oxcowboy

yeah it looks nice, im taking harvick tonight, but wouldnt want to bet against kurt bush he always runs good there. jason

hooked, yeah we drank some manly beer too, bought a couple cases of carlin and a couple packs of toilet paper. lol ive been making this trip about 15 years, always try to hit a new lake or two each year. jbird- the blue walleye came out of a lake that we had never fished before,it was deep and made like a bowl. it was small, only about 10 inches or so, but we heard of some nice ones that were caught through the ice, going around 10 lbs. jason

hi folks, sorry this report is a little late, but i have had some medical problems with my dad, and havent had alot of computer time, not to mention school has started and with all the teacher meetings and such, i have had a full schedule everday. anyway here it goes hope you enjoy. we left good ol southern ohio on wed, august 25th and headed for elk lake, the ride up through ohio and michigan was uneventfull as usuall. arrived at the border alittle after midnight. exchanged our money which was our first screwing, dollar for dollar, ol well on to custums. things went well untill he asked if we were carring any weapons. i took a compound bow that my friend in haliburton had bought off of ebay, but they wouldnt ship to canada so he had it shipped to me, any way i declared it like i should and he said "a what?" so i explained to him that it shot arrows and was used for hunting. he had no clue, but he did give us a slip and told us to go park and the search of the vehicle began. no big deal just set us back about 45 minutes and we were on our way. i told the guys its ok its all part of the adventure. the rest of the way was fine, a stop in toronto for gas, a stop in north bay for gas and topped off the tank in new liskeard. we arrived at the golden eagle camp, dropped off some frozen food, purchased our liscence and off to our special spot for 3 days of tent camping. after driving about 15 kilometers back in the bush we found the camping area. the weather was hot, got the tent and camp all set up, dropped the boat in and off to catch some pike for the 1st shore lunch of the year. we did pretty good for the limited time of fishing, we boated 21 between the 3 of us and kept a few for supper that night. after several brown pops and alot of fish strips i finally knocked off and went to bed, i did all of the driving, so no problems falling a sleep. woke around 7 the next morning and feeling revived and ready we hit the water again. it was an overcast day and even rained some, but the fishing was excellent we boated 108 on the day, several nice smallies and some decent pike. i lost a nice pike boat side, that would have probably went around 36 inches, most pike were caught on inline spinners and the smallies on soft plastics. the next day was tough, real hot and the moon phase wasnt right, we still managed 37 fish in a shortened day, came back to camp and loaded everything back up and headed to our cabin at the golden eagle. after cleaning a couple walleye for taking home, grillin some burgers and a much need shower, we decided to go to the local watering hole in matachewan and did a little kareoke and a lot of drinking we made some new pals with the locals and headed to the bar after party at some dudes house, and thats where we met this fellow. needles to say the next morning came way to early, didnt make it on the water till about noon. once again very hot, and on the way to the lake, we blew a trailer tire, no big deal after a quick pit stop we were ready to go again. as i was putting the tire tool up i thought i heard a little sound, sure enough the spare was leaking at the valve stem, messed with it a little and it seemed to stop. went on and stopped to get some snacks in matachewan and put some air back in the tire and off to the water. fished the afternoon with some success, we got to see our 1st bear swimming the lake. came back in and the tire was looking fine, back up loaded and the tire was going down again. headed back to the store bought a 12 dollar can of fixaflat (2nd screwing) and the tire was good as new. we decided to hit a small bass lake on the way home, fished it till dark scored 55 fish for the day and headed back to the cabin. as we headed down the