2 week Vacation on the West Arm

[Joey]

For the first time in a long time Paul and I decided to take two weeks off instead of just one. As exhausted as I am right now, I'm not even sure it was the right decision but we had alot of fun

 

Our intentions were to spend a week camping at Lakair and then come home for a few days to regroup and then head down to Lake St. Clair and camp there for a week.

 

The first week at Lakair was great and we had heard Jim and his wife Sue would also be camping - bonus!! We also invited TJ and Monique over for a night by the campfire. The weather was a bit hotter than we had expected and by the Friday morning we were spent. We packed up in 30 degree weather (humidex 38) and almost passed out several times in that heat.

 

We really did enjoy Jim, Sue, Corey and Ben's company and also enjoyed our evening with TJ and Monique. Great seeing you all, it made for a much more memorable vacation.

 

After the end of the firsst week and taking what seemed like all day to pack, we got home Friday night about 9:30 p.m. We lazed around most of Saturday and then I went out to replenish supplies for our next week and Paul got the boat all ready for LSC. We were apprehensive about this week as the weather was not looking good for fishing the South shore of LSC. A few pm's back and forth to MikeP and we decided it would not be a good idea to go as the winds were N to NE 30 to 40 KPH, making it unfishable. The day we woke up to go my mother emailed me an article showing a boat had capsized in 2 meter swells just west of Belle River and there were reported water spouts.

 

Okay, now what??????? We have a week left

 

So, we called up to Lakair again to see if maybe a cabin was available as it was supposed to be cooler this week and luckily we got one, and the one with the fire pit - perfect. We Repacked with a different outlook in mind and were off for our next week back on the west arm

 

We did better the second week of fishing up there as the first week, only the day we arrived was good for fishing (as Jim can attest with his 47 incher), as the water turned murky the rest of the time with very little visability. It had cleared up some when we arrived the second time, although an alga bloom started on Saturday.

 

Our neighbours at the cottage next to us, Jeff & Renee, came by the campfire every night for some laughs and lo and behold, are very good friends of Chris Kaiser.

 

I'll just put the pics in and they are pretty self explanatory, save for a few I have questions about and will post the question by the piture.

 

Hope you enjoy!!!!!!

 

 

THE FISH

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE COMPANY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE WILDLIFE

 

 

Okay what is this, seriouly, what is this???????

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, second question, is this a golden eagle????

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one is an immature bald eagle I believe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE SCENERY

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Joey]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MISC.......

 

 

Can you see the dragon head in the fire???

 

 

Mmmmmmmm, ribs

 

 

 

Digger

 

 

 

More wildlife???

 

 

 

Time for a dip.....

 

 

 

Joey's homemade lure Paul caught his musky with

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paul caught this old, stinky rod twice now in the same place pickerel fishing

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope you enjoyed.

 

cheers,

 

Joey

[danbouck]

Speechless

[irishfield]

Good that TJ brought his own pail of beer....

 

Black mud dauber wasp that took too many pills....

[NAW]

As usual Joey.. Fantastic pictures!

[TennesseeGuy]

You sure made fishing in Ontario seem like a good deal. Need to get myself up there before the leaves drop.

[icefisherman]

Lovely pictures Joey, especially the nature ones. Many of them at very high professional level. True pleasure looking at them...thanks for sharing them with us.

 

Cheers,

Ice Fisherman

[mercman]

What a great report !!! You are quite a photographer as well as an excellent angler.

Hope i get to meet you guys some day.

[kickingfrog]

That old rod proves that catch and release does work.

[Dave Bailey]

For the first time in a long time Paul and I decided to take two weeks off instead of just one. As exhausted as I am right now, I'm not even sure it was the right decision but we had alot of fun

 

I figure that if you come back from a vacation feeling as if you need a holiday to recover, you've done as much as you could, seen as much as you could, and been as many places as you could. In other words, you had a damned good time! Great pictures too!

[spincast]

Great report thanks for sharing. The bear cooling off was different - havent seen one swimming that close before; they're usually looking at me in the car. Guess at 38 degrees he needed a dip

 

 

[lew]

Looks like you guys had great vacation Joey with alot of nice fish. Congrats to Paul on the musky too !!

 

The West Arm has become my favorite place for fishing anywhere in Ontario the last few years and I already can't wait for next summer.

 

Too bad about the winds at LSC but like you say, no sense driving all that way for unfishable waters.

[misfish]

Great report J. Nice fish and that musta been real cool to see that bear.

 

Thanks for taking the time to post.

[Billy Bob]

Joey,

 

If you took all those FANTASTIC pics you should seriously consider retiring the fishing pole and get a career as a wildlife photographer or at least a freelance photographer for a magazine or local newspaper.

 

Hope to see more of your pics in the near future...

 

Bob

[fishhunter]

LOOKS LIKE YOU GUYS HAD A GREAT TIME.

[Roy]

Glad you guys had a good time. That bug looks like a cross 'tween a mosquito and a TTC streetcar eh? Fantastic pictures and some dang good company too! And dat right der is the proper use for a white bucket. I think Kevin was sitting in the same spot, wearing the same clothes the last time I saw him.

 

Thanks for the great report, Joey. A really nice start to my day.

[fishindevil]

great report and pictures joey !!! some nice fish too..cheers

[corvette1]

nice ski and eyes pictures were awesome congrats on the trips

[TJQ]

Excellent report Joey, it twas good to see ya!!

[limeyangler]

Love that you just packed up and headed back to your original spot!

 

Joey....those pics are amazing!

 

The snake one is what i'm remembering at the moment but all of them were great!

 

 

And that bug looks like a a wasp scorpion thingamabob...have no idea what it is ...but it aint friendly looking.

[johnnyb]

Wow those are some insane pics! The daytime moon with the eagle is just stunning....love the bear....pretty sure that yes, it's a golden eagle...and man oh man do you guys ever know how to spend a couple weeks. Well done....some nice fish too

Thanks for putting it all up for us to enjoy

[solopaddler]

Can't believe you guys spent a week there, drove home, then drove right back again LOL!

 

Must have been nice to have a two week break!

[bucktail]

Awesome, thanks for sharing!

Was that one eye a blue eye??

 

D

[Joey]

Wow, thanks for all the great comments everyone. I really do enjoy trying to get the perfect shot. It almost excites me more than catching a fish (almost )!!

 

That bear was a real treat, but Paul did not want to get too close to it. Man can they swim fast!! The golden eagle was my favorite and it was cool to catch that blue toned pickerel amongst the goldens.

 

It really is beautiful up there and even if you don't go with someone, you'll always have friendly, like minded outdoors people willing to share a story and have a laugh or two with you around the campfire.

 

Thanks

 

Joey

[Joey]

Awesome, thanks for sharing!

Was that one eye a blue eye??

 

D

 

 

Yes it was Darren, good "eye"