Temagami - A few fish

[spincast]

So - after the Polar Bear Express we motored down to Temagami. Had rented a cottage on one of the island lodges for a week.

Cottage was pretty good, just a little too close to each other for our tastes, but we had a good time, and the scenery was spectacular. This is the view from our dock

I was up and on the water by 6:00 almost everyday. The fishing was pretty slow. Marked lost of lakers in the 80 - 100 FOW range, and a lot of suspended fish at 36 - 40 FOW Decided not to downrig without having someone who knew the lake better after seeing some of the shoals come up so fast . Tried leadcore, bottom bouncers and jet divers for the suspended ones with no interest. So - pike and bass it was to be. Got some direction from the lodge owner and hit one of the weedy bays; came up with this 16 incher:

Kids had a riot catching smallies by the bundle - the had the great idea of loading up the live well and then taking them back to the dock to catch the next day. About 2 hours fishing:

 

Afternoons were spent tubing,swimming and searching for some mid day pike. Found a couple. This 24 incher took a worm on a 3/4 jig

 

Last 2 mornings there got pretty cold out - only 5 degreees at 5:00 am - made for some cool visuals;

and trolling at dusk was a great way to relax at the end of the day: lost a beautie smallie (about 5lber) in the net this night - note to self - when fishing solo, keep the leader at LEAST 2 foot shorter than the rod. I had a 6 foot leader on a 7'6 rod, and just couldn't keep the rod high enough to get the net around him. White 4 inch rap on an in-line planer board attracted this fish. Had the same affect on a sunken tree 10 minutes later in 20 ft of water - bye bye rap..

Next day found little pike's bigger cousin in the same bay:

as with almost all my fish - back to fight another day...

Apparenlty last year the water was cresting the top of the docks...

some nice suprises under the water. look in the upper middle of this shot 10 - 16 foot of water (front to back of rock) on either side- you know why the house boats have the fishfinders on the bow - not that the small motors on them would stop them fast enough...

Small world that it is - while refilling the beer supply, saw a familiar looking guy dropping some empties off at the beer store - and he was wearing a red neck ice fishing shirt - and he definetly knew quite a few people. We had pulled into the parking lot at the same time and when putting the ale in the back had a quick look - naw, couldnt be anyone else - the license plate surround said "My other car is an airplane" It was Irishfield> Had a great chat with him and his wife It was great to meet you both- gotta love this board -and the members. He said something about visitors drinking all his beer, eating all his food and wanting to know where all the fish were..... (just pulling your leg Joey)..

 

 

On the down side - while out one night by myself about 8 miles up one of the bays bringing a bass in, it gave a big head shake just as I was about to grab him and unhook him from the 4 inch storm minnow. Drove the front treble into my finger right up to the shank. Ouch ... ouch .. ouch. And of course, having caught me, he wanted to play me a bit - every move or jump was agony. After what felt like 20 but was probably only 5 minutes, I managed to get the hook off the minnow, and cut off the remaining 2 hooks. The 1 in my finger was so far up there wasn't enough left to push it through - so I had to pull it back. It actually hurt less than I thought - or maybe shock was pretty deep by then? I keep a first aid kit in the boat and cleaned it up and bandaged it. Changed the dressing every day. Next 3 days it seemed ok. Came home Saturday, still fine. Sunday afternoon it starts to throb a little. I head over to the Paris hospital (very small) clinic. Hours are 10:30 - 5:30. I'm there at 2:30 - already closed due to back log. OK - wait till the morning hit my Doc. Wake up at midnight, and it is beginning to swell, and hurt. Head into Brantford to the emerg. 13 hour wait. I will leave the discussion of the oxymoron implicit in a 13 hour wait to have an emergency treated. But I must admit by this point I was beginning to get p'o'd about where my tax dollars were going if this is emergency care. Anyway - Monday morning its pretty red and swollen. Decide hit the cambridge walkin clinic as soon as it opens. Its closed for the week! OK up the slug'spressway (highway 8 into Kitchener) to the doctors office. Receptionist says what's it about. Hold out my finger. I can get you in at 2:30 she says. No, I don't think thats a good idea says I. I know just enough from first aid and being raised in a doctors house that infection once set in this bad needs to be taken care of. So - 1 hour later I'm in the dock office. After repeating the story he gets one of those faces that tells you he thinks its has the potential to be real bad ( he had a similar face when he told me 20 years ago he thought I had lymphoma - he was wrong then - Thank goodness). You know its bad when he leaves the room comes back with a book and says - i have to find a very fast acting aggressive anti biotic. I want to see you tomorrow and I am making the appointment now. he did it himself. My finger was so swollen it was running the risk of cutting off all the circulation, and if that happened, worst case, if it couldn't be controlled in the hospital, they might have to amputate. Now he didn't say that in so many words, but that's where it was going. Any way - happy ending (so far) finger is healing and no knives. I said to him today - normally I would have gone to the hospital the next day, but it seemed to be healing up well, nothing for three, 4 days then wham. Yep he says - probably got a little bit if water from the lake with some germs on it and it just took a while to develop ( I was fishing off a beaver lodge - didn't even think of it till he said this). Sooo I know a lot of you guys will say I should have gone to the hospital anyway - but how many times have we cut ourselves or stuck oursleves and nothing came of it? we cleaned it up looked after it and healed up fine. Next time I think I will get it looked at asap.

