N/W Quebec Walleye Opener (perseverence pays off)

[solopaddler]

I left last Thursday with my buddy Fergie for the cabin. The walleye opener in QC being on Friday, we'd have a leisurely drive north and a relaxing evening at camp gearing up for Fridays festivities.

All went as planned. Light traffic and a bluebird day made the trip as good as it gets.

Made it to camp by 2pm and quickly unloaded.

I'd already pre-rigged my stuff the previous week, so I poured a drink and watched Ferg go to work.

How shall I say this.... he's a bit of a gear hound. 6 different rods rigged to the nth degree, he was all business.

Some of the baits he uses, you guys would salivate, I should've taken pictures. Honestly the most amazing array of hand tied jigs I've ever seen.

He predicted that the venerable drop shot rig would slay the eyes tomorrow. Me? I wasn't quite as sure but I liked his confidence.

 

We were up super early with the generator droning in the background and the coffee percolating by 4:30am.

As we ate our breakfast we watched the ceiling drop to maybe 500', the wind pick up a bit, then shortly afterwards the rain started.

I was cold just looking at the weather outside, but we were here to fish and fish we would.

There's a traditional hotspot on my lake that's very near the landing. We (stupidly) decided to try a spot away from the pack a few km's up the lake....

Maybe not a "stupid" decision, but a decision that would soon prove to have bad consequences..

 

As we motored up the lake through the cold driving rain we were still upbeat, but then how could we not be? It was opening day man!

We arrived at our chosen spot and within moments we were backtrolling. About 5 minutes into our morning fate decided to intervene with brutal blow.

Don't ask me how, I still don't understand how it happened, but as I shifted gears on the outboard my freakin' prop fell off!

Oh, I can laugh about it now, but at the time....

Seeing as how we had chosen the isolated spot to start our morning there were no boats nearby to help. Of course there weren't they were all pounding fish back at the landing!

I had my cel phone, but for some strange cosmic reason it wasn't functioning (no service). Go figure, that's NEVER happened before. (Wayne if you're reading this that's why I didn't contact you on Thursday)

Anyhow, I still had my bow mount electric and a freshly charged battery so off we went.

Through the icy rain and battling a headwind we managed to travel roughly 5 km's before it died as well. We had made it to a (usually) busier part of the lake, but STILL hadn't seen a single other boat.

Neither one of us felt like paddling so we began to fish while we waited for a boat to cruise by.

Finally, 30 minutes later, of all people, my buddy Mike who owns a lodge in the north end whipped by.

We frantically waved him down and our ordeal was over. (Although I DID have to listen to Mike make fun of me, my boat and anything even remotely anglophone as we were towed in. He's a great guy, really! )

Finally made it to the landing, thanked Mike and hopped in the car. There was a Yamaha dealership in Rouyn and I was praying they'd have the parts I needed.

It wasn't just the prop, but there was also a threaded nut, and a stainless steel washer that was lost..pretty much the whole assembly.

Anyhow we found the dealership and $180 later I had my parts and we were racing back to the landing through the driving rain hoping to get at least a bit of fishing in..

 

I grabbed another battery from my bud at the marina and raced over to the spot where everyone else was and finally began to fish....at 5pm .

I started with my usual twister tail and worm, Ferg was working his dropshot rig with a Gulp minnow..

Not too long after we dropped the electric I FINALLY broke the ice:

 

 

Ferg got in the game not long afterwards with a clean little pike:

 

 

 

 

Things actually really picked up for a while, heck the sun even peaked out from behind the clouds .

As the evening wore on we began to hit fish fan casting small stickbaits in REALLY shallow water, no more than 3-5' deep. I was throwing a 3" Storm stickbait in a hot perch colour and Ferg was bangin' 'em on some kind of cool looking Japanese bait that was worth more than my Stradic reel .

We kept 4 for dinner and beat it back to camp at around 8pm, felling a "little" bit better:

 

 

We had actually planned on fishing a nearby back lake on Saturday, but with the day we'd just had and the horrible weather forecast on tap for Saturday we decided to stick to my lake and the comforts of the big boat.

