solopaddler

Drew, that was epic man! What an amazing report and an even more incredible trip!! Thoroughly enjoyed reading that, big thanks for taking the time.

Congratulations, that's great news!

Had to post this, it's just too funny! (viewer beware!)

I flew with him eons ago and was not impressed, can't believe he's still in business. Lee Cole is a walking caricature. I've never met a bigger huckster at any of the sports shows I've been to.

Nice fish buddy! Wish I could have made it out with you slow fishing or not.

Nice fish bud, the water looks mint.

Right on bud, nice fish!

Awesome fish, congrat's!

It was off coloured but fishable Thursday with fish being caught. I'll assume the vis has gone downhill since then?

From my end, every single time I've gone in there to grab stuff I needed, most of the time it's not in stock. Service isn't the greatest either although strangely there always seems to be a ton of people working in there. I'm local, but for the longest time have only shopped there out of desperation. Sorry to anyone who has a stake in the store but that's the truth...

Depending on exactly where you're fishing, steelheading has already been phenominal this week . Every river is different and each will clear to fishable levels at a different rate. The next 4-5 days will be spectacular. Choose your destination wisely...

Quite a story, thanks for posting.

Impressive report, those are incredible fish!

Just got in from my shift at the weather office. The wind picked up around 5:00am. I was recording 24kts with gusts up to 46 from the southwest. For those that fish the Niagara looks like it'll be trashed again for awhile.

Good Lord, truly hope everyone's okay. Prayer sent.

That would be interesting, an OFC gathering on Gouin. I'd be all over that! Looking forward to parts 2 & 3.

I'm leaving shortly for the memorial service but wanted to quickly post this as it's in remembrance of my friend. I headed north today with another good friend in search of fish and perhaps a calmer state of mind... The first river we fished was very tough conditions even having to break off shelf ice before we could drift. The river was also choked with floating chunks of ice and drifting was tough...but we persisted. Actually had 2 small fish on briefly, but they quickly came unbuttoned. All in all not a great start... Around 10am I suggested a move north to another trib, one of my all time favourites. Strangely this river was almost completely ice free, but was much, much lower than the first river and absolutely gin clear. Nevertheless I was pretty confident. I scaled down the size of my float, changed my tippet to 4lb fluoro, stretched out my lead, tied on a #14 hook and broke out the mini-micro roe bags. Time to finesse! My buddy walked upstream and started fishing a nice seam close to a set of rapids. I inched my way downstream scouring the slower more froggy water. Lost in my thoughts, almost mesmerized by my float and the water flowing over the sandy, gin clear stream bed my float shot under with a suddenness that means only one thing. The fish fought amazingly hard considering the water temps, taking a good 10 minutes to get close to shore where I finally pulled it up onto an ice shelf... Other fish including one very large and very angry tank of a fish were hooked and lost, but this was the only fish landed today. Probably fitting as I really only wanted one today... This one's for you bud .

Thank you all, you really are a great bunch! A spur of the moment decision was made to fish today so I'm just headed out the door. This one's dedicated to Kareem, still can't believe he's gone..

Many of my fellow board members here were aware of the ongoing situation with the health of my close friend Kareem. A lot of you guys have continued to show support through pm's and emails and for that I thank you. Unfortunately Kareem passed away yesterday. He fought bravely right to the end, and as he's always been, he was a great inspiration to me. In this world there were 3 people who I could count on for anything, no questions asked. My dad, my uncle, and Kareem. He was a true friend and I'm going to miss him a whole lot. Kareem loved walleye fishing and was an absolute master of the sport. Over the last 18 years we spent literally hundreds of hours fishing together including a whole slew of fly in trips. The quality of these pic's are not great as I don't have a scanner, but here's a few moments from better times: I love you buddy, you won't be forgotten.

Sweet, sounds like a blast! Gonna have to get over there soon...

WTG Jay, nice start to the season!

Looks like a blast, nice report!

Hey Tony, looks great! I'll know who to call for help when I'm building the sleep bunkie up at the cottage this year!

Lots of negative comments it seems, probably with good reason. However no one ever made something happen sitting on the couch and dreaming about it. I say go for it! Most seem to have ignored the fact that you said it was a fishing and hunting "territory" and that you'd be hiring someone to run it. When you say "territory" can I assume it's located in Quebec? If so then there's even more reasons to pursue this for a variety of reasons...