Terry's fly-in

Terry · August 8, 2010

I am not much of a writer but here goes, sorry for the thoughtless ramblings ….

I loved the trip and I would go with the same outfitter again, but I would lower my expectations and not totally believe their brochure that says big fish (8 to 10 lb walleye and 20 lb pike not even close).. jumping into your boat ….

So here goes

We book the fly-in back in Jan. and it seemed to take a lifetime to get here

but there I was heading up to Cochrane to fly into a lake that the operator claimed to have 8 to 10lb walleye and 20lb+ pike...(we will get back to that a little later)

We stayed in Cochrane over night, had a real good meal at a restaurant called Terry's..how could we go wrong with a name like that.

We asked the motel for a wake up call but we were up way before the crack of dawn so we went looking for breakfast, found a Husky restaurant always a good place to eat

We were told we would fly out at 9 but they wanted us there at 8, we got there at 7…….

Just before 11 we finally took off , after 4 hours of standing around I was ready to get this thing going….

The pilot was great as was the flight on the beaver, I didn't even feel when the plane touched down on our lake…

We unloaded everything including a new BBQ

The cabin was..was…lets go with the word rustic..yeah rustic is a good word

The pilot said the outhouse was just down this path…..yeah..way down a path….

Just before the pilot left he said "well you know they are calling for a front to go through every day this week and the fishing can be bad to terrible for hours aft er a front, so be prepared…..

I have to say that brought me down ..crash and burn before I have a line in the water..

I read, into what he just said to us as "you guys are not going to catch any fish in this lake that was fished out years ago "

We got the boat ready and off we went, we started catching fish right away, not 8 to 10 lbs but lots of fish.

An hour and a half of fishing and we get a thunder storm, I don't mind rain but lighting and I am off the water….

9 at night we get back out on the water for a few more fish

next morning we get back out on the water, fishing is great again (no big ones) . it's a small lake and in 2 hours you can learn the whole lake , I had my hds5 with the portable kit, it's a small battery and only lasts a day so I used it sparingly and put way points on my garmin hadheld gps so I would know the different contours of the lake, but 2 hours of fishing and the lightning starts again…….not a lot to do in that little cabin .so nap time..

it was after 6 pm when the lightning stops but the rain was coming down hard. Even with good quality rain suits we got soaked to the bone, we went back to the cabin to dry out. The 2 propane lights on the wall barely gave off enough light to see but we tried to play cards for a while and listened to my MP3 player for a while..

next morning we woke up to…yup thunderstorms…….we waited around till about 8am it was still raining hard but no more lightning …we again caught lots of fish, we fished until my butt was cold, wet, wrinkled and could take no more pounding rain..

Thursday we woke up to..rain..what a surprise

But again the fishing was real good, we kept 3 small ones for a meal, John did the cooking and he was a great cook.

The fish were a real good lunch and the sky was clearing so we went out again the wind had changed direction and all the fish were at the far end of the lake but that was only a 2 minute boat ride and we were on them again, a bit of light rain and a rainbow stayed with us for about an hour

Then it was time for a nice steak dinner ..did I say John was a good cook..it was great

But just as the steak was done the bbq ran out of propane..we only used it for 3 meals and we ran out..oh well the steak was great and the rest of the meals would be cooked on the stove …

We went back out fishing and there were lots to be caught, about 7;30 the temperature started to drop. By 8:30 we could see our breath and had to go in and get more clothing on, but by the time we got back to fishing the bite was off……

Friday I woke up freezing, there was a hole in the wood stove between the stove and the smoke pipe so I didn't want to have it burning all night and wake up dead in the morning, so it was cold all night. So I started a fire in the morning we had a long breakfast and went fishing. Man it was cold, 2 deg C and we did not come dressed for it. We were lucky to get a couple but with that major cold front I was not expecting the fish to be on…

I dropped off John at the cabin and continued to fish by myself about 11:45 I caught a walleye through it back in and got another, seven cast and seven fish I knew they were back on the feed..I ran back and got John and we had a blast catching fish after fish……in the back of mind I still wondered where the 8 to 10 lb walleye were ..we never saw them

Saturday morning we waited for the plane to arrive

Each plane that flew near, we thought was ours

This one was and off we go… we were told that we had to pick up 2 more guys from another lake, so another take off and another landing..did I say I don't really like to fly..LOL

Anyways we had a heck of a great time there were lots of fish to be caught and I had not gone on a fishing trip like this with John so I did not know what to expect from him but he was a lot of fun and I would go any time with him on a week long fishing trip

The videos are unedited so whatever uploaded is here in no particular order

almost all the trees had moss growing on them

as a boy scout I thought it would only be on the north side of the tree

waiting for the plane

I had my music and gps

fishermccann · August 8, 2010

Thanks. what a great job on your story , most entertaining, as others will soon tell you. Thanks again.

Sandbag · August 8, 2010

Terry

Thanks for taking the time to put that together. Looks like a nice trip. Sorry you didn't get into the big ones and that the weather wasn't the greatest. At least it sounds like you had lots of bite action.

That outhouse trek video seemed like more of a marathon. I would stay clear of the baked beans while up at that camp!

Thanks again

Cheers

Craig

fish-miester · August 8, 2010

Great report!

you sir.. just made me so hungry! I could defenetly go for some Walleye.. or even a nice steak right about now..

solopaddler · August 8, 2010

You've just described what is a very typical fly in experience in the James Bay lowlands north of Cochrane (Kesagami being the notable exception).

Smallish walleyes by the boatload, substandard grody outpost camps, and mostly shallow featureless dishpan lakes.

Still it's a good experience and I can relate to your sentiments.

