Cookslav's Algonquin "speckapalouza" 2010

[Cookslav]

Our departure time set for 4am was looking great!

All my brothers arrived on time, and loaded their gear into the van with 10 minutes to spare.

At that point I suggested we stop at Timmy‘s on the way to grab some breakfast food and coffee being we’re ahead of schedule….

No more then 2 seconds after my suggestion My youngest brother followed up with an expletive or two and shamefully admits he had forgotten to put his food in his pack and needed to return home.

So off he went to pick up his food, and we met him at the Timmy’s now 45 minutes behind schedule.

However, the drive was brilliant!!!

No traffic, no construction, perfect driving conditions…it was by far the nicest and fastest trip to the park I’ve had yet.

In fact it was so nice we shaved the 45 minute delay and made it to the outfitter on time at 10am.

Too bad the outfitter “forgot” about us…

We waited until 11am before I started to panic a bit.

In the past I’ve noticed this particular outfitter walks to work

(how I know this is a long story….for another time)

So I wrote down the last name on the mailbox located at the canoe depot and looked her up in the phone book in correspondence with the street I know she lives on…

I left her messages at home, emailed her on the Black berry to no avail. We eventually wrote her a note, and taped it to her front door(as she was not home)

And began calling around for alternate outfitters…

Just as I located an alternative she came walking out of the bush…she had taken the dog for a walk, and decided to check on the business as she was out and about…

When I questioned her about our agreement I received No apology what so ever, she just said

“Oh?…I was not planning to be here until 1pm today, I guess you guys are lucky I decided to drop in early”

I bit my tongue as the closest outfitter was an hours drive, and we were only 10 minutes away from being back on the road. Rest assured she will never get our business again.

We finally got our canoes and permits, and headed out!

 

Wednesday was a beautiful sunny but windy day in the Park with a stiff 30km North Easterly flow.

Gusts up to 50km made for some tuff paddling, and sketchy moments in the heavily loaded canoes, but on the flip side the cooler breeze made the balmy 14 degree temps a lot nicer on the portages as our group does NOT travel lightly LOL!

I think with out the breeze we would have been sweating something awful lugging that liquid courage into the park

 

The breeze also kept the bugs at bay….I had heard mixed reports last week that bugs were popping up,

but were not really uniform yet…I suppose the wind was just some added insurance?

We made our way though the lakes and Portages with out any issues...it was fairly uneventful outside of the usual aching muscles and the occasional curse word.

We made it to our destination by the dinner hour, and got to work with the Katadyn pumping 5 gallons of clean drinking water, scavenging for 4 nights worth of wood...splitting, sawing, and piling our camp fire supplies was high on the priority list as it was cooling down fast.

 

 

We tend to burn a lot of wood, so we ended up topping this pile up twice LOL....

But with 8 guys its pretty easy, and quick.

 

And of course we then erected our patented Algonquin “Big Top” tent as we knew rain was forecast for the weekend.

 

 

There was to be no fishing that night…

After starting the day at 3am, being in transit or making camp until sun set had us all pretty bushwhacked and an early night was just what the doctor ordered.

 

Thursday morning was COLD….dam cold and breezy as well.

I crushed the ice out of my water bottle so I could get a sip of water to alleviate the burning sore throat I seemed to have developed over night and stumbled out of bed to embrace the glorious sunny morning with hope I would soon be catching Speckled trout….its been a year since I last had one on my line and I was more then excited to get cracking.

I hurried to make some coffee, and get some oatmeal in my belly as I warmed by the fire my Dad had already got going

( I guess I wasn‘t the only one who found it unexpectedly cold )

The Blue skies had me a bit concerned about the Bite...and boy was the sky clear!

Not a blemish outside of a lone Jet

 

 

 

I guess I just prefer the Overcast days when coaxing the polka dot beauties from cover...I've always had better luck in unsettled conditions?

By 7:30am I was portaging to a nearby lake to scope out a submerged fallen tree I had noticed on the way in.

 

 

My second cast stopped dead in its tracks and I hammered the rod back…then felt the drag unwind!

It was a big girl, and I knew it from the moment I set the hook

With 4 pound test and an ultralite rod I had concerns about the fallen wood this fish was dangerously close to, but I kept the pressure on and a few seconds(which felt like hours) later she raced under the canoe away from the tree. I still hadn’t gotten a good look at her yet, and the tug she was giving had me doubting the Target species?

