Forecast: Cold, Snow And The Chance For Giant Pike

[solopaddler]

The anticipation was endless.

 

Virtually on the heels of last Junes amazing trip to Eddie's camp I began planning, scheming and dreaming of our upcoming May 2011 trip.

 

Tweaking tackle, aquiring lures, and generally spending months readying my arsenal for the upcoming assault.

 

I've always said if you've got nothing to look forward to, nothing to anticipate, then the mundane drudgery of life will get you down. These kinds of trips are essential therapy, at least for me.

 

Ironically this trip was almost over before it even began. People were dropping out like flies for various reasons leaving only myself and Dave (Drifter_016) left from our original party of 6. At one point I really thought I couldn't go as well.

 

Things have a way of working out though it seems, and Doug (Skud) and his buddy Adam jumped on board filling two of the slots.

 

With 2 weeks to go before our departure another OFC friend, John (Flexrod) and his compadre Don filled the final two slots and we were good to go.

 

Dave was scheduled to arrive in Pearson at 11pm Thursday May 20th. I was eager to see the big lug as with him now residing in Yellowknife we rarely get a chance to fish together anymore.

That fact alone would make this trip a special one for me, and regardless of the fishing a success.

 

After greeting Dave and hauling his gear over to my vehicle we hit the highway to meet Doug and Adam. The plan being to drive through the night on a suicide run for Nakina. With the plane scheduled to fly us in as soon as we arrived on Friday we had plenty of incentive!

 

John and Don drove up separately the day before enjoying a much more civilized schedule and were waiting for us at the air base when we arrived.

 

After meeting and greeting it was time to load the Otter:

 

 

 

 

Once again we were grossly overweight and had to spend a bit of time trying to decide what we'd leave behind. Not a huge deal in any case as another supply flight was scheduled in two days and the balance of our gear would be flown in then.

 

The weather was perfect, warm and sunny, light winds and unlimited ceiling. We were catching the tail end of an extended warm front and enjoying every minute of it. Unfortunately a massive cold front was predicted for Sunday evening. This particular time the forecasters turned out to be right...

 

In the meantime the view from the air was once again inspiring.

 

Nakina truly is the gateway to the north. The vast roadless hinterland to the north is an anglers paradise with almost every body of water teeming with fish.

 

Our imaginations flew as we soared over countless wilderness lakes and rivers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nearing the Attawapiskat and Eddie's camp it was obvious the water was higher than it was last June. A large river delta came into view as the plane circled to land. Last year it was mostly dried up. This year it looked pretty enticing from the air:

 

 

 

This spot close to the camp was a consistent producer of big fish for pretty much everyone in our group and a nice change from the previous June.

 

Taxiing up to the camp it was great to be back!

 

 

 

 

In no time at all we were unpacked and readying the boats to head out.

Here's Doug getting his stuff together in the shade of the mini lodge:

 

 

 

 

The first couple of days with the warm weather the fishing was simply incredible. Water temps averaged anyehere from 54-58 with a high of 61 in some of the back bays.

Fish were aggressive and hammering most everything we threw at them, including Dave's flies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pike were shallow and many a large gator was seen lurking in the new weed growth, eyeing us malevolently as we drifted by.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As per usual we kept a few eater walleyes, tearing ourselves away from casting for pike to put some meat on the stringer.

 

 

 

What was pretty cool was seeing Dave catch a bunch hand over fist on his fly rod. The man definitely knows how to handle the long sticks.

 

 

I shot this short video of the big guy in action:

 

 

<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/aZrnl9Dx3ic" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

Doug and Adam had their share of success as well:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As predicted Sunday evening brought a huge drop in temperature and scattered snow flurries.

 

 

 

The mini lodge was a warm comfy haven for us as we relaxed over drinks.

 

 

 

 

 

Dougy looks a bit stunned though. Not sure if he's worn out from the day or maybe he had one too many.

 

 

 

After experiencing fish that were on the prod the first couple of days, Monday morning we had to adapt and adapt we did.

 

Water temps dropped down to 42, reaching 46-48 later in the day.

 

To say this put the fish down a bit is an understatement. Still we did okay.

 

Dave continued to have success on the fly with it's dead slow neutrally bouyant presentation.

 

I finally rigged a white 8" reaper on a very lightly weighted swimbait hook, also adding a small silicone skirt at the head pushing it up over the snap of my fluorocarbon leader.

