solopaddler

Yes indeed, the upper Aux Sable is very decent for specks. That would be the Massey area as well.

If you or whoever you're inquiring for has no qualms about driving a little further I know some decent speck lakes north of Blind River. PM me if you want the info

cheers, Mike

Hey Dave, as far as bugs go the cabin at Twopeak is comfortable, but rustic .

Make sure you bring lots of duct tape to cover up holes and cracks around the doors and windows.

That time of year I'd also bring headnets and lots of spray repellent to apply on your clothes.

Light coloured, lightweight long sleeve shirts are important.

As far as fishing goes, Twopeak is a very good walleye lake for numbers of fish in the 1-3lb range.

All you'll need IMO is a good selection of 1/8 and 1/4 ounce jigheads and a bunch of 3" twister tails in a variety of colours. A flat of worms to tip the jigs with wouldn't hurt either.

If you're into pike there's lots of small ones. Bigger fish would most likely be the exception.

Twopeak is a small lake very typical of the James Bay lowlands: shallow, mostly dishpan, somewhat featureless.

Concentrate your efforts on the several prominent points and you'll do fine. Also, fish the edges of the reed beeds, especially look for reed points that jut out into the lake.

cheers, Mike

Wow...you're reports just keep getting better! Seemed like only a few months ago the pics were a little fuzzy...kinda 70's loooking...oh wait...that was a few months ago...LOL.

 

Anyhow, I dream of having outings like you have!!! Great work...sounded like a great time!

LOL! You guys are gonna see a few more of those fuzzy reports

They're actually not all that old, it's just that I don't have a proper scanner and was just taking a picture of the photographs with my digital.

I've got a few more canoe trips from the archives I've been meaning to post.

a bud sent me a link from another board and it looks like some vhs signs!!!

Fairly common symptoms of stress in post spawn fish IMO. I've yet to see symptoms of VHS in Lake O, Michigan, Huron or Georgian Bay steelhead, but it's full blown in many of the fish from Erie's south shore, no doubt about that unfortunately.

Nice catch BTW!

I was busy and had to get my dad to close my water access cabin in N/W Quebec 2 falls ago.

He left all the deep cycle batteries at the camp. I run 3 of them off a solar panel with a charge controller. He left the vent fan for the composting toilet running hooked up to one

He left all my low voltage electric lights on hooked up to another

He forgot to drain the water tank and bleed all the lines

He left the gas powered jet pump in its little "doghouse" down on the dock

He left my brand new Honda generator in the shed

He didn't secure my floating dock properly for the harsh winter

The boat? Yeah he forgot to put the cover on the boat, jack it up and pull the drain plug

That was the least of my worries!

Can't help but love the old bugger

That's amazing!

Great story and pictures!

Maybe if Ontario MNR stocked more steelhead and opened a few select rivers a little more,

we wouldn't have to travel to Michigan or Ohio, but could contribute to the economy here. Just a thought.

 

Again great post and excellent pictures!

 

ehg

Actually, I like the way the OMNR manages our steelhead by and large. The basic difference between Ontario and the States is they're into stocking and we're into habitat enhacement. The vast majority of the fish running our rivers are wild and there's definitely something to be said for that.

Now, as far as never travelling to places like Michigan and Ohio? The reason I go is to experience different water and new challenges, not to catch fish. If all I was interested in was catching fish I'd head east of Toronto and beat those waters to froth with my float

There's just soo many incredible rivers to fish! That's what makes being an avid steelheader living in this region so great

And hey, thank's for the kind words everyone!

What a nightmare

Paul sent me a few pic's from his camera and I thought I'd add them.

Andrew with a fish on and me in the background

Me with a fish on in the background and Andrew waiting patiently

Looks like I'm trying to stomp on this one, but it swam back through my legs after it was released!

A fish about to be beached

Another close-up shot

View of the river downstream from Tippy

Dave with another

Posing for the camera in the motel

A picture of someone taking a picture

Watching the float

One final close-up

cheers, Mike

 

What was I thinking, knowing Ohio wasnt going to fish and I decide not to come along and instead help my wife with a garage sale

Seems like i missed an Epic trip

Yep

Well, last Thursday as we packed our gear for our long weekend steelhead trip to Ohio, we were dismayed to find that most of the rivers down there were blown and more rain was in the forecast for Friday. Things didn't look great! Ohio stocks Manistee strain fish in their rivers, and, as mentioned before they're a particularly large, robust strain.

After checking conditions on the net we decided to switch gears and head to the actual source where these Ohio fish originate from: the Big Manistee river in Michigan's upper peninsula, a good 61/2 hour drive from home.

For veteran steelheaders around the great lakes the Big Manistee is revered, in fact it's almost considered holy water

The area is gorgeous having a real Muskoka flair to it, with lots of granite rock and big white pines. It's truely beautiful. The river is big and broad averaging over 200' in width in spots, clear, but with a tea stain to it, and having some powerful currents which make landing fish a big challenge!

I was last at the Big M 15 years earlier, so for me this was also a walk down memory lane, and I loved every minute of it!

