solopaddler

Chris if I thought for a second you might be interested in joining you'd have been more than welcome. Next time!

You guys both made me laugh LOL! Good eye Victor, although you're only partly right. What I needed was suntan lotion. My cheeks, ears, back of neck and back of hands were burnt to a crisp.

Anytime Dan, anytime.....

Living and guiding full time in N/W Ontario steelhead aren't normally on Bens radar. However a short trip back home to southern Ontario provided the perfect opportunity to remedy that particular situation. We'd made plans to meet and fish together on Thursday and his timing couldn't have been better: beautiful clear skies, comfortable temps and once again a river full of hungry dropback fish. Ben had never fished for steelhead in a river before but not surprisingly he's a pretty fishy individual and caught on pretty quick. Fortunately I had enough gear to outfit him completely (waders, rod/reel, etc, etc) so we were good to go. Thursday morning was a bit tiring for both of us. Ben had a full 11/2 hours of sleep after hitting the Neil Young concert Wed night then driving out to my place for 4:30am. Me? I was going on andrenaline once again after fishing hard the day before.. It's all good though, nothing a 6 pack of Java Monsters can't handle. Here's Ben wading a river for the first time. A little tentative at first but as you'll see by the end of the day he was charging right in. Upon arriving at our chosen hole it didn't take Ben long to break the ice. The particular pool we were fishing has just the right combination of current speed, depth, size and cover to attract huge numbers of spent fish. After doing the nasty upstream earlier in the spring they were kicking back on their lazy boys enjoying a smoke before heading back to the lake. Fortunately for us they had a bad case of the munchies as well. Maybe 2 minutes later he hooked up again and I managed to capture a short video clip of the action: Some still shots: He got in a pretty good little groove there for a while: I even hooked a few myself. At this point Ben hooked a fish that jumped wildly multiple times. I managed another short video clip of the action: It was a golden day, couldn't have been any more perfect. Mixed in with the steelies were an ever increasing number of coarse fish. Maybe not the prettiest fish in the world but they do put a good bend in the rod: Ben began to put on a clinic: Cool shots dontcha think? In between playing photographer I managed a few more myself. Near the end of the day we slipped downstream and found a huge pod of fish, mostly small jacks in the 3-5lb class, but all were pure chrome and the aerial acrobats were something to see. Unfortunately not too many pic's of the action (yes I do get tired of taking pictures ) As mentioned earlier Ben was a bit tentative wading but caught on fast. He lost his fear and began to follow me with no hesitation. (Not unlike a lemming over a cliff. ) It was a fantastic day on the water and a true pleasure fishing with one of OFC's finest. 'Till next time bud (Maybe in Sioux Lookout?) Cheers, Mike

Exactly. Why fish steelhead when the best fishing is long over?

My uncles got chronic back pain, it's especially debillitating when he walks around. (That's why he only fishes with me maybe twice a year). Anyhow he built that thing on Tues night. It's basically a shaft of wood with a small hinged seat that locks into place. He sat/leaned on it all day as well as used it as a wading staff. (pretty cool I thought)

Amazingly I managed to convince my supposedly retired (but busier than ever) uncle to join me on the river today. There's not much substance to this particular report. After almost 60 hours with no sleep and up and at 'em again tomorrow I just don't have it in me. However I will say it was a ridiculous day, the fish were numerous, ravenously hungry and seemingly suicidal. (Those are the types of conditions my uncle prefers. ) The fish were almost entirely raggedy beat up dropback fish. Most had battle scars and all were full of spunk and energy.... I'll let the pic's and video clip tell the story..... Short video clip here. My uncle's got this soft old Browning "Dick Swan" noodle rod. He missed a bunch of fish today because of it and you can hear him complaining about it. It's kinda funny. His excitement is obvious though. Cheers, Mike

Nautidog?

Is it just me or do most newer SUV's these ones included look like giant suppositories?

Hey bud, a good percentage of those fish are wild, something like 70%. Although most of our fish here in Ontario are wild I've still never seen anything quite like those Michigan fish.. Especially the Muskegon fish. The tails on them are HUGE, very very similar to west coast fish. As far as the fluoro goes I believe that once you bump into the gorilla range in weight it's pretty tough stuff. It's the lighter stuff used for steelhead tippet that's not as abrasion resistant. Cheers

Nicely done Ben. Check your pm's

Just beautiful, thanks for posting.

