solopaddler

As many of you know I recently spent a few days bush whacking for brookies in some pretty rugged terrain on Superiors north shore. It turned out to be a banner trip, although it was constantly evolving and I never did make it into the lake I had originally intended to. My buddy Jason who lives in Manitouwadge has a quad with a rack and a lightweight canoe and we put them all to good use. Ultimately we fished a lake that's been on my radar for over 20 years. It was nice to finally be able to scratch it off the list. In any case I've put together a video of our little excursion. This is my first attempt ever at piecing together and editing a movie. It's far from perfect and it's clear I have much to learn, but regardless enjoy! <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ql86V1h0FK8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Way to go bud! I'll take ho's any day of the week, you can keep the kings.

Based on your description you were fishing dry flies and susequently had fish strike and take your fly under? Many many times fish simply prefer to eat flies sub surface, whether it's because they're keying on emergers or for some other unfathomable reason. Sometimes what appears to be a strike is often the fish slapping at the fly with it's tail or possibly nudging it with its snout to submerge it where they can suck it in at their leisure. In such instances the obvious answer is use a sub surface fly, usually a nymph of some type. Alternatively when your dry fly disappears in a showy splash count to three then slowly raise the rod and set the hook. You need to give them a bit more time to eat your fly when they're doing this. The ultimate example of this for me occurred many years ago when fly fishing for whitefish. I missed over a dozen spectacular hits before it dawned on me what was happening. The whitefish were indeed keying on the mayflies on the surface. But because of their underslung mouth were coming up and submerging the fly with their noses, then sucking them in underwater. After I figured that out I had to force myself to wait before the lifting the rod...a very hard thing to do...but it worked. I started hooking fish hand over fist.

Great trip Johnny, thanks for posting!

Great stuff Dana! Very glad to see you active on the board again too.

Outstanding, what a great trip!

Outstanding Dan, glad to see you guys got a few. As it happens for reasons unforseen I came within a whisker of being there myself last week.

I wish. It was roughly 50km in on a very rough ATV trail, then an 8km hike through some brutal terrain. I'm flying into the Dusey River north of Nakina next week for brookies, looking forward to the break.

I'm here Trev, report will be forthcoming. Fishing was quite good, although nothing super huge. Getting in was nightmarish LOL!

Thanks guys, I'm stoked.

Well, the position has officially been filled. Even better it's my buddy Jason who lives up in Manitouwadge now. What really made my night, Jason has a 4 man tent that weighs 4lb's. I was going to sleep in an ultralight hammock so this is a huge and unexpected bonus! It will be an epic trip, can't wait.

Not a problem Doug. I'd like to speak with directly before you go. Chris, my wife, although she knows my capabalities, is leery about me doing this trip by myself. I'm just trying to appease her. The way I figure it anyone who might be up for a trip like this is someone I'd probably get along just fine with. Anyhow at this point it'll probably be a solo trip as no one's expressed any interest. I sure am envious of where you live Dan. Walking 10' into a brookie lake has an attractive ring to it. You have yourself a great trip too.

I'd have to haul your carcass out of the bush, there's no cel service up there. Been saying that for a while now. I was thinking about calling you today buddy.

Thanks guys. I'll be shocked if anyone can pull it off on such short notice anyhow, and for sure there's always a next time. Sure OK, then I'll phone 911 when you collapse halfway in. (sorry buddy )

Thanks Brad, I'm dyin' here.

Well due to some serious unforseen issues my tripping partner will not be able to make it on our trip leaving tomorrow. I'm throwing this out there on the off chance someone is game to join. I'm leaving tomorrow night around 8pm from Hamilton and am driving almost 10 hours north. This trip isn't your normal canoe trip. I'm packing 12km's into a destination lake, which btw is teeming with gigantic wild brookies. I'm packing super ultralight, totally minimalist including packing in and using a float tube as opposed to a canoe. I have almost everything anyone might need for this trip including another float tube which I can borrow. Also have an extra pack and enough food/drink for two. If anyone is up for the challenge you'd need a lightweight sleeping bag, a small amount of clothing and be willing to split the cost of the gas with me. I'll be returning next Sunday evening on the 20th. I know this is ridiculously short notice, but shoot me a pm if you're interested and we'll talk directly. If no one steps up to the plate I'll head in solo which isn't so bad anyway. Cheers, Mike

Impressive Brad, and some really nice looking water too!

Holy cow!

Great stuff Brad. Nice to see you're able to spend time with the kid.

Amazing, well done! I can tell you unless you live around Thunder Bay there's not many lakes you can drive to and catch brookies like that. What a great spot!

I miss tripping with you buddy.

Outstanding Trev, glad to see you guys did well.

Regarding bears, bear spray, and hanging packs I have a couple of experiences to share. First off in all the years I've camped in the bush never once have I hung my food pack. Not once. Never had a problem with bears although squirrels are a different story. Once when paddling solo on a small trib of the Winisk close to Hudsons Bay I did have 3 polar bears walk into my camp in the middle of the night. Sleeping in my tiny tent the clatter woke me up and I peaked out to see them rummaging through my site. At that point in my tent I felt like the cream filling inside a donut. This particular tale is a long one and I'll end it here. Suffice it to say that was the only time I've ever felt threatened. Another time I was deep in the interior of Pukaskwa National Park with my girlfriend. We were lying on a beach along the shore of a remote brookie lake after eating two trout for lunch. The wind was blowing, the sun was warm, there were no bugs, things were perfect. Things were just getting interesting between us when she suddenly says "I hear something!". "No you don't, just relax, come here" says I. All I could hear was the wind in the tress and the waves pounding on the beach. She was SUPER paranoid about bears and apparantly her sense of hearing was hyper magnified LOL! She stood up and calmly said "there's a bear 10' away and looking right at us". "There is not, come on!!" I answer and try to pull her back down to the beach with me. At that point she kicked me as hard as she could in the ribs. HAHA! I stood up and sure enough there was a young male bear. He had undoubtedly been attracted by the smell of the two trout carcasses which were on a rock behind us. When we both stood up he was obviously surprised and didn't know what to do. At that point I edged slowly to our campfire about 20' to my left, saying "Don't make a move, I'm going to grab my camera!" "You're crazy!" my girl whispered angrily, and at that point finally found the bear spray she'd been carrying the entire trip. She started spraying in a blind panic. Completely missed the bear unfortunately but got me pretty good. I fell to the ground gasping and wheezing, nearly blinded. She then grabbed a paddle and banged it as hard as she could on our aluminum canoe. Through my tear blurred eyes I saw the bear jump about 10' in the air, turn and run like a scalded cat LOL! On the negative side we had to leave that lake immediately for another campsite. A HUGE pita, but there was no arguing that point with her. On the plus side there was some serious consoling on her part that night for spraying me in the face.

That was just great, one for the archives for sure.

Great stuff! My two favourite pic's are you fighting the fish at the mouth of the creek on Superior, and the two beers in the river.