solopaddler

7 hours door to door. There's a good number of camps on the lake mainly because of it's proximity to Rouyn Noranda (it's popular with the locals). Most of them, mine included are water access so it's still pretty quiet. The fishing is decent on the main lake if you know the tricks. The back lakes near the camp are just spectacular though.

With a busy spring and early summer behind us and finally settled into our new home, my little clan was long overdue for a trip north to the camp. Normally I would have been up 4-5 times already but this was the first trip of the year. Definitely a sight for sore eyes. In late May I rented a trailer and my dad drove a load of futon furniture up to the camp for me. It's been in our basement for a few years and we knew we weren't going to use it in the new house. Looks pretty good in the cabin I think. Never before have I spent such a hot week up there, wow! Even at 10pm the thermometer in the cabin was consistently over 30 degrees. Not so great for sleeping...but it made for fantastic swimming. My two little ones, 3 and 6 took swimming lessons all winter and spring. Twas money well spent, both of them took to the water like fish. My boat dock is pretty deep and never before have they had the nerve to jump off into the unknown scary depths. By the end of our first evening they were both at it non stop (although my little guy was a bit more hesitant than his big sister ) With the blistering hot weather we spent a lot of time at the beach. Had it all to ourselves for the whole week as well. Most evenings the kids flaked out on the boat ride back to camp. Fresh air seems to knock 'em out. Surprisingly (at least to me) the blueberries were already ripe. Pretty much every day Brendan helped his mom pick a cup on our point. The kids spent a lot of time as usual fishing down on the pump dock. They never caught anything but I don't think they cared. 'Course we did try our hand at some more serious fishing. With the super hot weather the fish were deep and fishing was tough during the day. We had our moments though. My lake is primarily a walleye lake and when the bite is tough a simple live bait rig with an air injected nightcrawler is money in the bank. That's generally how I'll rig the kids rods especially when there's a favourable wind to help with the drift. On one occasion we fished a small rockpile directly in front of the camp and hit over a dozen good fish, with both kids getting a few. While the frenzy was happening the wind whipped up and we endured a brief downpour. My girl didn't mind getting wet though. We had at least 3 doubles if memory serves. We kept 3 for dinner and cleaned them on the rockpile. (You can see the camp in the background) Fortunately my entire family loves fish. Of course I had to include the "money shot" LOL! My girl had a hot hand for much of the week fishing wise. No huge fish were caught, but good numbers of these guys kept her smiling: As mentioned it was blistering hot and more than once while trolling some deep offshore clay flats we jumped in to cool off. Freaked the kids out the first time but they soon got over it. With the crazy heat there were very few bugs even at sunset. We had more than one campfire while we were there, but our very last night was special. I never get tired of the view. It was a perfect way to recharge the batteries and spend time with the ones I love. Can't wait to get back up there next month. Cheers, Mike

Tiger for sure.

I'm a huge fan of the 3-way rig..but a properly manipulated steel line rig will outfish the 3 way rig most days and twice on Sunday. It is however not as fun catching them on this tackle and frankly much more tiring (you must constantly pump the rod up and down). As far the 3 way rig goes you give some decent advice except...you recmmend using 6lb green XT (mono) to fish in as much as 80' of water. 6lb mono attached to a heavy 3 way rig will stretch like a rubber band in water that deep. You'll miss most of the hits and won't have the ability to properly set the hook on the ones you do feel. In order to properly fish a 3 way rig braid like Power Pro needs to be utilized. No stretch means better feel and hooksets. Also you mention using 1-2oz weights. Personally I'd recommend using 2-4oz weights in a 3-way "wolf river" rig for summertime lakers. 1-2oz is too light. 'Course that's just my opinion.

Check your pm's

I tried using my skillsaw but stopped when I was getting showered with little chunks of metal. Didn't pull the saw backwards though, good tip!

Way to go Cliff, glad to see you had a good day.

I hate those yellow handle snips! Never again.

Glad to see you guys made it out and actually caught some fish! Ryan, good luck with the house sale. It's usually the initial burst of interest/views that sells it, otherwise it'll be a long wait. John, you look a lot different sans beard. Younger and more vibrant, yet somehow less distinguished. The Sean Connery look was cool.

What a beautiful part of Georgian Bay. Even if the fish aren't biting it's a great place to be. Did you guys get a measurement on the pike? It does look pretty big.

That's some good fishin' Steve. I'm not overly surprised, this long stretch of hot stable weather is just the ticket. Hope you get your money back from the bank. The same thing happened to me a few years back and it was a bit of a hassle.

Nice laker Vince.

That's a pretty interesting catch especially considering the location. Well done!

That's crazy about your thumb dude. I guess the fish got it's revenge. (Nice fish, hope the digit heals).

I'm sure someone with experience could've hammered the job out in an afternoon. Yep, I used aluminum finishing nails, and yes I'm glad it's done too. Basically yeah. (Although I do have something to report from NW Quebec. Just havn't had the time).

Great pic's, both part one and two. (The eels look disgusting though, yech! )

Better make sure they get it exactly right. On paper it's only 1/2 an ounce heavier than the brown caught last September in the Manistee river. Seems lake Michigan currently has a strong year class of monster browns, wow!

There was a large unfinished 16'X8' shed in my new backyard that was in need of siding, soffit and fascia. I've been working on it for the last 3 days and I'm finally done minus the staining of the wood. (thank God ). I consider myself fairly handy but I've never installed soffit and fascia before. My God what a nightmare LOL! I will never attempt to do that by myself again. I probably should have posted a how-to question before I started, but it's done now. I have nothing overly important to say here, just venting my relief. I'll post a couple of before/after pic's when I'm done staining. Off to bed now.

Wow you guys hit the water at 60mph? That's crazy. Very very glad to hear you're okay.

Thanks for the kind words. The website is eddienorth.com

Email away. Guaranteed somehow Eddie will accomodate you. So Yesterday was tough? I fished it once in Sept and it was pretty good. Too bad about your finder, it's a horrifying feeling isn't it? After the incident I screwed the transducer to a piece of wood and used a couple of C clamps to fasten it to the transom. I didn't run hardly any rapids last Sept with Jason LOL! In any case it's not that big a deal (if you have the experience and knowledge of how to read a river). We fished your honey hole for maybe an hour total all week. Speaking of which, I believe it was Jason who pointed the spot out to you guys, and you proceeded to sit on it for a week. Well fact is I showed Jason that spot last Sept so if you want to get down to brass tacks you were fishing my honey hole. September buddy. Do you ever answer your pm's? LOL! I know, I know it's a gross number of pic's. I apologize for the excess. Actually that can be arranged.

You did a great job on your house Ryan and I doubt you'll have a problem selling. We sold our home privately in May by literally sticking a for sale sign on the front lawn. Obviously that wouldn't in your case, however there are still various means of marketing the house by yourself. My advice to you, if you don't have a gun to your head and can afford to take the time, try selling it yourself. If you want/need it sold asap use a realtor. Cheers and good luck.

Not much better than back lake smallies, well done!

Wow what a great trip Ron!, thanks for taking the time to post.

Looks like a great trip Dara. You're right about the motor. I can only get down to to 1.7mph with my 40hp Yamaha and a bucket tossed out the back. That's impressive with a 60.