TJQ

Thanks guys/girls... my finger is fine.... it was no muskie lure... but its still hurt!! hookset... a deluxe crapper is one of the most important things you can have!! (happy wife... happy Life..) Also I think that were gonna be adding another 14x16 prospectors tent in mid july!!

.... ohhh boy... its coming FAST!!! This year... im gonna personally supervise the pike cleaning to make sure there are no bones... last years were a bit boney..... Supper may be later... but it will be bone free!!

Welcome!!

I'm still on dialup so I havent been posting or replying much... we should have our hi-speed back tomorrow.. its making working quite difficult, but I figured I would spend some time and get this post up!! Last Friday morning we headed back up to camp to finish setting up the stuff I didnt get to in the spring cause of the snow (dock.. crapper etc..) and take some time out... the kids arent doing much at school right now so we made it a 4 day weekend for them as well!! So up we went.... here's me on the end of the dock, looking to the internet gods for life giving access... Heres a picture of the most important setup at camp.. and I swear it is more comfortable than the ones at home!!!! Here is the view of the back of camp from the crapper!! Anyone know what this plant is ... there are tone of them... there was a nice fresh moose print right in the sand near it.. right next to the camp... oh goodie... So out we go in the boat to see if we can find any fishies and we get this beauty right off the bat... Caught on Moniques second favorite Lucky Strike lure!!!! Heres where it gets funny... well its funny now I guess... I'm not getting anything on the spoons I traditionally use... so I grab this crankbait looking thingy... with three nice sherp treble hooks on it and say "Ill give this a shot.." now Im thinking to myself that theres so many hooks on the darn thing that anything that even comes close to hitting it is gonna get caught... lol... I troll it for a bit and them BAM this monster pike in the pic below nails it and I spend 1/2 an hour battling it, but finally my angling skill prevails and I boat the monntrous beast.... It demanded a picture so I grab it as I always do... (like I do when Im using barbless spoons with way fewer hooks....) and the next thing I know .. it says "OH YA!! TAKE THIS!!!" So there we go.. its buried way past the barb.. and we are an easy hour to the nearest hospital... with a 20 min 4 wheeler ride in between.... So we took a pair of side cutters and clipped the hook..... and then pushed the barb the rest of the way THROUGH my finger... I tried to push it with the pliers but I couldn't get the end of the hook to push out through the skin, so it took the two of us... I pushed on the hook and Monique pressed down on the skin around where the point was gonna come out and presto.... after a couple of words that the filters wouldn't allow here.. or anywhere for that matter, it pushed through to my great relief.... A little bit of whiskey and I was good as new... well as new as I can be anyway!! so... did I learn a lesson... you bet.... #1 when im fishing to release anyway.. ALL my hooks will be barbless from now on... #2 I will respect the fish's ability to harm me.. no matter how small they are!!! I was fortunate... no infection and in two days my finger was good as new!! Jaden spent alot of time casting off the dock... there were bass and pike galore out there... nothing huge but alot of fun.. half the time when you went down to the dock you would see a small pike or bass swin away!! It was good to see alot of partridges still out and about... usually in this heat they are pretty scarce... The campfire was so nice... we brought a cot out by the fire for Monique to "TRY".... lol.... we had to drag her in to go to bed.... It was beautiful and HOT all weekend long... I just love it up there.... All in all we saw 4 bears, 1 moose, 1 huge hawk, a turtle, countess ducks loons and geese, one very annoying squirrel.. all the bears were cubs, but I suspect momma was close by... It was a great weekend ... I'm going back up in July to add another tent to the compound and will likely be up there alot in August!! (Oh ya... if you have a sweet tooth... you must try the "Elk Ears" at the chip stand in Elk Lake..... Tim Horton's eat your heart out!!)

Welcome aboard!!

Thats great... someone will have to bring dinner to lakair...

Thats awesome....