A Laker seemed unlikely given the proximity to shore, and I was not aware of any bass being in this lake?

Just as these thoughts crossed my mind my brother spotted her, and gave me one of those half laughing, half shocked, and concerned comments that sounds a bit like

 

“Woa dude…ha ha ha, she’s huge…better get the net eh?

 

My heart was racing at this point I still had not seen her as the sun was giving off one hell of a glare with the angle I was facing. After a few more quick shakes, and dives my brother became my new hero as he slipped the net under my new Personal Best 20” Algonquin Brookie.

With only 2 casts in the water to say I was excited is an understatement LOL!

 

 

Caught on a White Rooster tail, with a gold Blade, and silver specks

 

 

The afternoon came and my brother had caught 2 more respectable Brookies in the 14-15” range, while I went with out so much as a hit.

By lunch I needed a break as my throat had gone from sore to raw.

I felt week, and feverish…not a good sign

With the winds variable but stiff making for difficult canoe control I elected to drug myself with some Advil and sleep the afternoon away in the hopes I might feel better later.

I had a great nap in my new Hennessey Hammock I have to say…

For those who have not seen these things, I STRONGLY suggest you have a look, especially if you are a side sleeper, or have back issues…I have never slept so well in the bush and I think I have even come up with a new slogan for Hennessey should they want some advertising help.

It goes a little something like this,

 

“Sleeping on the ground is for Suckers!”

 

How can you go wrong with a tent that is 100% waterproof, needs no air mattress, can be set up anywhere, and weighs less then 2lbs???

 

 

Anyway enough of the sales pitch….back to the fishing

We headed back out after dinner and the bite was still a bit slower, I managed to get one little guy but that was it for our canoe that night. However I was still quite happy with my PB from earlier in the day…

I think I could have gone fishless for the rest of the weekend and still been quite amused.

The other guys did ok with each canoe landing a few through out the day with a few hitting the 14” range.

We re-grouped by the fire and swapped info.

It was an early night for me again, but the boys were up late putting a dent in their Heineken Mini kegs…how I slept is beyond me but I did.

 

Friday I awoke to yet another sunny but warm and calm day and I felt MUCH better…just a bit of a scratchy throat, and I had some energy so this day seemed promising from the start…except there was already 4 canoes on our lake grrrrr…I know its not our lake but for some reason its always disappointing to see others when your out in the bush isn’t it

After my Morning Coffee My brother and I snuck off to another lake…

As nice as it would be to work the lake I'm camped on...it was crowded and I was working a theory…

Our Base camp lake is smaller and shallower in comparison to a few other local lakes, and the water seemed a tad warmer (I say seemed…because I lost my thermometer)The guys that stayed on the Base lake yesterday did "ok" but I wondered if the slightly cooler temp of a deeper lake might have them biting better?

It was a mistake… LOL!

After all the portaging and Paddling, I didn’t get a hit, nor did my brother.

But what turned out to be funnier is after spending all morning and the better part of the afternoon working this lake to no avail, we were on our way out, as the rest of the crew came in to try their luck

They figured we were lighting the lake up being we had been gone so long, so they thought they’d come cash in as well…they elected to stay and try their luck but unfortunately reported no fish when they came back to camp for dinner.

After dinner as I sipped my coffee I noticed a rise in the south end of the lake, then another, and another…

My canoe launched 2 minutes later with our bow pointed due south while no one was looking.

By the time we were in casting distance of the area I noticed a site I have never laid eyes on before...

It was a shallow fertile bay, black bottom with some sort of hatch started. There was a patch of bugs, and debris on the surface about 20’ long by 10’ wide, and the fish were BOILING under it

It was slurp, splash, swirl repeated over and over again so my brother and I casted together.

Him with a blue and silver Panther Martin, and me with a Hendrickson fly.

 

 

BAM….double header!

He landed a healthy 14” beauty, I lost my clone at boat side.

We repeated casting this area and landed 6 fish in 15 minutes, ranging any were from 8” to 16”

Most were around this size,

 

 

But a few looked a bit more like this piggy

 

 

By that time the group had noticed the jumping, and the constant bend in our rods so they made their way into the bay and got in on the action. Feeling a bit crowded….

We departed to the other end of the lake, in hopes that it might also be a boiling, as It was also a shallow fertile bay….we arrived to find many fish rising, but it was not the same intensity as the south end.