Once again it was cold, windy and raining hard when we set out the next morning.

Even though I've been on the lake for 6 seasons now, most of those years were spent working and I'm still learning the ins and outs and seasonal patterns of this large body of water. Because of that we decided to try another new spot that looked like it had all the ingredients about 10km up the lake, so heads bowed against the wind and rain off we went.

The first half of the day was brutal. We managed to scratch out a grand total of one measly walleye, and even with multiple layers of fleece and full goretex suits we were chilled to the core by 2pm and pretty darned despondant.

At one point we were sitting in this small bay in front of a creek mouth with literally a WALL of water coming down. Honestly I was ready to give up. All I wanted to do was head back to camp, have a hot shower and pour a cold (stiff) drink.

BUT this was our last day on the water. Gotta hand it to Ferg he refused to quit and it was only through his attitude that I relented and decided to try ONE last spot.

I had to think hard and pick a good one!

Our options were A: make a run back to the landing at the south end where we knew there were some fish, or B: Try something a bit...radical. We opted for B.

 

There's a small lake that feeds into the big lake via a marshy creek. I've never fished it before 'cause there's a huge, high beaver dam blocking the passage. I figured maybe, just maybe with this springs super high water it might be possible to get my heavy boat over the dam, so off we went.

 

As we approached the dam I was elated, there was only maybe a 2' barrier to traverse... I knew we'd make it!

Ferg stepped out on top of the dam to lighten the boat and I backed up to take a run at it.

Just as I'm about to gun it he yells out "RAM THE BEAVER!"

First real laugh I had all weekend, had to stop and gather myself before the next attempt.

 

I forgot to get pictures of our beaver dam jump on the way in, but did remember to snap a few on the way out...

Anyhow obviously we made it in and instantly knew that we had something very special. First off the water in the main lake was only 46 degrees tops. In this little hidden gem it was 53. Quite a huge difference!

As we made our way up the marsh into the lake thousands and thousands of minnows skipped ahead of us in the water.

We entered the lake and another massive downpour struck, it was ridiculous. We WANTED to fish, but were basically becoming hypothermic and needed to do something fast.

I spied a beautiful looking ice hut along the shoreline and made a beeline for it....shelter!

We pulled up to it, hopped inside and fired up the woodstove. In short order we were both drying off and soaking up the heat like a sponge. It was heavenly .

 

 

 

 

After maybe 40 minutes or so the rain stopped and the skies actually started to clear .

 

Nice and dry for the first time all day and feeling great we pushed off, snapped a quick pic of our accomodations and began to fish:

 

 

Finally the fish gods smiled on us, it didn't matter what we threw we caught walleyes hand over fist:

 

 

 

It was awesome! Whether it was because the sun finally came out and turned them on, or we were simply fishing better water I'm not sure (probably a combination of both).

In any case we kept a few to bring home:

 

 

Yes, I'll publicly admit it now....I do use a white bucket .

 

 

Feeling pretty darn good about ourselves we finally started making our way through the swamp back to the main lake:

 

 

 

 

Once again I had to "RAM THE BEAVER!" and almost made it completely over this time...just the very back end of the boat was hung up:

 

 

 

A couple of pushes with the paddle while Ferg played photographer and we were through:

 

 

 

We beat it back to camp, cleaned our fish and had a perfectly fabulous evening. Hot shower, cold rum and coke, jumbo prawns sauteed in butter and garlic along with an incredible moose tenderloin on the bbq. It doesn't get any better.

 

And that was it, our fishing was done. We packed up and headed home on Sunday to beat the traffic (good move from what I heard).

It was an amazing trip and one I'll remember for a bunch of different reasons. More "memories for the rocking chair" like my dad always says.

 

This was the sight I was greeted with when I walked in the door Sunday night:

 

 

Life is good.

 

Cheers, Mike

[fatherof3]

great read,congrats on the trip

[Basskicker]

WTG Mike...looks like an awesome trip for sure.....believe me I know how wet and cold it was this weekend on the water....not nice, but atleast you caught fish

 

Jason

[tibbs]

Great Report!