Thanks guys!!! BPS: ya she kicked my ass again.. I think she pays a bit more attention than I do.. lol.. (small man.. small brain.. not very focused!!) Fishonthebrain: Of course any lodge thats an hour to fly-in and has the staff facilties that Kesagami does is gonna cost some dough... Moosebunk: Im not sure if he will be back.. he left the same morning we did... and secrecy.. lol.. he knew better!! and .... take a pee... it will go away... LOLOLOLOL Gerritt: The one thing thats obvious from the time you get there.. your satisfaction is thier #1 goal.. which generally isnt too hard to achieve when the fishing is not really a concern... Joey: Ya... as Jimmy Walker would say... shes lookin' good!! LOL There were bunk beds in the Cabins.. which seemed to suit her just fine.. I think shes getting sick of me hoggin the blankets... ccmt: man.. I tell ya.... if Im not mistaken, the largest pickerels of the year were always over 30"... Nemo.. thanks for the link... its quite a coincidence... lol.. I nosed over in '83 as well with minor damage!!!! Lunker: YES... acutally... I caught a stick... whichj helped me catch a fish.... you'll have to wait for the video of that!! Taper... you won't be dissapointed... Danbo... We do. I will. Theres a sign at the lodge that says something to the effect of: "No time spent fishing will be deducted form your life..." or something like that... lol.. personally I think some of my trips are helping to shorten it... ah well.... Greencoach... ya well I had to expain that to those folks fro Alabama as well... I think they got it though.... It told them it was a subspecies of Walleye only found north of the border... Lew: Thanks, no muskies up there... but the prime rib will take the sting outta it for ya!! Misfish and Maureen: Yes it certainly was... Bigbuck... Italo was very nice and congenial in person.. they were up there filming a piece with this family that won a trip from Ontario Travel (gov't) and If I could cathc the one... I'm sure he did a bit better.... Solopaddler: Its up to Matachewan shortly, then a wedding and then The OFC G2G... after that its a week in New York City with the kids.. but most of July and August will be up at the camp... um... refurbishing...

They had a GREAT dvd and video collection, which would come in handy later... The weather was progressively getting worse... but the boats are more than able to manage the winds and waves. But not this... WE did manage to get into a few more!! WE never got into the really big pike (should have kept the guide.. but he was already booked!!) But every day... there was at least half a dozen reports of 40"+pike being caught!! This is our one entry into the tourney.... We had such a good time... we got goofy...maybe it was the wine.. I dunno??) The girls (staff) took great pleasure in wathcing the men bring up the boats... they are pretty heavy!!! I had to laugh.... word mustve got out... everybody else get called by their last name... me ... I'm just TJ.... LOL The last day (monday when we were supposed to fly out...) someone decided .. that just wasn't gonna happen..... so we hung out in the lodge and chatted and had more than a few coffees.... but the dock hands keep a constant vigil just in case some guest was crazy enough to go out... and there was one party that did.... The floating dock looked like a big caterpillar as the waves rolled under it. We spent the day chatting with some very nice gentlemen from the great state of Alabama. Really nice guys... It was nice to tell some of my adventures to people who hadn't heard them before... lol.. they didn't believe them either!!! I think the most fun was teaching them about curling.... Finally that evening the weather looked like it was gonna break and it looked like the "back of da frunt" was coming through.... I'd never seen a sunset that peeked out from under the clouds like that. The picture doesnt do it any justice at all. So finally after a couple of attempts we were shuttled over to the Cessena and away we went back to Cochrane to drive home.. On the way home we stopped at our FAVOURITE chinese food restaurant in all of Ontario... in Temagami... I can tell you that if you ever have the chance to stop there for lunch or supper you won't be dissapointed. You have to try this place out if you get a chance!! We rolled in back home around 9 o'clock... I gotta say that I've been to alot of lodges and this one is certainbly top notch. The food was fantastic, steak, prime rib, Charbroiled ribs, and a Turkey dinner... I must have put on 10lbs, The boats were in great shape, and I gotta say that this is the only lodge I have ever been at where you get valet service for your boat... you just bring it up to the dock and they park it for you... when you want it they go and get it for ya... They have some strict fishing policies... no pickeral over 18" for shore lunch and EVERYTHING else is caught and released... WE had to change all our treble hooks to single barbless hooks which they provide for FREE to all guest to help with easy quick releases... The guide was topnotch... he sat and smiled and listed to all my bull... lol and put us on the fish right away. It was a pleasure to go up there the wait staff and dock hands (19 in total!!) went out of their way to make sure everything was as pleasant as possible... the one afternoon we were coming back freezing and Rob started a fire for us in the woodstove in our cabin so it would be going when we arrived. It's a tribute to a lodge that can recognize the fishery and take the important steps to maintain that fishery and even improve it from what I can tell... Kesagami is an amazing place and an amazing lake... I can't wait to get back.... Thank you Charlie for having us!!! http://www.kesagami.com As soon as I get a chance I will have the underwater videos I did and the next Due North Adventures Video ready to go.

