Fat fall walleye and stuck trucks

[limeyangler]

Hi Y'all.

 

Well its been an eternity by my standards since I have been fishing...close to 3 weeks. Anyway got out the day before yesterday with my buddy Dave. We decided to try a nearby local lake we had never fished. When we got there the boat launch was a clay bank(very steep) just past the bridge over the creek you have to travel up to hit the main lake. As soon a i saw it i thought there was no way the truck...let alone the truck+boat + trailer was gonna make it back up the slimy muddy/clay bank. Being new to this though i took Dave at his word that it would be fine.

 

 

I had got 10 feet down the 20 foot slope when i had to change angle to swing the trailer round a bend on the slope, that’s when the passenger side rear wheel hit a large tree stump and stopped me dead in my tracks. Wheels were a spinnin ...we were going nowhere.

 

Luckily the slope was right by the side of a slash off the main logging road and there were plenty of hunters around and it was only 20 minutes later that a truck was hailed down, we attached the only short bit of rope i had and we pulled the truck back up. The trailer however was at the bottom of the slope and we were gonna need at least 50' of tow rope to get it up. So we ended up doing a 90km round trip to town to buy some tow straps and back we went.

 

We got the trailer up no problems, and i guess the tree stump was a blessing in disguise because had we made it down the slope we would never have got back up without another truck, it would have been dark, there would have been far fewer , if anyone around, and it is about a 30km walk through the bush back to my house. It was getting dark by the time we got everything sorted out so just headed home. I promised myself i would in future trust my own instincts more....at least learn something from my mistakes.

 

 

Anyway, i was still desperate to go fishing so arranged to go the next day(yesterday) with another buddy Adam. Adam has also grown up here in Dryden, and is a real outdoorsman...hunting ...fishing etc,...etc. He found my story funny as we headed out to another different lake a lot further away, he assured me we would not risk anything like that today, and he was pretty certain his own experiences would help us avoid any mishaps. I was a bit nervous already however as one question he asked me before we left was..."the route in to this lake is pretty remote...we should be fine though".

 

 

When we got to the 1km track down to Bluet Lake i had that same feeling as yesterday...we may make it down but we wont get up, Adam assured me it was fine despite the three feet deep ruts, washed out banks and boulders, mud puddles and clay slopes, and downed trees blocking our way, he said the incline was not steep enough to cause us any trouble. As it happens he was right, i did spin a bit on the way up but managed to get out, white knucklin the steering wheel all the way ...Adam laughing at my expression all the way up.

 

 

 

THIS PICS ARE ONLY THE BEGINNING OF THE TRAIL>>>>IT GOT MUCH>>>MUCH>>>MUCH WORSE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OK...so we got back up ok...but what happened between going down to the lake and coming back up was another thing all together. The launch point is a sandy beach, nice gradual slope into the water. I got into the boat and Adam backed us into the water. It was very shallow and Adam kept reversing to try and get the boat to float of the trailer...it wouldn't budge. I could not work out why Adam would not just move forward to help the boat slip off....until i heard the wheels spin and the water and sand start to fly. OH crap!!!!!!! stuck again.....this time though we were in a bit of a serious situation...well I’ll let this pic speak for itself.......

 

 

 

 

I THOUGHT YOU WERE MEANT TO LEARN FROM MISTAKES!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

After an hour of trying to get out....and at least we had tow straps now after the mishap the day before, we decided we better start the 30 km trip back through the bush to the main logging road, see if we could find help...worst case scenario we would have to walk at least 40kms to where the guys were working at the railway tracks. Luckily after hiking about 10 kms we stumbled upon some hunters who helped us out...................

 

 

 

 

PHEW....LUCKY THESE GUYS CAME ALONG

 

 

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To cut a long story short...we got out, thanked the guys for everything...really nice guys too.....and changed into dry clothes and headed back towards town. I still wanted to fish....and like me...so did Adam. We spent the hour drive back to wards town trying to figure out somewhere to put the boat in that would be decent, in the end I suggested Beaver Lake...as it was on our way back...i had fished it before, and knew there was nowhere to get stuck...lol. Adam surprisingly had never fished beaver lake...surprising as it is only 10 kms out of town on an actual road. He was pretty convinced it was not gonna be any good, but i assured him we had done ok there before...nothing of memorable size, but we were sure to avoid the skunk...and hell...just fishing was all i wanted after all the drama.

 

 

We put into the lake at around 3pm. It started off slow, loads...literally hundreds of jumbo perch nailing every minnow we dropped down, to make matters more difficult, the spot where we were marking fish was right in the 25km wind. Anyway...after an hour of catching perch we were marking a lot of bigger fish and Adam landed the first walleye.......

 

 

 

1ST OF MANY

 

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It went a bit quiet for a while, mostly because we were struggling to stay on top of the fish in the wind, but after that i netted what we hoped was gonna be a monster walleye, but turned out to be my PB pike...a beauty at 41". I kept having to move it down the boat so it would fit sideways across the bow for the piccy...hope the tourney is still going cuz its another 5" for team 4

 

 

 

 

 

ANOTHER FEW INCHES FOR TEAM #4

 

 

 

 

 

About 15 perch later, the wind dropped down, i could hold dead still in reverse on lowest idle...and that’s when we started to nail them....we got our limit but we must have thrown back at least 15 fish over 20 inches, the best one i got which was just over 23". I had done well in this lake before....and despite seeing another boat get a 26" about 3 weeks ago....the biggest we had caught was around 19".......seems like the lack of people fishing the lake over the last month(everyone here seems to put their boats away at the start of hunting season) and the pre-winter feeding frenzy had brought all the big ones outta hiding...........

