solopaddler

That's a good enough reason for me LOL! (Anytime bud )

I've caught more big pike and walleye on that exact lure in the last 10 years or so than just about anything.

In the lakes I mostly fish: #7 deep diving perch Shad Rap #12 Tennesee Shad Husky Jerk 1/4 oz jig head with a 3" white twister tail #4 Mepps Black Fury, dressed #6 Lindy Gator spoon in firetiger

Darn right!! The only seasons that'll ever be on my bass are salt and pepper!!! (Tongue firmly planted in cheek. )

Yeah and he caught 'em on marshmallows too!! (Really nice fish Mike well done!)

You're a lucky man to live in surroundings like that. Those are some gorgeous brookies!

Sacrilege! The "you know what" can wait, I figure I've got her for a few more years yet. Actually 7 but who's counting. I love driving so it's not that big a deal. Thanks all.

While my 5 year old Riley has been north many times already we've never before gone alone, sans mommy. As a father of 2 young ones I can't wait for the day when I can start bringing them with me on my more major northern excursions, but a short trip to the camp was a perfect groundbreaker. She knows that when we're nearing the "Big Fish" in Larder Lake we're getting close, and from North Bay onwards she asked me every 15 minutes when we'd see it. Finally arriving in Larder she begged me to stop for a photo: Not long afterwards we arrived at my still flooded landing, quickly loaded the boat and were on our way to my small slice of paradise. After unpacking and settling in she says to me "daddy I want to go fishing NOW!!" Music to my ears. In short order we were off to a known spring hotspot, a shallow lake connected by a narrows to the main body of water. The water was a couple of degrees warmer in there and hopefully the fish would be active... Enroute Riley insisted on practising her waterskiing technique in the bow of the boat, (yes I was very careful. ). Trying to keep things as simple as possible I rigged her up with an 1/8oz jig head, twister tail and worm. Crawling along dead slow with the bowmount I had her hop and twitch the jig along bottom as we probed a couple of weed edges in about 12' of water... It wasn't long before her rod bowed and she literally screamed "I GOT ONE!" right in my ear LOL! Managed to land it with zero help from daddy, and when it was in the boat she says "That looks like a nice fat one, I think we should keep it for dinner". She's still a bit squeemish when it comes to holding walleye so I did the honours and she snapped a pic of me: Not long afterwards she lay down in the bow and passed out: I finally picked up a rod and managed 1/2 a dozen smaller males in short order before heading back to the camp. Just about a perfect first day.... Day 2 saw us heading north up the lake to one of my favourite spots, another small lake connected by a tiny creek to the main lake. It's not usually accessable with the big boat as there's a beaver dam halfway up the creek. When the water lowers in the summer it's cut off completely, but with this springs high levels we had nothing to worry about. It was a cold, raw grey day with rain in the forecast, but Riley was pumped when we set out: I was amazed at just how high the creek actually was: Even last year when the water levels were above normal I had to negotiate a 12" drop to get into the lake. This year we drove right over it...just unreal. Approaching the lake we were both a bit excited.. Upon arriving almost immediately it started to pour rain. I asked Riley if she wanted to take shelter and she says "no daddy I want to catch some fish!" Rigged the same way as the day before she caught another decent eye within the first 15 minutes of fishing (Once again dad had to hold the fish): She's definitely a trooper pulling out the umbrella and still refusing to head for shelter: The rain began to come down in sheets and amazingly it was me who finally wimped out. There was a huge ice hut pulled up on shore that I'd used last spring when it rained. I made a beeline for it with promises of a warm fire and some hot chocolate. She was all for that. Got her settled in and in short order the small wood stove was just a hummin' and the water boiling. It's acually pretty comfy in there: After an extended period of drying out and eating tons of junk food, the skies finally broke. I asked her if she wanted to go on a bit of a boat ride and check out some rapids. "Rapids daddy?" "Yes rapids honey, they're very cool" "Awesome, can I swim in them?" (There's no doubt she's my daughter) We ascended another larger river travelling for a few km's upstream. It's an incredibly beautiful part of the lake.. Finally we approached the rapids: You would think that this would be a walleye hotspot but surprisingly that's not the case, 90% of the fish in the lake are shoal spawners. Of course there's always some kicking around, mostly dink males, but normally I don't bother with this spot. Initially upset 'cause I wouldn't let her swim she had a blast as we surfed around in the rapids with the boat.. (I think that was actually the highlight of the trip for her). We were out a long time, from 8am 'till about 5pm, and we were both ravenously hungry when we arrived back at camp and began to cook up dinner. A wee bit of surf and turf: After dinner the skies actually cleared and the winds died down. I had promised her a campfire and this was the perfect opportunity. I lit a fire down on my point and she got the marshmallows ready. Is this not an incredible picture? What a spot... We roasted marshmallows together and watched this crazily agitated beaver swim back and forth in front of the point smacking it's tail. I was able to call it in right to the point time after time by making cooing noises (beavers make a noise like that). Don't know if it thought it had lost one of it's young or was being territorial, but each time it saw us it smacked it's tail in anger. Riley was impressed. Not long afterwards we retired to the sunroom. I watched hockey: And my wee one crashed: The next day we packed 'er up and headed home. That was maybe my best trip ever up to the camp, and even better on the way home Riley says: "Thank you for bringing me daddy, when can we do it again?" Cheers, Mike

