solopaddler

I'd love to join you if I could swing it, nice offer!

Not a pink. It's probably just me, but that gorgeous NRX rod laying next to that hump backed mutant doesn't seem right LOL! All the best, looks a fun way to celebrate a birthday.

I've been informed by someone else that stream temp's when the atlantics return in late summer are way too warm which makes total sense.

Cool, congrat's to them!

I will translate: "Hit a small lake right beside the road with my brother today...They were all pretty little, but I finally caught an Aurora!" You're a funny guy, congrat's!!

Hi Craig, agree with all of your comments. Just curious what your thoughts are on precisely why atlantics haven't caught on when every other salmonid stocked has? Is it really as simple as the incorrect strain of fish or is there a deeper underlying reason? We should talk when you have a few minutes. Cheers

Positive vibes being sent your way.

I'm part otter

Glad I could make you laugh. This aint Vegas my friend. You're welcome. Would love to see some video of your outings. Probably Wayne, but I don't care. The video was a bit dark...but I actually emerged from the water with the fish in my mouth.

Glad you like it bud LOL! Hey what can I say Rick, you inspired me. Thanks, and yes the rod/reel was retrieved.

Rick (manitoubass2) asked me for some unedited video footage, footage that shows a real "behind the scenes" look at what goes on during my trips. Nothing scripted, just the true reality. My group and I returned from Mojikit Lake north of Armstrong late last night, so I present to you a short glimpse of camp life... Warning - some salty language!

I am honestly touched, really. Every single reply deserves an individual response from me but my time is limited so I'll say this again to all of you - thank you. After reading this thread it reinforces why I do what I do. I had to respond to this. I don't need anyone to bite although your support is very much appreciated! I loved writing for OOD and in fact just before I stopped writing for them last spring I finally had a presence in the masthead of the magazine plus my own regular column. Do you know many people who would throw all of that away? Well I did, and one of the reasons (there was a few) was they were attempting to restrict what I was writing about on the internet (my online reports). No one EVER makes a living writing for someone else whether Ontario Out Of Doors or anyone else and I dislike being dictated to - intensely. So I had to consider, what's the next logical step in your evolution? I gave it a LOT of thought and I'm now preparing to publish my own magazine. I'm hoping (praying) that people will support me. But you know what? It's like I tell my kids, you will be successful in life if you're truly passionate about something and most importantly if you do it yourself. No one ever really achieves greatness riding anyone elses coattails. This was probably not the place to make this announcement, but what the hell LOL! At some point I'll make a more formal announcement. NOW, can someone PLEASE reply to the St. Joe report that took me 62 hours to create and post? LOL! Mod's, this might be the perfect spot to lock this thread....I'm asking please.

Thanks again fellas! I still think it's funny though that this thread will likely get 10 times the number of responses as my recent post on Lake St. Joseph. Yeah it was Rick, he's a grade A doosh waffle.

I thought they were pretty good reasons. And the quality of the athletes in the CFL are not sub par, they just have a much different skill set. It's a different game. The only thing I'm willing to admit as a fan of both leagues is the reffing in the CFL is a complete disgrace. Beyond that I like it waaaaay more than the NFL. I do realize I'm in the minority here LOL

Well I'm packed! (that didn't take long at all ). Once again it's nice to read the support, thank you. HAHAHA! Perfect You better believe it dude, and it's going to be a good one. Something extra special is being planned.

Thanks a bunch guys, the sentiments expressed are appreciated. I need to get my butt in gear now and pack, leave tomorrow morning early for Armstrong. This will be the last big trip of the year for me, so you can expect one more major report in a couple of weeks or so. LOL! You're a good man. I am most definitely not.

