spincast

Speil - You, your family and Mackenzie have already won. To have a child at this age with that wisdom? I am sure that many here share my thoughts - if only I had, and if only I can instill that in my children.....You and Mackenzie have not lost regardless of the outcome. You are assured a relationship with your family that no material reward can ever equal

Think...The tortoise and the hare. Few people have the persistence, patience and diligence of fisherman. Keep voting, we'll creep up, and next thing you know, we'll be back on top... that 4 votes for me today

dont know for sure, but I would imagine someone in the Long Point area rents boats or canoes? Between deer creek, big creek and the inner bay for fishing and the beach for fun, what more could you ask for?

beauty fish, and looks like light tackle. I bet they gave a good run or two before they hit the boat

Lloyd. Hands down

nice fish. Thumbs up on the catch & release...

Guys - we got some serious competition out there - a new front runner is almost 200 votes ahead of us.... lets get some more votes in the boat...!

ouch all over again. Bet that made fishing the last day some kinda fun! down to the bone....Notice you got a can of pain killler on the picnic table there -- we both used the same pain releiver (although I have to admit, I had some high test to take the edge off when I first got back )

take your ownership, insurance card and credit card. so long as you are not past the renwal date thats all you need. Fast and efficient ( so long as the person in front isn't a complete computer newbie)

Every charter captain I have been with asks at the limit less 1 - tell me if the next one is a keeper or release BEFORE we boat it. Cause once we boat the next one, we dont fish (or fish for that species) any more. They all seem to have some pretty good experience with how the CO's interpret the rules....... - all this debate is an interesting intellectual excercise - so long as that is all it is for. Really - what does a family of four need with 20 walleyes in the freezer? I have never kept my limit and used to have a conservation license until I went on charters cause I release almost everything. That's my choice. I dont expect anyone else to do so if they choose not to. If I'm out fishing for a day, enough for tonight's supper / this afternoons lunch as the case may be is enough. If I am on a Charter (it was because of these I upgraded to a sport license) and dropping a few hundred dollars I may keep a few more - but then I generally give them away to friends and only keep 1 or 2 for myself. Leave them in the water - if we all do they will be there when we go looking for them. Can't catch a fish again once it bagged and frozen. My $0.02.

wow - that is a beauty peice of land and water, and a great fish. As for the last one - its acts that which cause private land owners to ban all fisherman. 1 idiot ruins it all - the scenery, the peace and the fishin'.

great fishin if you know where to go. Hint - if ou see alot of people there - it won't hold the biggies.

great bunch of pics ron. Looks like you got the boat and deck all done in time for the summer get away. Did you say 300 worms in a week?????Wow, there's gotta be a bunch a FAT bass out the Trent your way now

welcome to the pic - its nature made that, not me. And yeah as far as antibiotics go, next time I'm heading away from a hospital ( oh, wait I live there ) I'm going to get a broad screen antibiotic prescription filled before I leave. Hey Joey - honest, it was nothing but good stuff. (How's that Wayne?)

added 2 more - still need 12 to catch up...

