solopaddler

Thanks for posting, Horwood is truly beautiful reservoir. Looks as though you fished the south end quite a bit? When I fished it years ago that's where we had our best luck.

Havn't met you but I like you sight unseen. You remind me of my dad LOL!

Outstanding as usual Justin, it's easy to see why you're affiliated with OOD. (jigger should love this report! )

Hey Nauti I was thinking of you when we drove through V-Town. Check your pm's

I'm guessing your question is rhetorical. You know as well as I do Roy that's the way most members think. That's why this board is so popular. It's strength is in it's members and over time has attracted a singularly outstanding group of regular contributors. As far as sharing info goes everyone's different. Some guys like to read In Fisherman, other guys like to read the more esoteric ramblings found in Sports Afield or Outdoor Life. Personally I have a more esoteric bent when it comes to my reading and writing. Each to his own. If someone asks me directly for info I'm always happy to respond .

If it's the one in Haliburton I'm familiar with it. Unless it's changed there was smallmouth and lake trout when I fished it years ago. Call the MNR district office in Minden and ask to speak to a biologist. They'll gladly give you the up to date lowdown on the lake as well as other possible fishing opportunities in the area.

I was forced to .

I'm loving the X-Trail! I drove a CRV for 6 years prior to this one and there's no comparison IMO. Better on gas even with a slightly peppier engine. Excellent 4wd system and much more "offroad-worthy" than any other small SUV in it's class. Smoother and quieter on the hwy than my CRV was as well. Maybe it doesn't have quite the same resale value as Honda, but still pretty darn good I'm sure and head and shoulders above any domestic vehicle in it's class. (can you tell I'm happy with it? )

To answer your question, I love 'em, but I have no problem waiting for them. There's a time and place (and season) for everything.....

Sounds great, 2 full weeks! Good luck with the drive I can relate. Remember Gravol is your friend! (Properly administered it tends to knock the little ones out )

I used to have an ungodly number of rods/reels but have pared the selection down somewhat over the years. If all the rods you own are higher end, and/or custom, a handful of sticks like that could easily equate into a forest of cheaper rods. Everything is relative. Which would you rather have one Ferrari or a dozen Honda Civics?

Those moose shots are incredible, what a huge animal that was!

The pen reared escapees are usually blunter of nose, tails and snouts are quite often ragged and showing signs of wear, and they're generally thicker, heavier, and quite frankly fatter for their length than wild fish. Also, they don't fight worth a damn. Generally you set the hook and reel 'em in, nothing at all like the acrobatics of a wild fish. Another factor, the ones here in Ontario (Georgian Bay mostly) have been engineered to spawn in the fall. If you catch a short, fat blunt nosed rainbow spitting loose eggs or milt in Oct or Nov you can be a guaranteed it's not a wild fish...

Awww, it sounds just like a scene out of Sleepless In Seattle HAHAHAHA!

Yes! Only thing I can add to that, we like to drill holes in them and epoxy in some ball bearing to make them sink and be somewhat neutrally buoyant.

Cool pic Raf. My buddy snagged one accidentally while it was swimming between 2 islands in the Moon basin a few years back. I begged with him to just cut his line but he insisted on unhooking it properly. Of course he was bitten badly. Within 20 seconds he turned white as ghost, threw up, then passed out in the front of my boat. I freaked! I managed to find my way to Parry Sound and got him to the hospital with help at the dock. He came very close to death, and was extremely lucky. 2 doses of anti venin and a 2 week stay in hospital and he slowly managed to recover. What happened was just shear stupidity on a few different levels. It wasn't the snakes fault and I'd certainly never intentionally kill one. They're not an uncommon sighting either. In the many years I've fished and camped on the lower French/Bad River I've seen tons of 'em.

Hey man I was wondering where you went to, you fell off the face of the earth. Stay in touch and let's try and get out!

Nice fish! That's a perfect walleye chop you were fishing .

Thanks bud. I've seen worse hunt camps though too, been in 'em in fact. What the pic's or video don't convey though is the smell. It was like a skunk that just crawled out of another skunks butt . Beyond the stench and filth every single surface in that place had some kind of unknown disgusting sticky substance on it. It was baaaaad!

That's a great little video clip Cliff, love it! (We'll do it it again for sure bud) Thanks everyone else for the comments!

Congratulations Steve, well done!

Fabulous, what a great day!

Lac Seul beauty for sure! Fish of a lifetime, congrat's!

