Moosebunk

He'll be kickin' himself for not getting a kicker with this boat I think. Available or not. I'll pass this on to him guys, thanks. Good info.

For many folks, weighing fish was never even been a thing of their present. lol. That's total choice though eh? It used to be more of a pet peeve what Rich is saying, until realizing that in the game of angling, egos trump truth 9 times out of 10 with fishermen, and if you're in the minority, then you're actually the oddball. lol.

True fisherman will turn that 326 into a 652 by 2014 Will. Sure it wasn't 328 when the counter actually slipped off your belt buckle, fell in the muck at the bottom of the boat, and when rubbing it clean you actually set it back a couple fish??? Huh??? Remember that part? Just messing around bud. Glad to hear you had a fantastic trip with Hearst and really pounded yourselves a couple tonnes of fun out there.

Summer 2007. On my way home from work in Moosonee I stop to shoot the shiznit with some workers from the hospital in Moose Factory while they're out on smoke break. Fella asks me how the fishing has been. Told him I had been in Kesagami and caught a near 40 inch pike but wished I'd had found that 50. Guy of course says, "nice fish" BUT, one time when I was at Kesagami, while fishing off the dock at the lodge I caught a 72 incher that took about an hour to reel in. It was so big we needed two guys to roll it up onto the dock where I then shot it dead in the head. I replied, "Ohhhh, so you caught a fish probably two to three times heavier than the world record and there at the Lodge in front of a group of paying customers from all over the place, quickly materialized a gun and put a hole through the fish and probably the Lodge's floating dock. You're an idiot and a liar who must actually think I'm an idiot. Next time don't ask me how the fishing has been if you're just looking for an opportunity to one-up me with some complete bullstick story dood." Nah, didn't actually say that... probably said, "nice fish." lol.

Thanks for posting this article Spiel. Nice to see the good guys win one now and again... for round one couldn't have been won by a better fella. Great fishing Tony.

Boy ohh boy that boy is gonna have himself one great lifelong memory of that first ski of his. Great fishing......... Hmmmm, Lower Buckhorn eh??? Thanks for reporting.

Enjoyed that Adam. Great write up, the camp appears to be well maintained, the area quite scenic and yes, those few walleye do look like your better than average fish. Great show dood!

He'll have it by next friday after they've transferred a few things off his boat onto this new one. Sharp looking rig I think. He went home from work today a pretty happy camper. lol.

It's odd but back in May it did cross my mind that you hadn't popped up your annual Gonk tour report... and as this report started I thought, well he's explaining why. But then ya made it there anyways, pounded some specks and we got the show afterall. lol. Quite the spring to deal with, had to cancel out on a trip as well due to late ice dates. Great, great work on the boat. Quite the undertaking but you've done a helluva job with it. Hope to see more reports with you and Bluey.

For the sake of competition some lakes get beaten every single weekend despite any and every kind of weather. What can ya do eh? Leah asked me one time if I'd put one of my mud minnows in with her goldfish. I said, "sure, but watch what happens..." From a cold water pail to a warm water tank the fish ripped around bashing it's head on the glass ti'll it turned belly up within about 30 seconds. "Dad, those minnows are crazy," she says. lol.

Storm is upon us here in Lanark County. Hoping to not have to pick the gravel out of the ditch again after another driveway washout. Too much rain this year... but the grass has never been greener.

Busy lake one day when I went midweek in the summer. Only stayed 4 hours in a heat wave with my girls in tow, largies were non existent and smallies were tough for me. Walleye guys where trolling through the narrows about midway through the lake that morning. Closer to the S.W. end in the basin are some shoals and one smaller island. Smallies found around there on sonar in good numbers with a few dinkeroos caught... water was very clear. If fishing there again I'd try dropshotting...

He's too fast and just signed off on it. Onboard charger, cover and bimini top, stereo, slightly upgraded sonar, keeping the PowerDrive for now, trailer with all accessories and had the tire thrown in. Comes with a 150 ETec. He's having a feel good day. Now he needs to just get fishng.

Good call guys. It is a full console. I'm calling him downstairs now with that. lol.

The minute you say "trophy" anything, whether it is or not, the eyes of some will just roll for different reasons. You or someone mentions "record" breaking and that's even worse. Heck, I've known people that will end friendships over such things. Big ole ski this one is... to him it's both a trophy and his record I'm betting.

