solopaddler Posted July 17, 2009 Report Posted July 17, 2009 Part One ~ Back Lake Camping Dan and I never get together anymore. He's a close friend but jobs, kids and life in general mean we rarely fish together like in the old days. We had talked about maybe a bunch of us getting together with our kids and taking them back lake camping. Amazingly everyone's schedules allowed the time so the plans were laid. There would be Dan and his two young boys in one boat, myself and my 5 year old Riley in another, then Dan's sister, brother in law, their 2 young kids and dog trailing behind in a canoe. Quite the group! We headed north to my uncles camp which is 15 mins down the hwy from my lake. There's a bunch of easily accessable back lakes up there and some great campsites so it was an easy choice. Here we are with the squarebacks loaded up beside my uncles dock: My aunt and uncle helping Dan and his 2 wee ones off: As mentioned Dans sister brother in law, kids and dog trailed behind: Riley was just a tad excited on the boat ride down the lake: The plan was to set up camp at the lakes outlet. In behind our site was a short trail that led to a back lake. That's where we'd do our fishing. The week before I had dragged a couple of tin boats in there and cached them on the lake so we were all set. Our campsite was perfect: Dan's youngest Benoit had a fascination with dragonflies, and an amazing ability to catch them: After setting up camp and settling in Dan made a horrifying discovery: no tonic to go along with the gin. He decided to whip back into town and grab some along with a bunch of ice. Here he is returning, the conquering hero: In the meantime Dan's sister and clan had showed up and joined us. Maggie the german wirehair was in her glory: Their youngest was only 9 months old and cute as a button: The next morning I awoke before anyone and put a pot of coffee on. A little bit of blissful me time. With coffee in hand this was the view I had. Is that not just perfect? We'd planned on doing some serious fishing this day. As mentioned I'd cached a couple of boats on the back lake. One was at the end of the trail behind our campsite, the other was on the river leading into the lake. Dan started out on the trail with his boys: Riley and I headed downstream following the river. Beyond the last set of rapids was the 2nd boat. We'd have to negotiate one more small swift to access the lake... We loaded up the boat and headed to the next swift leading into the lake we wanted to fish. A narrow channel with large mature trees overhead on both sides with their crowns touching, it was almost ethereal. Here's a short (wobbly) video clip of Riley and I entering the "tunnel" and running the chute: The fishing was outstanding, nothing huge but I honestly lost count of how many fish Riley caught. She's great at everything but is still a bit squeamish about holding the fish. She landed 'em all, I held 'em up for a photo: Proud dad: More: At one point something truely remarkable happened. Riley had caught about a 5lb pike and while I was unhooking it a smallmouth bass grabbed my jig which was dangling over the side of the boat. Before I could move an inch the little bugger pulled my entire rod and reel over the side where it sank to the bottom in 15' of water. Not wanting to lose my Avid rod and Stradic reel I tried as best as I could to snag it with another rod. I wasn't having much luck when suddenly I see it sliding across the bottom into even deeper water....the bass was still attached! Without thinking, just reacting, I dove headfirst into the water LOL! Swam down and managed to grab the rod. The second I grabbed it the bass (about 3lb's) shot skyward and cleared the water. I saw this from the bottom of the lake where I was fighting the fish. I swam up, grabbed the gunnel and managed to reel the bass in and lip it beside the boat. Riley was laughing hysterically, (it was pretty funny ). At the end of the back lake we fished there's another outlet and a perfect spot for a shore lunch. One of the days Dan and I made plans for a mid-day break there. Here's Dan and his boys enroute: The view in one direction, then another: Our lunch: And ravioli for Dan's youngest: The kids played and climbed trees while I cooked: An absolutely perfect day! On our last morning Riley woke up looking like this: Poor thing. She'd sustained a bug bite sometime through the night... Fortunately I had some cortisone based cream that very quickly reduced the swelling. All in all the camping trip was great. Definitely 10X more work with all the young'uns along, but then that was the sole reason we were doing it. They all had a blast and I know none of them will ever forget it. Continued.....
