solopaddler

No problem buddy...can we use your Jeep

Thank's CC. Actually I just bought my first digital 2 months ago, all these pic's were taken with my old 35mm Nikon and in fact look pretty good in person...This set of north of Superior pic's was taken in '94. I've got a whack of pic's from that area that are much newer. I brought my 67 year old father in there 2 springs ago, maybe I'll post some of those pic's. The Algonquin pic's in my post were taken in May of 2006...

Looks kinda like Ricky from Trailer Park Boys. Sorry, no can do!

Nice choice, I've only ever heard good things about Booi's.

Thank's, interesting reading!

Actually Roy, I don't know what I'm doing. What's a "hydrolock" and a "snorkel"?

Thank's guys....Hooked, I never really worry about bears in that kind of remote wilderness. I've never had a problem, they're much more likely to be afraid of you. Algonquin is another story though...the bears in that park are so used to seeing humans that they've lost their fear. IMO, they equate humans with food. Even there though, you just have to be a bit more vigilant in how you store your food, etc...

Yep, thought that fish looked familiar

Some more pic's from the archives (sorry again about the poor quality) There's a place I fish on the north shore of Lake Superior, it's a series of small lakes interconnected by short rivers with some pretty impressive waterfalls. It's really hard to get into, and is virtually untouched. I've been pretty much every year since '88 and it hasn't changed one bit over the years.... The following pic's clearly show just how difficult even the access road can be! My buddy forded the river first and took this great series of shots in sequence. Right in the deepest spot, with water rushing over my hood, I hit a giant boulder and the vehicle stalled. I could actually feel the current starting to tip me over! Amazingly, she instantly started up and I was able to muscle my way through to the other side. My heart was beating madly though, if you look at my face in the last pic I've got kind of crazed expression on my face. What a rush! Here's our beach campsite on one of the lakes. Just awesome! The following are some of the waterfalls we fish and camp at while there.. Some typical spec's... Lunch! It really is a paradise in there! Last spring I fished a lake in Algonquin that I've been fishing for years. There's some portaging involved, but it's a doable weekend trip. Here's my bud taking a well deserved breather after arriving at the lake. Portaging can be thirsty work! This lake is not stocked and has traditionally given up only average sized spec's. However this particular trip it coughed up my personal best Algonquin Park Brook Trout, and the best part about it, it was caught on the fly. Don't know how long it was or the weight, it went back into the water immediately after these pic's were snapped. Hope you enjoyed, cheers, Mike

Nice pic's Louis

I always enjoy your rants Lew, kind of Andy Rooney-esque

Great report, nice to see some ice! 7-11' of water eh? That really boggles my mind!

There's something I have to point out...This trip was taken a few years back and the pic's are from the archives. While I've done a few subsequent expeditions since, with my age (42) and a really young family (3 yr. old daughter, 31/2 month old son), it's highly likely that those major trips are behind me now. I'm even (shudder) a cottage owner now.....How can I put this into fishing terms.....I feel like a scuzzy old drop-back drifting slowly back to the lake....my best days are behind me.."that's right, all you feisty young chromers just swim on by me..I'm DONE!" LOL!

Yep, that's the route Moosebunk. Believe it or not (at least IMO) that area isn't what I'd consider truly remote. There is of course the native communities on the Albany, but beyond that pretty much every single lake of substance up there has a fly-in outpost camp on it...The longest I went without seeing another human being on this particular trip was 20 days. On average every second day or so you'd run into someone. The Ogoki WAS awesome, although the Brook Trout fishing, at least for me, wasn't that great. The only thing about Speckled Trout rapids that sticks in my mind was how freakin' hard it was to line up! Bear in mind, on the bigger rivers like the Albany and Ogoki in the middle of the summer the trout really congregate in spring holes. If you're lucky enough to stumble on a spring hole, then it's easy. It's not a simple matter of reading the water and casting to likely spots. I do remember one small falls on the Ogoki however...There were so many walleye packed into the base of the falls (hundreds for sure) that their backs were literally out of the water. They were literally stacked like cordwood on top of each other!

Doug, provisions aren't a big deal (for me at least), as long as you don't mind bland and monotonous! Basically I subsist on rice, fried fish and oatmeal. Drink is water (obviously), and instant coffee. A few nalgene bottles of peanut oil, a few zip-lock bags of fish coating, instant rice and spices, and instant oatmeal don't take up that much space in the pack even on an extended trip. That means catching fish everyday is a necessity, but up there that's never a problem. Mind you, I've been pretty ravenous on occassion. One time while setting up camp in a nice grassy clearing on the Albany, a small, very plump and juicy looking groundhog literally followed me around the site right at my heels while I set up. This creature was so (seemingly) unafraid and curious...I couldn't believe how close he came to me. Anyhow, I believe I was entering my 9th week in the bush at that point, and hadn't had any meat of any kind the entire time. After a while that little groudhog began to look pretty yummy to me! . While setting up and with the critter still nosing around my heels, I casually picked up a baseball sized rock and slipped it into my pocket. Figured once I was done my chores I'd quickly dispatch the little varmint and cook him up. (for those that are grossed out by this, don't judge 'till you've walked a mile in my shoes ). Anyhow, when I was ready I turned around slowly with the rock and he was gone! Never saw him again . Just goes to show you what kind of instinct animals have: I could have stepped on the little bugger 10 times in the previous 1/2 hour, but when I finally did have malice on my mind, he sensed it! LOL

Thank's Louis, and hey, some things just aren't suitable for public consumption! The hotel room (which was on the eve. of one of my trips) after the K.D. incident is one of them, LOL! And yes Bill, this trip was 31/2 months. Longest I did was 4 months, and did several in the 40 day range as well....Alas I fear the days of my really long trips are over with job and a young family taking priority. From now on I'll have to restrict my time to a month Sorry Bill, forgot to mention: I had no real time line on that trip, so pretty much did what I wanted. Most days I travelled, but if I was at a particularly nice spot, or if the weather got bad, I stayed put. The longest I stayed in one spot was 3 days.....Thank's Fishdawg and Dan....Must say I feel the same about your reports Dan, love them spec's!