Co-worker here has gotten bit by a serious fishing bug this year. Well, in truth he has a play boat that he's been putting all sorts of fishing upgrades to this spring. IE, 55lb new Powerdrive with Auto-pilot, riggers, sonar. Now he's looking to buy a fishing boat today. 17-foot SmokerCraft. Nice looking boat but, he was about to call the Marina to sign off on it yet he hadn't thought to ask for any extras or upgrades to be included. Told him... Dump the PowerDrive you're looking to transfer over to that new boat and go with the Terrova 80lb. Transfer your sonar over and have them upgrade the cheapy with the deal and put it on the bow. Ask for galvanized trailer, bunk guides, spare tire, transom saver and tie downs. Ask for safety kit, fire extinguisher, bumpers, ropes and life jackets if needed. Check what seats are in the package, if there are higher end ones, get those. Anything else to consider???

If a tree falls in the forest...? Agreed, this thread is a good one. FishNWire... good question though... feel your pain man, gotta suck more in the city though. Ottawa mall cop busted me once for pizzing off the sidewalk into a storm grate. Some boys in blue are mental man. Takes about 3 - 3 1/2 hours on the riding lawn mower to do my yard in the country along a busy road. On a hot day, little food in the belly, lotsa water, pretty well every tree gets a uric acid shower. Keep on wizzin' on man... legal or not the world needs to understand that taking a leak is natural and you're just giving back.

Bren told me she bumped into ya Smitty. You kinda surprised her. lol. Good no one was hurt but this is about the strangest trailer circumstance I've ever read. Hopefully insurance will pick up the costs. Solid reminder for people to check their shiznit out regularly.

Three weeks Roy!!! Man, hope the heat fizzles down to about 24C for ya, little mix of sun and cloud, full moon for 3 weeks, and hooks setting into anything with gills every minute.

Some great eyes Dave. I hope in 40 years I'm still sharing the boat with friends, beating on walleyes and sharing old stories.

Thanks Dan. Nice morning message to find. Myself & Pat, and guys like Bill here and some others indirectly through you and myself really do owe you for helping us get started. Incredible place as you know, so much water and possibility, I can't help but revisit the great fishing and each trip there take some time to explore something or somewhere new. Hopefully see you there again as there will be more next times.

Could sit on a block of ice too... cause man, this kinda sticky humid heat just cooks ya.

That is a piggy perch. Congrats to the little man.

Thanks again as always for reading and replying here in kind. These big and full reports can take up a big chunk of time to complete, often a full "down day" at home. They're always worth it to me, my family and some friends who enjoy the write-ups. Good luck Trev, I imagine you're staying same place again this year? I wouldn't overlook the quality pike fishing to be done. Agree that when there the specks come first, lakers and pike second, but for me that's only because I fish lakers 2-3 seasons a year, almost always plan a summer trip around pike and have had a good share of them in recent years. People who love pike but don't get the chance often to hunt bigger ones, well there's certainly some great opps up on the Nip. It was an insightful time my friend and definitely worth rethinking for a report. How's Kipawa been treating ya this season? Hope the lakers are biting. She won't. Again, it was her favorite time, the walleye fishing her favorite too... but the big speck her favorite fish. I wanted her to write a little story from her perspective for this report but unfortunately she didn't get time before heading off to girls camp for a couple weeks with her big sister. Since last autumns first big BOQ walleye, to this trips pike, speck and walleye shots, Leah's been posing for some great pics I just love. She has an upcoming gar that she reeled in too... a goodun. Thanks Ron. I know you've got your fishing up there pretty well pegged but if you have any questions before your trip in 14, drop me a line. His night job requires a little more sleek and sexy ya know? Three guys, a boat and nine days off for this one fellas. Anyone can do this sort of thing with some planning and the right motivation. With the kiddies at camp right now I'm kinda going into some sort of parent withdrawal... but keeping busy preparing for the next trip coming. Thanks BCD. I'll keep at 'em for awhile longer.

