Crotch Lake adventure

[Jer]

First of all, I would like to thank "TroutnMuskieHunter" for the suggestion of Crotch Lake for some remote camping, what a beautiful lake.

 

Last Tuesday morning, we loaded up the truck, the boat, the dog and about anything else we could manage to fit and headed out for Crotch Lake. We arrived in Ompah about 3 1/2 hours later (should have been only about 2 1/2, but a last minute stop at CTC for a few things and a ton of constuction on Hwy 7 delayed us a bit) and turned down a bush road for the last 7 1/2 km, it's a very narrow road and took more than 30 minutes to reach the launch.

 

The camping crew included me and Sandra:

 

 

...the boy, Brandon:

 

 

...and of course Mr Bear:

 

 

We had reserved the site closest to the access point because I knew we had at least two boatloads of stuff to bring over. Turns out we were directly across the channel (a couple hundred yards or so). Brandon and I took the first load over while Sandra stayed back to unload the truck. Bear decided he couldn't wait and swam across after us. We unloaded the boat and I left Brandon to start to organize while I went back to get Sandra and the rest of our stuff. Bear must have figgered I had finally decided to leave him in the woods (along with the boy, it was tempting) and once again swam across the channel after me. We loaded the rest of our stuff, parked the truck and headed back over for two days of seclusion.

 

Our site was on a point and was the only one on our side of the lake, sitting up on top of a little bluff. here we are all set up:

 

 

After his double crossing of the mighty Mississipi, Bear did alot of this:

 

 

He's over 11 years old so he deserved some slack...more about Bear's adventures later...

 

We had a perfect little boat harbour:

 

 

...and the finest facilities anyone could ask for:

 

 

After gettin all setup, we went for a little cruise to check out the lake. This a big lake (about 10 mile long) and in the two days we were there we barely explored the northern 1/3 of it. We were camped at the very north end at the inflow of the Mississipi river.

 

Some of the beautiful scenery:

 

 

We practically had the lake to ourselves, there were absolutely no cottages or homes anywhere to be seen, only a lot of camping sites that were for the most part empty. The largest group we saw were these kids on a canoe trip that stopped for some rock diving:

 

 

Being bear country, we played it safe with our food overnight:

 

 

Ended up the only animal visitor we had the whole time was this little salamander:

 

 

I guess the big guy (the dog, not me) hanging around with his eyes glowing, kept the raccoons at bay:

 

 

 

Oh ya! Fishing!

To be honest, we didn't do as well as I had hoped, despite some wonderful weather. The bite was tough. Certainly not a shortage of structure to fish, I think I could fish this lake for 2 months solid and still not fish half the spots that look just awesome.

 

My best fish was this smallie caught first thing in the morning from the boat still on shore. I was up early by myself (about 5:30, even the dog was still sleeping) and was enjoying my coffee and throwing my PopR out to the point. I got one just a little smaller almost right away but didn't have the camera handy, nothing for about an hour. Sandra was up by then and was sitting with me when this one 'palooshed', she ran to get the camera:

 

 

The water is very 'tea-stained' on this lake and the fish are dark, even the few LM we caught were almost brown. The smallies were incredibly strong though, the fish above must have jumped 5 or 6 times and pulled like a tank.

 

Apparently there are pike but we never got a sniff of one. I found this surprising as anywhere else I've fished bass where pike are present, you usually can't keep the snot-rockets away. Overall, I ended up with about 5 or 6 decent smallies, a few little dink LM and a rock bass or two. Brandon didn't have much luck, ending up with only a small pickerel and a big rock bass for his efforts.