highway we seen our 1st timberwolf ever cross the road and then a little further down the road we seen a huge bobcat, he stoped just at the edge and we were able to watch him for several minutes. very neat, wish we could have got some pics, but they all turned out too dark. next day we were up early again. after a quick breakfast were were ready to go, went outside and flat tire on trailer. *&&*&%$ got the last spare out and away we go, the water today was close to the camp, we baked in the sun, but still did ok, boating 69 fish, a few decent smallies and alot of hammer handle pike, on a sad note my friend john lost his old heddon devil diver lure, it was a fish catching machine. he and it had quite a history together. after a moment of silence off we go. the next day we headed to elk lake, to buy a new spare and to fish the montreal river. on the way, noticed something wasnt right on the trailer, soon after blew another trailer tire. ok this is getting rediculus as we were fixing it we noticed alot of play in the bearing, inner bearing shot. so we bought a new tire and bearing while we were there might as well get everything we need, plus i will cash in my gst when we cross the boarder again(3rd screwing, they done away with that program) fixed the bearing and off we go to fish the montreal. boated 65 pike, nothing special but a few decent ones. hit a series of oxbows and did well. also got a pretty cool pick of a duck taking off the water the next few days were hot,hot, hot and the fishing was cold, boated 11 one day and worked hard to get them. some sunset pics from the week our friend rob from haliburton joined us for our can/am challenge. rob was able to take the trophy for all of you canadiens this year, but we will get it back next year, the winning entry for largest fish was a 28 inch pike! but ol well, here i am graciously handing over the traveling trophy, be assured it will rest on american soil next year. lol the last 2 days at camp we managed another 108 fish and filled out our limits easy enough, the camp was great as always the fishing was good, but this little party animal was too much lol couldnt keep him off the sauce. we left on saturday morning and headed to robs house for a lay over and to try a musky lake near him, none of us had ever caught one and really wanted to give it a try. on the way you guessed it more trailer trouble, this time we hit a big chuck hole outside of north bay and broke a suspension bar that holds the axle in place. all part of the adventure! with the help of a cable tugger and and a ratchet strap we limped on in to robs house. his neibhor had a welder so i give it a quick weld job and off to get our musky. well of course it didnt work out that way for us, we caught a few more bass but rob did land this nice little musky, about 35 inches after some quick pics, and a little care of reviving he swam away. ive still never caught one, but i now can say i released one went back to robs, grilled up some deer loin and went to bed and headed for the states around 5 am. we were hoping to see a moose, but no such luck. we blew another tire around chatham and limped in to a gas station to get directions to a walmart, the lady told us where to go, but recomended a tire shop that was only a couple of blocks away, she seemed nice so ok, we headed down the street to Brooks tire shop. he had the tire we needed in stock even put it on the rim for us, got ready to pay and that will be $57!!!!!! i about crapped my pants, we paid 54 in elk lake in the middle of nowhere for tire and rim together(4thscrew) paid the man and got the hell out of there. had to wait in line about 1.5 hours at the border, found out the gst rebate was no longer and finally made it through customs with out any trouble. outside of toledo hit another chuck hole and the sway bar snapped again out comes the ratchet and cable tugger and limped down the rest of ohio without any incident. all in all we had a great trip, cant wait to return next year, but i think i might do a trailer overhaul before i head back. in total we caught right at 500 fish, seen several bears, a timberwolf, and a bobcat and shared the week with some really good friends. PRICELESS. here are some more various pics of the week, hope you all enjoyed our adventure. jason