PROVISOR. A late start to the morning, when we reached the lake it was flat calm and begging to be beaten rough. Thinking pike early for a change we agreed on giving them a short go first. Over some early season emerging cabbage we found a decent pocket of fish and picked up a few, but it wasn't gang busters this time around. One good mid-forty inch fish that hit after following close to the boat came undone on Leah and I... that was a kick-in-the-head moment. Noon came and the boys decided on going to town. Tough pill for me to swallow having only two hours fishing in on the day and a glass calm lake inviting us to go exploring anywhere at all. My thinking is to take advantage of good weather and water when you can. Back to camp we went though, and while sitting in the cabin with Leah we both took our time and just had a good talk. This was when we were able to work out much of her homesickness, and it got even happier after a lunch when we chose to explore up the river together, and do some shore fishing for walleye. To Leah, this time alone made for her favorite day. It was an incredible couple hours with my baby. Re-energizing... smiling. We shot a little video too for fun. Len and Kev arrived back late that afternoon to meet us. While in town the guys found me a spoon I've been looking for now for probably four years or so. The "Provisor." It was a kind gift and hopefully it nails me a lunker laker one day. We slipped back onto the lake by 6:00pm for a couple hours of fruitless laker trolling, before partaking in our habitual beating of those dusky walleyes. The evening fish belonged to all. Kev had a hot stick and was nailing one after another, Len never stops catching fish period, while Leah and I kept to our fun thing. Some giant ribeye steaks with all the trimmings capped the day off perfectly. LAID TO REST. Great start, our first timely start, all rested and digested, we set off for earlier morning specks with the plan to not give up on them until Len caught his first. Blazing down the river with the sun at our backs, warm thoughts at thirty knots we woke the riverbanks until reaching the mouth. There on the lake she blew and making our way out twelve kilometers along the north shore of Humboldt we tucked in behind Hitchcock Island for a break from building waves. Leah was turning a little green but with her head closest to the motor fumes and cigarette smoke in the air, even I was feeling a little ill effect from just that alone. Poor Floaty was already beyond though, and took to orally chumming the water off the stern. "Take me back," and "I don't like this," were some pleas. "But, but, but..." I tried to rebut, but there was no but. Would have been a five mile beating to the southern leeward side of Humboldt, except with sickies on board that might have been a rather cruel torture. We had to retreat back. This is Nipigon karma. For several hours we safely probed new pike waters deep in Humboldt, with only a few lesser pike to show for it. The wind had turned some waters black and I wished we could get a better clarity to investigate for weedbeds. One scene well tucked away was like glass though, and it invited us in to view. Given the right time of year this little creek and the others adjacent to it would be loaded with pike, though at our time, no. Just outside and into the bay the water was dirty and the odd bit of cabbage could be found. Few pencils growing, somewhere there would be the fish we were looking for but today we couldn't find them. We retreated further back to Onaman's to fish walleye in the rapids at camp. The afternoon sun cooked us in the shelter of the river. Leah did not want to miss a decent supper or have to settle for picking away at a meal half asleep at an hour near her bedtime. She loves chicken fajitas and so she got her wish. The boys didn't put the boat back in the water after dinner. Len and Rob were hitting it off well, and so the two of them spent a few hours visiting and scheming about our return this winter to do some ice fishing for a week. Leah and I grabbed a couple oars, the sticks and some grubs and hiked our way back to the river hole we much enjoyed the day before. While there I sneakily let the camera roll while interviewing my little comical genius during her Jelly Belly beans break. "Talking is my policy," Leah does say. Kevin had other endeavors. He had found a home for Trevor and had finally built the strength to see his friend off. It is often the most kind and giving, hearts which love the most and beat strongest, who's lives are silenced too soon. From where river waters flow west into the sunset, upon a beautiful point at the last rapids on the Onaman, Trevor would flow to the lake and become part of this heaven on earth, for eternity. Ashes to water, his dust flowing to the dusk. RIP in the Nipigon. STORMY CALM. To be another bumpy day on the lake, after watching the windmill at the resort zip out lightning bolts of energy Float announced he was staying behind. Len needed some persuasion too and as we reached the mouth of the river to face the lake he needed even more. "Pass the first islands and we'll just have a look Len," I begged. "Point at that shore into the waves now and we'll just see what happens Len." Before we knew it we found flat waters on the lee side of a long shoreline we had yet to fish. Praise Nipigon. Would it prove worth anything remained to be known. Over a few hours we had perfect trolling conditions and managed to cover 7-8 kilometers of what was found to be a mixture of pikey-like, flat, sandy-weed, back waters with yet some great steeper, rocky, quick-tapered specky zones. I kept on the motor while Len did a lot of quarter-casting, and when any rod in the boat would fire Leah and I gave it to him. Until Len knew if it was his first speck or not, he'd only pass off the rod to Leah if found out to be a pike. Around 4:00pm and 25km out onto the lake we just kinda noticed the wind had dropped to almost nothing. No specks along what Wilf referred to as "loonshit," our trio dropped riggers and a dipsy for lakers in what was mentioned to be a decent, deep area. The lake out there is intense over 100-300 feet of water just offshore. Having veered off this rock face a half kilometer or less on the laker troll, the boat was out over 