Cookslav Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 Once again I was lucky enough to spend 5 days beneath the pines of Algonquin Park with my Family last week… I’ve been waiting for This trip since last years Trout opener, and it was well worth the wait. I always organize this trip with the same group every year, at the same time which consists of my 4 brothers, my Dad, my Uncle, my cousin, and his son… so it's always a good old family affair! We made the decision early last year to switch up our venue this year to a few lakes rumoured to be laced with Brookies, as our past few years the Specs have been lip locked although the Splake, and although the Lakers were plenty it seemed the polka dot beauties were in short supply. Our adventure on the road began at 4am… For the record that’s a horrible hour to be up and drinking coffee in my opinion, but much needed as I estimated the travel time to our destination to be about 10 hours…boy was I wrong. After 6.5 hours of driving, and a very….very close call with a LARGE cow moose on the access road (She jumped up the embankment right in front of me causing a 4 wheel lock up, and a good 15’ gravel slide, but we stopped in time thank God) We were finally cramming our gear into the canoes, and able to set sail into 30-40km winds It served to make Travel very difficult for My cousin and his young son so We stayed close for safety sake, as the swells were a bit daunting in the heavily loaded canoes, on that Frigid icy water, but we made it to the portages, one by one with out incident. Regardless, Each time we headed back out onto the water we proceeded with caution… Some Lakes still had ice clinging to the Granite reminding me that the ice had only released its grip from these lakes days prior...Swimming was not high on my list of things to do. We eventually came to our second last portage and let me tell you it was ROUGH…. Close to a mile of uneven ground, fallen timber, and rocks. Some sticking out on odd angles and others deceivingly loose…a total broken angle waiting to happen. As it turns out this dam portage rose in elevation over 190 feet from end to end. (I only know this thanks to my GPS I had brough along.…) It was one hill, then a small dip down followed by another giant hill over and over and over LOL!!! We gave up about half way through, and divided our packs, and made it a triple trip, as there was just no way We could keep going with our packs and canoes on our backs any longer….. My group is not known for traveling light.(they like there food and beer a bit to much for that) We moved Quickly through this area... Pretty sure a bruin lives in there buy the pile of fresh dung on the path, and the bloody pile of "somthing" right outside the opening of this Cave Anyhoo... 7 hours later and nearly 6pm(13.5 hours of hard travel) we had finally reached our destination….then the snow started , And it continued, and intensified, and stuck to the ground like glue! There was a lot of grumbling going on amongst the men….I felt a mutiny festering. Many comments like “there better be F’ing fish in this lake” were being uttered under their breath ever once in a while, and I was starting to feel the heat. If we didn’t catch fish I think there may have been one less angler coming home LOL! We Set up camp in a haste, and tracked down as much wood as we could before night fall…we had a quick fire, drank some Steelback, and draft Heineken, and were in bed by 9pm (FYI...Those 5L kegs of Heiny are great, and Park Friendly BTW) The next morning most of the snow was gone except for the odd shady patch…. Looks like we had some evening visitors come through and check out the intruders.( AKA us) A couple of Timber wolves… I was hoping all week to hear their evening Symphony but unfortunately I couldn’t score any tickets…Maybe next year? Thursday was Cool, but Sunny and calm as could be…. Everyone eagerly made some form of a quick breakfast, and started stringing their rods. For me it was all about the coffee….I had still not recovered from that “Punishing” portage LOL! But after some quick drinks, and some Citrus I was on the water…. Now comes the good stuff! I went north on the lake, while the other canoes went South….they were probably still a bit mad at me for putting them through Hell to get there I thought. Anyway, I had a hunch on the first shoal I saw…it looked deep, and crystal clear, with large rocks dotted along it the whole way down. With the sun shining so bright, and the ultra bluey/aqua green tint to the lake I had to try something flashy, so I chose a meps Alglia long, and went to work. My FIRST cast I had a follow right to the boat, my second cast…bang ! I had a fish on. A spunky little guy about 12“ but beautifully colored, and a great sign I thought. So back in the drink she went, but not before My brother yells out “got one” A nice spunky specimen! Then the Magic started…. It was one after the other after the other, and it wasn’t more then an hour before we had caught and released 9 fish each on the same shoal!!! At that point I got on the radio, and tipped the boys off to switch up their lures. And man did that lake produce! By dinner My brother and I had caught 25 Brookies, most were between 13”to 14”, but we had some nicer 15” and 16” in the mix, and that was the same story shared by all 4 canoes....Nothing under 12” was caught, but nothing over 16” I’d almost say they were clones except the color variations were Brilliant!!! Some darker, with bright yellows, and reds, while some were shiny silver, with baby blue and bright Pink spots…just awesome to look at!! When we met back at camp there were some casualties…bleeders = eaters when it comes to brookies. So we kept a nice stinger for dinner, and made some adjustments in fairness. We all cut our mepps down to single barbless hooks to make things a bit more sporting, and never looked back. One of our party took a bit of an “accidental dip” while trying to launch the Canoe that afternoon so they Stayed behind while drying out their clothes, and made some adjustments to the camp. We needed to get a tarp up in case of rain(which was forecast), so they engineered a center post, and hung a giant tarp across camp, and tied it to the surrounding trees. And if that wasn't enough they even found the remnants of and