Lake of the Woods and Nipigon.

[Ron]

Our Lake of the Woods and Nipigon trip was steller!

 

Being on a new body of water is always a challenge and boating your first Muskie on Lake of the Woods on a spot you pick out for yourself is always a great feeling.

 

 

The weather could have been a little more accommodating but to say the least, you have got to be prepared!

 

Lake of the Woods reminded me of fishing in the middle of the Muskokas at first for the amount of cottages surrounding Kenora. I was a little more than disappointed at first seeing this as I had always envisioned LOW being such a "remote" location to fish. Once you get through Devils gate things change…BIG time! It seems as though you had gone through a time change, oh ya, we did.

 

The color of the water was something I'm not use to either. In the Kawarthas, the water is so clean, you can see follows for what seems to be 15 feet behind the lure. On LOW, you had to constantly watch for any shadows behind the lures. My buddy Keith tagged one of his 45 inchers doing a figure 8….for what seemed to be an eternity, well over 30 f8's!

 

 

She was hot on the Spinner doing laps off the tip of the 7ft rod. By now Keith was on his knees with the rod in the water to the cork wishing he had an 8 footer to get this girl to hit. Talk about an adrenaline rush when they hit so close to the boat and with as little amount of line out. This was the first Muskie Keith has caught on a figure 8, I am sure he will do this as a follow through on all his cast now!

 

 

We seen many a Muskie on this grand lake, definitely an experience to remember. Total count for myself was boating 4 with the largest being 40inches and Keith with 2 twins at 45 inches. I know Mike boated a Muskie and Cupcake unfortunately didn't receive anything for his well worked out efforts. Areas to fish were weedlines, rocks, fallen trees and of course don't forget to add water. I was surprised to see how close to shore all the fish were. A GPS is a must on this lake. Especially driving off the lake in the dark back to the trucks, in the wind, in the rain, fully loaded with much less free board than one is use to. Did I mention wind, Devils Gate, dark????

 

 

 

 

 

Back on the road, drive all night and now off to Nipigon, we set up base camp and fish the river for the afternoon. Mike and myself didn't fair so well educating any of the world renown trophy brooktrout, however this is where Cupcake boated a nice Brookie in the 19 - 20 inch range. Ironicly, it is still not considered a legal fish until it reaches 22 inches.

 

The next day we awoke to a calm morning. We knew this would be the day to do the 30 mile trek into Lake Nipigon to persue the trophy Northern Pike we have always heard about. Nipigon didn't let us down either. Having Mike with me and Keith with Cupcake, it wasn't long for Keith and Cupcake to start laying a beating on the Pike. I was still in the mode of exploring and traveling 30 miles into uncharted waters still didn't cut the urge to see what else is out there. As I controlled the boat and checked out the GPS Mike was up front of the boat laying a beating on Walleye! Now we know where to go for Walleye on this lake too, you just gotta pick your days… Back into the mode of hooking into one of these monster Pike has now come back to me and Mike certainly was the man to do a good number on them. I still came up fishless for most of the morning but as Mike put, I was just waiting for the right one to have a dance with. I guess he was right as this one was definitely worth the wait.

 

 

On our way around the weed bed to do another drift through I was doing some cast into the nearby lilypads and this Pike put my heart up into my throat. She had at least another 20 lbs on the one I caught. (Hey I'm a fisherman, you know the story about the one that got away)…

 

Getting back to camp that night fight with the rain to keep the fire from going, it was a few extra beers under the tarp and then off to bed. The next day was no better weather wise, hoping we could get another 30 mile boat ride under our belt, was not going to happen, the waves were more than 2 metres high… Time to explore new waters…Note to self, this is not the time to find new shoals for potential Brook trout. Luckily I managed to stay clear of any skeg busting rocks, marked it on the GPS for another day. With our tails between our legs we opt to stay near the quiet side of the Islands and work our way back towards camp. Nothing to show for in the morning, we get back towards a shoal I hadn't fished in many years. Keith is up to bat with a nice Brookie starting it fall colors.

 

 

We had 2 more follows and that was it. The last spot we hit for the day once again produced 3 legal Brookies with the largest being 23 inches on the nose beating Keith out by a mere half inch!

 

 

 

 

Getting back to camp, Cupcake and Mike were breaking up camp as the forcast wasn't looking to promising and opted to go elsewhere to finish off their week. We hung it out, managed to find one more spot for Fall Brookies with this heaviest Brookie being caught on the rocks.