However it was peaceful. I managed another one on the fly rod before it began to get dark so I suggested we head back to camp as I obviously had some fish cleaning to do now.

Just as we were getting ready to troll back we were beaconed by a Lone Wolf!!!

The howl was so loud I just about jumped out of my seat LOL!

That was cool in it’s self, but when I called to her….she called back!

Not once but 3 times before we started to hear calls from all around, and then as fast as it happened….they were gone. I HAVE to upgrade my Camera to one that takes video with sound….that would have really been something to capture and share.

Back at camp we ate a few fresh trout, talked about the wolf howls and laughed around the fire as the guys drank their beer. We of course swapped glory stories from the day, and analyzed the day performance.

Most fish were being caught in shallow under structure in the early morning hours, and then again in the deeper waters away from shore in the afternoon which is a bit opposite of any speck fishing I’ve ever done?

But the evening bite was basically where you would expect…on the surface in shallow.

 

Saturday we awoke to a gloomy overcast, but calm morning…rain was imminent.

But we were prepared. We expected rain Friday Night, but it never came, so we considered ourselves lucky, and dawned our rain gear for the day.

It was warm, and muggy between down pours, and the bugs were out in force.

Black flies were out and about all week, but had been increasing in frequency by the day.

Today they were biting, and becoming a nuisance as I tried to eat my oatmeal and enjoy my morning coffee…

The morning bite was slow for us…it could have been the other 6 canoes that joined our group of 4 though

10 canoes is a bit crowded for me so I elected to hit a different lake not too far away.

We made the trek to the nearby lake and set up a troll to cover some water, and was met with stiff hit about an hour in and landed a nice Eater. We managed another 3 before heading home with two on the stringer for our last dinner in the park before leaving.

When we made it back to camp the boys were still out fishing, so we elected to fish some more, and I am glad we did.

I managed to hook up with another 2 fish, as did my brother, both in the 14” range,

 

 

To bad I lost an additional 4 fish doh!!!

The bite was fast and light...many boat side losses but non the less it was still a blast.

We eventually packed it in, and headed to camp to clean and cook our fish.

The boys had split their approach as half went off to a nearby lake, while the other half stayed at our base lake….all canoes reported fish this day, and brought a few eaters back for the final feast.

 

 

And once again we were serenaded by the Algonquin eastern grey wolf orchestra which had not lost any intensity the second time around...just awesome to hear live.

There is just something so enchanting about their call…both eerie, and exhilarating.

So I enjoyed the moment As I cleaned the fish.

 

These baby’s got the royal treatment!

Filleted, and seasoned with lemon, pepper, greased with Butter and

Slowly grilled on the fire with some soaked cedar thrown on the fire for a smoky finish.

 

 

Man they were good LOL!!!

Crispy skin, and just unbelievably smoky.

 

 

As a synopsis,

We trolled and threw EGB’s, Crocodiles, Cleo’s, Mepps, Blue Fox, jigs, and rapala’s in countless patterns, speeds, and retrieves. We threw woolly buggers, cadis, nymphs, and Hendrickson’s but in truth there was no magic lure.

It just seemed that when they were on…they were on, and as quickly as it would happen, they would turn off.

No rhymes or reasoning, we just simply took it as it came.

Regardless of the Lake early fish were in the wood near shore, afternoon fish were tight lipped and found cruising deeper water(20’+) away from structure…I know its weird, but that’s how it was.

Evening bite was shallow in fertile bays.

Water temps in the lakes felt warmer then normal…maybe 60-62 degrees?(sorry I lost my thermometer)

The bite was timid…most fish that hit were just “tapping” the bait so you had to be quick on the trigger, and many, MANY fish were following the bait right to the boat before hitting.

This resulted in many poor hook sets, and many lost fish But…

The weeks total was 54 specks landed between 8 guys, over 3 days between 4 lakes…not to shabby

I personally contributed 12 to that tally and was thrilled with yet another great Algonquin spring fishing experience.

 

For the record…

This was the nicest exit to the park I have ever had!

Mother nature provided one of her beautiful Misty and calm Algonquin mornings.

Not a ripple on the water made the paddling easy all the way out.

 

 

Although the Portages had that Rainforest feel about them

Wet, warm, humid, sweaty and SLIPPERY LOL…

We all made it out alive, with a few comical wipe outs but otherwise we all left in great shape, and longing for our next trip into the park.

Here is a couple more photo's I liked...