I always looked forward to ice fishing in April when I lived up north. Great report Simon!

Uh Oh I think I'm in trouble.

Hi all, this is Mikes better half Joanne, I tried to register my own account but it didn't work. Strapping him down is a great idea I think I'll have to try that.

Thanks all for the kind words. Fidel, we'll have to talk at some point....

Actually I've got a 16' Sportspal flatback and use it with my 2 horse Honda. I'll agree they're great boats, very light and stable, but I'd never want to paddle one. I've also used the 16' Coleman Y- stern. It's way heavier but also incredibly stable and much more comfortable than the Sportspal. If weight isn't an issue and you can get a deal on the Coleman I'd go for it. All things considered the ultimate imo would be a 16' Grumman aluminum y-stern canoe. Super tough, very stable and light and much cleaner lines. It's a much nicer canoe to paddle especially on rivers. Hard to find one though, they don't make them anymore and all the old bush rats up north who have one hold onto them.

Ahh....opening day on Wilmot Creek. Brings back some fond memories, thanks for that Carole! (Nice job btw)

Thanks m'dear. You're right about the borax thing, it was pretty funny. The waders and tube weren't too much of a downer considering, and yeah Candy was an unbelievable character. I couldn't believe it when I realized I had no picture of her. Picture if you can a female version of Burgess Meredith with a liking for floral spandex.

I know you would've gone bud, and you're darned right about next November!

Manistee Madness Revisited The second leg of our quest for chrome began with a trip north to the small town of Wellston. Located on the south side of the river right at Tippy dam it's a beehive of activity when the steelhead are running. Last Nov we stayed at Ray Schmidt's place and were very impressed. So impressed that I booked my nights for April before I left. Last year Ray had us in "The Steelhead". This time we were residing in the "Brown Trout". What a cool place! The weather was perfect on the drive up, but they were calling for a cold front and snow to roll in overnight. Not the greatest conditions to catch steelhead in, and even worse tomorrow was our only day in a boat... But what are you gonna do? (Fish harder obviously. ). As expected it was snowing like crazy during the pre dawn drive to meet our guide Brent at the launch ramp: No matter, we were stoked. Tough conditions or not it's always a treat to fish the Big Manistee, it's world class. It's a bit different from the Muskegon, darker and more foreboding, a bit more twisty and turny with deeper holes. We met Brent at the ramp, loaded the boat and were quickly on our way... We went a bit lighter on the tippet here, 5lb Ultragreen. There's just not quite the same volume of water on the Big Manistee. It was still quite clear though so we started out using fingernail sized bags of fresh rainbow roe tied in more muted tones like white and peach. They worked. This next fish was by far the fish of the trip. Just moments before hooking it I had lost another one in the 10lb class. Thrashing wildly beside the boat the hook popped free... Quickly rebaiting I flipped my rig out onto the seam and let 'er drift. A long long way down from the boat (good 200' or more) my float tipped over sideways then shot under like a bullet. I knew before even raising my rod it was a fish. The second I reared back I knew it was big. "It's a tank! Pull anchor Brent we're gonna have to chase it!" At that point she breached, wallowing around way downstream like a corn fed sow. Brent and Ferg suddenly became interested. Try as we might we weren't getting below that fish. Every single time Brent tried to slip past it she'd take off like a rocket downstream. Most of the river's bank in that stretch is unwadeable....too deep, too brushy. By shear luck I noticed we were in an area that looked wadeable. "Get over to shore bud, Im gonna hop out!" Brent beached the boat and we continued the battle from shore... Note the intense side pressure! Success! It's kind of deceiving from the pic but this fish was a slab! 34" long and super thick across the back. Didn't put it on a scale but I'd wager she was 14lb's give or take. Pure chrome, clear fins, small head and not a mark on her. What a fish! The release was just as sweet as the fight: Shortly after that the skies cleared and the fish really turned on with both of us hitting multiple fish. At one point another beauty chrome fish smashed my roe bag and when the fish was still hot I handed my rod to Brent, "Here ya go bud, have fun!" He'd never had a centrepin in his hand before so the fight didn't last too long, still I think he was pretty excited. (I'm slowly converting all the Michigan guides. It's a tedious process but someone's gotta do it. ) Some final porn: Another epic day! (Yes you heard me it was epic LOL!) Before retiring for the day we surveyed the situation at Tippy dam: We had big plans to fish above the coffer the next day in float tubes. Tons of fish and no one bumping elbows with us? Yep it was a good plan. That night we grilled some of Ferg's caribou tenderloin and kicked back: There were 2 full loins, but I was eating as I cooked. They were yummy, (thanks Ferg ). A Deflating Ending? As mentioned we had big plans for our last day on the river. For months I'd been dreaming about battling huge chromers in my float tube in the slack water above the coffer dam.. I hustled down to the river and started kicking my way over to the seam: Ferg was right behind me: We were there for maybe 15 mins. I'd landed a couple of smaller steelhead and Ferg landed a gorgeous little brown when suddenly he began to have problems. Apparantly the valve on his brand new Bass Pro Shops tube was leaking. To top it off his almost brand new Simms G4 waders were leaking like a sieve LOL! So not only was he sinking.....he was soaking wet. Needless to say I helped him back to shore asap. We took stock of the situation and decided to pack it in early. We'd caught more than enough fish and I just didn't feel comfortable leaving Ferg to his own devices especially with leaky waders... No matter, it was a trip for the ages and one I'll remember for a while. Hope y'all enjoyed! Cheers, Mike