So - after the Polar Bear Express we motored down to Temagami. Had rented a cottage on one of the island lodges for a week. Cottage was pretty good, just a little too close to each other for our tastes, but we had a good time, and the scenery was spectacular. This is the view from our dock I was up and on the water by 6:00 almost everyday. The fishing was pretty slow. Marked lost of lakers in the 80 - 100 FOW range, and a lot of suspended fish at 36 - 40 FOW Decided not to downrig without having someone who knew the lake better after seeing some of the shoals come up so fast . Tried leadcore, bottom bouncers and jet divers for the suspended ones with no interest. So - pike and bass it was to be. Got some direction from the lodge owner and hit one of the weedy bays; came up with this 16 incher: Kids had a riot catching smallies by the bundle - the had the great idea of loading up the live well and then taking them back to the dock to catch the next day. About 2 hours fishing: Afternoons were spent tubing,swimming and searching for some mid day pike. Found a couple. This 24 incher took a worm on a 3/4 jig Last 2 mornings there got pretty cold out - only 5 degreees at 5:00 am - made for some cool visuals; and trolling at dusk was a great way to relax at the end of the day: lost a beautie smallie (about 5lber) in the net this night - note to self - when fishing solo, keep the leader at LEAST 2 foot shorter than the rod. I had a 6 foot leader on a 7'6 rod, and just couldn't keep the rod high enough to get the net around him. White 4 inch rap on an in-line planer board attracted this fish. Had the same affect on a sunken tree 10 minutes later in 20 ft of water - bye bye rap.. Next day found little pike's bigger cousin in the same bay: as with almost all my fish - back to fight another day... Apparenlty last year the water was cresting the top of the docks... some nice suprises under the water. look in the upper middle of this shot 10 - 16 foot of water (front to back of rock) on either side- you know why the house boats have the fishfinders on the bow - not that the small motors on them would stop them fast enough... Small world that it is - while refilling the beer supply, saw a familiar looking guy dropping some empties off at the beer store - and he was wearing a red neck ice fishing shirt - and he definetly knew quite a few people. We had pulled into the parking lot at the same time and when putting the ale in the back had a quick look - naw, couldnt be anyone else - the license plate surround said "My other car is an airplane" It was Irishfield> Had a great chat with him and his wife It was great to meet you both- gotta love this board -and the members. He said something about visitors drinking all his beer, eating all his food and wanting to know where all the fish were..... (just pulling your leg Joey).. On the down side - while out one night by myself about 8 miles up one of the bays bringing a bass in, it gave a big head shake just as I was about to grab him and unhook him from the 4 inch storm minnow. Drove the front treble into my finger right up to the shank. Ouch ... ouch .. ouch. And of course, having caught me, he wanted to play me a bit - every move or jump was agony. After what felt like 20 but was probably only 5 minutes, I managed to get the hook off the minnow, and cut off the remaining 2 hooks. The 1 in my finger was so far up there wasn't enough left to push it through - so I had to pull it back. It actually hurt less than I thought - or maybe shock was pretty deep by then? I keep a first aid kit in the boat and cleaned it up and bandaged it. Changed the dressing every day. Next 3 days it seemed ok. Came home Saturday, still fine. Sunday afternoon it starts to throb a little. I head over to the Paris hospital (very small) clinic. Hours are 10:30 - 5:30. I'm there at 2:30 - already closed due to back log. OK - wait till the morning hit my Doc. Wake up at midnight, and it is beginning to swell, and hurt. Head into Brantford to the emerg. 13 hour wait. I will leave the discussion of the oxymoron implicit in a 13 hour wait to have an emergency treated. But I must admit by this point I was beginning to get p'o'd about where my tax dollars were going if this is emergency care. Anyway - Monday morning its pretty red and swollen. Decide hit the cambridge walkin clinic as soon as it opens. Its closed for the week! OK up the slug'spressway (highway 8 into Kitchener) to the doctors office. Receptionist says what's it about. Hold out my finger. I can get you in at 2:30 she says. No, I don't think thats a good idea says I. I know just enough from first aid and being raised in a doctors house that infection once set in this bad needs to be taken care of. So - 1 hour later I'm in the dock office. After repeating the story he gets one of those faces that tells you he thinks its has the potential to be real bad ( he had a similar face when he told me 20 years ago he thought I had lymphoma - he was wrong then - Thank goodness). You know its bad when he leaves the room comes back with a book and says - i have to find a very fast acting aggressive anti biotic. I want to see you tomorrow and I am making the appointment now. he did it himself. My finger was so swollen it was running the risk of cutting off all the circulation, and if that happened, worst case, if it couldn't be controlled in the hospital, they might have to amputate. Now he didn't say that in so many words, but that's where it was going. Any way - happy ending (so far) finger is healing and no knives. I said to him today - normally I would have gone to the hospital the next day, but it seemed to be healing up well, nothing for three, 4 days then wham. Yep he says - probably got a little bit if water from the lake with some germs on it and it just took a while to develop ( I was fishing off a beaver lodge - didn't even think of it till he said this). Sooo I know a lot of you guys will say I should have gone to the hospital anyway - but how many times have we cut ourselves or stuck oursleves and nothing came of it? we cleaned it up looked after it and healed up fine. Next time I think I will get it looked at asap. So that's my story - and in the way of sunsetting this - here's one of the most amazing sunsets I have ever seen. i didn't capture it at its peak, but my wife did. Will post that one on the photo forum later. Moose Factory at 10:00 The whole sky looked like a pot of gold at one point. oh - and i don't know why, but i have always thought this one of the coolest places by the side of the road - the other side of course says from this point all waters flow south....