 

My Algonquin Coat rack

 

I rigged the Fire pit with a hot stone this year...

Made some scrambled eggs, and grilled cheese sandwiches for the fun of it

We actually used the other rock as a pannini press for the other side of Bread...it just looked better for the picture with out.

 

Misty Morning

 

My chariot

 

 

Thats my trip, but I hope to be in the park another couple times this year....might plan a bass trip in the fall, and splake in the summer....we'll see

 

Cheers

[jayess]

great report... looks like a blast!

[anders]

Awesome report...thanks for putting that together...i have been on a speck kick up here this year and havent been disappointed.

Seems like specks are on everyones mind right now.

 

Thanks for sharing.

[MJL]

Mind blasting report Cookslav…Thoroughly enjoyed it – Made me feel like I was there.

 

Thanks for the heads up on that hammock…That is exactly what I’ve been looking for for ages. Did you order yours online or do stores around southern Ontario carry them?

 

Methinks I may give Algonquin park a try next spring. The meat on those specks looks to die for

 

Thanks for sharing

 

Mike

[Nemo]

Awesome report and trip. Too bad about your outfitter. Glad to see the fish on the fire they looked tasty.

 

Hammock is awesome. I am a devoted user.

 

Nemo

[torco]

Awesome report. I enjoy reading it every year.

Sadly I won't be in Algonquin this year but would love to get back next year.

 

Do you mind letting me know the outfitter that you used so I can beware. You can PM me their info if you would like.

 

And congrats on a successful trip.

[fish-miester]

ughhhh saweeett!!

[JohnF]

Well done, on the trip and the report. Thanks.

 

JF

[Guest ThisPlaceSucks]

looks like a sweet trip. going in search of a six this weekend. i know she's out there.

[ehg]

That is a speck'tacular report

Thanks for the details and efforts put into all this.

From the PB brookie to the gourmet meals, this report rocks.

[Joey]

What a trip that was, very nice report.

 

Joey

[Dutchy]

Nice report, great looking fish.

[Governator]

Awesome report, this has got me excited for the may long weekend trip I have planned. Great report, great pics and those fish on the fire looks delic! Congrats on the PB.

[marth11]

nice report now I wanna go out trout fishing right after I go carp fishing tomorrow maybe on the weekend

[Leecher]

Specktacular report and pics Cookslav

I've been looking forward to your report and must say, you're a couple of pounds heavier with the gear stuff than last years

 

That was a great read, felt like I was tagging along. First fish and you hook into a beauty, under a sunken tree, on 4lbs test.... got to love that Must of been un-nerving fighting it with so much under water structure.

Congrats on your PB

And thanks for sharing your adventures with us!!!

Leechman

[bigugli]

Sounds like a very successful outing. Too bad about the outfitter. Too bad about the other parties on the lake, Nothing like having a spot to yourself. You certainly made up for any of the drawbacks.

[Musky or Specks]

That was a great report made me want to pack up and go right this second. Congrats on the 20" a definite milestone in speck fishing

[Grimace]

That sir is as good as it gets.

[denisk]

Awesome speck, hookin up while casting is quite the thrill Looks like you guys had the food situation under control also.

Nothing half ass about it in this report.

[irishfield]

Looked like a LOT of FUN !!

[TJQ]

Nice report, very well done!! Looks like a fantastic trip!!

[sweetpea]

Wow! Sounds like an awesome trip. Great report, thanks for sharing. I'm going to have to get to Algonquin sometime to try out the backcountry trout fishing there.

[Moosebunk]

Your Algonquin reports are never to miss. They're your best. They standout. Congrats on the PB... what a fine fish, and to be testing it on 4lbs would have been a treat.

 

Thanks for the write-up. Already looking forward to more this summer.

[Cookslav]

Thanks for the Kind words guys glad you all enjoyed the read.

Its definitily one of my favorite times of Year, and was glad to share it.

 

The fish are on and I think its heating up....

I've always heard the best bite, and when the Bugs are biting, and they are starting.

Another week of sun and look out!

[Cookslav]

Thanks for the heads up on that hammock…That is exactly what I’ve been looking for for ages. Did you order yours online or do stores around southern Ontario carry them?

 

Hey MJL,

Try here on line

http://hennessyhammock.com/

I bought mine used online though a fellow member of the Algonquin board.

But even through the company its pretty inexpensive.

 

Not to long ago they had a buy one get one free sale....pretty good deal if you ask me?