You're right, I brought it up - you can say/think whatever you want. So you don't begrudge my success and you're against private forums being used for promotion or gain. I'll say it again, there is zero tangible benefit that I gain by posting here. None. It's possible that the outfitter in question might gain a booking or two, but myself I get nothing. Here's some more numbers for you. I keep track of all of my correspondence with OFC members. Since January 1 89 different people have reached out to me for help. The vast majority of these guys I've spent a large amount of time with, either through emails or phone calls and most often both. In a great many cases there's a lot more involved. I do this because I enjoy helping people - no other reason. Now I'm going to say something publicly about my business which I might regret...but then again, maybe not. One of the things I do (there are several) is act as a trip planning consultant and booking agent. Currently I work directly with over 100 lodges/outfitters across the country. NONE - let me repeat that - NONE of the camps I write about online garners me a single dime of income. That's the deal I have in place for anyone who hosts me. The irony (not surprisingly) is most of the people who contact me want to ask about trip X which I've just written about. They don't want to hear about some unknown outfitter. Because of that the outfitters I write about probably DO get bookings, but I don't know for sure since I have zero stake in anything. When people call for advice it would be in my best interests to suggest any number of outfitters, anyone besides the ones I've written about (I might actually make a tiny bit of money!). In a huge number of cases I'm happy to direct people to an outfitter I've helped promote if that's what they want or if I think it's the right fit. Trust me that happens a lot. I'll bet I've dedicated easily over 80 hours of my time helping those 89 people since January 1 and have not made a cent. What it has done is foster a whole lot of good will and that's something I'm big on. In any case nothing is ever as it seems on the surface. I really can't stand it when people make assumptions that are patently wrong.

Thanks fellas! The irony is I'll bet this post gets more views and replies than the recent report that took 62 hours to create LOL! Of course there's a grain of truth to it. The last couple of years promoting camps has become a big part of what I do for a living! As far as everything always being amazing, there's no embelleshment - it's truth. I choose my destinations wisely and 60-80 photographs and 12-15 video clips don't lie. Plus, I work damned hard to succeed on all of these trips - I make it happen. If there ever was any negative aspects, trust me they'd be talked about. Also, it's not like I simply post a pile of photos and say " hey check out this great camp, it was awesome!" I'd like to think that the writing and story itself offers some value and entertainment. Regardless of what you think my motives are there's a gross amount of work putting one of these things together often with a ridiculous deadline. The St. Joe write up took 62 hours to do in just a little over one weeks time. That's in addition to my regular 40 hour a week job. Again, my stories are posted here because I want to share the experience with a large number of people whom I consider friends - no other reason.

I received a pm last night from someone on the board who will go unnamed that's been bugging me. I didn't respond to him, but I feel the need to say something here. I might regret this, but I'm in a mood this morning. The gist of the pm was "thanks for clogging up the board with another huge advertisment" then I was asked if I was paying for advertising. More was said, all of it in a nasty tone. I'd like to respond to this publicly by clarifying a few points, just in case there's others that feel the same way. I've been a member of this board for a pretty long time and I feel like I'm a part of it. I've made a good number of friends through this board and I've enjoyed following other members exploits online. What I'm doing now travelling to all of the various camps and writing about them has been a natural progression for me and a true passion. Everyone controls their own fate and through a HUGE amount of hard work I'm now VERY close to being able to do what I love for a living. There's a lot more currently going on behind the scenes right now, and when the time is right I'll be making an announcement. It would be nice if people were happy for you and not seemingly petty and jealous, but sadly that's not case with certain small minded people. My posts on this board are done for ONE reason only: to share the experience with everyone here. When I first launched my own website I initially thought I'd simply post a link back to my own site for my reports, but then thought better of it. Let me throw some numbers at you. When I post something here it might get anywhere from 25-40 replies and 400-700 views. When I publish the same story on my own website on average I get anywhere from 20,000 to 60,000 unique views. The Kazan River write up in June received over 70,000. I don't NEED to post my stuff here at all. I post here solely because I want to share my experiences with people who for the most part I've grown to like over the years. Fact is in order for me to post my reports here there's a LOT of extra work involved because the photo and video embed codes required are different from my own website, yet I still take the time. The lack of responses to something you've poured your heart and soul into creating has never bothered me, that's the nature of the internet. But then I get a message like I did yesterday and I felt like I'd been gut shot. For what it's worth I'll continue to post here for all of the reasons I've mentioned. If anyone thinks negatively about what I'm doing, that I'm too "commercial" think again. Anyhow that's it, end of rant. Carry on.

Thanks John! The report, took me precisely 62 hours to put together in just a little over a week.

Thanks Matt! (I'm not going to call you Jonesy unless you're wearing a fedora, carrying a gat and being chased by coppers) You asked me that AFTER I returned from this trip LOL! I leave tomorrow for Armstrong, I'll see what I can do about not editing my clips. He talked about that Rainy Lake trip, it sounded pretty good!

