Moosebunk

Other than a few local fishing outings during the busy summer travel months, home waters have remained quite safe from this prying angler. Winter and spring had been hectic with both work and play, and once the real heat arrived it was comfortably rewarding to just chill alongside friends in more northern climes. Back to school truly marks the beginning of autumn. Being mainly a weekend shift-worker, an easy routine during other's Mon to Friday grind is to see the kiddies onto the morning bus, while the boat waits hitched to a running truck. Reminds me of many frosty mornings packing the WarCanoe at first light, for those long anticipated hauls up the Mighty Moose. While living up north what really got the fishing juices flowing in fall were a few things. The rivers would swell up some with the seasonal rains, making travel more possible to further reaches of the wild. The Cree turned from fishing to hunting, resting pike and walleye from any hooks and nets. Cooler air made it more accommodating to spend entire days enjoying the outdoors, and the fishing for at least a few weeks in October would generally be the nutz. Pike schooling up and putting on the feedbag were a seasonal favorite, and sighting seals, belugas, moose, hawks and bears while enroute was a more frequent occurrence. Back at home here in the valley that same colorful, fall spirit to fish and explore lives on. When younger, never having had any chance for bass, walleye or trout in these parts during this season, everything today seems new and rather experimental. Within the past 3-years for "just bass alone," I have fortunately had the time to sample nearly 40 new lakes, with much of this testing being done during autumn. It's a rush really, as most of these water bodies were scouted out in books, online, talking to friends, in topo & hydrographic software and Google Earth, and then finally set to target. A few places just rocked the socks off, most were OK, and some were total duds. Like this year, September 6th the bass season got rolling for me, and in the past six weeks with many outings and nine new lakes to test this fall, there were a few explorations which worked out great, and some that taught a tough lesson. With pavement, gravel and bush trails going everywhere, the journeys through the land of maples, elm and oak all sharing vibrance before winter takes hold, the bass at the end of the road simply give a greater reward to the entire experience. It's an awesome time of year to be enjoying outdoors. As far as the bassin' goes, it wouldn't be honest to say I completely started the season in September. There were a few occasions I had to get out through the summer months, and one such day was with friend, Christine. Our morning on the water she showed me as she has in the past, what it takes to actually catch fish, and I felt grateful that she took time out during her vacation home here to make room in her busy schedule. I much appreciated this from Chris... she is a talent, an optimist, a worker, and interesting woman... the real deal. On route home from a trip out in western Ontario, travel buddy Tony stopped in Petawawa and signed up for the Hawg Bass Tournament on Muskrat Lake slated for September 8th. Without a partner, he eventually recruited not-so-bass-guy, me. Having never fished a tournament and being rather skeptical with that whole scene, I thought... why not? Best to experience such things to really know. Well, two days before competition a serious bass season began with my little prefish to just set some hooks on frogs, senkos and toobs. Come tourney time, it poured rain and howled cold winds all day. But, Tony made it worth it more ways than one. Big bass for $500 and third place overall for another $500, we walked away happily in the money and I learned a thing or two. With much thanks to the Capn’ of the A$$ Tracker, I'll likely be retiring 100% for my tournament career. Mikey's had an awfully crazy fall with plans to basically lay new roots and begin a new chapter in his life. It’s ballz and about bloody due. Finding time with this work-a-holic ain't been easy, but we did. Mike a backwoods billygoat, it only seemed befitting we go on a good tour in the hills. Our day was met by unseasonably gnarly, cold-front, north winds while we tried for smallies on a deep and remote lake. No tanks caught; which we know are in there, we did pretty darn good considering with some decent bass. Enjoyed that outing. Never see enough of this old friend; my oldest friend of 31 years, and I surely make that known whenever the chance does finally come about. Fraser joined me one day for a tour up into the other side of beyond. After launching the Lund I pretty much hit a stump right away, and again later on a river rock shoal. Thankfully I was suspicious of the area and only traveling at idle speeds. Our