yakpiker

The cat bite has been been active on the Lower Mad this year since the opener...nothing bigger than last year's monsters, most of them between 7 and 10 pounds with a few exceptions. This one was about 18 lbs unofficially, based on a 16 lber that was weighed.

Steve, you still have the magic touch on the Niagara...what a magnificent walleye...congrats!

It's been a while and I'm due for a fishing post. Here's four cats caught in the Lower Madawaska river during the past couple of years. The Ontario record is 33 lbs caught here...hoping to beat it someday. We spend most of our fishing days chasing bass, but it's hard to beat the battle of a big ol' cat. My shoe size is 13 in the last pic...fatty!

oh, if only it was this easy...3 hours on the water yesterday and saw 1 big carp...still lots of ice on the inner channels including by the rowing course

Heading up to Eddie North's camp on the Attawapiskat River for the 5th time mid-June. Hoping to top my 45" PB pike.

I fished the Attawapiskat with this guy a couple of years ago. He was a stranger then...now he's a fishing buddy. You will have a great time fishing with his group. I'll be on Beteau the same week.

I was up there the same week as Skud and covered a lot of water looking for pike. We found a few 40+ fish, but it was tough going with the snow, cold, and overflowing water levels. What little success we did have with pike was in the shallow end of bays directly off the main channel where the water was warmer. We hardly saw any fresh weeds two weeks ago, hopefully that has changed by now. Good luck!

I've done the Nakina trip 3 times and took spinning gear with me. A two piece 6'6" medium-heavy St. Croix worked great for pike up to 45" and 20+" walleye in current. The 7' heavy St. Croix that I also took was too much for most of the fish. 30 pound braid with 80 pound fluorocarbon leaders also worked for me.

I've fished the Toronto harbour and islands dozens of times during the past 3 years in my Hobie Revolution and have never been stopped or asked for a permit by the marine unit. Why would that be required for a kayak?

Message sent for your second question...

I have two 2-piece St Croix spinning rods that I use for pike...a 6.6 medium heavy and a 7 foot heavy. I prefer the 6.6 rod for pike because it's less tiring to cast and it can handle fish up to 45".

I have a couple of Edgar Lake pics taken from the plane that I can share with you. I'm also willing to chat with you about my trip there 3 years ago. Flip me a pm to connect.

Check your messages.

I've had one of these for a couple of years and it works great. It's hooked up to a 12 volt battery and last for days. The only challenge is the suction cup doesn't stick well to my plastic kayak rudder or on the back of painted boats.

Just watched the Niagara River and Toronto Islands shows...really good stuff with some useful tips. I was yak fishing the island yesterday and had a few follows and nibbles, but no takers. Heading to Queenston to fish the Niagara in a couple of weeks with Bassive. Thanks for posting these. Good luck with future shows.

Thursday – Getting Jiggy It was a promising sky, clearing and sunny, as we launched the boat after sleeping in due to some late night drinks and dice games. We did okay in the morning on pickerel and Mark landed a 37" pike. I got shut out for pike in the afternoon, two misses with one so close it splashed me from head to toe. Mark got a 40" pike, possibly the one that I missed. He seemed quite content with how I was driving the boat and putting him on fish. That night was great for pickerel. I caught about 20 of them in 3 hours with the largest being 25"...mostly on a yellow jig and chartreuse gulp. Friday – Baby Loon We decided to focus on pike the last day and it was tough fishing. I tied on my Baby Loon lure and missed a big one on the very first cast. That swirl was my only real pike action, not counting a couple of shakers. In the evening, I managed to land a 24" and 25" pickerel along with some smaller ones, and missed another decent one that came to the boat. Back at camp that night, we listened to tunes and played dice again after another fresh fish dinner. It was a good end to the week. Saturday – Road Warriors I woke up before 7 am and helped Mark move some lumber for Eddie before packing and breakfast. We used the satellite internet and phone to contact Nakina Air to learn that the plane would arrive at 11:30. I took a short nap to prepare for the 14 hour drive back to Toronto. We ended up leaving Nakina just before 2 pm and I opened my front door at 3:45 am. Many thanks to Mark, Josh and Joel for making this an enjoyable trip. Also, thanks to Eddie North for the great offer and to Mike aka Solopaddler for helping to organize the participants. While the weather conditions were less than ideal, we made the most of it and landed some good-sized pike along with countless pickerel.