Border Guards And Mystery Meat Almost every single time I cross into the States at Port Huron it's an ordeal. I don't think I've ever been just waved through. The most memorable occasion I was enroute to meet Dick Swan in Michigan and was pulled aside for my usual inspection. Lesson learned that time? Never pack a zip lock bag of borax in your duffle bag. After finding my suspicious bag of white powder all heck broke loose. My explanation that it was basically just soap and was used to cure fish eggs fell on deaf ears. We spent a good 2 hours waiting while a guy in a hazmat suit chemically analysed the powder. Last Nov with Dave we were pulled over for inspection as well. Disturbingly the border guard scrawled "Chaos" on the slip he handed us. Thankfully it was just some kind of weird border guard lingo. Nevertheless we waited for a good hour while they performed their Chaos search on my truck. With the kind of bad mojo I've got with that border crossing Ferg was getting tense as we approached. "Do you think we'll be okay dude?" he says. "Oh we'll likely be pulled over for a check. Why?" says I. "What's their policy on meat?" UH OH Ferg you see is a hunter and had filled his cooler with pounds and pounds of caribou and deer tenderloin. It looked quite similar to beef....and that's a big no no. After a few perfunctory questions the guard handed me my usual slip of paper. "Pull over to the left sir, exit your vehicle and hand this slip to the guard in that building over there." Sigh... Of course they found the wild game. I thought Ferg was going to have a heart attack when the guard walked into the building carrying his cooler. "Sir what type of meat is this?" "Well", says Ferg, "It's all labeled. Some as you can see is caribou, some is deer". "It looks a lot like beef sir" "I can assure you it's not beef. I would know, I mean I did shoot the animals myself....." That was not the right thing to say. Ultimately we were let go, but not before the most thorough reaming yet. Incredibly the guard took all our deer tenderloin. Said it was impossible to differentiate from beef. He did leave us with our caribou. What a prince. I figure with Easter approaching he needed some meat for the table. Pee Wees Rustic Playhouse Last year our guide Tim had us staying in a divey motel a good 30 minute drive from the river. This year I searched and found a cool looking place right on the river 1/2km from the dam. Perfect. I can't even begin to describe this place. Owned by a spunky octogenarian by the name of Candy it was like stepping into another world. Candy you see is the queen of kitsch. As nice as the day is long, but eccentric to the max, every square inch of our room inside and out was decorated with all manner of strange old oddities. It was actually very cool and made for a pretty interesting venue. These pic's don't do the place justice at all: The woman was an absolute sweetheart. Upon arriving back at the motel after our first day she rushed out with a huge pot of venison chili. "I figured you boys might be hungry!" and handed it to me. Venison chili? Hmm..that's kind of ironic thought I. Chromapalooza Ensues I fished the Muskegon for the first time last year with my guide and friend Tim. 2008 was Tims first year as a guide and in many ways he was still learning. This year his experience on the river shone through. He was a fantastic boat handler and had learned a great many new holding spots....head and shoulders above my experience with him last year. The Muskegon is a big river no two ways about it. While quite a bit lower than last year it was still flowing at roughly 3500 cubic feet per second. That's some serious water! It's an absolutely stunning freestone river. Mile after mile of classic riffles, pools and tailouts. To truly work it properly would take a lifetime. The water, loaded with zebra mussels, was glass water clear as well. With the power of the current and unbelievable strength of these fish you've got to go big or go home. I was running 15lb mainline, and because of the extreme water clarity 9lb fluorocarbon tippet. As it turned out the fluorocarbon was not a good idea. After losing 3 fish in a row due to break offs I settled on 8lb Maxima Ultragreen (most guys