time together we were panning for green and bronze bass on waters known to have chunky nuggets, yet on this attempt any flashes in the pan remained rare. Fra did pick up a golden walleye and a few fish, myself as well. For a monday late September I was surprised how many other anglers had the same idea to go panning for bass. No day is a bad day for fishing I guess. Somewhere in the midst of things, I spent a day on the water chasing bass and muskies with another cool fella I had never really met. Len, an old regular to some fishing boards and I had bumped into each other before, on the Ganny, on some icy Bogie backroad, and one other time while shopping fer fishing shtuff. Our day out we worked for a few fish and unfortunately had a good ripper of a ski come unpegged while on the troll. It was a really good day though with Len, and the ski fishing kinda sparked some new interest again. Looking forward to our next time. One other outing this autumn was a real rare treat. Bren joined me for a day fishing. Armed with a light rod and an inline spinner, she put the beats on bass and pike through the morning until we stopped to enjoy a late lunch before heading home. There's never enough days to fish with her. To the fishing in hand... and something new to share. This paragraph just some rambling about dropshotting, so never ya mind if it doesn’t really interest ya. In 2010 there were a couple days I tried drop-shotting to very limited success. In 2011 didn't bother with the method at all. It was this year after witnessing the effectiveness of the drop by Tony and noting that much of the anglers at Hawg Bass were using the technique, that it was worth giving a try again. So, on three new lakes this fall once finding good depth with fish below on sonar, I giver’d with some drop-shotting. First attempt slowly drifting over 30-35 feet and just kinda draggin' the drop yielded a big hook-up, but a loss. Second time out I hit paydirt as it was a calm day, and therefor easy to short cast and slowly tweak some Gulp back, getting a real feel for things. Must have felt or hooked forty fish that day, but probably 75% of them got off... it just wasn't happening. The third try it ended up a blow day but boat control was do-able over what I figured were good spots. Same thing happened as the second time out though, but this time lost a biggy and a few others. Fish were interested but something was wrong, and so it was guessed to be the hook or how it was tied. Using Gammy's with a palomar to the shot, every now and again I had to tweak the knot to make the hook stand up and out more. This thinking relatively standard right??? Well, it wasn't ti'll heading into see Gord at Bits & Baits that I decidedly picked up a pack of the VMC's rigged to prevent line twist. Having a morning to fish the following day, I tried another new lake and picked up five largies. A week later, returned to the lake where I had lost so many of the fish previously, and before big winds made things really difficult, it turned into a great morning picking up a dozen or so smallies, and a few chunkers too. Thing is, over these two outings it was a 100% hook-up and catch rate with these hooks, and some quality fish to boot. So come end of a little trial and error, it appears as though something was found that works for me. It's been an effective little trick to add to the trade. I'm looking forward to tweaking this method even more to suit, as it feels a little more natural to this walleye jigger from days back. Bass this autumn haven't only received the subtle approach to wind up over the gunnels. Everything from frogs, cranks, senkos, tubes and mini-tubes, grubs, swimbaits and inline spinners have taken a turn hooking fish. Keeping with last years fall theme of bass on light gear, this seasons fishing the same tried-and-true methods have worked well again. Decent numbers of respectably big bass have exceeded personal expectation, especially considering it's been a short window on new waters, and half of the lakes are kinda smaller backwood holes off the beaten path. So for what's ahead I dunno? Six weeks of bass has been fun but maybe about enough... (who am I kidding, I'll be out a few more times) November is around the corner though, and with realistically only six or seven more weeks of boating season left, thoughts are turning to other fish elsewhere. So in finishing bass for now; or possibly for good, I'll leave the end of this report with just a handful of fish pics and a short 3-minute video / slideshow... (please excuse all the grab&grin shots too, creativity with only the tripod is at a premium) Here's a whole lotta fish! And there's a tonne more in the Vid. Click here for the goods!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJCRNqgnLf0 Thanks for tuning in to Bassin' 2012. Enjoy the rest of your season. Bunk