214 feet when the dipsy fired. Set back 52 feet down to 20 feet pulling a C90 Whitefish the initial pull was good and hearty as I passed the pole to Leah. Some help time-to-time inbetween correcting the boats direction, Leah kept the rod high, pumped it carefully and slowly winched in the fish. Len quickly cleared the other lines before readying the net. On the surface behind the dipsy, at first glance I saw the lure wobbling like it had nothing attached and announced the fish came off. Len called out, "no there's a small laker on," before correcting himself and excitedly yelling, "NO THAT'S A SPECK," when scooping it into the net. It was instantly Leah's favorite fish of the week and ask her why she'll tell you what she said to us, "because we all caught it together." And, if you're going to boat one while laker fishing, it might as well be a giant that hits a 6-inch spoon over 214 fow. Heckuva P.B. for the kid really. The wind had totally died and taking this catch as a sign that specks may be biting now, I wanted desperately to fish a particular island shoreline we had yet to try. A short 15km run further out into the belly of Nipigon we came off plane and started the troll. Again, Len took to quarter-casting quick from the bow while Leah kept an eye open on our back rods. Rounding a point the inside fired, Len put his rod down in a hurry and grabbed this one, and reeling his opposite hand now on a short light-action stick, was in for a gnarly fight with one speck that did not want any part of arriving boat-side. But it did... and Len officially had his first Nipigon speck. Excitement, relief and happiness all ensued thereafter. And after a quick weight, measurement and photos you can watch as the fish kicked away strong... Heads up now and after just having reset to start the troll, I looked out onto the lake and noticed whitecaps building again. Out of nowhere and in no time Nipigon kicked up and we were racing back towards Humboldt Bay and safer waters. A 50-plus kilometer fetch does expanse the lake between us and it's southern shores, it was a wet and bumpy ride which showed Len where the odd leak was in his bimini top. Although our window of calm lasted only about three hours on this day, it provided the boat with enough joy to last us a lifetime really. A short laker fish in the waves before Leah became a little unsettled with the rolling, back in a calmed safer harbor near the rivermouth we captured this moment. ROLLIN' WITH ROB. The windmill was blowing over on the morning of our final day. Rob had agreed with Len that for the price of gas he would take him fishing for the day, Len graciously invited us along. Had it not been for this arrangement we would have likely been fishing pike and walleye most of the day or, packing up to head home early. The biggest winds of the week were forecasted and Len's boat wouldn't have been comfortable to take out, Rob's 24-foot Boston Whaler on the other hand was ideal for the conditions. An afternoon of laker fishing was on the agenda. On the initial ride to the blue we bounced around a little, and so when Leah came out of the cabin upon stopping she asked, "is Floaty okay?" Kev got a kick out of that. A couple bags of Costco Jelly Bellies were a hit all week. Certainly Rob doesn't see too much of this kind of thing living rather remote all year long at the Resort. Tasty treats in a kajillion flavor combos, most are delicious until you accidentally mix a watermelon, coffee and popcorn bean combo by accident. Three to five foot annoying waves for awhile, turned to smoother rollers in the afternoon. Kev's rubber-hook-syndrome continued for the first two fish which took on a dipsy and a rigger, both came off. Leah's belly turned upside-down in the first hour or so until the Gravol and a little nap got her back on keel. She was in and out of sleep all day. Rob had us covering some prime locations, fish were on sonar but playing hard to get though. His approach to the lakers I have only ever read about once before, by a past Nipigon commercial fisherman and guide who confessed to chasing greys with the same ways. It's hard to stay on board with, but it does produce, Rob would tell you. Flip through the pages of the Onaman's photo album back at the office and you'll see proof, and a couple hardcore doods from Sudbury came in one evening after fishing all day and for three days and they confessed, "do exactly what Rob says." Big fish for the year so far was a 52 pounder caught about a week before we arrived. A number of low 40's had graced a few gunnels and good numbers of fish at the average 20 pound mark had been taken. That's Humboldt laker fishing Rob reports. There are a few days of good numbers sure, but the area is more-or-less at trophy laker fishery, in a truest sense. Concentrations of fish aren't quite as thick as elsewhere but sizes are the best found anywhere on the lake; in his lifelong experienced opinion. For the zero price of admission, I'd take a day conversing back-and-forth with a seasoned angler any day. Rob only needed to put an exclamation point on his guidance. Len had just propped himself up on a seat that hangs off the transom when the rod beside him ripped. FISH ON!!! Check that out... Now to recap Len's poor life here a minute, he shows up at Nipigon and in a week catches a GrandSlam with giants in all four species. Pike, walleye, speck and finally this lake trout. I'd say his initiation couldn't have gone any better. Another hour of trolling it was around dinner at this point when we decided to call it a trip. A full 15 hour drive to start early next morning, best laid plans were to get a good supper and all the packing finished, settle up the bill, and retire to bed early. Leah still smiling, she didn't seem to mind, I was so proud of her happy resilience through the week, and awesome fishing too. Onaman's River Resort on Nipigon was a great experience overall. A perfect place for those looking to experience a more remote area of the lake, yet in need of having all the creature comforts of home. Hopefully Floaty and Len took something from it as I know Leah and myself will not soon forget our trip. It won't be the last time visiting for us. Leah in the truck on the way out, "are we going through Pakistan on the way home." Tightlines, Bunk.