A Trip for the Ages

[Marty]

This year’s trip was one for the ages. Instead of having a stag party for my brother, I decided to take him and dad on a 3 day trip chasing muskies with Marc Thorpe. After that we were off to Nipissing and the Upper French for 11 days of fishing. To say it was a trip for the ages is an understatement. Here it goes:

 

After a 12 hour ride from Pittsburgh, we arrived at Marc’s place on the evening of July 27th. It’s been a long wait but I finally got to meet Marc. For those of you who haven’t met him, he’s a great guy and a very special person when it comes to muskies. Marc told us right away that we would be on the road by 6 a.m the next morning. We decided early on that Dad would get the first crack at a muskie. He’s been fishing his whole life and never got to tangle with the toothy critter. The weather was hot and tough and there was a storm front moving in. As the first day was about to come to an end, Marc said that we’d take one or two more runs and then it was time to head in. None of us felt like fighting mother nature. As fate would have it, it wasn’t mother nature who got tangled up in a fight. It was Dad. Here’s his first muskie ever, all 55 inches of her:

 

 

I love this pic, the rod is pinned against the side of the boat and our faithful guide in backing off the drag.

 

 

Incidentally, the pic was shot just before Marc coined the extremely animated phrase of the weekend “Reel M . . . Fr. . . Reel!” Dad obviously responded well to this unsolicited advice.

 

Other than pike, that was the only fish of the first day. The next day we boated another one. Conditions were tough. Extremely hot and bright. The water was filled with water rats and skiers. It was still a great day and we learned quite a bit from our faithful guide. As we got back to Marc's place on the second evening, he said "Boys, we'll be up by 3:45 a.m. tomorrow." Apparently a secret Scottish/French moon/wind formula was supposed to make the fishing good. I'll never question the Scot/French thing again. On our final day, we boated 7 fish between 6:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., when we got off the water. I lost another one and we had a couple follows. The fish on the final day measured 49, 47, 46, many low 40 high 30s. My 49 broke the stalker. Enjoy:

 

 

Fishing with Marc was an experience we'll never forget. He knows his stuff and we learned quite a bit from him. Some of it is obvious from the pics but other things we learned from and/or about him I just can't print. May be strange but he could almost be one of the Dietz boys. He's just a little more messed up than we are, eh Marc?

 

During our stay, we were treated to a supper extravaganza by Roy and J. Unfreakinbelievable! Here’s Roy giving dad the extra special French welcome coupled with the ol' "atta boy" for nailing a 55. Thanks a ton buddy.

 

 

On Monday we headed for the Upper French. We were going to fish it for a couple days until we met Uncle AJ and “Cousin” Dave on Saturday. Trouble started immediately. Launched my boat and something was wrong with the 50 hp motor. Put it in gear and it raced. Couldn’t get it to slow down and got worried. Just got it from the shop too. Tony’s boat ran well as usual so he dragged the gear to Sandy Haven and I ran the 9.9 the entire 13 miles up river. I got to soak in the scenery but it was an 8 beer trip up river. Suffice it to say that because my motor died, Dad and AJ had to rent a cedar strip for most of the week. They had to go from the comfort of a bass boat to this:

 

 

Then, Tony’s trolling motor died. We took a trip to Sturgeon Falls and bought a new one and installed it. It was a great start to our trip on Nip and the French. Instead of fishing, we spent the first couple days playing mechanic.

 

Finally we got everything taken care of and were ready to fish. The fishing, other than the muskie fishing, on the Upper French/Nipissing was fantastic. The walleye and bass fishing was hotter than I can remember in a long time. We bagged limits of eyes and could have filled quite a bag of smallies if were were in a tourney. The pike were very active and hit just about every big bait we threw at them. Even had one largemouth think she was a muskie:

 

 

Here’s the lone muskie of the trip. Went down on a black and orange Eagle Tail.