Well we got back last nite from our 3 day trip (which turned into 5 days... lol) into Kesagami Lake Lodge. I had heard great things about the lodge and Charlie, the Manager, as well as great things on this board about the Lake!! I am very very pleased to say that all reports were right on the button!! We drove up to Cochrane on Thursday afternoon in preparation for our anticipated flight at 8 am to the lodge. We checked in at the Best Western (nice place BTW) and went out for din din and a walk around. It was pretty cloudy when we got there, and the sky was not looking promising... For those of you who havent been there, the towns mascot is the polar bear, and they even have three in Captivity you can go see. We went out for dinner, and by the "Pickerel Dinner" we knew we were well out of walleye country and in the right place!!!! We spoke to some people at dinner and it didn't look too promising, there were a few parties backed up, and it looked like we may not get in at all the next day, especially if the weather didn't cooperate. On the way back from dinner we even found another Polar Bear... nicely done in Marble outside the train station.... Cochrane is the rail connection where everything goes up to Moosonee... That's the Train Station and the Best Western in the Background. The next morning we were told that depending on the weather our flight would be later... there were several parties ahead of us... In typical Kesagami Fashion, they hired out an Otter from Hearst Air to get all the parties in a bit quicker, and we did indeed get to go in only a bit later than our scheduled time!! Right after the otter left we loaded up the Beaver and off we went. I had flown in alot of Cessenas before and It had been a long time since (20 years or so) I have flown in a Beaver... this one was built in 1950. Its interesting to fly and see the cuts. The scenery is specatular, in the northern most regions the landscape is very flat. The further North ya go.. the marshier and smaller the trees get. Coming into Kesagami...... Our arrival!!! - An hour long flight and was I happy to get back on terra firma After we got out there we had a bit to eat and then out we go for our afternoon fish with our guide to show us the hows, whys and wheres of Kesagami!! Rob was a great guy and we kidded around with him alot.... He brought us to a nice windy rocky point/shoal and we had the perfect "Pickerel Chop" lol... we slew them here to the point that it got tedious watching Monique catch so many many fish.... It was one right after another for at least an hour......... I guess we forgot to take any pictures of me... (ya.. thats it!!!) Monique even decided that Rob could catch one... but it had to be smaller than hers....lol We then moved spots and tried another reef that Rob suspected had big pike.... we started to clean up on pickeral again, and then Rob got a 36-38 incher... he released it before I got a chance to get a picture.. I've got some video though.... a couple of minutes later he's hauling in a smaller pike and starts yelling for us to look at this mammoth pike that's chasing it...... A couple of miniutes later I put on a spinnerbait and had anothe 30 inch pike chase it to the boat I was sorta figure 5 ing it .. lol... when all of a sudden the little pike takes off and this HUGE pike hits it.... I screamed like a little girl and nearly dropped my rod... I've caught some 42 inch pike before... but I have NEVER seen a fish that big before.... dude dude... he never came back.... Back to Camp we go to warm up in our Cabin before dinner. The first night there supper was Prime Rib, A garlic Fried Potato, salad, soup Yorkshire pudding with some desert... A walk out to the dock and a glass of wine while watching the sunset made the day complete... I slept like a rock..... The next day Breakfast at the lodge and off we go... they had some kool stained glass... In the middle of the lodge is this MASSIVE fireplace This moose must have been running pretty fast when he hit the walll.... We fished the morning and came back to the lodge for lunch, and met this gentleman.

Good luck Jeff... If i remember correcty hes a great dog!!

Great Report!!

http://www.silkmoths.bizland.com/hthysbe.htm

I have several of them around our lilac trees as well.. this is the first year I have ever noticed them... very cool looking... it does certainly look like a baby hummingbird.

thats heavy dude...

Its like the Juno's of fishing (you yankees can look up "Juno" LOL...)

I say we all chip in and buy Lew a Lakair muskie this year.... lol... (sorry bud...)

Ahhh yess..... completely plated in pure artificial 24 carat gold, smelling of minnows and stale ole' milwaukee... A trophy any real angler would be proud to have his/her name on!

Sweet Report... one of these days.. im gonna get my butt up there!!

I have had a Garmin GPS 12 for 7 or 8 years now... never let me down... so theres no point in buying a new one...

Ill supply the sound system!!

Ya.. I know two whitefish bays'

Sweet pics... pics never do the mountains justice....

Great report... nice to see a good fundraiser for a good dude...

Northamfishing is in!! http://www.northamfishing.com