Nice job, looks great.

We were up there last year. Just had the 12 ft tinny and eyes for a fishfinder by the look of the water. Some decent pike and a few smallies from restoule lake once I moved up the West end- never did get on to Stormy Lake but really wanted to as it looked like that was where a lot of the fshing boats went out. We were only there for 4 days, and the warden said it was NOT a fishing trip, it was a family trip, so I had limited opportunity - even tried to offer the credit card, keys and local craft stores and that failed! Gotta pick your battles. The campground we were at did had a dock where you could put the boat, or at least I left it there for the three nights and no one said anything. If I remember though their were only limited # of berths, and I don't think every campground had one.

Amazing report, great photos. The bucket list is one item longer now for sure

cool trip. shame about the accomodations. The wallys werent poster size, but sure are perfect eaters. Funny how often we travel for hours with visions to catch something special just to look back after and realize knowing our own waters often produces better catches. Still - any trip that produces r&r and fish is good!

Very mature and refreshing outlook from someone at that stage. one more tallied

Cliff - my question would be, based on their age, would you say they were G1 or G2 Canadian - i.e did they immigrate, or are they the kids of immigrants? If the former, I really doubt any ill was meant. If the latter, unfortunatley, they were just rude - and that is something that knows no borders. I do have some insights on this that I woud be happy to share in a pm, feel free to send me one if you want. I have been to China twice, and the culture is different, the language unbelieveabley difficult to learn ( which means for our is equally hard for them) and as for personal space - due to their population they have different feelings about this. I believe Shanghai has a population of some (36?) million.................Canada? One thing I can tell you is the people I have met there have been some of the nicest most polite, and also some of the rudest and most ignorant - as has been the case in my times in England, the USA and Canada.

