R&R Temagami style

[johnnyb]

Last Tuesday, my cousin (Bicephalic on the board) and I headed up north for a long anticipated trip to the Temagami area. The idea was to tow the canoe behind the tinboat, so that we could fish our main destination lake in comfort, while dragging the canoe into one or two back lakes.

Ultimately, we did a pretty darn good job of sticking to the plan, even though we ended up bailing out on a couple of back lakes. What we also did was learn a lot about early season pike, backwoods trails, and the finicky nature of brook trout.

Words can't really do it justice, so here are the straight facts and pics:

Lakers were in the 18-22 inch range, extremely spunky, hitting consistently in the top 15 FOW. They had a very clear preference for long slender minnow baits in the Mercer's Magic pattern...and didn't mind hitting a nice gold Panther Martin #20 every now and then. Most had nymphs in their bellies...stone or mayfly, I assume.

Pike fishing was pretty cool, once we found a nice, shallow, WARM bay on the north end of the lake. I've never seen pike get spooked by the boat, but, we learned quickly to get their attention on the lure before they saw us...got my PB at 37 inches We moved lakes altogether for the last two days, where we couldn't locate any similar water, but, my cousin and his Mercer's Magic found the pike in typical coves/points out of the wind, bordering on deep water...nailed HIS PB with a very fat 27.5 incher that we had to weigh for curiousity's sake...came in at just under 4.5lbs. Not too shabby.

 

As for the backlakes...some helpful hints from fellow OFC'rs had us focusing on one lake in particular, even though the original plan was to hit two. Poor access and poor reviews kept us on a track to one lake in particular, which was nice, but, apparently so secret that not even the brookies knew about it! Still impressive getting back in there...and most notably, we had a cell phone signal, which allowed me to get a VERY important message from Laker Jessy at home, who was at the 19 week ultrasound

 

All in all, we fished from morning till night, ate trout and pike for breakfast and dinner, and came home feeling like we had been living in another world for a week. What more could we ask for If you're still reading...here's some scenery pics to send you on your way..tight lines!

 

Edited May 30, 2009 by johnnyb

[wuchikubo]

Congrats Johnnyb on your PB and the news of the little girl!

 

Fantastic pics, thanks for sharing. Hope you get into the brookies on your next outing.

[wuchikubo]

Congrats Johnnyb on your PB and the news of the little girl!

 

Fantastic pics, thanks for sharing. Hope you get into the brookies on your next outing.

[Headhunter]

So that's what that lake looks like when it's not -30C! Sounds like you had a great time. Thanks for the report... BTW - you didn't happen to see a green and white plane buzzing around did you?

HH

[johnnyb]

LOL -- we looked at every plane we could, but never saw the flying Irishman!!!

[limeyangler]

So thats where you've been, lol....rummaging around in the bush.....

 

Great report, great pics, great info.

 

 

Now let me get his straight....from that text message i understand your a dad?

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS!

[Leecher]

Great report and pics johnnyb

Beautiful countryside up that way.... loved the last pic of the sunset

Looks like you guys had a good time!!! Congratulations on your PB's

Again great job and thanks for taking the time to post your trip and share with us!!!

Leechman

[solopaddler]

Nice clean looking lakers, looks like a great trip! Congrat's on the upcoming addition to the family, cool way to find out.

[johnnyb]

Thanks for the replies, guys...to avoid confusion, I was told the results of the ultrasound...no birth yet! Due date is not bad, at Oct. 17th...the most I'll have to worry about is missing out on thanksgiving walleye for a year or two

[mattyk]

thanks for the report!

[bicephalic]

Hey John, thanks for doing this report up...I was still too lost in the afterglow to put something together. After portaging the tin boat in there - I see nowhere we can't get a motor into!

[johnnyb]

Amen to that!! Glad you enjoyed yourself...looking forward to the next one...just not looking forward to how much buttering up the wimmens will require

[lucabrasi]

Congratulations all around. Great report and pics! Thanks!

[lunkerbasshunter]

looks like a great trip! Thanks for sharing the report!

 

Cheers!

[Spiel]

Nice trip. Admittedly I too was thinking you're off having a swell time while your daughter was being born....LOL That certainly would have spelled divorce for me.

[johnnyb]

LOL...woulda spelled death by dismemberment for me

[Moosebunk]

Very nice Johnny. The early season fishin' and weather can be pretty tempermental up there many days. Ya DONE GOOD!!!

[ccmtcanada]

AWesome report!!! Great looking trout and it's great the pike were hitting too. Congrats on that PB pike and more importantly finding out you are going to have a little girl...the most exciting news of all. Great pics!