Outer rods - 8.5' Taloras 10-20lb. Inner rods - 8.5' Clarus 8-17lb Steelhead Casting rods. Why... better fight on the Clarus but not if it's a Sheepie on the outside. lol. Other Taloras for rigger, dipsy and core too. Reels - Diawa Sealine or Accudepths & Cabela's Depthmaster in the 17 or 27 series. NEVER an issue not having enough line spooled up. Reels haven't failed me yet, and decently priced. Look for sales with LeBaron's for the Diawa's and Cabelas for the DMaster. Line - 40lb PowerPro to 40 foot 12lb floro leader. P-Line snaps. Whatever 14-17lb for backing. No troubles with rippin' lips... occassionally fish come off regardless. Boards - Offshores. On outside boards the back clip is replaced with a big snap swivel. (trust this tip) Like those orange planer boards too though... Lures - Reef Runners, Yozuris, Rapalas and NK spoons. Book - Precision Trolling. Really, it's all personal preference. Tonnes of different options to get the same results.

Can't believe it's been 5 years Clive!!! Seriously, I think I remember you posting baby pictures of Ash before you left. Good to have ya back dood! The beard is just whacked!!!

Solid fish Rob. Great little road tour in the books for ya. You're making me think I too gotta visit this legendary Lac Seul place before time is up. Would prefer to leave the snow out of it while boat fishing tho!!! lol. Ben reminds me of my buddy James from back in highschool. James played guitar in our band and wanted to live music and rock & roll. And so he does still to this today, with his own band, and presently producing and recording 3 of the tracks on Blue Rodeo's next album. James has played alongside Neil Young, Randy Bachmann, Blue Rodeo, Tragically Hip, Mathew Good, Sam Roberts... and puts out some great stuff out on his own too. Ben, well, I remember it wasn't that long ago when he wanted to fish and write... and look at that dood fish on now!!! Pick the right place, find the right time... and presto!!! Magic happens. Nice skis!!!

Very nice way to spend the end of September.

Don't do enough recreational reading but the past two books I most enjoyed were, Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden. Fiction/ non-fiction. Trespassing In God's Country by... think by George Therriault (Canadian Bushpilot) himself. Non-fiction. Need a work gig up north for a few weeks. That tends to be where the reading gets done.

Them's some freaky beasts. Good laugh. Thanks Craig.

That's some pretty slick quick internet there fer Yellerknife tho Dave! My buddy is coming down next month from yer big town next month and am looking forward to seeing him. Couldn't tell ya what speed it was in MF.. although it was instant. DSL with Ontera, $48/month in 2009. Now, base rate $65 for the two sticks but usage is up'in the monthly cost to about $110 on average. Hopefully now that the wife is done school it comes down... except that our 13 year old is wanting more online time too.

You're not kidding man!!! And I thought there was a big initiative to bring highspeed to all rural areas... problem is; and you obviously know this as well, is that highspeed is deemed anything faster than dial-up. So first we get.... XPlorenet.

Dang Raf... I know you know stuff! My stick operates on 1 bar outta 5 for it's signal. It's the weakest there is. I plug in a small external antenna to that which gives me 2 bars... sometimes. The wifes computer is 1/5 too. Our tower (Bell) is about 3 km's away. The next closest is Telus and it's maybe 7km's. (Cool link, thanks) Ohhh it's faster than dial-up Skip. For sure. I had dial-up once back in the 1930's while living in Alert. j/k But yeah man, it's an improvement... I used to be on DSL and it was great! And that was on an island in the subarctic. lol. So... your ping should be lower, but your UP and DOWN higher. My father for instance tested and he's at 21 Down and 4.5 Up. He's in town... and here I am at 1.8 Down and 0.5 Up. He's got highspeed. Thanks Dave... kinda forgot about the Hub. I'd heard about these sometime back from my buddy who works with Bell. They were in their infancy... I should see if he can bring one out to test somehow... although, if going by what Raf has said, it may not cure any bottlenecking issues but could maybe give us a better signal to the tower and at just one cost. Appreciated guys. I'll be talking more with Storm in the coming week or two, and I guess as far as providers go... the TurboHub could be worth looking into.

Thanks Skipper. Now you know A) that the Speedtest site exists and that neither one of us are operating on any decent level of "highspeed" You can test and retest changing to different locations but, it usually still ends up the same. Currently I'm at... ping 123 Down 1.8 Up 0.57. Usually for us with two sticks costs are about double... but we're a little faster by the looks of it.

Go to www.speedtest.net Do not click on "start now" where it says, before your speed test BUT, instead click on "begin test." You'll have to wait about 30 seconds until it is complete, then it will give you your ping rate, download and upload speeds. Those numbers are the results.

Again... I will have to look into that Skipper. Does it work for more than one computer at a time in the house??? And, what are your speedtests like??? www.speedtest.net 10GB would be enough here too...