Thanks Gordy, I've been trying to make an effort to impart some wisdom in my write ups. Glad to hear you appreciate it. Cheers Was bugging Rick about the stache all week LOL! But then you know him, he gives it right back LOL! Good guy. Mine was bigger. Aaron's looks bigger because I took the picture LOL!

Thanks guys! You're right about the weather Connie, but you already know that. Sure hope you're on the mend and gearing up for your fall trip!

A Lengthy Tour And A Walleye Windfall A crystal clear sky and calm lake was the back drop as Aaron and I skimmed across the placid surface of Lake St. Joseph early the next morning. With ideal weather we finally had the chance to explore more of the lake and we were taking full advantage. As always there was a plan. A good 30 kilometres east of camp another large, very obvious spring spawning bay summoned us. The structure directly in front looked great - lots of deeper water, and we made a beeline for it. The plan being we’d make the long run over there, fish it, then methodically work our way back to camp. As plans go this was a good one. Jim and Rick were in for a treat of their own. Early that morning a plane flew in delivering Ryan Runge to the camp. Ryan is a 20 something fishing fanatic and Verne’s right hand man. He’s spent several years guiding and fishing the lake and was slated to fish with the boys on this day. I spoke with Ryan several times over the winter and came away with some seriously good vibes. He’s an impressive and likeable young man. Verne is lucky to have him on board, but I suspect he knows that already. Idling up to our chosen staring point I mulled things over before making a move. Directly at the mouth of the bay was a large weedy point that jutted sharply into the lake. Perhaps half a kilometre south of the point a large island loomed. As I often do when faced with a new spot, I don’t fish, but rather cruise around slowly getting a feel for the topography below the water. Puttering about the structure watching my graph things began looking better and better. There was a very large and well defined shallow flat between the point and the island that ranged between 6 and 12 feet deep. On the east side of the saddle the water plunged quickly into 30 feet which was ideal. The west side was a wee bit shallower with 15 feet of water rising up to the flat in a more gradual fashion. A light west wind was blowing as well allowing us to drift slowly directly across the saddle. “Man oh man this looks good Mike!” Aaron said echoing my own thoughts. We worked it several times, each drift taking at least 15 minutes, slowly and thoroughly working over every inch. Every drift we’d also switch lures. Just like a pitcher throwing a change up, sometimes the fish need to see something different. We caught pike, after pike, after pike but none were overly large. Plenty of fantastic sport, but not what we were seeking. Still, we persisted. “Mike, this spot is TOO perfect. There might not be a big fish here right now, but at some point there WILL be. Guaranteed!” Fishing with such an excellent angler and one with such a positive outlook was a pure joy for me, Aaron’s enthusiasm was contagious. It wasn’t that I didn’t agree with everything he said, but sometimes simple words have the ability to inspire and we fished on. On roughly our 10th drift across the saddle just as we were nearing the deep eastern edge I fired out a super long cast with my spinnerbait landing it right next to the drop off when all hell broke loose. The instant my lure hit the water and before I even started to reel in, the water erupted in a shower of spray and my casting arm was literally pulled forward. I couldn’t get a hook into it try as I might and the chance evaporated. Still, we’d had our shot and that was good enough for us. That was pretty much how the rest of the day played out. We toured a vast amount of water thoroughly covering a ton of great looking spots in the process. We caught more fish on this day that all the others combined and loved every single second of it. To date the other boys had no problems catching fish, but Ryan’s guidance was invaluable. He took them on a milk run of his best walleye spots and they caught fish at every one. As Ryan told us later they could have put some really crazy numbers of fish in the boat if they’d sat on them instead of moving. The kid had a counter in his boat that read 175 at the end of the day between the three of them. Most were not tiny dinks either, they were thick backed fatties that pulled like the dickens on light tackle. Ryan said it was a slow day… Ryan stayed with us that night and once again we enjoyed an amazing fish fry. Not quite sure why, but it’s true. Those fish seem to taste that much better when someone else does all the work… There was a lot of laughs and a whole lot interesting fish talk that evening - great times! A Good Tip And Sore Arms The evening before Ryan had offered us a couple of suggestions in our quest for larger pike. A few kilometres southeast of camp was Miniss Bay, an enormous convoluted body of water connected to St. Joe by a relatively narrow channel. To date we’d been avoiding it simply because it seemed too far away from the cooler main lake depths. There was a major river pouring in though with rapids at its south