Sometimes the best trips are spur of the moment, completely off the cuff. While there was "some" planning involved for this one, it was only a couple of weeks and not the usual several months. My original destination was a back lake N/W of Nakina that I'm familiar with, but we opted to go with the Cochrane area because of time constraints. Jason (Basskicker on the board) helped me out with some info. As well I contacted an MNR district biologist who was an absolute font of information. We had a general idea where we were headed, but nothing was etched in stone. In any case I was packed and ready and left straight from the office last Tuesday night. I was hoping the drive over to Cliff's wasn't an omen, the rain and storms I endured were of biblical proportions! Seriously, I havn't seen rain that heavy in a loong time. I actually had to pull over and stop for 10 minutes it was that bad. Thankfully I made it to Cliff's, we loaded his gear and were on the road headed north by 11pm. The further north we drove the clearer the skies became and by the time we hit North Bay I was in cruise control and Cliff was snoozing. Between 3am and 5am I have to admit I struggled a bit. I downed 3 Red Bulls, my grogginess was INSTANTLY gone, and the back of my head started to tingle and go numb LOL! (the stuff really does work). After the Red Bull wore off I stopped once more to go for a short jog along the side of the road while Cliff continued to snooze away blissfully unaware. Eventually we managed to make it all the way to Cochrane incident free. A quick pit stop for coffee, ice and fuel and we were headed into the backcountry. Along the way we poked our nose into a couple of side roads all of which led to various different back lakes. We were hoping that we'd be able to drive all the way in, however not being prepared to portage or having an atv we were thwarted. Still, it was fun exploring! There was one lake in particular we knew had good access as well as a campsite right near the launch and that's where we eventually headed. Unfortunately it seemed as though everyone in Cochrane had the same idea. Seriously there was an entire caravan camped there including a freakin' teepee. I couldn't believe it! After a brief discussion we decided to push on to another lake that the MNR had recommended to me. The landing was unoccupied so we quickly set up camp amidst clouds of flies and sweltering heat. A quick dip in the lake and we pushed off for our first fishing of the trip. The reality was the lake was a dissapointment. Basically round in shape and bowl-like in structure (typical of the James Bay lowlands actually) it didn't excite me very much. Worse, the fishing was very slow as well. It did start off with a bang though! After besting my trophy clam we settled down and managed to scrape out a handful of walleyes: It was slooow though. The day was still early and we made the decision to pack up camp and head back down the road to another lake and campsite we had passed on the way in. We were hoping that the greater size and structure of this other lake would equate into better fishing.. So once again we set up camp. This site was pretty nice actually beside a small rushing stream with a view of the lake, heck it even had a picnic table and an outhouse! By the time we were done setting up it was dinner time, so I fired up the bbq, threw some steaks on and kicked back with a cold one. That night it rained heavily, but fortunately stopped near morning and we awoke to a calm, humid, muggy, overcast day. After a quick coffee we launched the boat and headed out with high hopes. Cliff doesn't like bugs as you can see, and it was a BUGGY morning! We worked the lake over systematically and did catch a bunch of fish, but they were all small. Tiny dink walleye and snot-rocket pike. Still....it was fun . After a fun but long day we once again fired up the bbq and settled down to a relaxing dinner and a couple of cold ones in the comfort of the screen tent. Lazed around for a bit then went out right at dusk for a quick evening fish. Once again we caught a handful of dink walleye, but enjoyed a particularly gorgeous evening on this calm, remote arctic watershed lake. That night we discussed our options for the rest of the trip. We had 2 full days left to fish and I REALLY wanted to put Cliff onto a bunch of fish. My place in Quebec was only 2 hours or so south of Cochrane so we decided that we'd pack up first thing in the morning and head over there. The back lakes in that area are a known commodity to me and I felt reasonably confident that we'd do better down there. Cliff had no objections so the plan was set.. Once again it POURED rain all night and into the morning and we hurriedly packed up camp and loaded the truck whilst getting soaked. Of course as SOON as we hit the road into Cochrane after being thoroughly drenched the skies cleared . We weren't complaining though.. A quick pit stop in Cochrane at Tim's... ....and we were on our way back down 11. The plan to be more specific was to head over to my uncles place and either stay there or camp nearby. He's got 2 wicked back lakes very close to him and I figured we'd fish one on Friday and another on Saturday. He just bought the place last fall and it's currently under construction. When we arrived the grounds were all ripped up and there was a team of carpenters working on it. No biggy, we walked over for a look at the lake though and quickly had to re-think our plan. There were 3 foot waves and whitecaps streaming down the lake, not something I really wanted to subject either of us to in my small squareback. No problem though, I quickly got on the cel phone and called my dad, he was at our camp by himself putzing around and doing a few reno's. 1/2 an hour later he picked us up at the landing and we headed over to the cabin. A big step up in the comfort level . After relaxing for a bit all 3 of us headed out to catch some walleye for dinner. Amazingly enough my dad has never managed to catch a fish up there in the summer by himself. This was the first time ever we were there at the same time and it was a golden opportunity to show him where and how to fish the shoals close to camp..he was pretty happy about that. The wind was bad on my lake as well and boat control was tough, so most of the time I just played guide. Not too surprisingly we managed to squeak out enough for dinner with my dad catching the largest one (he was VERY happy ). The next day was our last day of fishing and I wanted to make it good. My dad wanted to tag along so I opted to take the boys to the same back lake I'd fished with my wife back in June. Beyond the fact it's a great lake there was a couple of old boats cached at the end of the trail. With 3 of us fishing I figured it'd be a lot more comfortable to fish out of one of those.. Well it was a day to remember for sure. There were some serious thunderstorms passing through the area and twice we were forced to take shelter in the old hunt camp that was on the shores of the lake. It saved our bacon, but man was it ever disgusting! I've been in a lot of run down shacks before and this one was by far the grossest most vile place I've ever set foot. Fishing wise things started off slowly (the weather sure didn't help!) But picked up bigtime in the afternoon. My dad caught a gorgeous 271/2" walleye in between thunderstorms which proved to be the largest of the trip (he was a VERY VERY happy man). Cliff caught a pile of fish also including a couple of very decent bass and I'm pretty sure had a blast in the process which pretty much made my day . It was a long day, finally unloading the boat and hitting the trail back to my squareback at 6pm. We had all wanted a few fish to take home so we kept a 2 man limit of walleye, all nice eaters! When we arrived back at the landing the other guys packed up while I cleaned the fish on the bridge. A nicer spot for a sometimes tiring chore you'll never find. That evening we had another fabulous (but late) dinner, shot the breeze for a bit then crashed big time, tired but sated. The next day Cliff and I packed up as early as we could and hit the road home. All in all a great trip. Cliff's boundless enthusiasm was infectious, and man let me tell you, you were a pleasure to fish with! I know Cliff has some short video snippets, including one of a particlarly vicious storm we endured. Not sure what they're like but hopefully the quality is good enough to post. He's also got lots more pictures including one of a gigantic bull moose we saw on the way in (could you post that one bud?) 'Till next time! Cheers, Mike

Leaving in 15 minutes buddy!