to fish from while moving.

Right On Whop. That gets a mans urges for summer sun and backwoods walleye flowing.

Agreed on Tool and Audioslave. The rest is a little too young. lol

The Quad God stays out late and puts'em on the ice one after another. Then, in stealth mode because of being without light he finds his way home to arrive late into the night. Good stuff tj. I see a quad in my future too.

Primus, greeeeaat stuff. But not so much for fishing. Led Zeppelin - Travelling Riverside Blues and pretty much everything else. I third "The Band" and sure do like some Neil Young too. For fishing like to keep it mellow. The most often I'll listen to music while fishing is in the float tube, and so it needs to be slower tunes unless it's Zeppelin.

Hard to see yas for all the slush. Holy crow. lol. Great outing Wayne and crew. Looks like some doods got a little too much fresh air and crashed out on their sleds. Zzzzzzz's

Great perching Andrew. Some real good fatties in the mix for sure.

Bren and I are RN's.

Hey fellas, great times. Waynes a lucky frig to have a place on one of the most scenic lakes. When the fish finally do co-operate there the catching can be great too. Nice dooods.

Think he mentioned the engine upgrade Wayne. After that he said something about why it then sounds louder on the ground or something. 4 of us fit in there last year. We didn't take the auger, just the essentials. Couple bigger dudes coming up later in the month so Bren may have difficulty coming along again. Not to worry. And, as soon as their is a real warm half day, if the timing is right, Summer will have a blast.