end and looking closer at the map with Ryan there WERE a couple of isolated deep trenches. “See that point right there? We picked off six big pike there last June”. “Right along the opposite shore”, he said pointing at the map, “there’s a really deep trench. I’ll bet those pike are still there!” Ryan’s philosophy mirrored my own uncannily. Marking our own map Aaron and I both decided we’d hit that spot first thing, and the next morning that’s just what we did. Following my hand held gps I navigated through a maze of narrow channels before it finally opened up to a broad expanse of water. To our left was Ryan’s point and straight ahead was the fast breaking shoreline with the deeper water. The rest of this bay was quite shallow, probably less than 10 feet deep, while the very small, very confined cleft in the lake bed plummeted to more than 40. It was late summer, it was hot and sunny, and water temperatures were still quite warm. It stands to reason if there was a big predator nearby he’d choose the cooler, deeper water to hang out in. We both chose larger 8” diving baits and began to troll. As always it didn’t take long. Before we’d finished our first pass my rod arched over in the holder under the weight of a heavy fish. I actually had some trouble getting it out, the pressure was so great. The following video looks a little funky but you’ll get the idea… Thank you Ryan! After that we poked around here and there finally making our way into the large basin east of Moose Island. To this point we’d caught plenty of walleye, but unlike the other guys hadn’t really focused on them. That was about to change. Switching tacks we picked up our lighter jigging sticks and began to drift across every likely looking piece of structure. We caught fish everywhere. Lots of them! I’ve fished many great northern walleye lakes and I can say quite easily, if you don’t have an issue with big water you would LOVE this lake. The average size of the walleye is impressive and they’re pretty much everywhere. Just like big pike though, some spots are better than others and we soon began searching for, then keying on mid lake humps. A good graph is a must as many of our best spots were found cruising the lake watching the screen like a hawk. Anything less than 20 feet in depth was money. We’d circle back, toss out a marker and catch fish till our arms got sore. Early evening we were racing back across the lake returning to camp when I glanced at my finder and did a double take. 14 feet. Moments earlier it had been 37 feet and we were literally in the middle of nowhere a good kilometre from the nearest shore. Quickly stopping we dropped our jigs and had an instant double header, then another, then another. I dropped a marker and we capped off our day with some of the fastest walleye fishing I’ve ever experienced in my life. It was incredible. The other boys had enjoyed a banner day themselves. Ryan had flown out in the morning and armed with the new found knowledge gleaned from the lad they put well over 200 fish in the boat. Jim was counting. I can’t remember the last time my right arm was actually sore at the end of a day from battling walleye. This was a first. Storm Chasers And Apex Predators The smell of bacon wafting into my bedroom roused me from my slumber - it’s better than any alarm clock. Slipping out of bed I stumbled into the kitchen to see Jimmy bustling about with a mountain of maple smoked bacon piled high on a plate in front of him. “Mr. Borger, you’re up!” “Breakfast is ready and the coffee is hot!” Despite Jim’s nightly cacophony he’s a great guy - one of the best. Grabbing my mug and pouring a cup I settled back into a chair to contemplate things. These trips always seem to fly by in the blink of an eye and here we were on our last day already. Life offers a great many wonderful and amazing experiences and all are cherished in their own way, but these trips…well, they’re something special. As an angler the chance to focus on nothing but fishing for an entire week, not worry about shaving, wear the same filthy sweatshirt for days on end and share a lot of laughs with some very good friends is priceless. Without a doubt the best of times. To date the trip had been an overwhelming success - especially considering the weather we’d faced. But this was our last day and everyone wanted to make it count. Jimmy and Rick were eager to continue their beatdown on the walleye population. Aaron and I had other plans. “So what do you think Mike?” Aaron asked as we both stood in front of the big wall map. There are a number of angling mantras that I’ve followed over the years and one of them is never leave to fish to find fish. The bay and neck down where I’d hooked and lost a giant on the second night beckoned. We’d been purposely resting it all week waiting for just the right moment and it was now or never. Fifteen minutes earlier I’d received an updated weather forecast from my wife on the Delorme and it sounded promising. Cloudy with sunny breaks, brisk west winds and a 40% chance of thunderstorms. Most intriguing was the possible storms. We both knew darned well that if we placed ourself in the correct spot as a cell moved through the chance for success would skyrocket. The sky, a dark matte of clotted grey cloud looked ominous as I maneuvered our