Yep Whopper, dat be da same spot! Your pic is much sharper though...I think all I have to do is figure out how to manipulate the settings on my digital (I'm a complete novice) and the old pics will be much sharper. Thank's Moosebunk...as far as my exact route on that particular trip goes: it was down the Allanwater R. to Brennan Lake, then into Granite Lake, then on down the Allanwater R. again into Wababkimi Lake. From Wabikimi, down the Ogoki into Kenoji Lake. From there up the Pallisade system into Burntrock Lake. From there, (this part was nasty!) into Davies Lake, then through another lake downstream to the headwaters of the Misehkow. Down the Misehkow to the Albany, then waaaay down the Albany to it's confluence with the Ogoki River. All the way up the Ogoki to (eventually) Whiteclay Lake, then Whitewater Lake. From there via a series of small lakes to Smoothrock Lake, then into Caribou Lake where my trip ended and I caught the train home. I actually did a more epic trip than that one a couple of years ago.....but that's another story. I could elaborate more, but exactly how much do you guys want to read?! It would take a lot of writing to get really indepth. Cheers, Mike

Thank's guys! I've got a lot more trip pic's from other expeditions, this particular one was 31/2 months....If I figure out how to improve the quality of my shots I'll likely post more. As far as the stories, I've got lots. One of my close friends has been bugging me to write a book, says he's got the perfect title for it: "I almost died!" LOL! (most of my best stories involve a near death experience ). Cheers

Hey guys, I thought I'd share a few pic's from one of my solo canoe trips. They're scanned and the quality isn't great, but you'll get the idea. My trip started in the train. Here's a shot of my gear (2 packs and canoe) in the boxcar enroute to Allanwater Bridge. The next 2 shots are of a forest fire that was raging all around me as I descended the Allanwater River. At one point I came to an impassable rapids which I couldn't run or line and my only option was to quickly portage my gear along the burning portage which was about 800m. I wrapped t-shirts around my face neck and hands, doused my entire body in the river to soak it down, grabbed my first pack and canoe, and RAN! LOL! By the time I made it to the end of the portage, all my clothes were dry, the soles of my boots were starting to melt, and the gelcoat on my boat was beginning to blister! Worst part was I had to run back and get the rest of my gear and do it again. Next shot is my campsite on Kenoji Lake downstream from the blaze. The next 3 shots are of the Pallisade River which I ascended. If you look closely in the last pic you can see a native pictograph on the rock just below the rust coloured lichen. Lunch! The next couple shots are first, an awesome spot for Brook Trout on the Misehkow River (a large trib of the Albany), and the resulting catch, which were very tasty! The next 3 are shots of rapids I ran in my canoe on the Albany River. Some nice spec's from the Albany (also very tasty!) The next 3 shots are Eskakwa falls on the Albany and another nice spec caught in the frothing whitewater below. Beach campsite on the Albany. Lunch again! More rapids I ran. An assortment of campsite shots on the Albany and Ogoki Rivers. Whiteclay Lake Last 2 are Smoothrock Lake near the end of my trip. As mentioned the quality of the shots isn't very good, sorry 'bout that. Hope you enjoyed them anyhow, cheers, Mike

An alternative in the same general area may be Beaverland Camp in Marten River. They've got a wheelchair accessible cabin, and there's decent to good walleye fishing....

Actually, that pike was caught in mid-Sept when it was probably as fat and robust as it would ever get. The forage base in most of those small lakes is restricted to Walleye and Perch which makes growing big pike pretty difficult. Anharea Lake (another of Hawk Air's lakes) is one notable exception. It's a deep, clear, lake trout/pike lake, with a substantial whitefish population as well. Lots of juicy, high protein soft-finned forage! I would say that in general, catching a really big pike in any of those lakes is more of a fluke than anything. If you really want to target them up there it's pretty much a seasonal fishery: be the first group in there in May when they open, and fish the typical early spring pike spots.....They're all very consistent walleye lakes however, which is what I primarily fly in for up there anyway.

The airborne shots were taken by a good friend of mine who forwarded them to me (I'm standing beside my friend Dave who's fighting the fish). Anyhow, the shots were taken with a standard 35mm camera believe it or not, nothing special. That particular fish was out of the water probably 20 times, don't think he wasted too many shots, just got lucky! And yeah, the fish pics I posted are all wild Georgian Bay and Lake Huron chromers (definitely not cookie cutters) cheers

Thank's boys, glad to finally be able to contribute some pic's to the site, cheers

In that area I've flown a bunch of times with Hawk Air out of Hawk Junction about 30km east of Wawa. The lakes are mostly on the smaller side, but are generally very good fishing, and unlike a lot of the lakes north and east of there which are mostly shallow, featureless, "dishpan" lakes typical of the James Bay lowlands, these lakes are generally a bit more rocky, clear and deep with more typical Canadian shield terrain. Most of their lakes are Walleye and Pike lakes, but they do have some Brook Trout and Lake Trout lakes as well. I can personally recommend Duffy, Wejin, Little Missinaibi Pichogen and Puskuta for Walleye and Pike, and Mcrea and South Greenhill for Brookies. Below is a pic of a decent pike I caught in Pichogen a few years back..... good luck!

Now that I've figured out how to do this properly, here's a bunch more pic's. Some scenery shots along with some fish. Some are recent, most are from earlier this fall. Enjoy! These last 2 are really cool. It's really hard to capture shots like these usually... Cheers!