Wedding Walleyes

[tbayboy]

Was back home in Thunder Bay this past weekend for a cousins wedding. While I was happy to be there for her big day you'll forgive me if I also packed some jigs, a stradic and some gulp right?

 

I arrived at 2:30am Friday morning (no thanks to Air Canada - sigh). It was raining a bit but the cabbie said it hadn't been much. I refer you all to Dan's excellent report for what happened 1/2 hour after I got in. Wow what a dumping of water.

 

Friday I met up with a buddy who I was going to fish with Friday night and we decided it might not be a bad idea to just swing by the launch on the river we were planning to fish (right in town - gotta love Thunder Bay). As we pulled up we could see it was really flowing and then we saw that it was solid brown - serious chocolate milk. Ah well we though - so we have to hit the fish on the head to get a bite, beats doing nothing right? Then we saw the 6 foot trees and shrubberies and fences and everything else that had been too close to the now raging river edge the night before. Ok, no way were going into that. The night was spent drinking ourselves stupid with friends as we planned out the August weeklong trip.

 

Saturday was the wedding and from the window of the harbourfront reception you could see the huge brown line stretching from the river mouth far into Lake Superior - simply unreal.

 

So that brings us to Sunday - another day I'd planned to fish but I figured everyone would cancel given the way the weekend had looked but nope - I get a call at 10am from my buddy - "I'm out of the kids party at 4:30 - grab Jay and be at my house at 4:45". "You got any spots in mind?" I ask. "I'll make some calls, I know a guy". Dave always knows "a guy" but sure enough he calls back 20 minutes later - he's talked to 'the guy' and he assures us the launch at a secret spot is just fine, the rain didn't really get that end of the city so I head out to the day after family wedding BBQ after rigging up my gear and picking up a couple dozen minnows.

 

We left Dave's at 5:30, a little behind schedule but better than everage for us. After an hour drive we're dropping the boat in the water

 

<a href=" title="Please don't sink! by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3086/2566338758_206a93088e_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Please don't sink!" /></a>

 

And we're heading off to find us some nice walleye holding wood

 

<a href=" title="Classic NW Ontario water by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3144/2566342382_ab3b589885_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Classic NW Ontario water" /></a>

 

<a href=" title="Heading for the hole by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3166/2566345042_a88307bb81_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Heading for the hole" /></a>

 

10 minutes down to the spot - 10' channel with this on its edge:

 

<a href=" title="The secret location by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3100/2566355694_ee517ee8ec_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="The secret location" /></a>

 

All the land around is crown land - we saw lots of great spots to spend the night - might have to find a way to do that this summer. At the launch some guys had full out trailers setup - pretty sure thats stretching the whole crown land use but I'd do it too

 

Anyhow, we're soon in the game though Dave didn't want to admit this was his fish

 

<a href=" title="We're in the game by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3046/2565522335_dcf6de8029_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="We're in the game" /></a>

 

Oh yeah baby, gonna be one of those days . We actually didn't expect much - things were just to crazy over the weekend but it was a really nice day out so why not be on the water. Luckily Dave's "guy" knows his stuff. Soon after we got our minnow out of the way and we'd sacrificed a few jigs to the gods of 'figuring out where the logs are' we got into some nice eaters and in true NW ontario fashion we weren't gonna give up on any chance to fill the boat with meat.

 

<a href=" title="The photographer gets proof by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3013/2565525447_d80c518fa9_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="The photographer gets proof" /></a>

 

<a href=" title="Can I keep him? by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3052/2566359816_edc69def64_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Can I keep him?" /></a>

 

<a href=" title="Jay's in on the game by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3018/2565537843_cccc949db7_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Jay's in on the game" /></a>

 

All the bites were pretty light but they sure were hungry and not very picky - orange/white/yellow 1/8th and 1/4 oz jig heads with white 3" gulp minnows or live minnows did the trick but they were happy with blue/white and chartruese as well.

 

I do have to tell the best catch of the day story even if it has no pictures. All of had lost a fish or two due to the light bite and our lazy hook sets but we thought there was a pike in the area as well as we'd all lost some to cut lines. Well Dave looses one like that with a big ol' orange 1/4 oz jig head. About 20 minutes later he's got a fish on and I start laughing as he looses it at the side of the boat (tension Dave - keep the tension up!). Not to be denied his meal Dave throws his arm in the water and to my amazement seems to grab the fish before it realizes its free but no - the fish scoots out of Daves hand and I continue my mocking laugh. Then dave lifts his hand and he's got line in it. He pulls harder and the fish comes back - holy carp, did this fish hit the jig that was lying in the water in its attempt to get away? "Hey there's my old jig" yells Dave and we realize he's not holding his current line - he's holding the end of about 5 feet of line thats dangling out of this walleyes mouth and the other end of the line is tied to a big ol orange jig firmly embedded in the fishes gullet. The damn thing broke off Dave on a log or something, swam around for 20 minutes with a big jig in its mouth and 5 feet of line dangling and still hit another jig! Yep, they were hungry all right. Certainly the longest played fish I know of.