craft around the west end of Eagle Island and headed north into the waves. “I have a good feeling about this bud” Aaron said as he busily honed the hooks on a Doctor spoon. So did I. Just as I entered our chosen spot we heard a low rumble far to the northwest. Now you have to understand something. Aaron is perhaps the most accomplished and fanatical angler I’ve ever met and he wanted to catch big fish just as much as I did - maybe even more. As we idled into position he did something remarkable. He put away his rod and picked up his camcorder. “Everything is almost too perfect Mike, I’m going to see if I can get some good footage for you!” The expression “falling on the sword” came to mind. I’ve filmed countless video snippets of big pike being caught, but never once had an entire scene been caught on tape right from the cast and hookset. That was about to change. Not more than 5 minutes after starting I hooked an absolute TANK of a pike, by far the largest of the trip. It was incredibly gratifying to succeed after putting in so much hard work, and on our last day to boot. Aaron was just as stoked as I was and I owe him a big thanks for the video footage. I’m not sure if anyone else would have done that. I could have quite easily quit at that point and been perfectly content but of course we forged on. About fifteen minutes after catching the big fish we rounded a corner and eased up to a subtle reed point jutting out into deep water. We’d fished this spot twice before and caught nothing, but the fish seemed to be switched on at the moment. Flipping my spoon along the edge of the reeds I had an immediate hit and was fooled at first. The pike, a bigger girl in the 40” class swam directly at the boat tricking me into thinking it was smaller. 10 feet in front of us it surfaced and thrashed wildly throwing the hook. I almost dropped my rod it startled me so much. Don’t think I ever really got a good hook into that fish. Perhaps 15 minutes after that the sky cleared, and all traces of stormy weather vanished. The big pike followed suit. With the sun now shining strong and hot we both knew that our small window to capture a big girl casting was gone. Of course we didn’t slow down, and throughout the rest of the day caught oodles of small to mid sized pike as well as la ton of walleyes. Round about 6pm found us on a now glass smooth lake fishing a mid lake rock pile. We’d been catching walleye and smaller pike hand over fist when we noticed the sky. Large, dark thunderheads had moved in overhead and once again we heard thunder rumbling in the distance. Thinking as one we both began to don our rain gear and had only one thought in mind: make a run for our prime spot for a last shot at big fish. As you’ll see in this video we didn’t make it… With another major storm cell rapidly approaching we finally decided to call it a trip and return to camp. This time we were able to stay ahead of things and we made it back unscathed. The sky however was something to behold… The boys once again had spent the day terrorizing the walleye population putting over 170 in the boat using the counter. According to Jim many of them in the 3 to 4 pound class - they were happy. It was the perfect capper to an almost perfect trip for everyone involved. The next morning murphy’s law struck and our 7am departure was delayed until 11am due to dense fog. It did however clear and once the fog burned off it was steaming hot and sunny. Almost right on cue the otter flew in and in no time at all we were loaded and winging our way back to civilization. Another great trip in the books… A Comfortable Camp In closing I need to thank a few people, first and foremost our host Verne Hollett. If you watched the two videos at the beginning of this tale you already know he’s an interesting individual, but after spending a week at his camp I’m even more impressed. I’ve dealt with many outfitters over the years and in a lot of ways Verne’s operation is unique. He truly cares about his customers and he’s now on my permanent short list of outstanding outfitters. Thank you! Second I need to thank both Ryan Runge and Jeremy Mailloux. Ryan was introduced earlier and as I said then he’s an impressive young man, thank’s for the assistance my friend! Jeremy on the other hand hasn’t been mentioned and I’d be remiss if I didn’t. He’s been the caretaker at the Eagle Island facility for 5 seasons now and he made our trip a whole lot better because of it. I haven’t mentioned Jeremy yet simply because we barely saw him. Every morning our boats were magically gassed and cleaned and on the couple of cold days he kept the fire stoked in the wood stove for us. He’d pop by occasionally to make sure we were okay then he’d disappear into the background giving us our space. In my estimation he’s just about the perfect man for the job. Thanks bud! Finally I need to thank my companions on this trip, Jimmy, Rick and especially Aaron. You guys made a good trip great and I hope we can all do it again sometime! As always I filmed a video tour of the cabin we stayed at. Because Eagle Island has 3 cabins at this site I’ve included short videos of the other two. All three are outstanding, but if you’re interested take a peek at the East cabin, it’s pretty remarkable… Hope you enjoyed the story, until next time…