solopaddler Posted July 17, 2009 Author Report Posted July 17, 2009 Part Two ~ The Cottage After packing up and heading back to the landing Riley and I loaded the truck and headed for my camp. Dan and his boys had decided to spend a couple of extra nights with us before heading home so they were joining us as well. My wife and young son were driving up and meeting us in a couple of days, until then there was plenty of room for everyone. We had one full day at the camp before the rest of my clan showed up and decided to take the kids to the beach in the N/W corner of the lake. We loaded the boat and were off: Along the way we stopped and fished for a bit here and there without a ton of success, but Dan did manage one tiny walleye: The beach is awesome this year, lots of sand and water temps in the low 70's. We went for a walk along the beach and spied a very helpless looking baby sandpiper. Dan carefully picked it up then gave each child a turn holding it (very gently!). It was the highlight of the day for the kids. That evening we fed the kids early, turned the Disney channel on the sat tv for them, then retired to the deck where we grilled steaks and drank beer. Life is good. The next day Dan and his boys left and shortly afterward the rest of my clan arrived. My 21/2 yr. old Brendan was so excited he was hyperventilating LOL! His fascination with fishing is incredible for such a young'un I kid you not! From the second he arrived all he wanted to do was fish! "Daddy! daddy!...fish! fish!....big pike! ..." My wife just rolled her eye's. I think I may have a little "mini me" on my hands.LOL! Throughout the rest of the week I managed to do a fair bit of fishing. Numbers weren't huge but I managed a bunch of quality fish like this one here: On one of our fishing trips we weathered a rainstorm and were rewarded with this rainbow 10 minutes later: My daughter pestered me almost to the point of tears to find the pot of gold she was positive was at the end of the rainbow. Kids, gotta love 'em. On Canada day we let the kids stay up late for a fireworks show. They all stayed up on the deck while dad did the honours: The mosquitos were brutal that night. Out of desperation I discovered a new technique to repel the wee beasties. Brendan liked to sit in dads lap in the boat. About mid-week he had this crazy jungle boy Lord Of The Flies thing going on. : Much of our time was spent tubing. This year Riley was a wee bit braver and actually asked me to speed up a couple of times: Most of the week we were there the weather was just not the greatest unfortunately. Rain and thunderstorms almost every day. (Joanne wasn't too thrilled, but hey what can you do?). I had planned on bringing my entire clan on a day trip to a back lake, but the weather just wasn't cooperating. On our last day mid morning the skies cleared and I figured it was now or never for a little adventure. At my lakes outlet 12km north there's a trail that bypasses a set of impassable rapids. I had heard that there was some good fishing in the pools at the end of the trail, so we packed our gear and went to check it out. It was all new to me as well so I was pretty stoked. Not a bad walk, maybe 15 minutes, and at the end we were greeted with these sights: What an amazing spot! At the bottom of the last set of rapids was a small dock and a perfect place to set up the kids fishing. Brendan immediately grabs his $10 Diego fishing rod with a jig tied on, drops it into the water beside the dock and hooks a pike! This is the only pic I've got unfortunately as he reeled it right up to the tip and it flipped off. You can see the tiny rod bending and if you look closely you can see the pike: The pools were filled with bass: And very interestingly no walleye, but tons of eater sized sauger. We kept a limit of 6 and we all had a blast catching and releasing oodles of them. After fishing everyone except Brendan went swimming in a calm backwater in the rapids. My son had his doubts and watched from shore. We all had a blast especially Riley who thought it was "the coolest thing ever daddy!!" And that was it, once again another great trip in the books! Hope you enjoyed, Cheers, Mike
snag Posted July 17, 2009 Report Posted July 17, 2009 Amazing! I'll have to come back and have another gander. I've had to go rod diving a few times. Lucky the bass was so helpful! Pure envy!
Jet Posted July 17, 2009 Report Posted July 17, 2009 What a great way to spend time with the family. Thanks for sharing.
bigugli Posted July 17, 2009 Report Posted July 17, 2009 What a thoroughly enjoyable read. Getting the kids out on a backwater adventure is a great thing. They will want to go again and again. I miss making those trips . Thanks for kindling a couple of warm memories.
Whitespinnerbait Posted July 17, 2009 Report Posted July 17, 2009 Report of the Summer right there.....