 

 

Once again being blown off the lake and not wanting to stop fishing, off to a Smallmouth Bass lake to finish the afternoon off. Non stop action it was….

 

 

We had a bit of a scare back at camp, Keith yells out BEAR!!!!, put the hair up on the back of my neck…with axe in hand and about to fight for my life with this charging "Bear" only to discover it was a black lab….. heart still pounding thinking about it… Needless to say we had a bond fire of all fires that night, Matt would have been proud!

 

 

Waking up in the morning only to see a downpour we decided to pack up 8 hours early and see what trouble we could get into on the way home. On a tip given to me by a reliable source, (don't ever listen to your brother), we hit a lake on the way home which has "hoards" of big Pike. Somehow I think he added the words "Big" to the hoards of Pike. Still a great day with almost every cast getting a hammer handle but wasn't really what we were looking for. We finished the trip off with a fun day of catching and finished the long drive home. Overall if a person was to do this again, do only one or the other. Lake of the Woods deserves a full trip and the same goes for Nipigon. Trying to put both into the same trip kind of gives you a taste and not the full experience.

 

Cheers, Ron….

[Handlebarz]

Congrats on yet another great trip to the Great White North Ron you guys sure do get some great trips in.

[misfish]

Great report Ron.

Nice clean fish. Pic,s were awesome.

I noticed that set up under your bow seat. Very nice.

 

 

Good to hear from you again.

[danc]

Wow Ron. You and the boys did exceptional on LOTW for first timers. Bruce gave me a call after he ran into you guys and told me that you were at Nipigon. If the weather was looking any better at all, I'd have been there in a heartbeat. I heard that you made the trek to McBay. The stories of monster Pike there are well noted. That's why I don't go there... lol

 

We have to hook up next year for sure. It's been too long since I've enjoyed one of your custom made Caesars. Thanks for the great report.

[muskymatt]

Splendid sir...simply splendid

[Terry]

great report

 

 

and some fine fish too

[Leecher]

Cool..... those are some real beauties right there

Figure eight.... got to remember that.... thanks for sharing

Leechman

[Pigeontroller]

Nice pics and report Ron!

[Guest ThisPlaceSucks]

very entertaining report.

[johnnyb]

Great report...beautiful pics...as impressive as the pike and muskie are, I just can't take my eyes off those gorgeous brookies! Thanks for sharing

[solopaddler]

LOTW and Nipigon, what an amazing double header. You guys have definitely got a nose for fish!

[camillj]

Wow .. fabulous report .. thanks for sharing !

[fishdawg]

right on Ron

allways have enjoyed reading about your adventures here

[MCTFisher9120]

Super job up there sir! Must be fun to tangle with so many big toothy critters!

 

Thanks for the report and pictures,

MTBF

[fishnsled]

Great report Ron, awesome pics as well.

[Joey]

Stellar report Ron. We just got back ourselves from a week of pounding the water. I know of the weather in which you speak - terrible to say the least. I'll bet it was a tad colder up where you were tho.

 

That is a tremendous pike and the muskie ain't bad either

 

Some lovely brookies to round off the week too, very nice.

 

I'm glad you didn't take a whack at the "bear" before it was too late

 

Great stuff Ron.

 

Joey

[John]

Thanks for sharing Ron, stellar report. Great pic's too.

[Roy]

Super report Ron! A week of Muskies/pike/brookies! Heaven.....not too sure about a week with Cupcake though.

Glad you guys had a good time despite the weather.

[b2kptbo]

What a great trip, beauty report, thanks...

[Harrison]

Awesome stuff Ron, what a great trip. Kudos for finding good fish on unknown water!

[Headhunter]

Great report and pics!

HH

[muskeybugged]

I think it would take a lifetime to get the full Lake of the Woods expirence. I had the same thoughts on the way to our Island lodge. Cottage after cottage then the last 5 mins was awww here we are, remoteness. The dark water caught me by surprise also. Seems every spot we tried had a musky.

 

Great report, Great read - Thanks for sharing and making me daydream at work about LOTW.

[BillM]

Awesome fish!!

 

Sounds like the mayfly hatch on Nipigon finally finished

[mistaredone]

Man I love the musky lure holder you have on the base of the bicycle seat. Where did you buy that?

[Moosebunk]

WOW!!!

 

So that was you talking with my buddy Big-O. I was standing right there on the shore beside him while you and him were yelling back and forth. Too bad I didn't recognize you, nor you me... I guess.

 

Great trip for ya. You guys worked the water well and didn't mind catching fish right in front of us.