old thunder box lid while Searching for their center pole, and fashioned us a table to clean the fish on! A little gross and slightly disturbing but hey…Some great initiative there! I guess that’s what happens when you throw 7 tradesman into the woods LOL! So... this was our Haul for the night. Dads biggun this day took the cake for colors...what a beauty! Only 6 fish kept, conservation was foremost on our mind outside of eating that is Of course travelling with a Chef has its benefits when your fishing…unless of course your that Chef. I got down to the Knife work, and prepared the fish for later… What beatiful red, and firm flesh...man it was a dream to work with! Before I got down to the cook'n I had to check the bellies to see what these little tasty treats were eating. Stone flies….and I mean STONE FLYS!!! These fish were Bursting at the seams with ‘em…I couldn’t believe they were even hungry enough to bite our lures they were so full of these things. So After prepping the fish for our late night snack My Uncle and I spun the Fly rods, and tied on stone fly imitations for a little more fun the next day but Sadly we got…..notta, nuttin, zip, and zilch the next day! Not a strike on the fly?…just weird Not sure why but, it was not working at all… Any hoo... We ate well Thursday Night! Then we put the Thunder Box table to good use and played some Texas hold ‘em…Luckily I broke even! (those guys are sharks…) Friday started nice… We were woken up to the sound of an Algonquin alarm clock…AKA a couple of Toms(turkey)squawking out side our tents. So we hopped up and got into the Camp coffee, and some English muffins with Peanut butter toasted on the fire mmmmm…. Unfortunately Not long after we woke up the Rain started…. little did we know it would rain strait though to Sunday With the Sun now Long gone the Spinners were not as effective. We were still getting a few fish but not as many as the previous day. I elected to switch up my presentation to orange spinners, and bright colors to compensate for the conditions….Bang the Bite was on again! One after the other we reeled them in, again the Sizes were in that slot of 13-14” with the odd 15-16” fish. Non the less we were all having an absolute ball on the ultra lights! After all, that’s what we came for and we were loving every minute of it. But…. I can’t sit still most of the time let alone walk a strait line so I decided again to try something a bit different. I though about those stone flies again, and started to wonder if a small black jig might fool them? I tied on and Texas rigged a barbless Black grub(not easy to do with no barb to hold the bait in place) I started dragging the shoals and popping the fallen lumber Now I was really on to something! My fish were now averaging 15-16”, and I landed a 17” fish Woo-Hoo! Again I tipped of the group, and some switched, some didn’t…. The Plastics had it though! We nailed another 3 fish in the 17” range….Some fatter specimens to boot. At the end of the day we had a few eaters to snack on, drank some beer, and again Chef Cookslav went to work…although this time it was under the Tarp in the rain. Saturday was a BRUTAL day, but the morning was Beautiful. Misty, and calm, giving every thing that “dreamy” look about it…I love this picture! I quickly got up and at ‘er this day…it was the last day and I had a plan to try a new lake. Nobody could understand why I wanted to fish anywhere else but hey….I guess I just like a little adventure sometimes! So I headed off to a local lake rumoured to have some bigguns! We portaged a bit, and grunted our way into the lake, and went to work….then all hell broke loose! The Rain was coming down in sheets, and the wind at one point was Gusting at what I can only guess was close to 70-80km!!!! I had to bail the canoe out 3 times due to rain fall and Wave splashes… Over the next 3 hours we received about 3 inches of rain…it was a ridiculous amount of rain! The steams in the area came to life, and the lake levels were up a few inches by the time we left. I worked spinners, and jigs all over this new lake, and managed one nice 17 incher…it was no were near as active as our main base lake, but I could see some potential there…I’ll give her another whirl on a better day next year. We limped back to camp drenched, and cold, but victorious…we had caught the big fish of the day! mmm....butter poached Speckled trout with Sauted Onions craked black pepper, and fresh Lemon Finally Sunday came, and alas our time in the park was though. We made our way back, a bit faster, being the beer and food weight was now gone, but it was still a haul that’s for sure. Over all the trip was the stuff dreams are made of… Every one on the trip caught fish in spades, I’d estimate our total catch to be around 160, although only 15 were kept for consumption over the 5 day trip. We only kept fish that were fatally wounded, and took no fish out of the Park. I guess the old adage “the harder the lake is to get to, the better the fishing is” is absolutely true in this case. And its worth noting…Much to my pleasure, At the end of the trip everyone said next year they want to come back to the same spot!!! Considering 4 days earlier they were ready to string me up, and feed me to the bears I was pretty happy. We left the site clean and debris free and even a little bit better then it was with my Brothers addition of a New Camp Table, and we found an old water pot on the site, so we cleaned her up, and left it there for the next crew to use our site. Can’t wait till May 2009 already! PS. These were my Weapons of Choice. Slow presentation…Shinny was doing the trick in the sun, Orange in the cloud cover on the shoals, and the Plastics in black and White were deadly in the wood, and bounced down Steep granite drops. And just for good measure here are some extra Pics I Liked... Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshS Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 not gonna lie... a little jealous lol. beauty report! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irishfield Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 Thanks for the "journey" Cookslav! What a great family outing!