 

Because he couldn't catch any fish, we made him cook breakfast:

 

 

On our last morning, Brandon and I went out to fish a mid-lake shoal that was a ways down the lake, out of sight from the campsite. I managed a couple more smallies, including this one:

 

 

While we were gone is when the fun started (not really so fun for Sandra). She stayed behind with Bear and started to pack up as we were hoping to be on the road by 2 or 3 o'clock. There were very few powerboats on the lake the whole time we were there. Of the 2 or 3 sites in use that we could see, all were canoeists. We had seen one bass boat the day before. Anyways, while we were down the lake fishing, a smaller bass boat came up from the south end and continued up towards where our site was. Well apparently Bear saw this boat coming and assumed it was Brandon and me coming back. He snuck off while Sandra was busy with the tent and started swimming out to this boat. Unfortunately, these guys stopped still almost a mile away and were fishing the far shoreline. By the time Sandra noticed Bear was gone, he was more than half way across and she could barely see his brown head in the water. The guys in the boat by this time saw something coming towards them and, assuming he was a deer (he is a big deer-coloured dog), moved off a little ways to stay clear. Sandra was of course by this time screaming her head off "BEAR...BEAR...BEAR" (can you imagine?). Anyways, Bear by this time realized that these guys weren't me and Brandon and, probably getting really tired by now (he is 11, remember), veered off to the nearest shoreline. Once he got ashore, the fishermen (now referred to as Bear's Heroes) realized that ain't no deer (the big 'woof' might have given him away) and picked him up. Apparently they hadn't heard Sandra screaming (I don't know how, seems loud when she screams at me) but figgered he must belong to somebody close by. We were the only occupied site in sight so they came over and there was a happy reunion.

 

Of course Brandon and I were out happily fishing throughout the ordeal and had no idea of all the commotion. All I know is I owe these guys my life, I'd be lost without that dog and could never forgive myself for bringing him along if he got lost (or worse drowned).

 

After we got back to the site, the heroes were still fishing nearby and I thanked them profusley. They were from Ottawa and were staying at Tumblehome Lodge at the south-end of the lake (I didn't even know there was alodge there). They were happy to help they said, being dog-owners themselves.

 

If anybody here knows these guys...tell them Jer says many thanks...and bear says "WOOF"

 

[setomonkey]

Great report, sounds like a beautiful lake to camp on.

 

And very glad things turned out okay for Bear, we've got a dog ourselves and I'd be really upset if anything ever happened to him.

 

Mike

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Very nice! Nothing beats a nice relaxing week of camping with the family. Some nice bass there too! Thanks for sharing

[steve_paul]

Great report Jer, thanks.

 

Glad all turned out well with Bear and his swimming adventures too.

[fishnsled]

Great report Jer! I stayed at one of the cabins at Tumblehome Lodge a few years ago. Nice place with a 9 hole golf course as well. Good to know that things worked out OK for Bear.

[danbo]

That lake is a gem. Good swimming too. You will remember that trip forever!

[legacey]

Jer......I'm happy to hear a good ending.

 

I was at my buddies hunting camp last year for a week, that we have to get there by boat. No power, nothing around but dense bush.

 

The night before we had to leave, our dog ran off; she got scared of the fire-works we were lighting. She was in the tent but clawed her way thru the screen.

 

I looked every where for her the next day, but had to stay some what close due to the remoteness and fear of getting lost. I had to go but another group of my buddies family were coming in.

 

Leaving without my dog was horrible. It's like leaving your best freind behind and both myself and girlfreind had a long, quiet journey back; making stops to put up posters (thankfully I had paper and markers in my vehicle) on anything we could find.

 

Leaving the lake, all I could think was I hoped we would have found her ok or as awful as it is, dead. That way we would have known.

 

2 days later, she somehow found her way back to the cabin. The people that stayed after us, were just leaving in their boat themselves, when they heard a bark and she came running down a path.

 

As I'm writing this, and thinking about it, my heart still changes beats.

 

She was pretty beaten up, scratched badly and torn claws from what I would think, trying to climb up a cliff. The area is mountainous; north of Plevena, and if she was 15 minitues later, she would have never been returned to us.

 

Still to this day, I can't the people enough that found her and made sure she was re-hydrated and was back with us.

 

This is her looking for frogs in our pool....we had a bull frog a couple of years ago, stay in our pool for over a month. I had to keep putting it in our canoe whenever we added chemicals.

[Cookslav]

Nice bass you got there...

That first ones pretty chunky!