i think you will find that most of everyones secrete spots are not really a secrete. the only way would be if it is private property. were the other fishermen entitled to fish the same hole the next day? yes. As long as they didnt bother you while you were fishing it more power to them, how do you know that you were not in their secrete spot? there's plenty of fish and water for everyone. jason

had the same thing happen on a small haliburton lake, this idiot kept whipping around us with a entire lake to do it on,best of all he had his 2 young kids on board to teach them how to handle fishermen. we figured it was because we were from the states, after i got the camera out he finally left us alone. it would have been nice to have a cordless drill and a 1/4 inch bit to slide into the bottom of his boat after he docked. probably wouldnt have been able to go as fast with a hull full of water. jason

well its finally time for my annual pilgrimage to the golden eagle camp on the montreal river between elk lake and matachewan. this will be about my 15th year there, and its the high point of the summer. we're gonna hit several back lakes this year and hope to bust some big pike and smallies. will be leaving out around 6 pm and should be there by noon on thursday, so if ya see a silver xterra loaded down heading up 400 or 11 give me a honk. i will post a report when we get back. take care and good fishing to all. jason

Happy birtday there buddy, hope it was a good one for ya. jason

you did the right thing. one year while fishing in north eastern ontario a buddy that was with me had put his liscence in his tackle box while on our way back from a remote lake, however he didnt latch the lid and it bounced open and blew out. in 15 years of fishing there we have never seen a c,o, but we didnt want that chance so the next morning we had to head to kirkland lake to the nearest office to get a duplicate, which was cheaper, but screwed up a half days fishing. always better to be safe than sorry. jason

way to go, middle of the pack aint bad at all. you have had a bunch of great reports, but i think this one may be your best ever. keep up the good work and best of luck down the road in all of your tourneys. jason

she looks like a walking piece of jerky to me, just invite her boyfriend over this fall too. jason

"I hope neil young will remember, a southern man don't need him around any how!" i like a few of his songs but im gonna have to go with rush on this one, since shania isnt a choice. jason

i looked on ebay and 3 36" leaders that were 60#test was 3.99. how heavy do you need for piking? thanks for all of the info so far guys. jason

hi folks, i got a quick question for you power pro users. i have a spool of 80 lb and was wandering if i could use it instead of a steel leader for pike fishing. i know that i would have to retie from time to time, but i hate the way some of my crank baits work when they are attached to a steel leader. would it be worth it, or would i still have to many bite-offs to make it worth while. any advice would be greatly appreciated. jason

never fished in destin, but have had a lot of luck night fishing off of beaches using calamari and 1ounce weights fishing the bottom. usually catch some sharks and such. its also a great way to meet people when you reel that shark in where they have been swimming all day. hope ya have a good time. jason

great report as always! sorry you didnt get into a nice musky, but the scenary,company and the bass made the trip well worth it im sure. jason

hello and welcome aboard! i live in the states so cant help ya with the fishing, but want to commend you on taking your little man out and introducing him to the sport we love. hope ya get some good advice here and best of luck catching some fish. jason

good job, and glad to hear that baitcaster is comming around. keep up the good work. jason

No way dan, i teach vocational agriculture, wood and metal shop. im sure there were a bunch of sentence fragments and incorrect spelling, just blurting out my feelings. lol jason

well first of all, i wouldnt trade a used helicopter lure to watch every so called documentary that moore has put out! i think the man is one of the biggest hippo-crits on the face of the earth. i also get my insurance through my employer(teacher). as of right now it is very good, although we as a teachers union have to fight hard to keep it at this level everytime our contract is up. if i have to go to the doctor i pay 10 dollars and the same to get a prescription filled. i fellow teacher that i work with had a triple bipass surgery that cost him 30 dollars. you cant beat it. the problem with the current u.s. system that i see is these piece of crap bums that get free medical attention, free prescriptions and everything else just handed to them. Now im not talking about the average working man or woman that doesnt have a great job which has no benefits, im talking about the people that are to lazy to breathe if there body didnt do it for them. my wife is an ER nurse and sees these type on a daily basis. people come in wanting to get free vicadin, percasets and any other prescription pain pills that they can either sell to kids or crush up and snort for themselves. she had a woman recently that lived directly across the street from the hospital, we are talking less than 100 yards from the emergency room call an ambulance to carry her fat donkey on a stretcher into the ER because she had a tooth ache for the past week! What a waste of time and money seeing her and taking up space in a overcrowded emergency room. yet these people get the same treatment someone with insurance gets. another thing that gets me in our system(U.S.) is that i can go to a dentist and get a tooth pulled and they will bill my insurance about 400 dollars if i go in and have no insurance they will pull my tooth for about 150 dollars. our govt. needs to step in and stop this kind of price gouching and then maybe more small buisnesses could afford to get there employees some health care. thats just the way i see it, burns my rear to see people abusing govt systems with my money. jason

brandon, congrats on the new job, im sure you will do well with it. hope the new job is good for ya, sounds like it has some pretty good perks as well. cant wait to see some pics of bc. take care. jason

very nice, i love the moose pics. looks like ya got into some nice smallies and pike as well. i will be in the elk lake area in a few weeks, staying closer to matachewan. it sure is beautiful country up there. jason

i cant tell the size of the legs in the pic, but they kind of look like frog legs to me, maybe somebody catfishing? not sure if there are any cats there. im sure a pike would have taken the entire duckling. jason

way to go! not a record breaker, but atleast ya didnt get skunked. keep em comming. jason

congrats on your all time pb! your new life as daddy is just beginning, it's the most rewarding thing a man can do. best wishes. great name aswell, my stepson's name is ethan. jason