The highest concentration of fish is at Tippy dam and the coffer above it. The coffer dam stops the migration of fish in the river making it a mecca for steelheaders. That's where we headed

Here's me with my first fish, a spunky little hen:

My buddy Dave with a nice buck and a close up shot of the same fish:

Me with a small buck:

Andrew fighting a nice buck, a close up pic, then the release:

A decent buck that I caught:

Andrew with another:

Me with another buck and some nice close up shots:

Paul fighting a nice one, and landing it.

Me with a nice buck (when standing way out in deep water sometimes you've got to improvise with

how you hold your rod )

Me with another, and the release

Paul fighting another with Dave getting ready to help

Davey with a nice steelie and a bonus brown

Me with another

Close-up of another of Paul's fish

Andrew checking out Tippy dam

A view of the coffer dam above it

Davey and then me with another

It was just an unbelievable trip! We shared a lot of laughs over the 21/2 days, experienced some great weather, and caught a TON of fish! The shots I posted here are just a fraction of the actual numbers

involved, it really was epic

Hope you enjoyed,

cheers, Mike

Niiiiice! Five 40 + inchers on the ice in one season..... that's the average fishermans career, if he/she is lucky.

 

Great report as always Drew.

 

Cheers,

ben.

Agreed, those are some awesome numbers!

Another amazing report, thank's!

Nice fish little angler, welcome to the site!

Your enthusiasm is evident and it's nice to see! Congrats on a great day

You might need your own private security force to fish there.

 

Solopaddler?

Looks like an interesting trip douG, but I think I'll stick to the north

Stocked or not those are some nice looking trout to catch through the ice, and a beautiful backdrop to boot. Way to go, great report!

Wow, I'm impressed! To head out on such a cold blustery night......that's true dedication

Thank's boys, appreciate it!

Just to add to the story, when we arrived at the first spot to start the day my bud almost immediately hooked into a quality a fish and while fumbling to take pic's in the cold, the contact lens in my right eye popped out and fell in the river

Needless to say I'm blind without either contacts or glasses, so I was ticked

Anyone ever try concentrating on a float all day with one good eye and one bad eye? Not much fun let me tell ya! (I managed though )

Well, I had it in my mind to head north on Friday to fish some Huron tribs, but the cold weather forecast forced me to look elsewhere.

It was still pretty darn frigid though! Here's my buddy fishing the mouth area of one of my favourite spots. The wind and snow were howling in right off the lake and the cold overnight temps. created large packs of floating slush which we had to fish around...

Here's a decent fish caught by my bud

A chubby little hen that I caught further upstream

Another very decent fish I managed in the upstream sections

Near the end of the day we tried another rivermouth area. The wind chill was unreal and we were chilled

to the bone in short order, but did manage a couple of chrome bullets before we packed it in and

retreated to the car.

All in all a pretty good day despite the cold temperatures. We caught fish pretty consistently all day in

pretty much every spot we tried. I think if the weather was a bit warmer it would have been an epic day,

but no complaints!

BTW, for all those other fans of the Blue and White, big, big game tonight!

GO LEAFS GO!

Tournament fishing and fishing in general are two completely different animals. As far as I'm concerned the competetive nature of tournaments is the last thing I'd want to introduce a young angler to. No offense to you or any other tournament anglers on this board, but that concept is just plain wrong on a whole bunch of different levels.

This post clearly illustrates that what fishing "means" to a person can be very different depending on the individual.

To me a big part of it is the relaxation and getting closer to nature. Exploring wild places and seeking solitude. Something I hope to instill an appreciation of in my own kids.

Next to getting married and my kids being born buying my first house was the biggest event in my life personally. It's a really big deal as far as I'm concerned.

Congratulations!

I'm also a huge fan of St. Croix Avids and Premiers, fantastic rods.

The only other rod I'd likely take a close look at if I were you is the Shimano Compre's. I've got a 6' Compre rod that I use jigging for walleye and it's an amazing rod for the price.

Mike, Whopper is I am guessing 150-200 miles from Lake Erie, I am disabled and walking on dry level ground is a bit of a challenge, in a river I would be swimming. They are pretty fish, but my love was bass fishing, hard to beat Erie smallies.

 

Chagrin, Rocky, and Vermillion rivers East and West of Cleveland also get pretty good runs of steelies, they are more in my area, and I know guys that fish for them. My walking and wading days are pretty much over.

 

They do stack up at the river mouths in the fall, millions or billions of emerald shiners gather around the breakwalls and the steelies are feeding on them and whatever else is near by. No doubt that they are fun to catch, and a mixed bag is possible with smallies, and walleye. A boat gives you more opportunities.

Hey bud, sorry to hear your wading days are over, but it definitely sounds like you're compensating in other ways .

You sure do live in a great area for fishing, the south shore of Erie is incredible!

As it turns out, as far as the Chagrin goes, well I'll most likely be back fishing that little beauty the weekend after Easter

Great post, great pics! Love it.....I've fished alot of US rivers, all great! I do it on the fly, but float is cool too. Have not had a float rod in my hand in 7-8 yrs. I miss it. One question though? How do u fish a spinner under a float? LOL never seen that lol. Looks like a Roster-Tail? A new pattern I must try. Thanks again for the post keep fishing sal

Actually, I knew we'd likely be fishing the estuary so I brought a spinning rod along to throw some hardware for a change of pace. It's not impossible to throw lures with a float rod, but spinning gear works much better!