So... after a very tiring Lakair Weekend, the kids managed to finish off their school year, with some very good marks for both of them I might add, we left Sturgeon on Wed. after school, and headed up for what was forcasted to be a very rainy weekend. ... um "they" were right for a change.
There has been alot of rain up here and its been a banner year for mosquitoes and black flies.. the sky looked pretty ominous that evening.
My first order of business was to get the two water tanks I brought up last time installed... so I built a frame outta 2x6's to hold up the two tanks... lol.. the bugs helped me get them up there....
Now with the pump.. theres no more hauling water by the bucketful for showers and washing.... thank god....
The fishing up till now at camp had been pretty disappointing, it was really good last year and I couldn't figure out what had changed... so we tossed out our favorite spoon and went for a troll.... my go to spoon never fails us and Monique managed to boat a decent pike for dinner....
The bass had been absent, but shortly after the pike we got a smallie on... (the spider is just there for scale)
and another.....
Now that we figured the bass were on, we decided to try some topwater and we were not dissapointed!
Yes.... even the guide is allowed to get one once on a while....
showoff......
Back at camp... Muskie relaxed and watched as.....
I cleaned a couple of fish for tomorrow nites surf and turf dinner....
Even the butterfly's were everywhere Jaden managed to get a bunch to land on her hand.
I don't know what these flowers are, but the were all along the water at the front of the camp.
Oh ya I almost forgot... and Canadian Tire should thank me for this.... we splurged and bought the Instant hot water heater.... I wasn't sure how good it would really be... but I gotta tell you. Its worth every penny... It will heat a 5 gallon bucket of water up for a shower in about 5 min tops... makes doing the dishes much easier as well... combined with having water in the tanks at camp, cut down on a lot of hauling and boiling. I am hugely pleased with this unit... so far anyway.
Things quieting down at camp for the nite...
Thunder storms moving in.
In the evening we went fishing with some jigs and worms to see if we could figure out where in the heck those pesky pickerel are hiding... not too much luck (I get bored to easy I guess...) but Avery managed to pick this one up in front of the rapids.
Time to call it a night.
But not for the beavers though... man they must have had an easy winter, cause there are at least triple the amount there was last year...
Of course we had to have Canada Day Fireworks.. ( a bit early...)
Friday turned out to be the nicest day, so Avery and I took a long 4-wheeler drive in search of some other lakes to try out. We were originally looking for a lake that I know has tons of Pickeral in it as we had flown into it before, but it proved to be non accessible, but we did find this one with some boats stashed on it... so I'm pretty sure its one we will eventually fish.... it took some energy to get the boats in there so there must be a reason!!!
They bugs weren't too bad that nite so we managed to enjoy the outside of the camp for a bit.
They are sneaky though.... Ole Jaden is a toughy... Dad says "Bug bites are good for ya!!"
It was fun... there are tons of smallmouth off the dock... whenever one of the kids gets bored its off to the dock for some topwater action. (LOL... no snags that way either)
and when the bugs are too bad... theres always the Nintendo!
Even Muskie got sick of them...
On Saturday it was HammerHead Lures Topwater Day. We had gotten a selection of them and decided that we would try our luck all day with them.... well I gotta say.. its the best day of fishing for bass I've had in a long time. They have been very generous at the Tourney and to many members so I figured a good post with a bunch of pictures would show my appreciation
We caught tons of fish all day on them. Even the pike (as you will soon see ) couldn't turn them down...
I though Jaden's shirt was appropriate!!
We had a blast!!!!
Jaden couldn't keep them off!
I think I gotta keep an eye on her though... shes getting too kissy kissy....
Avery got into the action as well....
And I got this pike behind the boat... I've had lots of small pike hit my topwater lures, but this one was a bit bigger than normal...
Lively release...
So... while were casting to shore, I had Monique put her popper about 150 feet behind the boat and as were slowly moving down the shoreline, she "pops" it every 20 feet or so... I know I'm gonna get some people telling me I'm full of crapola, (I've got enough stories I don't have to make nothing up.... trust me...) but all of a sudden I see something come out of the water and just nail it..... I only saw a bit of the side of the fish, and it was quite a distance from the boat, and I just thought it was a really nice bass.... till it started peeling line like no tomorrow.
The fish did 2 full 30 foot runs with that lure in its mouth and we barely managed to get it into the net. We were using 8 lb fireline (my favorite) and no leader. on a collapsible rod that I usually keep in the back of the 4-wheeler... (note to everyone... if your drag is set right and ya keep the tip up... you can get anything in!!! Tookie taught me that!!
I don't know how long it was... we wanted to get it back in the water after the pictures as quick as possible... I'm thinking 38-40 inches maybe... i dunno.... We let that bad boy go so we can get another crack at him/her another day...
Time for surf and turf!!! Some good ole steak and popcorn pike and bass. Here's Jaden battering them up!
Into the pan they go!!
Lookin' good!!!
best family nite ever!!!
Next day it was crappy... but we decided to give it another shot... kids were smart and stayed in!! We trolled very slowly with those topwaters way way behind the boat, and even in water that wasn't a mirror we did very well. ( I did manage to outfish Monique that day!!) These are more Hammerhead lures BTW.
The weather broke a bit and the kids decide to join us!
All in all it was a great weekend.. it was nice that it was warm enough that we didn't have to put wood in the stove all the time... the kids had a nice break.. and we finally got into some fish!! With the completion of the water tanks... I think I'm done building and now I can concentrate on trail clearing and exploring!!
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