Well, I finally got a chance to use the lonely lures. Just before Vinnimon gave them to me , I got really busy both at work and home - but, after a couple of weeks sitting locked away,the opportunity finally presented itself. We had been planning this trip for almost nine months - although it had been in the making for more than decade. 10 + years ago while camping up at Esker Lakes provincial park we saw an ad for the Polar Bear express and thought a trip to Moosonee and and Moose Factory would be cool. But we had a dog and 6 hours each way on a train was just not to be. Then came kids and that kinda stopped all that. So anyway - this year our trip was: leave home Wed, drive all the way to Cochrane, overnight in a motel, be at the Cochrane Train station for 8:00 am for a 6 hour trip to Moosonee.Overnight in Moose Factory, visit the island and view the history of the first English speaking Fur Trader post on the James Bay headwaters for a day, take the train back the next evening at 6:00 pm (arriving back in Cochrane at midnight), overnight in a motel again, and then off to Temagami for a weekend at an island Lodge. I figured - hey - those lures HAVE to fish the James Bay Waters. A while ago I published a little supper conversation ( Fish, fish, fish). So the question was - how to broach the fact I was going fishing once we got to out destination? Fortunately, Zebco and CTC came to the rescue with something just too appropriate to miss: a collapsable rod, which just happens to share my name sake; So off we went with only one short conversation - The missus - whats that sticking out of your back back pack? Me: Something to pass the time while I am awake and no one else is on Moose Factory Island. Missus: That a fishing rod? Cool. Me - Phew!!!! Long drive up there with the boat in tow. Saw a yearling bear cross the highway about 30 minutes out of Cochrane, but otherwise pretty uninspiring. Next morning up and at 'em. 6 hours of train ride through the north can be boring or incredibly interesting - depending on your view. I found it fascinating. periodically we would pass places like this - and all I could think of was dropping a canoe and rod in the waters Did I mention this is one of the few remaining stop whistle trains in Ontario? You can be asked to be dropped off or flag down this train anywhere along the 186 miles of land from Cochrane to Moosonee? Around the halfway point we cross one of the dams on the Moose River as it begins to become a significant waterway Another 30 or so miles up the track (you kind of loose track of time and miles in this land) - you cross the moose river... its fairly big at this point and really takes a shot or two to truly appreciate You can just imagine what the spring run must be: Then there is the treescape - sometimes the trees went over the dome car, and sometimes, they were almost non existent the ones below are pretty big comparatively - for long stretches they weren't over 5 feet high. Forest fires and poor soil stunt the black spruce height. For almost three hours of the trip there are no logging roads. The guys who put these power lines in must have had a ton of fun between the muskeg and bugs and chopping the trees. There were 10 foot high stakcs of trees every 30 or 40 feet. A favourite for watchful hawks - tried but never coudl get a photo to turn out Did I mention the bugs? Squitters in Moosonee are big. REALLY big. Like, they look at Muskol and go -- Yumm, perfume .. I didn't get any pics of them but they follow you like papparzi on Lindsay Lohan... anyway - we made it... did I mention the whole way is down hill - starting at over 750 ft above sea level till you reach Moosonee: By now - the river is massive! It must be more than a mile wide from Moosonee to Moose factory: - this is a snap shot from our water taxi ride: looking across the first straight.. boat launch from Moose Fcatory to the south branch Did I mention it's an island - everything from cars to tractor trailers comes on the ferry (unless you take a water taxi - rated per person - bit more of that in a minute) - it seemed to show up on regular intervals And -- all of that was a long way of showing you where I fished - just off the dock from where I took this picture. It is a tidal estuary and I fished both tide in and tide out. Saw lots of fish jumping -- on the other side of the river. I however was skunked here. Didn't matter though - the scenery and experience were amazing. ONE downside - I had hoped to take a boat trip right up into James Bay proper by water taxi - but for the 4 of us they wanted almost 200 bucks for the 1.5 hour return trip. Just couldn't justify it. Sooooo, you know the rest of that trip six hours back. Arrived at midnight, zonked. No Northern lights (bummer) - Then we arrived at our cottage on an island in Lake Temagami the next afternoon (see separate post for the non lonely lure catches later). I have never been to Temagami before. Amazing place. Deeeeeeep Water. Right next to it SHALLOW water / shoals. In like 2 seconds. Vinni - we are down to one lonely lure - I must admit the rooks ate one on my first trip out. Even with the fishfinder, running it off a side planer put it in a shoal I wasn't showing. They are that localised and that steep. Anyway - I took a few photos of what the other one got: Nothing amazing - but good fun anyway: I didn't take pictures of all of them, as after a while they all look the same, but some stood out and some may have just been a bit of fun in an otherwise slow outing: Sadly, although I marked what I (and a few others (Hi Irish - if you got this far..) believe may have been suspended Walleyes NOTHING could get them to participate.) Anyway - that's it. I believe Frankie 65 get's them next and yes, them -- I will replace the shoal eaten one with another - can't have the journey end due to the small snag

Now Bill, seriously, Just how many Freys and Jantzis are there in Wallenstien that come to work in Elmira...

want one of those.......