use that for mainline ) and had zero issues. Much more abrasion resistant than fluoro with all the mussels in the water and quite simply a lot stronger. The fish didn't care. No need for finesse at all, they hit with abandon. With the notable exception of those fish we hooked on shore each fish took us on a long ride downstream with Timmy pulling anchor and following the fish as they shot downstream. Here's a shot of Croton dam and the launch just downstream: Last year on the Manistee my buddy Karl showed me a technique he uses when you don't want to pull anchor and are forced to fight these big strong fish back upstream to the boat. Plunge the rod tip in the water and with the force of the current piling against your rod and line the fish can be reeled right up to your rod tip. Don't really understand the physics behind but it works. Every time. There were a few instances where we didn't pull anchor and we used this technique. Sole reason being we were trying to get a double before we slipped downstream... Only problem with this it's not a very fun way to fight fish. Ferg was amazed at the effectiveness of this fish fighting technique, but in his words "Gawd I'd rather stick pins in my eyes dood!" Here he is standing his ground using Karls technique waiting for me to hook up: And a few selected pic's of the action: We hopped out of the boat at this point, a sweet little seam where I had success last year. With this years lower water it was easier to walk and wade and once again the slot was loaded with steelhead. On 3 occasions I had fish take off like a bullet downstream with me stumbling and bumbling after them. At one point there was a large deadfall sticking waaay out into the heavy current. I was forced to wade out to the very top of my waders grasping onto branches with one hand while battling the fish with the other to get around it. One was immense. Never caught a single glimpse of it, and I fought that thing for over 1/2 an hour. An absolute eternity. I don't generally get ruffled when I lose a fish but I almost cried when my hook finally pulled more than 1/2 km downstream from where I hooked up... (You can see the tree sticking out into the water just downstream from me in this pic) Last year Tim was new to the centrepin, but he caught on fast. Being on shore with plenty of room for all three of us I rigged him up with my back up rod and after some minimal instruction he hooked and landed one himself. It was nice to see and man was he pumped. We were just feeding off of his excitement! I managed one more colourful buck before we hopped back in the boat and slipped down river.... Every seam and slot held at least a couple of fish, sometimes a bunch as we boondogged our way downstream. Once you get lower down in the river there's a lot of high sand banks, very reminiscent of our Nottawasaga There's a beautiful spot lower down where the river splits around an island. The narrower left channel is beautiful holding water. Deep and dark with a ton of wood along the opposite bank. Last year we pulled out on this very same island and managed a bunch of nice fish. This year I managed the feat again.... The pullout was just downstream around the bend. Perfect end to a perfect day. Muskegon ~ Day Two While waiting for Tim at the launch this young feller runs by with a steelhead on, raising his rod high to get around Ferg and our boat: An omen perhaps? Indeed. We repeated our previous success with another banner day. This little guy had a noticable lisp: As did this one. Most were more normal in appearance. Right near the end of our drift a flock of turkeys flew across the river and landed right beside us. Suddenly Ferg pulls this little slidey box turkey call thingy out of his vest and gets the one big tom all riled up. Not being a hunter that was pretty cool to see, and a great way to end the Muskegon chapter of our trip... Continued...

Davis I can't even begin to fathom what you've endured. Your strength is an inspiration. Same go's for Lew and Gerritt. Lew you weren't out of line at all, thanks for the reminder.

I do have the time, money and resources not so much.

Actually the other side of his face was perfect. He was "The Fish Without A Face." I called him Mel.