My first trip to the Attawapiskat was during the first week of July 2010 with Bassive, MTL, and two father-son pairings. This second trip took place between Sept. 4 and 12 and was part of Eddie’s special offer to OFC members. Since my regular fishing buddies weren’t available, I would be going with 3 other guys who I didn’t know. Fishing with strangers is a bit like golfing with strangers, except a round of golf lasts 4- 5 hours while a fly-in fishing trip lasts 9 days including travel. After connecting with one of the guys, Mark from Brampton, I confirmed my booking and we began preparing for the trip. Mark had been on a few fly-in trips already so we compared packing lists to identify gaps and duplication in our gear and food, with a goal of staying within the 100 lb limit per person. Friday – the Drive I left Toronto at 5 am on Friday and arrived at Mark’s place in Brampton. It was a 14 hour drive from Brampton to Nakina with pit stops in Temagami, Hearst and Geraldton. The weather changed from warm and sunny to cool and rainy around Hearst with threatening skies for the remainder of the drive. After checking in at R&D Apartments (big units at a good price – make a reservation in advance), we headed to the Train Station restaurant for dinner. The owner of R&D had told us our flight the next morning might be delayed due to the weather. This was confirmed by a member of the flight crew with whom we chatted at dinner. Saturday – the Flight Waking up before 7 am, we headed back to the Train Station for breakfast (avoid the pancakes) and then drove to Nakina Air to check on our flight status. It turned out there would be no delay so we rushed back to the apartment to load our stuff and returned to the airfield. That’s where we met Josh and Joel, the other two guys that we would be fishing with. The flight in was rough...due to the weather, not the pilot. We flew low under the clouds to increase visibility and there were a lot of drops and lifts due to the high winds. After about 1 hour, I could see Beteau Lake and the camp. It looked like the water level had increased by a couple of feet since July. We were greeted at the dock by the outgoing group who gave us a quick run-down of their week. The weather had changed mid-week and the fishing was mixed. The pickerel were still biting, but the pike were only active when the sun was out. Unfortunately for us, the forecast was for several days of rain. Eddie was also there to greet us and he gave me a quick tour of the camp equipment (gas generators, electronics and hot water pump) and showed me how to operate them. This was helpful because Eddie was flying out and would be back in a week. After hauling our gear to the cabins, we grabbed a quick bite, set up our tackle and jumped into the boats to do some fishing for the rest of the day. It was cool and wet and windy so we fished close to camp. I landed 2 small pike (under 30”) and had one exciting swirl from a bigger fish that didn’t take the lure. All things considered, it was great to be back on the Attawapiskat. Sunday – Happy Hour The guys stayed up late Saturday night and were a little slow in getting started on Sunday morning. It was also a brutal day with temperatures of 8 degrees, rain at times, and winds gusting to 50km/h. We fished the morning with little luck; I caught a 20” pickerel, then we went back to camp for lunch. Mark decided to rest that afternoon so I headed out on my own. Things turned out better than expected when I caught pike of 41”, 33”, and 32”...all between 4 and 5 pm on a Johnson Silver Minnow with chartreuse Gulp grubs. The bigger pike is a memorable story. I’m reeling this fish in and it comes to the surface and my lure is floating in the air about a foot from its mouth. I have no idea what’s going on, but I keep reeling and get it to the boat. It turns out the pike has mono line wrapped in and around its head which my lure “caught” when it tried to bite. I cut away the other line and spent the next 10 minutes reviving the fish before it swam away. Monday – Mark’s Pickerel Clinic The weather was better which isn't saying much...a little warmer and less rain. I landed a handful of pike, the biggest was 39"...it fought like a chump, not a champ. I also caught a dozen walleye, the biggest was 25" and it was nice and fat too. Mark put on a clinic with the pickerel. He caught over 20 of them, mostly on a bottom bouncer with a worm harness and 4” Gulp minnows. I tried tossing and trolling the heavy lures which I had purchased just for this trip. I learned that some of these were more suitable for deeper water. There was no top water action to this point. Hopefully, this would change as the weather was forecasted to improve on Thursday and Friday. Tuesday – Quadruple Header It was another cool and wet day. We did really well in the morning fishing for pickerel down river at the Y. We must have caught over 30 fish in 3 hours. At one time, all 4 of us had a pickerel on. We fished for pike in the afternoon. I caught 3 with the largest about 32". Mark did much better catching 6 pike with 2 of them over 37". He was really taking advantage of the spots I remembered from last trip. I was getting lots of practice with the net. Wednesday – new PB pike Another day of cool/cold temps with a high of 10 degrees and a little rain. Fishing was slow at times and on fire at others. I caught a few pickerel in the morning at the Y. The other guys did very well. We went hunting for pike in the afternoon and found mostly hammer handles...except for one. My new pike record is now 45" and it was fatter than the 37" that I landed on the last trip...what a rush. My official measurer and photographer captured the moment with his waterproof camera, unfortunately there were water drops on the lens! The fish swam away healthy after splashing me and there is a photo to remember it by. I caught it on the 5 of Diamonds with a chartreuse Gulp tail. Josh and Joel were doing awesome with the pickerel...two 27" and a lot of others. They also caught a 45" pike, a 43.5" pike, and a 42" pike. That night, we hit the Y again and I caught over a dozen pickerel, the biggest was 23"...fun.

Just got back from my 7 day fly-in fishing trip to the Attawapiskat River. It was cold and rainy on 5 of the days and windy every day. The pike fishing was tough, but the walleye cooperated and were tasty. I landed pike of 39", 41" and 45" and the other 3 guys landed pike of 40", 42", 43.5" and 45". I've attached a pic of my biggest that was caught on a Five of Diamonds with a chartreuse gulp tail.

Maybe it's just my eyes, but the colour and pattern of the head doesn't seem to match the rest of the fish. Is that common with pike?

I did this trip the first week of July and I want to go again. Solo says there are two of us interested. We could put together a group for this week so don't hesitate if you are an individual or a pair. This really is the opportunity of a lifetime for a fly-in trip with HUGE pike and endless walleye at an unbeatable price. PM me if you want more info. I've attached my biggest pike from Attawapiskat.

I wore a pair of Switch sunglasses for about 12 hours a day during my Attawapiskat fishing trip in early July. They look good (even on me) and fit comfortably. Oh yea, they also come with inter-changeable lenses for different light conditions and activities like fishing, driving, golfing and skiing. If you're looking for a new pair of GREAT sunglasses...check out the Switch Vision website: http://www.switchvision.com/