 

 

 

WE CAUGHT A LOT OF NICE WALLEYE JUST DROPPING THE JIG OVER THE SIDE OF THE BOAT AND LIFTING IT 1' OFGF BOTTOM IN 10-12' FOW

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adam said he was "blown away" by the fishing in this very small, easily accessible lake....a lake he never knew was there despite it being no more than 8 kms from where he has grown up all his life.....which was pretty cool.....especially after the morning we had had...to get into some nice walleyes felt like perseverance paying off.

Edited October 18, 2008 by limeyangler

[medmart]

That was one hell of an adventure clad to see you got some fish

you should invest in a wench for your truck good to see people

will help you when you need it

 

Rob

[Ramble]

You need to frame the pic of ur truck on the beach.

 

Good job actually gettin onto the water after all that lol. Nice fish for sure.

 

-R-

[wuchikubo]

Wow, good on you to stick it out and it paid off this time. Congrats on the PB pike and some nice 'eyes.

 

might I suggest a winch or having another truck / friend to be there to help get out of situations like that.

[Rich Clemens]

You guys must have been desperate after three weeks absense to have to go through all that. Sure glad though things worked out for you and ya'll even caught some very nice fishes. Great report.

[Roy]

Yes, as Rich said, excellent report. You did well. It might seem like you had terrible problems there but you can sit down with grandkids or anyone else in a few years and look back on these adventures and have a great time recounting them. Anyone listening will enjoy the stories...I know I did. Another dude who might not have had the 'terrible' experience you guys had will have to settle for trying to embellish their story of having spent a weekend on the couch.

 

Good story, thank you for posting.

[b2kptbo]

That sure was some ordeal with the truck but ya's got into some nice fish, WTG...

[NAC]

Nothing like a big adventure that ends with some great looking fish!

nice work on the report too.

[TroutnMuskieHunter]

Nice report and catch ....looks like you've got some good back road lakes up there to fish from....a winch is a good idea and NOT one of those CTC 2 ton $30 jobs....invest in an electric front mount winch with a remote and you'll have no issues next time you're out..

[corvette1]

what a trip glad you caught some nice fish congrats

[tinbanger]

what an adventure and some nice fish to boot.

 

TB

[2 tone z71]

Nice I love it great pics nice fish

[Hawg Hunter]

man i love those adventures stuck or not its still fun and the walleyes .......YUMMY lol

 

thanks for the great story

 

Hawg Hunter

[Leecher]

Great report and pics limeyangler

 

Man.... what an adventure you guys got into 4x4's are great but when you get stuck.... no way to get them out except with a winch or another truck.

 

Sweet pay out for your perseverance and congratulation in your PB a real beauty

 

Thanks for sharing

Leechman

[Greencoachdog]

Excellent report and pics LA!!!

 

We have a slimey red clay mud down here that can be trecherous, I once sunk a backhoe in a mudhole kind of like your truck in the pic... made me chuckle lookin at the pic and remembering the ordeal!

 

That Pike and those Wall-ice are some beautiful fish!!!

 

It looks a tad chilly up there!

[tbayboy]

So the lesson for today is remote lakes with sandy beaches = bad right? Glad to see you finally managed to get some fishing in, some real beauties there too. Thanks for the chuckles in the morning.

[limeyangler]

Thanks for all the replies guys.....like all of you said...a real adventure, i was enjoying myself through the whole ordeal(s)......its kinda what i moved here for...not that i wanna get stuck like that again...but ya know what i mean. Certainly some great stories to tell in the future. Everyone who helped us were fantastic....and whilst they were helping all the stuck truck stories came out, just like GCD's backhoe incident, and from the stories told it was almost embarrassing how mild our problems were. As for a winch...YUP....top of the list....in fact the wife is insisting i get one...lol.....now i just have to work on getting her to insist i need the Lowrance LMS 522 i been looking at

[DRIFTER_016]

Dude, it's time to ask Santa for a WINCH for Christmas!!!!!

[Leecher]

and some good long heavy duty cables and chaines to hook to your winch

[jrego7]

lol. damn if that was my truck I think i'd cry... I take it not 4x4? Maybe that would've helped the situation. nice eyes.

[pike slayer]

looks like his truck has 4x4, they can get stuck pretty easy to. buy a small boat, put it in the back of the truck and carry the boat at the lake avoiding what you did there in the pic. pulling that extra weight can really get you into a situation. or buy a 4wheeler to launch the boat and go to back lakes. always go by your gut feeling, if you think you might get stuck, dont go! but ya nice fish, all the hard work payed off!

[rickster]

you should invest in a wench for your truck

 

Rob

 

Don't you think that will just cause more problems?????

 

Great report Simon glad you got some fish

Hope we can hook up again this winter for a trip

 

rick

[Fisherman]

you should invest in a wench for your truck good to see people

will help you when you need it

 

Rob

I'm quite sure limeyangler wouldn't mind having a spare wench in his truck, don't know if he would share with his buddies or whether the wench would be strong enough to "pull" on anything. How about a winch. The last thing I'd want is some wench moaning and groaning about a truck being stuck 30k from nowhere.

[solopaddler]

Dude, it's time to ask Santa for a WINCH for Christmas!!!!!

 

Either that or an ATV.

 

Great strory, enjoyed the read.

(and beauty pike! )

[limeyangler]

Hmmmmm....TRUCK WENCHES.....sounds like one of those late night shows....not that i ever watch them ....and yes it is a 4x4...and all the advice given is very greatfully recieved , some of the advice i even thought of myself!!!!...lol...but seriously...thanks for all the replies guys, and Rickster....we are headed up to Lac Seul for the swansong of the open water season on Friday, if ya wanna join gissa call....Sandy has my number. If not we really have to stop saying we should meet up and JUST DO IT! Probably only just over 5 weeks till hardwater...so if i dont see ya friday we'll arrange aa meet up for first ice..