No no no, not at all happy with sundays performance on Kesagami catching two new personal bests figured we best head back there and give it another crack. Bren was eager enough that she got off a 12 hour busy nightshift, grabbed a 3 hour power nap in the morning and by noon we were heading to Moosonee to meet up with the Bushland Airways doods. Aviation forecast was calling for sun until mid afternoon then high winds to switch from the southwest to west and bring along some snow. Afternoon temps were +1C... perrrrrfect. Dexter, our pilot showed up and was really phased much by this so we three climbed aboard and took off. Front seat mine, Dexter and I shot the breeze while Bren got a little shut eye in the back. Nice fella he told me he got his aviation training down in Shanonville near the big BOQ. Then I asked some questions about the plane (this is your cue Wayne) and was told we were riding along in a Cessna 206 - V6 - 360hp - muscular (lol) - ski plane. Think he said it has a 62 or 68 gallon fuel tank and that the big bird burn about 1L of gas per minute. Maximum weight capacity, 3600lbs including the fuel. (How’d I do???) Dexter had been in the day before and the group he was with fished out of my old holes from Sunday. In a half days fishing they mustered up a meager 7 walleye. OUCH! In fact, Dexter had only caught one walleye himself in a number of trips. I told him that would change today. Last trip in after getting setup I realized we were too deep. My walleye holes were okay, but could have been better. I knew this when my pike setups were hitting too many walleye. Today the plan was to push everything shallower. I also wanted to try out a new spoon for the pikeys, and a couple different things for the eyes that have been in the tackle box for ages but I have never bothered to use. On the ice I drilled a quick walleye hole so Bren could get started. Before I had a second hole done she had two on the ice. The walleye holes were in about 1 ½ feet of water and so I headed towards shore and ended up getting quite shallow for the pike, one hole maybe had 9 to 10 inches of water below the 40 inches of ice. Dexter finally joined us after blanketing the plane, and trying out a piece of bacon on a Pixie spoon he was only a few minutes watching Bren and I catching fish that he decided he’d go with live minnows too. Didn’t take him long after that. And it didn’t take long after this for me to see my pike rod had broken the ice and was pointing straight down the hole. Get thar, settith the hookith hardith. A short tussel with a long slender piece of muscle and Esox-Aurora-Borealis-Rocketus is in grip and making it’s overdue appearance on the red carpet. Click click click went the paparottzi until I measured this celebrity and found that at 35 inches tall, shapely through the bust, and a fit 9 lbs, I was taking this pike to my place for dinner and dancing. First date with a pike this year, hope she likes BBQ and beans. (Turned out to be a man though... hard to tell with some of these “new age” pikes) My date, wearing a fashionable Williams Wabler lip ring. I just put this fish back when off in the distance the bell on “PikeSlayerintor 007" is a ding-a-linging like Santa Clause landing on a tin roof. Minus many layers of clothes I floated quick like a gazelle over to my fish-i-mi-catchin-gadget. And smart like dolphin I had a glove for playing the braid and set the hook. KAAA-THWACK!! And so it is set. A BO-HE-MOTH is ripping line from my hands. I’m calling out to my camera crew to come do their jobs and once at my side I’m directing like only Speilberg and Scorcesse can. Bren is snapping stills at many angles and Dex actually surprises me later with video footage. Eventually overpowering this beautiful but yet demonic leviathan of the 9 maybe 10 inch shallows, a difficult turn of it’s head in to the hole is made. The fishes presents itself to the surface as all the angels begin to sing, the heavens open, and the lord says, “You Da’ Man Bunk!” Here’s a weeee blow by blow of the miraculous event which occurred. “Hello Bunk, my name is Big Momma. Mind getting this sharp object unstuck from my face. I oblige, and ask. “Do you mind coming up into my world for some photos and the gift of allowing me to brag to many people for days, maybe even years to come?” “No problem, unless you have no plans to return me to the water,” Big Momma says. “Because, in that case, I’ll just have to bite your face off and regurgitate you later to my children.” “Oh, so you are a little demonic, as I had thought.” Without permission Big Momma is hoisted to the heavens. And much like the physical assessment of a newborn, weight and length were measured, adjusted for some margin of error, re-measured, concluded and evaluated. With a grin or two here and there for me and the team it was decided that I’ll come back and catch this new personal best when it’s an even bigger personal better. And, after about 5 attempts to help bend this fish back into it’s shallow lair at the bottom of the deep cavern, back down the hole she went, quite thankful. Bren took a break at this point. Her 15 walleye and all the running around must have really exhausted my little Cree super-trooper Well, how can ya top that big pike though.... I couldn’t. Even about two hours later nearing the end of the day I hooked into something that felt like another really big eye, but this time on the jiggin rod. It just wouldn’t come to the hole very easy and as you could see the heavens had long since closed and the sky was turning ominous.... .... and just when trying to turn the suckah up my Cleo caught the bottom of the hole and it was all over. All out of miracles for the day I guess. It could have been a really sad moment for me but a small crack of a smile was managed. That’s fishing. Full of one’s that got away. lol. We were to head home but Dexter had been on the satellite phone with home base and the weather had turned nasty. Winds were gusting to 30 knots and freezing drizzle had just passed through and was heading our way. We had already stayed put an extra 1 ½ hours so to give time for them back in Moosonee to actually make an alternate landing strip. This fact alone screamed emergency to me, maybe death. Big Momma was likely rolling over in her lair with laughter at this point. My guess was it was my turn to experience what she did, that being, a real rollercoaster. We had no options left, the daylight was fading and we needed an hour to get home. Dexter was cool as a cucumber about it all and we boarded the plane to make the return trip. I took this pic, not for one second thinking it would be my last.... .... but we no sooner sat in the plane when the snow began to fall. The ride home was most turbulent. Quite blinding as well. And, when we finally broke through the front about 10 minutes before reaching Moosonee the conditions lifted and we spotted our newly marked runway. The landing coming in was looking like it was going to be a drag the right wing, crash, slide, deathly sort of thing as gusty and nearly crosswinds to 24 knots pushed us sideways. But, Dexter used a high bank and the trees atop of them along the river to break the wind in our last 40 feet of descent. A gang of onlookers watched on as the craft safely touched down and the fecal matter nearing the point of no return was safely retracted back to a warm and cozy place. The things some people do for fish eh..?