 

We were fishing these baits DEAD slow in 3-4' of water. Short jerks, then loooong pauses in between. Either Daves fly or my reaper would hang motionless right in front of the fish and provoke many strikes.

 

It was really pretty cool how they'd hit. Always on the pause. Suddenly you're line would start slicing through the water either to the left or right as a big pike grabbed the bait and ran. Sometimes they'd rush right at the boat forcing us to reel madly then set the hook hard right at boatside. This would result in what we'd call the "toilet flush" as these big brutes wallowed and rolled moving a ton of water then taking off on scorching runs that left us breathless.

 

Pretty amazing stuff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That day we had a request from Eddie to bring back enough walleye for the entire camp as a large fish fry was planned.

 

Dougy and Adam followed Dave and I upstream, navigating through several mild rapids 'till we came to one of my walleye honeyholes: a small, deep side channel between two islands.

 

With gentle current flowing through, lined with reeds and the bottom littered with rocks, it's a perfect spot.

 

Let's just say the mission was accomplished!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The odd mid sized pike also fell prey to our jigs.

 

On light tackle they were a riot!

 

 

 

 

 

 

That night back at camp we gorged on walleye, some deep fried by Dave in beer batter, the rest coated in bread crumbs fried to perfection by John. One of the best feeds of fish I've had in while.

 

To top things off Eddie, being the gracious host that he is surprised us all with a huge pile of fresh lobster. Ed is from Prince Edward Island and he hauled them all the way from home for us as a special treat.

 

 

 

Nothing beats surf and surf.

 

 

The next day being once again bitterly cold we lingered around camp drinking scalding hot camp coffee and trying to warm up by the fire.

 

Dave, never one to rest used that time to build himself a small casting platform in the front of our boat.

 

He'd been struggling a bit with his fly line catching over various loose items on the floor of the boat. That combined with trying to balance in the bow of a deep v boat got the wheels turning in his brain.

 

He's a pretty fair carpenter and the small platform he built was fantastic. It'll surely be enjoyed by future guests.

 

He built it low, resting the wood on a small ridge that lined the inside of the bow.

 

 

 

With that chore out of the way we filled our thermoses with coffee laced with Bailey's, packed our sandwiches and hit the water.

 

I think that particular day we got back to camp at 10pm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rest of the week was still cold as high pressure and bluebird skies made things even more difficult. We still managed though.

 

However, never before have I ever seen so many LARGE fish that just wouldn't commit. So many times we'd have big fish slowly following behind our baits right to the boat with no response. Even on such incredible waters dead bait has a time and place and if we'd been prepared for that it no doubt would have payed big dividends.

 

On the other side of the coin never before have I had so many big fish ON, fought them then unexpectedly they just became unbuttoned.

 

One in particular haunts me. A large thick fish in the 45-48" range it had me hopping madly around the boat trying to follow it then suddenly....nothing.

 

That's fishing though.

 

 

As mentioned we did persevere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONTINUED......

Edited June 13, 2011 by solopaddler

[solopaddler]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I'd be remiss if I failed to include a few shots of the scenerey. The landscape up there is haunting. It's got a starkly wild feel that gets to you.

 

It truly is one of the most beautiful places I've visited....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'd also be remiss if I didn't include a few shots of the camp. Eddie has done a remarkable job in the last year building and improving upon the camp. It's still got a ways to go but it's entirely comfortable and has lots more amenities now than my first trip 2 falls ago.

 

 

We had to snap this pic. Apparantly boo boo came by for a peak inside one of the cabins and left his prints on the glass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Final Tally

 

I'm not usually into numbers but unless they're off (which they could be) we totalled 37 pike between 40-45" for the trip.

 

Dave caught the heaviest on his fly rod. An unbelievably fat 441/2" that easily pushed 27-28lb's.

 

I had one 451/2" fish and John had a 45" fish as well.

 

Speaking of John and his buddy Don, I wasn't able to post any of their pic's.

 

Hopefully John will add his when he has time.

 

Shortly after arriving home John had major surgery. He's a true warrior and battled through constant pain on this trip still succeeding in catching a bunch of monster pike. My hats off to you bud!

 

I'd like to thank everyone who made this trip a great one, especially Eddie.

 

Thanks again my friend, 'till next year!

 

 

 

 

Cheers, Mike

[HTHM]

FINALLY! Thanks Mike et al!

[drwxr]

fantastic!!!

[Terry]

WOW

 

that's it

 

WOW

[kickingfrog]

Ya Ya Ya. You all caught some fish, and took some photos. Any exploding gas cans? No. Any men overboard? No. Boring!