 

After 2 hours we had our limit and several besides that were free to go and we headed back with big silly grins on our faces - we really hadn't expected a good day on the water but in 2 hours we'd landed 20 fish. Nothing big but a whole lot of fun

 

<a href=" title="Heading home by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3117/2565541855_dfb6d98bea_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Heading home" /></a>

 

Pulled the boat out of the water and started to work through the not so fun part - we though the bugs were bad before but once we started cleaning fish - yikes

 

<a href=" title="Dinner is served by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3079/2565545107_d3c73c1fde_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Dinner is served" /></a>

 

Thats the other thing I always love about going home in the summer - its 9:44pm in that pic and the sun was still out.

 

A quick drive back to town for a celebratory beer than I headed back to my parents to put their present (my fish) in the fridge and pack my stuff up for the early flight back to Toronto this morning.

 

2 more months til I'm back there and I'm counting days already, I gotta find me a job up there, oh and a boat and a camp

 

Sean

[mbac31]

Great report! Nice that you cleaned the fish on the chevy afterwards. We have all done the same I'm sure.

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Excellent report! The structure on that lake looks mouth watering!!! I thought about moving to Thunder Bay, but the cold winters and the bugs in the summer are a little scary!!

[tbayboy]

Yeah you hit it on the head Johnny - every summer I go home and can't understand why I ever left (bugs aren't that bad really - or you get use to it) but then I go home for Christmas and I'm rudely reminded of why I don't mind being in Southern Ontario. Gotta get me one 2 jobs - 6 months up there and 6 months here.

Edited June 10, 2008 by TbayBoy

[danc]

Very nice Sean. I drove over the swing bridge by the launch on Friday evening and I couldn't believe the debris floating down the river. Not to mention the color of the water. I drove past marina park today and the water beyond the break wall is still muddy as far as the eye can see. I've never seen anything quite like it. And yes, the black flies are out in full force and they are hungry. Glad you had a good time back home.

[ehg]

Great report and pictures! 20 walleye in 2 hours would make my weekend.

Thats not a bad bunch of fish, crappie aren't bad but the walleye really is great eating.

 

Excellent report,

ehg

[solopaddler]

Sounds like a blast Sean, love the pic's!

[Victor]

Looks like an amazing place to fish at! Thanks for sharing!

[b2kptbo]

Great report, like that tail gate pic...

[ccmtcanada]

Great report Sean! No pic = I don't believe that jig story....LOL.

 

Now that you are back into fishing, I can feel in your words how much you miss your old stomping grounds. At least you're back up there in a few months!

[Smokey]

Cool report, Thanks

[snag]

You're a very bad man.

 

(been there done dat!)

[mattyk]

great report nice pics!

[fishnsled]

Excellent pics and report!

[LeXXington]

That looks like a great outing.. Man I would love to head up there

 

Great going Sean

[tbayboy]

That looks like a great outing.. Man I would love to head up there

 

Great going Sean

I was thinking of your comments from our Quinte trip when we started pulling them in Paul - its just the kind of night you were talking about. Anytime you wanna do a road trip just let me know and I'll make sure to get the number of my buddies "guy"

 

This "guy who shall remain nameless" is a legend amongst us. Our fearless leader worships the ground he walks in and we can't do any fishing without either getting this guys blessing first or some top secret info on our location from him. Every time my buddy opens his mouth and starts a sentence with "XXXX says..." we just start groaning but I'll admit it - his info sure paid off for us this time.

 

Thanks for the comments everyone

[Joey]

Really great report. Good to hear you managed to get some fishing in, even if only for a few hours.

 

Joey

[mikeh]

Sounds like you had a great time with lots of fish. Lucky you got to hold the camera for the last picture.

[tbayboy]

Not that lucky Mike, we had two knifes so I got stuck with gut disposal duty - boy did the blackflies love me (not to mention one gigantic seagull hoping for some freebies)

[DanTheMan]

Great report and pics bud!!! I love the sceneri pics.I afto agree , we all clean fish on a back of a truck tailgate

 

Great stuff!!!

[snagmaster]

awesome report man...those are some nice fish.....Gotta love it when there in a frenzy

[tjsa]

I know where you were fishing, I recognize that river and landing.

[tbayboy]

Hehe figured your or Dan would. Not exactly a secret spot thought I thought about not posting the honey hole shot but figured I probably wouldn't offend the blury picture gang too much. Just print that picture, drive north from Toronto for 18 hours, hang a right, then 30 minutes later a left and another left a bit later and then turn left from the launch and start look for that tree and your set

[tjsa]

Yup, that about covers it, :lol: :lol:

 

 

and it doesn't matter, the "honey hole" will be different on any given day in there.

Edited June 12, 2008 by tjsa