 

Sure is beautiful up there!

[oxcowboy]

great report and story as always solo ! hopping beaver dams reminds me of a few of our honey holes we hit every year. wonderful report.

 

jason

[jdmls]

awesome post as always...I wish I had the will to drive to such remote locations....not to mention the 4cyl honda, ....Gas is the most expensive part of every trip these days

[ccmtcanada]

Ok Mike...I have to admit, I was laughing right out loud at the prop thing....LOL. Great report as always...they are always a pleasure to read! Despite the weather, you guys had a trip to remember that's for sure. Thanks for posting!

[Tarzan's Jane]

Life is Grand...what a fun read, excellent report.

[Rich Clemens]

Fantastic Read Solopaddler. Oh man, that would stink - losing the whole dang prop and of course, so far from camp. Good you didn't let it ruin your trip and there was a spare close by. On our trips, I carry a spare with me - sure hope I never have to use it. Greate report S/P and thanks for taking the time to post it. Nice detailed reports like this make us feel as if we were there.

[Greencoachdog]

Excellent report and pics!!!

 

That prop incident was freaky!!!... I gotta go check mine now.

[Victor]

Great report as always! Glad everything worked out in the end for ya and some nice haul of fish

[MJL]

Excellent report Mike

 

Those walleye look super tasty. Great pics and write up.

[Tomcat]

Great report and pics! Thanks for sharing.

[1leggedangler]

Great report Mike! Sorry to hear about the prop, hate that feeling of being a drift with no power. Congrats on that mess of eyes TASTY! Always great to come home to a greeting like that.

 

Cheers,

1leg

[Moosebunk]

Top to bottom, start to finish, PERFECT.

 

RAMMING BEAVER... too much fun.

 

Just as I come to expect from a Solo report.

[johnnyb]

Awsome report, Solo....way to pull that one out of the fire and come away with a fantastic trip! Thanks for sharing

[Paulus]

Best Story I've read in a long time, bud. Tough beginning with a good ending. Those are the best. I actually have a vision of the look on your face after your prop dropped off.

 

hehehe

 

p.-

[solopaddler]

Best Story I've read in a long time, bud. Tough beginning with a good ending. Those are the best. I actually have a vision of the look on your face after your prop dropped off.

 

hehehe

 

p.-

 

 

Hey Paul, you've got an open invitation to come up and fish some back lakes with me. It'd be nice if you could make it this year....

 

Thanks everyone for the positive comments!

[tbayboy]

Great report Mike - nice to smiles in all the pictures after the 'fun' you guys had

[corvette1]

great job guys looks like a blast rain never hurt anyone wish i was there

[Musky or Specks]

Great report, not much of a walleye fan(other than eating them) but its good to see that you persevered in the face of adversity.

[wuchikubo]

WTG Mike, fantastic read as usual. Great looking area up there.

[snag]

Read it again.

 

Fantastic!

[FinS]

hey Mike sorry about the headache

 

good to see that you got into some nice pan fryers

 

on my way around that area i found myself in a clump with all the different weather

wet as i would say and a lil cold

 

 

but managed lots of fish of different species (but no pics)

 

heres what was going on from day 1

 

all fish on 1/4 white 4" twister tail all i can say it was unbelievable

but 3/4 of the fish i caught was bass and a few pickeral and pike

im not to worried i had my lil guy with me at the time and kept a few for the pan

biggest was 22 inch smallmouth released which i should of kept cause it was a good un and a real wall mounter

but hey im a conservationist

 

 

anyways before i left we hit the kanasuta beer store and found this

this is my brothers friend who decided to pick up this 8.5 lbr from deserat

who borrowed a picture from another dude who was there lol but a nice fish for sure

 

this is what the night finished of with enjoy

i woke up in the morning looking at snow flakes the size of golf balls coming down again i was to confused to find the camera it was all good see you around

and good fishing

 

 

ill be back for sure enjoy

[limeyangler]

Ram the beaver ....there is now coffee on my keyboard........great read.