Thanks for taking the time to write that up, very enjoyable.

(Side note, but I can't view the videos for some reason. :dunno: )

Edited August 8, 2010 by solopaddler

Rich Clemens · August 8, 2010

Good Job Terry. Ya tell a great story.

Hope ya get to do it again soon.

Joey · August 8, 2010

Really great report, videos and pictures Terry, almost like I was there.

That is one long trail to the bathroom. Not sure I'd be likin that in the middle of the night too much.

Looks like you had a good time despite the giant fish not making the sacrifice into your boat :w00t:

Thanks for sharing your adventure.

Joey

spincast · August 8, 2010

cool trip. shame about the accomodations. The wallys werent poster size, but sure are perfect eaters.

Funny how often we travel for hours with visions to catch something special just to look back after and realize knowing our own waters often produces better catches.

Still - any trip that produces r&r and fish is good!

TroutnMuskieHunter · August 8, 2010

Great report Terry!.....sure beats siting at home or being stuck in the office!! :clapping:

Terry · August 8, 2010

thanks all

yeah I guess if i want big walleye I have to do a charter with Lloyd on BOQ in the fall...LOL

bassman87 · August 8, 2010

thanks for sharing. :angel:

Dutch · August 8, 2010

Sounds like a good trip fish wise, Terry. Shame on the weather though. Sounds like you made the most of it.

You'll have to get the 10 pounders next time.

glen · August 8, 2010

Rustic. Did you have to pay extra for that?

Looks like a good trip. Thanks for the report.

Edited August 8, 2010 by glen

asdve23rveavwa · August 8, 2010

Thanks for the report, Terry! Like a bunch of the other guys have stated, yeah you didn't get into trophies, but, you got away...caught some great eaters, and made the best of some tough fishing conditions. :thumbsup_anim:

Edited August 8, 2010 by FRANKIE65

Radnine · August 9, 2010

Thanks Terry,

That was a great ride.

Jim

corvette1 · August 9, 2010

congrats on your trip looks you guys had a great time

lew · August 9, 2010

Thanks for putting that all together Terry, sounds like a fun trip.

Roy · August 9, 2010

Great report Terry. You certainly got rained on enough. Looks like you guys had your fill of walleye. Thanks for putting this together for us.

Billy Bob · August 9, 2010

You've just described what is a very typical fly in experience in the James Bay lowlands north of Cochrane (Kesagami being the notable exception).

Smallish walleyes by the boatload, substandard grody outpost camps, and mostly shallow featureless dishpan lakes.

Still it's a good experience and I can relate to your sentiments.

Thanks for taking the time to write that up, very enjoyable.

(Side note, but I can't view the videos for some reason. )

I have to agree with solopaddler here in most things he said....but your "lodge" was MUCH better including your outhouse compared to one of my recent Fly In Trips....however, our fishing size wise was a bit better.

Our Resort Lodge

Our lean to Outhouse (only three walls and no door)

Average Walleye size caught

As yours, our fishing was VERY GOOD but I wouldn't go back to this outfitter because of the accomadations were SUB PAR at best. With four guys paying almost $600 each for four days you expect a little better place to rest your head at the end of the day (not to mention the place was a mess and it took us 3 hours to clean up before we could move in).

Maybe I'm just getting too old for fly in trips.... :dunno:

Bob

SylvanOwner · August 9, 2010

Nice report Terry. I've been wanting to do a fly-in for years so it was really helpful to see through your videos what the experience might be like.

Mmmmmmm walleye......

Bernie · August 9, 2010

A classic post Terry.

Looks like a great trip !

beerman · August 9, 2010

Looks like you fished Today Lake, with Cochrane Air Services.. We have gone with them atleast 15 years now.. Great fly in fishing..

August 9, 2010

Excellent report Terry! Thanks for taking the time to post it. It really sucks about the weather. And the accommodations do not sound too inviting. But if the weather co-operated? You would not be spending too much time indoors anyways, other than to sleep. Unless you payed a ridiculous amount? I would say that it sounded like a great trip to me. And how can you not love flying over our beautiful country???

And where are the pike? If there were any pike at all in that lake? I would definitely say there is potential for a big pike for sure, with all those pickerel too eat. How deep was this little lake?

Terry · August 9, 2010

the cabin wasn't that bad..but because of lightning we did spent too much time in it

average depth was 15 ft

there 34 ft was the max depth

we only got snot rockets, didn't even break the 24" mark

it was a fine trip

but their brochure stated 8 to 10 lb walleye and 20 lb pike

they had stacks of photos of walleye and i did not see one walleye that looked 8lbs

if they caught 10 lbs walleyes they would do this

they had a couple of pictures about the size of a couple of my small ones

August 9, 2010

the cabin wasn't that bad..but because of lightning we did spent too much time in it

average depth was 15 ft

there 34 ft was the max depth

we only got snot rockets, didn't even break the 24" mark

it was a fine trip

but their brochure stated 8 to 10 lb walleye and 20 lb pike

they had stacks of photos of walleye and i did not see one walleye that looked 8lbs

if they caught 10 lbs walleyes they would do this

<a href="http://s25.photobucket.com/albums/c52/Mrbeee1954/?action=view&current=walleye22.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c52/Mrbeee1954/walleye22.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

they had a couple of pictures about the size of a couple of my small ones

Sounds like there is too much fish for that small lake. I think they have to start catching and keeping a lot more pike and pickerel so there is less competition for forage and that they can grow bigger.

Strange that they claim there are 20LB pike and 10lb pickerel(maybe 20 years ago) in there without having any pictures posted. Who knows....Maybe they are related to Barry Pringle.LOL SORRY BARRY!!

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