 

 

We did find one spot where we found the world dumbest muskie. Came up twice on two separate days on a Doc and a Weagle. Fish came completely out of the water both times and put on quite a show. Poor thing was just too dumb to actually hit the bait. Here are some other pics of some of the fish we caught.

 

 

I don't want to leave out Cousin Dave's big fish for the week:

 

 

It was simply a wonderful trip with wonderful people. Got to spend time with OFNCer Joe and his wife Andrea. They have a place on the Upper French and made us feel very at home when we stopped by. They were gracious to give Dad and AJ a break from the cedar boats:

 

 

The ride home was a little rough. Tony’s boat got rear-ended during bumper to bumper traffic at an accident site on Hwy 69. I blew a trailer tire on the QEW. We've been doing this trip for 25 years with no real problems. I guess it was our year to have some issues. Oh well, can’t wait till next year.

 

[snag]

That could be the best report I've seen this year!

[Daplumma]

Great to see y'all had a good time up north.Nice Musky Ed!

Joe

[dustink]

WOW!!!

 

What a great report, and pictures. Great to have a memory like that with family....something special!

 

Thanks for sharing!

dk

[Headhunter]

Awesome report and pics... looks like you guys had a great time, despite the adversity... thaks for taking the time!

HH

[Jay T]

WOW, now that is a report. Looks like all of you had a real great time, good on ya. Some real nice fish caught.

 

Thanks for sharing

[fatherof3]

great report, a trip to remember for sure

[pigeonfisher]

DANG!!!!!

[canadianguy33]

Wow, what a great read. Thanks for sharing your wonderful trip.

[misfish]

Well, for such a big guy that dont talk much,you sure make it up with a GREAT REPORT.

 

Thats a trip Im sure none of you will ever forget.

 

Thanks for sharing Marty.

 

Great read.

[tbayboy]

Wonderful read. Thanks for the great pics and the great stories, can tell it was a fantastic trip.

[mcallister.grant]

That is one of the better reports I have read!!! Well done. Looks like you all had a great time!!

[Joey]

Wow Marty, that was an excellent report. Way to go Ed

 

Thanks

 

Joey

[JFR]

Great report Marty. Everyone looks healthy and enjoying the great north outdoors.

 

Thanks for sharing

 

John

[Roy]

Man, that's a heavy report, Bud. Looks like you all had a great time. I'm really glad that Ed got the juicer. Sorry to hear about some of the kinks in the trip but I spose that those are part of the fond memories later on in life. J and I were thrilled to have you guys over for a while and I hope we could do that again soon. And yeah, that Scottish/French moon is killer.

 

Marty, it was real nice seeing you, Tony and Papa here.

[Greencoachdog]

Now that was an Epic report... fatboy!

[TennesseeGuy]

Marty, way to go with the great report and the great fishing trip.

[lunkerbasshunter]

wow does it get any better then that!!!!

[fishindevil]

WOW !!!!!! thats what i call an amazing fishing trip.. ...man they sure are some awesome size muskies you got there for sure,great pics as well,thanks for sharing cheers and to be able to fish with one of the best muskie guys on the planet,thas a trip of a lifetime, WTG

[mj2112]

The motor worked fine.... You had to put in gear after you started it. I got a boat for sale that would look great in your driveway!

 

Nice photo's and your "story" has made me and the kids sleepy. You should have been a writer.

 

Call Lenny and see what the deal is on that motor if you haven't already.

[Hooked]

Now that was a super report!

[danbouck]

Amazing Report!

[ccmtcanada]

WOW!!! Fantastic report!!!! Bly just said if there was any gift I could ever get her, it would be hiring Marc to hunt some muskies. Great commentary, great pics!! Thanks for taking the time to post it all.

[Rich Clemens]

Great report Marty. Congrats to your Dad on his first ski. Catching a 55 would be a dream for all of us.

[Marc Thorpe]

Marty,Tony and ED,thank you all for the wonderfull time and laughs

I hope Captain Ed coached you boys all week,Reel My Friend Reel

Edited August 17, 2007 by marc thorpe