Billy - Curtiss Posted March 13, 2008 Report Share Posted March 13, 2008 So last week I made the trek to Sudbury to finally get a chance to do some ice fishing. I've never fished for trout in my life, and this was my first chance to do any ice fishing this winter, so it should go without saying that I was totally rife with glee! On top of all of this, we were heading out into no-man's land to camp in a tent in potentially arctic conditions so I was even more excited by the allure of the hardcore Canadian experience! With snowmobiles, sleighs and all of the other required accoutrements (did I mention plenty of beer?!) in tow, we set off westbound on Highway 17 to a small town called Massey. From Massey, we made our way north on an old, fairly well traveled logging road (also known as Highway 553) all the way to the end of the line which is at a place called Richie Falls. We hitched the sleighs to the snowmobiles and got them all loaded up and hit the trail that would take us to Sauble Lake. We made our way across the rather vast expanses of Sauble Lake to another lesser used trail through the woods. This brought us to a small unnamed body of water that we had to cross before hitting one last trail that brought us to our destination : Big Trout Lake. All told, I reckon it was probably only about 50 km by snowmobile from Richie Falls to Big Trout Lake but given the conditions, it took us at least an hour and a half to get there. From the moment we got there, I was incredibly excited. There's nobody for miles around and it's a fairly sizable lake with ridiculously low fishing pressure. Any time of the year other than winter, it's virtually impossible to hit this lake unless you fly in. It's basically the antithesis of my metropolitan Toronto lifestyle! We spent some time scouring the lake for what we deemed to be a worthy spot, and my friends Dan and Jordan drilled holes and set up lines while I dug snow to set up camp. The snow was fairly deep but proved to provide a decent barrier to the winds we would be forced to contend with over the course of 2 days and 2 nights. I dug out one spot for our luxurious sleeping quarters: http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u114/Bl...nt=41270004.jpg http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u114/Bl...nt=41270005.jpg and another spot for the kitchen / dining room / beer swilling den: http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u114/Bl...nt=41270006.jpg http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u114/Bl...nt=41270022.jpg Jordan caught a nice little 3 pound lake trout almost instantly, but otherwise, our efforts were focused on getting prepared for the cold night that lay ahead as it was late afternoon by the time we got out there. Luckily we had the foresight to bring a chainsaw so we had no problem finding a sufficient supply of fuel to maintain the fire that raged for the duration. Sleep that first night wasn't the greatest but it would prove to be a whole lot preferable to the cold that hit us on Friday night. We woke up at the crack of dawn on Friday and set about to fixin' up a nice hot meal to kick off the day. While cooking over an open fire is always grand, I find it altogether more satisfying cooking over an open fire in the winter! You can't really ever go wrong with home fries : http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u114/Bl...nt=41270010.jpg Once breakfast was consumed, the fishing began. It wasn't too long before I caught my first trout ever: http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u114/Bl...nt=41270014.jpg Admittedly, not a very big fish but I was super stoked nonetheless! A short while later Dan caught this bad boy: http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u114/Bl...nt=41270009.jpg and I hauled in this bad boy: http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u114/Bl...nt=41270016.jpg Throughout the course of the day, we caught many others but only kept half a dozen. We did see a party of 5 snowmobiles that afternoon fishing the other end of the lake but they were gone after about 2 hours and we didn't see another soul otherwise. That evening, it hit -30 with the wind chill and we slept with all of our layers on in order to pull it off. We also spent much time in front of the fire to stay warm: http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u114/Bl...nt=41270001.jpg We fished the next day until about 2:00 PM and caught maybe 6 or 7 more before packing it up and heading out: http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u114/Bl...nt=41270024.jpg My friends being the experienced anglers that they are were bummed that they didn't haul in any 20 pounders but I was happy to have caught anything at all and we all had a blast otherwise. I wish I could do this more often! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irishfield Posted March 13, 2008 Report Share Posted March 13, 2008 (edited) Sounded like a great time... well other than the tent part LOL. If you go thru your pictures and right click them.. copy the properties and put them between [ img ] [ /img ] tags (with no spaces) the pics will come up in your thread.. Edited March 13, 2008 by irishfield Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy - Curtiss Posted March 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2008 Hey thanks. But I thought we weren't supposed to have the pics right on the page because it took up too much space? No? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irishfield Posted March 13, 2008 Report Share Posted March 13, 2008 Takes more "page" space.. but doesn't use any memory space on OFC... just links direct to photobucket. Nobody,,, well at least me... wants to click and open every picture...well at least since I got off dial up! LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotrod2066 Posted March 13, 2008 Report Share Posted March 13, 2008 Nice report, you guys are hardcore! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cityfisher Posted March 13, 2008 Report Share Posted March 13, 2008 WoW thats hardcore ! no winter camping for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatherof3 Posted March 13, 2008 Report Share Posted March 13, 2008 awesome report,sounds like a good time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramble Posted March 13, 2008 Report Share Posted March 13, 2008 Great Report. It's been a long time since i was winter camping.....not sure if i miss it or not lol We did have some good times. Anyway, great report! -Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highdrifter Posted March 13, 2008 Report Share Posted March 13, 2008 That's quite the experience! Thanx for the report. If only finding a fishable lake and sleeping outdoors were that simple... I'm jealous! Welcome aboard. I noted that you lived in downtown tdot.. You should fish the GTA with us sometime! cheers HD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillbilly Posted March 13, 2008 Report Share Posted March 13, 2008 nice report, awesome pics. setting up tents in the snow is only for those of us with some serious testicular fortitude I'm impressed and looking forward to setting up the tent on the side of the snowy mountain in search of the illusive stone sheep. keep up the good work have a good one hillbilly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walleyejigger Posted March 13, 2008 Report Share Posted March 13, 2008 awesome report, truly hardcore, i do believe the lake is accessible by road when there's no snow and has a boat launch, still not fished very hard but far from a fly in only lake Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
splashhopper Posted March 13, 2008 Report Share Posted March 13, 2008 GREAT story Billie... how the heck did ya even stay warm in the -30c night? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rustic-Fisher Posted March 13, 2008 Report Share Posted March 13, 2008 Thats the way do it!!!!! :thumbsup_anim: RF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy - Curtiss Posted March 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2008 GREAT story Billie... how the heck did ya even stay warm in the -30c night? Layer upon layer upon layer! And, have you ever seen 3 grown men spooning?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy - Curtiss Posted March 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2008 awesome report, truly hardcore, i do believe the lake is accessible by road when there's no snow and has a boat launch, still not fished very hard but far from a fly in only lake Well I know there's that old logging road that goes in a little ways at the south end of the lake, but I was under the impression that they blew out the bridge. Is there also a road through the bush right to the lake? Where is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walleyejigger Posted March 14, 2008 Report Share Posted March 14, 2008 Well I know there's that old logging road that goes in a little ways at the south end of the lake, but I was under the impression that they blew out the bridge. Is there also a road through the bush right to the lake? Where is it? never been myself so i'm not 100% sure but i'm pretty sure i've heard of ppl doing it, so i checked my maps and there are roads/ trails originating from 3 different ways, the way u went which crosses richie falls, if u cant cross as u say (bridge out) it doesn't look like that far a cruise up the river to the lake, map also shows a road that originates from Elliot Lake, and another trail which hooks up to Mississaugi provincial park which would come off Hwy 129, i may be wrong but thought u might be interested Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishindevil Posted March 14, 2008 Report Share Posted March 14, 2008 Well you guys are sure a hardy bunch, man thats tough conditions,winter camping and out in -30 at night !!!!!. ...thats true hardcore,congrats to you,nice report & stories,and of course...nice trout !!!! i guess you will now try and hit that lake in the summer,as the fishing would prob be awesome !! cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwoolley Posted March 15, 2008 Report Share Posted March 15, 2008 Cool, glad to hear their are still some of us who have true grit. Nice fish as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
douG Posted March 15, 2008 Report Share Posted March 15, 2008 Verrra nass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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