 

 

Great trip. Thanks for taking the time.

[irishfield]

I wish you'd stop with these "I wish I'd gone" posts !!!

[Ron]

I don't know, too much boat traffic for me!

 

 

Awe inspiring trip Bud. Well worth the wait for the report.

 

Cheers, Ron...

[solopaddler]

Ya Ya Ya. You all caught some fish, and took some photos. Any exploding gas cans? No. Any men overboard? No. Boring!

 

 

Great trip. Thanks for taking the time.

 

 

 

Believe me Rob plenty happened that's just not suitable for public consumption.

 

I wish you'd stop with these "I wish I'd gone" posts !!!

 

 

Then get off your arse and come one of these times.

[irishfield]

 

Then get off your arse and come one of these times.

 

Worst part was I could have gone... the week ended up fitting in between the chemo appointments, but I had no way to know in advance.

[solopaddler]

I don't know, too much boat traffic for me!

 

 

Awe inspiring trip Bud. Well worth the wait for the report.

 

Cheers, Ron...

 

 

Thanks bud. I know what you mean about the boat traffic though.

 

Doug was constantly greasing us out of our spots.

 

 

(kidding )

 

 

 

 

 

Worst part was I could have gone... the week ended up fitting in between the chemo appointments, but I had no way to know in advance.

 

 

I know the deal Wayne. Plenty more opportunities in the future.

[timmeh]

Thanks for taking the time to let the rest of us feel like we were there too, if only for 10 minutes. Great report as usual.

 

The pic of the pike under the shallow weeds is an amazing shot.

[lookinforwalleye]

I missed that for Lightfoot!!!

 

Great report Mike nobody does a report better than you!

[DRIFTER_016]

Twas a great trip in spite of the weather Mike.

Nothing like a little 30 hour journey to get there from Yellowknife.

 

I tweaked my right shoulder early on in the trip and am still suffering from it.

It only slowed me down one day though as I worked through the pain to slay a few gators on the fly.

It was cool to get some walleye on the fly too. That was a first for me. :good:

 

You forgot to mention that on one day the temps never got above freezing and we had to deal with sleet/snow and freezing guides the entire time.

It didn't stop the fun though.

[Handlebarz]

Dang now that's a Pike report congrats Mike it sure looks like you guys had a blast.

 

So when is next years trip???

[splashhopper]

[spinnerdoc]

Truly an awe-inspiring report Mike as always, i've never seen so many pike pics in one report...two champs fishing together, i guess that was to be expected lots of fish, beautiful scenery, you fellows had no doubt had a blast of a time...

 

 

ps: i've been scrolling down furiously looking for this report, i thought i had missed it somehow.

[DRIFTER_016]

He was waiting on me to edit the pics.

I have carpal tunnel now.

 

Video to come soon. Please stand by.

Edited June 8, 2011 by DRIFTER_016

[Joey]

Some real beasts there

 

Just a super report. Love the shot of the pike lurking in the grassy weeds

[SRT8 smoker craft]

Another amazing trip definately on the List.

[Homer Is King]

Great report. Thanks for taking the time to put it together! Truly amazing! A trip like that is on the top of my to do list!!!

[asdve23rveavwa]

Just looked at this quickly for now, but, definitely want to take the time to relish it the way it should be. Looks like another amazing adventure Mike!!!!!!!!!! Those pike are fantastic, not too mention those beautiful golden northern walleyes!!!

[danc]

Fun times for sure guys.

[Moosebunk]

Well done Mike and Co. Excellent and I wouldn't have expected anything less. The early season risk paid off but would you go that early again or hold out a couple weeks for bugs but more stable weather?

 

Dave, the fly rod pike are an inspiration dood. Judging by the photos the big fish bite was a fly rod bite, as you're not a little guy and those fish are impressive. Long journey for ya, but I bet you're glad you took it.

 

Mikey, you're fading away man. You've shed a few pounds fighting those gators. The camp is looking mint, and that's in good part due to your efforts in promoting what Eddie and the Skat have to offer. Most definitely agree with the "haunting" comment of both the pike there and especially the wilderness. Any pike lures or colors that creamed the crop of 'em this year?

 

Glad the crew worked out too. Your report gets me jonzing for a return to the river.

[trapshooter]

Epic!! That one Dave got is just a slob!! Great pics and story as usual Mike. My fav. pic is of that pike in the grass.