Not all 3 of us j ace, but yes, 2 of us do. The wife's computer travels outta the home often to work. About going with one stick in a router... my worry (and again I'm unsure???) was that one stick operating for two computers going at a time, will only make what is already a painstakingly slow speed, even slower. My wife having often been required to take online classes/conferences, I also didn't want to jeopardize her current working system with my online porn streaming (fish porn of course). But, now that her school is done, it's time to explore available options. I don't "believe" (not sure) all providers using Bell/Telus tech (ie, ?????? Storm) necessarily choke their users dependent and during busy use times. If they all do, then what I'm using now may be the best option still. The Bell stick was recommended by my neighbor... who works out of her house... for Bell... and gets hers for free. lol. "Some" others use Ripnet... but they must be at a slightly higher elevation because I can't think of any directly around me with a 70 foot tower or more. If Storm does not choke... and what they offer is 3 Down & 1 up untampered with and true to contract at cost, I will allow them to punch holes in my house to pop up a satellite... BUT, if they're like XPlorenet was, punch holes in my house, charge me even more money for their best package which offers supposed better speeds, and then I start Speedtesting them on Thursday nights for results of Ping 1800 ms, Down 0.5 and Up .15 because they're choking... well I can't deal with that shhhnit. lol. I don't need to be a tonne faster because I don't download movies or play online games or such. Just looking to be as fast as I can for surfing, checking the forums, up/downloading pics and watching the odd You-tube video. Getting by here... but barely. lol. Don't like having to always wait to go to work or to my folks place to upload pics and videos for doing up reports either. lol. Appreciate the response. Seriously.

Hey Raf, thanks for the reply dood. If it's like the Bell stick, then this household actually needs two of them... and soon enough with a 13 year old, possibly 3 of them. I believe though that my wife looked into Rogers when we first moved in 3 years ago and they didn't have anything available here yet. Bell, XPlorenet and Ripnet were our options. Will look into them again, but with our two Bell Sticks we're just not seeing good enough service for the money we're spending... and the thought of be choked during primetime really annoys and spooks me. Will do D. Never heard of it. Ripnet. Probably the fastest service I know I could get. $1000 for the 70 foot towering eye-sore they'd need to put up. Hoping that the new "50 house" (supposed) subdivision going in at Innisville will bring better options. Thanks guys! IPhones and the such aren't a part of our lives yet... in fact, I might turn on the old cell phone once or twice a week to note the time if I forget my watch or, really have to call someone about something. Call us old fashioned or unretarded if you will. Surprised no one at all is using Storm..?

BTW... really a computer dummie here... so please not too much geek speak. Thankyall muchly!

While I'm thinking of it... The speedtests tonight with my current internet server (a Bell stick) thus far are... Ping: 104 Down: 1.85 Mbps Up: 0.5 Mbps My wife's... Ping: 198 Down: 0.55 Mbps Up: 0.36 Mbps I'm considering going with Storm. Their package for us would be cheaper and it offers 50GB/month, Down 3.0 & Up 1.0 Country living you pay a price... heck, it was faster Internet with FiberOptics in Moosonee and Attawapiskat. We once had XPloreNet and it was absolutely gawd aweful. Paying for the best package (5Down / 1Up) I was regularily getting Down/Up speeds even less than the Bell stick and with a ping rate in the 1000's. Every night being "choked" by the provider. So... now I'm wondering if anyone using Storm has experienced similar choking problems, and if the speeds they advertise (and you pay for) are really what you get???

I'll come up with Bill in the future for those Atlantics. Tyler... that's the way to spend a summer dood. Great fishing mixed with the perfect memories with friends.

Probably a coincidence Drew.. same joiner I changed last year.. right where you loaded your sled! I needed to fix it better anyhow! Well bud... if it is may bad, lemme know what I owe ya and we'll square up next time chillin'. Serious!!!

That's some giving thanks at Thanksgiving for all the great things we're lucky to have in our back yard. The splake takes the cake!

Cool man! I can relate to having a canoe with a motor. Despite the dreary weather, it sounds as though you really enjoyed the experience........ and, keep that camera dry next time too.

Very much liked this one!!! Well fellas, a great collection of walleye, and a joy to view a solid handful of OFC'ers coming together and making it happen. Great fish for all but, I'll have to wait and view some vids from work... too slow in the boonies here. Great delivery as always Mike! Agree with ya too... there's just something about walleye you gotta always find time for.

You had a great summer season Tyler. Thanks for putting that together... wicked fish porn in many ways. GL with the steelies!

A roaring applause of one here in a dark basement with a finger left of some MacCallan 10. You live it Wayne... and it's so nice to see what appears to be so much of the good, through times of tough. Can think of one other. And btw... the pipes cracking is probably just a co-inky-dink! Wuzn't............ me. Great report and pics bud!

Pretty sure in the cold my 60 has done it too.