$62 for the year, $41.50 for 7 days, $27.00 for 3 days. Spouses can fish under one license....

Right on Simon, nice fish. Look on the bright side it may be cold but at least you're not battling bugs.

Bisco is good for sure. What popped to my mind immediately though was lake Kipawa in Quebec. In my mind it's the QC version of our Temagami, but with infinitely better fishing for walleye and way less traffic, especially in the north end. Also very, very pretty country.

He looks like a tough little guy I'm sure he'll bounce back better than ever.

Great story Drew, thanks for taking the time.

That is fascinating. I've caught bass with the odd very small black patch but nothing like that. Charles Darwin had a theory on this. He said the survivors in a species adapt to their environment better than the non survivors. This would include changing color as the local environment dictated for prey ambush, predator avoidance etc. Not sure if that’s the case here but it may be as the bass looks otherwise healthy.

If you're asking about rod length for that application, then yeah that's a good length. Personally I'd go even a bit longer with an 8'er.

In my best hippy dippy weatherman voice: "Our summer nights will be mostly.....DARK, followed by widely scattered light each morning. Wind? Yes of course! Much of our weather will be influenced by a Canadian low...... not to be confused with a Mexican high! Hope that helped.

Would love to pick your brain. I'm considering driving out to Labrador city and poking around. Only thing is, non residents need a local "guide" or you're fishing illegally. Pain in the .

Very nice, I can relate. I've got an SSV 16 that I modified a bit myself (front deck, floors, storage compartments, etc..)

Thanks for that Cookslav, some great memories and insight there. I too was shocked, although Peter had been battling various illnesses for a few years now. Way too young to die, RIP Peter and sincere condolences to the family.

Spur of the moment trips are the best, nice specs dude!

Nice clean looking lakers, looks like a great trip! Congrat's on the upcoming addition to the family, cool way to find out.

That's quite the clan you've got there! Nice to see all the happy faces.

Well done, what a fantastic smile!

She knew who she was marrying! Seriously though we've both got a great deal of respect for each other and we share the load. (BTW we should get out and fish sometime. )

Rob the pike was indeed caught in the 2nd back lake. Not a secret lake (there's not many of those anymore), but lightly fished for sure. In my travels north of Armstrong and beyond I've caught numerous pike that size and larger in some of the tiniest most unassuming lakes you could possibly imagine. So yeah, the possibility always exists for larger than average pike in these small back lakes. They're not pike factories so you don't go expecting to catch one, but seasonally the possibility can be quite high that you will.