Rich Clemens Posted July 17, 2009 Report Posted July 17, 2009 (edited) Great looking piece (or pieces) of paradise there. Great report. Probably took you a long time to put up all of this, but well worth it and much appreciated. Thanks. Edited July 17, 2009 by Rich Clemens
misfish Posted July 17, 2009 Report Posted July 17, 2009 Thats one super report.Man that was an awesome read.Great photo shots. I was a little bothered with the young ones not wearing PFD,s in some of the pics. Just a pet peeve.Nothing personal.
NAW Posted July 17, 2009 Report Posted July 17, 2009 Looks like you all had a great time. I enjoyed reading your posts. Thanks for the nice report.
love2fishhave2work Posted July 17, 2009 Report Posted July 17, 2009 WOW, I have a 6 and a 2 year old and taking them to the local mall is an adventure. Camping and portaging, all I have to say is WOW. My hat goes out to you and your kids.
solopaddler Posted July 17, 2009 Author Report Posted July 17, 2009 Thanks for the nice comments gents. Brian, your remark was unwarranted and probably better reserved for a pm.
camillj Posted July 18, 2009 Report Posted July 18, 2009 (edited) Thanks for sharing Solo ... I know the effort it requires to prepare such a lengthy epic report ... thanks for taking the time. Looks like you had a blast and some fabulous fishing to boot ! I had a similar experience with the rod many years ago .. but never actually retrieved the rod ... until about 15 years later ... when I caught this rod and when I opened the reel up to clean it I recognized the jury-rigged anti-reverse dog (on the Old Mitchel 300) and realized it was the one I had lost so many years earlier ...great post bud ! Edited July 18, 2009 by camillj
Dara Posted July 18, 2009 Report Posted July 18, 2009 Thanks for the nice comments gents. Brian, your remark was unwarranted and probably better reserved for a pm. Its what I noticed too
Cookslav Posted July 18, 2009 Report Posted July 18, 2009 Wicked family trip! I both can...and can't wait till my young ones are a few years older so its my turn to post one of these family trips Cheers,
Handlebarz Posted July 18, 2009 Report Posted July 18, 2009 Dang now that is a family vacation thanks for sharing the story and pics
splashhopper Posted July 18, 2009 Report Posted July 18, 2009 thank you for the journey and some great pics
solopaddler Posted July 18, 2009 Author Report Posted July 18, 2009 Thanks everyone it really was a great trip. After mulling over the lifejacket comments I'm willing to concede the point.
Spiel Posted July 18, 2009 Report Posted July 18, 2009 Geeeeez Mike, I think your post is about one picture away from crashing my computer. Now this pictures takes me back. From the late 70's to 1980 I had the same canoe. It was my first means of getting off shore and to this day I still regret selling it. Without thinking, just reacting, I dove headfirst into the water LOL!Swam down and managed to grab the rod. Now the only thing I can think of in regards to the above quote, you're NUTS ! That aside all I can say is great post, thanks for taking the time to get it up.
solopaddler Posted July 18, 2009 Author Report Posted July 18, 2009 Geeeeez Mike, I think your post is about one picture away from crashing my computer. Hehe! Now this pictures takes me back. From the late 70's to 1980 I had the same canoe. It was my first means of getting off shore and to this day I still regret selling it. They're great boats I love 'em! Now the only thing I can think of in regards to the above quote, you're NUTS ! Actually Chris what flashed through my mind in a milisecond was "Will Joanne kill me if I buy another $350 rod and reel?"......then I jumped. Still have to get you up there bud...
Roy Posted July 18, 2009 Report Posted July 18, 2009 Great report Mike! I`m absolutely sure that the young ones will remember that forever. It`s kinda heart warming to think that they`ll be sitting around in 20-30 years saying "Hey, you remember the times Dad/Uncle Mike took us out camping and fishing? Those were great times." Good on ya Mike.
johnnyb Posted July 18, 2009 Report Posted July 18, 2009 Fantastic trip and report, Solo....really enjoyable read. MUCH better than those trout posts....all the shiny chrome hurts my eyes
Leecher Posted July 18, 2009 Report Posted July 18, 2009 Life is good to you Mike.... another epic report That was a very enjoyable read and love the scenic pictures of your paradise!!! Thanks for taking the time to post and share with us Jacques
lovemyprovince Posted July 18, 2009 Report Posted July 18, 2009 nice stradic mgfb. and a white one too! i miss those. glad you had fun!
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