Bet the hit on that popper was wild eh?

 

Man I love top water smallies...especialy first thing in the morning

No better way to start the day

 

Family camping trips are the things memorys are made of, and it looks like you guys found a great spot to make a few more.

Thanks for shareing!

[1leggedangler]

Looked liked a very nice holiday with the fam with some chunky smallies. So glad to hear about Bear making it back to shore safe and sound. Awesome scenery on that lake. Thanks for the report.

 

Cheers,

1leg

[Black_Blade]

Nice fish! Glad things worked out with your dog, we have an 8 year old canine that always seems to meet up with the local skunks when he comes camping with us!

 

The wife and I were thinking of a trip to this lake but was wondering if that access road by Ompah is passable with a mini van or not?

[limeyangler]

Great report Jer, looks like an awesome site. Those are some nice bass too. Really glad bear is ok. Thanks for sharing.

[Moosebunk]

Nice.

 

Crotch Lake is never much of a producer but it is a real scenic area. Good to see you all enjoyed your trip.

[MrMike]

great report neat pics

[FinS]

great report thanks for sharing

[4thgen]

That is a five-lined skink, our only species of lizard in Ontario. You were lucky to see it, not many people do. Salamanders, being amphibians, don't really venture out unless it is really wet and spring (breeding season). Sounds like you had a good trip, those are some nice bass!

[johnnyb]

Really nice report....great story about Bear and an even better ending

[Jer]

Jer......I'm happy to hear a good ending.

 

I was at my buddies hunting camp last year for a week, that we have to get there by boat. No power, nothing around but dense bush.

 

The night before we had to leave, our dog ran off; she got scared of the fire-works we were lighting. She was in the tent but clawed her way thru the screen.

 

I looked every where for her the next day, but had to stay some what close due to the remoteness and fear of getting lost. I had to go but another group of my buddies family were coming in.

 

Leaving without my dog was horrible. It's like leaving your best freind behind and both myself and girlfreind had a long, quiet journey back; making stops to put up posters (thankfully I had paper and markers in my vehicle) on anything we could find.

 

Leaving the lake, all I could think was I hoped we would have found her ok or as awful as it is, dead. That way we would have known.

 

2 days later, she somehow found her way back to the cabin. The people that stayed after us, were just leaving in their boat themselves, when they heard a bark and she came running down a path.

 

As I'm writing this, and thinking about it, my heart still changes beats.

 

She was pretty beaten up, scratched badly and torn claws from what I would think, trying to climb up a cliff. The area is mountainous; north of Plevena, and if she was 15 minitues later, she would have never been returned to us.

 

Still to this day, I can't the people enough that found her and made sure she was re-hydrated and was back with us.

 

This is her looking for frogs in our pool....we had a bull frog a couple of years ago, stay in our pool for over a month. I had to keep putting it in our canoe whenever we added chemicals.

 

 

Happy to hear she made it through alright. Something like that was my worst nightmare...we had enough food for another day (no permit but I'm sure they would have understood) and would have stayed as long as possible.

[Jer]

Nice fish! Glad things worked out with your dog, we have an 8 year old canine that always seems to meet up with the local skunks when he comes camping with us!

 

The wife and I were thinking of a trip to this lake but was wondering if that access road by Ompah is passable with a mini van or not?

 

 

I don't think you would have a problem...just take it slow, it's really narrow. There were a few cars in the parking. Launching any size of boat might be a challenge without 4wd.

[fishindevil]

Great camping/fishing trip !!! sounds like is was very relaxing,and hey the fishing wasnt to bad,at least bear was safe & sound, and all went well,thanks for sharing...nice pics too great scenery as well!!!!...cheers

[Leecher]

Jer, I'm sure that Bear and the whole family will sleep pretty good after this ordeal and think somehow, he will remember.

 

I'm happy that it ended this way You guys sure had a very nice spot for camping.

Great report and pics.

Leechman

Edited July 23, 2008 by Leechman

[Smokey]

Very nice Jer. Looks like a great get away with the family.

 

Thanks for posting the pics and report.

 

Mike