 

So that's my story - and in the way of sunsetting this - here's one of the most amazing sunsets I have ever seen. i didn't capture it at its peak, but my wife did. Will post that one on the photo forum later. Moose Factory at 10:00 The whole sky looked like a pot of gold at one point.

oh - and i don't know why, but i have always thought this one of the coolest places by the side of the road - the other side of course says from this point all waters flow south....

 

[vinnimon]

Excelent report Rick!

Gotta watch them rocks!Been there,almost ate both my cannon balls,opted for the j 13 instead!

Sorry to hear about your mishap,hope it heals soon!

[Terry]

great report

some real nice pictures too

 

Always great to talk to Irishfeld and his better half

[asdve23rveavwa]

Great report Rick!! Ouch on the finger! Hopefully we can get out on the water again soon.

Edited August 11, 2010 by FRANKIE65

[Joey]

Awesome report Rick, now tell me what Wayne really said

 

Beautiful country up there for sure and you captured it nicely in your pics. No pics of the wound Been there, done that, except for the infection. Spiel and Crappisteve ripped mine out as it would not push through either and it was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Glad you are on the mend and no cutting is involved.

 

Joey

[lew]

Great account of your fishing adventure and excellent pictures too.

 

Scary stuff with your finger and good to hear it's healing up OK. I got cut by a musky tooth one time but waited about 9 hours before going to the hospital. It required 8 stitches to close and the doctor told me that lake water is one of the worst things for a cut and NEVER wait that long to get it treated.

[SylvanOwner]

Cool report. Glad to hear the finger is healing. Super sunset photo and I also agree about the "watershed" sign photo....got that one in my collection to, I think it's totally neat that someone even thought it was worthwhile to place a sign for it.....only in Canada I'm thinkin'

[johnnyb]

Sounds like a nice trip...aside from the finger incident. I really love Temagami...but when you posted the pics of further north...oooohhhhh....even better! I always get a bit tingly when going by the arctic watershed sign

Edited August 11, 2010 by johnnyb

[highdrifter]

Beauty!

 

I hope you don't mind.. The first shot is now part of my collection of OFC desktop backgrounds.. Just awesome!

 

They ought to include a tetanus shot and a more aggressive antibiotic in our first aid kits.. Think I might look into that one after reading your story..

 

cheers

HD

[spincast]

welcome to the pic - its nature made that, not me. And yeah as far as antibiotics go, next time I'm heading away from a hospital ( oh, wait I live there ) I'm going to get a broad screen antibiotic prescription filled before I leave.

 

Hey Joey - honest, it was nothing but good stuff. (How's that Wayne?)

[fishnsled]

Great report. I guess I was pretty lucky earlier this year after reading your story. I had a hook in my thumb for almost 24 hours on our flyin. After several attempts to get it out we gave up on it. We did have peroxide and soaked the thumb. Then applied some antibiotic cream and left it there till we flew out.

 

We made a collar for my thumb out of a water bottle so I wouldn't bang it around and that worked very well for sleeping. Once out the first stop was the hospital. The doctor had to pull the hook back out of the bone, twist it around and poke it through. At least that is what he told me. A weeks worth of antibiotics and no infection. Had a recent tetanus shot so I didn't need one. Thumb is still numb after 6-7 weeks but never did get an infection.

 

Happy to hear you are doing well. These pics bring back some memories?

 

 

[spincast]

ouch all over again. Bet that made fishing the last day some kinda fun! down to the bone....Notice you got a can of pain killler on the picnic table there -- we both used the same pain releiver (although I have to admit, I had some high test to take the edge off when I first got back )

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Great report! Sucks about the hooks though. Redness is a sign of infection.As long as you've had your tetnus shot in the last 10 years your OK. But one shouldn't take chances with things like this.

 

I was drinking last night and I woke up with my hand all swollen where I got my thumb sliced by a Musky. Hopefully there is no infection but tomomorrow I go in for surgery!

Edited August 12, 2010 by Johnny Bass

[ehg]

Great report! Lots of fish and fun by the looks of it.

[walleyemaster]

excelent report.. i will be there this sat and ill be looking for those pesky walleye..looks like you had a great time with the kids..after all that's what summer is all about..the fish are a bonus..

[alphaalpha]

Great report, and glad to hear your thumb is getting better. this emoticon seems kinda fitting