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musky or Specks Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 Excellent report, thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Johnny Bass Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 WOW! What a report! Now thats what I call really roughin it!!!! Glad to hear you had another successful fishing trip! Must have took you over 2 hours to post it! Thanks for taking the time to share it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danbouck Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 not gonna lie... a little jealous lol. beauty report! A little? I am very jealous. Great Report Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oxcowboy Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 wonderful report, those sure were some beautiful fish. congrats. jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tibbs Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 Great Report!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KyleM Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 Thats a great read man, i love the lakes that are hard to get to.......always the best reading. How many years have you had that hat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatherof3 Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 great report and trip,thanks for sharing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huntervasili Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 Great report and beauty fish! Glad to see you had a good time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbayboy Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 An amazing report for sure. Great to see a family getting out and sharing adventures like that (and luckily no one get left behind - after that snow many of my friends would have been sacrificed for suggesting the trip. Thanks for sharing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solopaddler Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 Fantastic, what a fabulous report! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golfisher Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 Man, what a report! Thanks for the ride! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillM Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 Nothing beats the colour of a Brook trout. Awesome report! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greencoachdog Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 Excellent report and pics!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomcat Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 Great report and pics! Thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookslav Posted May 9, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 How many years have you had that hat? LOL Kyle... Actually its a Brand new hat....although its identicle to my old one. My wife and I were just chuckling at that comment, so We went back and looked at all my fishing Pictures since 1997, and I'm wairing the Same fishing cap LOL! I think I've actually had the same hat since 1995, but I just replaced it this year cause the old one had an unfortunate "battery Acid" incident. Glad ya'll like my report, I miss the park already Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookslav Posted May 9, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 Yup 1995....LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistyriver1 Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 Cookslav, I remember your report from last year about this time as well. Great post and report. Wow !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joey Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 What a superb report. I was there with you almost Glad to year your run in with the moose turned out okay. That could have been tragic. Looking forward to next year's report now. Joey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
douG Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 Cookslav, your post shows in spades what I love about that damn place, I got back today myself from five nights, and keep looking at the pictures I took. You do a great job on the camera, I think. Saturday and Sunday were a challenge with an inch of rain and 30 kt breezes on the big lake Opeongo. Buddy says that Algonquin is like an addiction, like gambling, because both will give you a cockeyed return on your investment. Sometimes you lose, sometime you win, but when you win, it is the greatest thing going. Solitude, wilderness, family and friends, challenges, successes and failures, too. Thanks for the great effort it took to post such a great triplog. I hope you can share with our friends on Algonquin Adventures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greencoachdog Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 Cookslav, your post shows in spades what I love about that damn place, I got back today myself from five nights, and keep looking at the pictures I took. You do a great job on the camera, I think. Saturday and Sunday were a challenge with an inch of rain and 30 kt breezes on the big lake Opeongo. Buddy says that Algonquin is like an addiction, like gambling, because both will give you a cockeyed return on your investment. Sometimes you lose, sometime you win, but when you win, it is the greatest thing going. Solitude, wilderness, family and friends, challenges, successes and failures, too. Thanks for the great effort it took to post such a great triplog. I hope you can share with our friends on Algonquin Adventures. ... aboot those pics you took and keep looking at... we're waiting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camillj Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 Speck-tacular ! Great pics and great report ! Thanks for sharing ... I am anxiously awaiting our annual opener in Quebec for the little square-tail beauties ... only another week to go a-la-Zec pour mois ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyb Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 fantastic report man...thanks for sharing! And that one photo in the morning mist....it's an award winner for sure! I am two long weeks away from heading up north, and now I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight after reading that report Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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