danc

Awesome fish Mike. For anybody that does their homework up here, they'd know that this is a big fish year. Absolutely everyone is catching hogs this year. As for when the next hog year is, I'm not telling. Congrats to your Bud!

Done deal Bud. The company that I work for has had jobs in the Fort, but I've been working elsewhere.

Well said Brad. We, as fishermen have to think outside of the box once in a while.

Cabelas pro line comes in hi vis yellow. Great line and cheap too.

As long as nobody else on the planet knows where Chipmunk Cove, Butt's Bay and Sauna Rock Shoal are, I'll be happy. Just a few of the creative names that my Buds and I have made up.

I've seen them in the river right from the paper mill. Awesome sight. I also remember going to a bar in International Falls that had dozens and dozens of photos on the wall of guys holding massive Sturgeon. Sportsmans bar maybe? There's a river a few hundred yards from my house that has a good population of Sturgeon as well, but I've never targeted them there, even before the regs changed. The only one I've ever caught was in the Winisk River, which flows into Hudson Bay. I remember seeing dozens of them in a single pool up there. Some of them were almost a foot across the back and 6 or 7 feet long. An incredible sight.

You can't catch and release unless you are in the far north.

Depends on where and how you fish the fish system. My best time of the year starts right now.

Nice. Love the second last shot with the Walleye back lit by the sun combined with the camera flash being used.

I think #1 is a giant water beetle?? #2 looks to be some type of larvae. Dragonfly perhaps?

The Beaver Motel right on the hwy in Nipigon is a great place to stay. From there you have several access points to the river and the lake from 10 to 45 minutes away. It's a great place to explore.

Beautiful work Mike. I'd love to spend a couple days with you up here some time. Get yourself better Bud.

I'm not sure just yet Roy. There's equipment to order and fittings to make. I'm guessing within a month or so.

I detect some sarcasm there. Yamaha made the power heads for Merc 4 strokes in the early 2000's. Mine falls into that category. Even if it's an ACME brand, it's been bullet proof.

That's awesome Chris. A+++ for effort. You'll get there another day I'm sure.

It's a Yammy dressed up as a Merc. Seriously. It's a Yammy.

I can't argue with that. 2001 and never been in the shop.

Ha. I drove past the old Naden factory in Vermillion Bay a few weeks ago.

Once they build them, they'll sell them to ice fishermen for 40 grand each. That's how they'll get their $550,000, and much more back. Taxpayers will be way ahead of the game on this one.

I print my own as well. With a half decent 4 color printer, and some quality photo paper, the results are amazing. Much better than any retailer can do.

I went on a tour of the old hatchery as a kid Dave. Research told me that it was built in 1930. I've driven past the road into the new facility hundreds of times since it was built and always wanted to go in for a peek. I'll be getting more than a peek at it now.

Manitoba Cops managed to detain a messed up guy who beheaded a person on a Greyhound bus a few years back. He was holding a knife too.

After spending most of the past year working in either a stinky sweatbox of a pulp mill in Terrace Bay, with the occasional stint in Red Lake working at Goldcorps world class, but dirty and dusty gold mines, my boss informed me today where my next job will be. I was expecting the worst. I was elated when he told me that I'd be spending a couple of months at the new, world class Dorion fish hatchery. The facility is about 10 years old. It is home to a massive Nipigon strain Brook Trout rearing grounds that is used to stock Brook Trout across the province. I'm not sure just what else they raise in there, but I'm about to find out. How cool is that? Needless to say, I haven't stepped foot in the place yet, but when I do, and if I'm allowed, I plan on taking plenty of photos to show you guys just what goes on in there, and where your hard earned tax dollars go. I almost feel like I've won some sort of lottery here. To be working amongst Nipigon strain Brookies sounds just fine to me. Cant wait to get started.

You do realize that you drove right through Pike and Lake Trout heaven about 1/4 of the way on your journey up north? We use 6lb. mono for everything "down" here. No leaders. Flouro is just something that we read about on fishing forums. Apparently it's invisable to the fish?