Musky or Specks Posted October 15, 2011 Report Share Posted October 15, 2011 (edited) This trip all started to jell with letsgofishing's post about fishing Algonquin for the end of the trout season. I hadn't been to the park all season and really wanted to not miss the opportunity to fish it this season. My fishing buddy John could make it for an overnighter if we left early Saturady morning and were back by supper on Sunday. The catch was we were to enjoy the company of his young son and 5 month old mastiff/lab cross. Being with a child fishing is always a pleasure and the pup is going to have to learn to canoe someday, might as well be sooner rather than later. After much discussion and quid pro quo with a fellow board member who I discuss brook trout fishing with a lot via PM he was generous enough to give me a lake that I hadn't tied yet. Not only that, he lent me his canoe cart, a device which with its simplicity and ease of use makes me ponder my wisdom or lack thereof of insisting upon carrying my canoe upon my aging shoulders all these years. A shout out to that member! who shall remain anonymous so that he is not bombarded with PM's. We departed Glenn Allen at @ 6:30 am Saturday morning in doubtful weather. We stopped at the Tim's in Arthur to gas up and grab some breakfast bagels for our tummies. To continue to build the lads enjoyment of the trip I bought him a smile cookie for when we reached the halfway point. Arriving at the west gate of the park @ 11 am we were greeted by rangers directing traffic into the gatehouse. They asked what we were doing and directed us around the detour and wished us good luck. Seems they were making sure the touristas were buying their day passes as fall colours were at their peak and it is illegal to stop in the park for any reason without a pass. We had decided to go right to Cannis Bay and set up camp so that after a grueling day of portaging and fishing all we would have to do when we got back was cook/eat/build/fire---DRINK BEER. Finally we set off to catch some last chance specks! Being careful to unload our canoe into the bush so no passing cars saw us(Not an easy feet with all the camera crowd that was present)We began our BLANK kilometer portage into the lake. I swear it was uphill all the way in but it turns out there was just as much uphill on the way out.The sounds of the highway were quickly left behind as we armed ourselves with our walkin gum(KID TREAT)and let the dog off its leash so it would hopefully be tired out when it was time to get in the canoe. The glory that is Algonquin finally opens before us as we are greeted by a picturesque little lake surrounded by a lining of conifers giving way to the full beauty of the fall colours. Boomer was very happy to and helped himself to a drink. A rambunctious puppy the size of a small horse and a young child do not make an ideal situation and despite my fears that we were very quickly going to end up going for a swim we managed to stay upright and got our rods into the water. Both my buddy and myself are using ultralight combos. He is casting from the bow with a Mepps and I'm trolling a wolf river rig with a 1/4 oz bell sinker/30 inches of 6 lb flouro and an olive and silver Yozuri Minnow. Several "Down Boomer Down" and fifteen minutes pass when my rod starts bouncing. I reach to my feet and set the hook and the battle is on. I quickly get the fish to within 30 feet of the boat when I see a flash through the gin clear water and it realizes its being yanked out of its habitat. The flash is good and I inform John that its a good fish. The battle continues for a while with many good runs and an unwillingness on the fishes part to come to the net. Finally exhausted the fish slides into the net and having some experience with large trout I exclaim excitedly that "that my friend is a 20". We unhook him in the net in the water and in consideration of his valiant struggle quickly snap a photo and measure him and sure enough he's and even twenty inches of God's Canvas and we've only just begun fishing... With some tender loving care he swims away to sex up some female brooky in a couple weeks. I hope he enjoys that as much as I enjoyed catching him. We continue to troll/cast down the shore when RJ(da boy) says he wants to get out and explore the tiny island in the lake. We do such and have a bite to eat and I show him the purity of brook trout water by drinking several cupfuls of water right from the lake. We tell him its time to start fishing and he insist that he doesn't want to any more he wants to stay on the island and play with the dog. We give in and tell him that he has to keep his life jacket on and we just troll around the island. He's having a gay old time on the island with his dog and his dad and wax poetic about the joys of childhood and the simple things that can bring such pleasure to the young when about 45 minutes later my rod starts bouncing again. Another battle with another fish but this one is only 16" inches. At this point Boomer decides he's had enough of the island and swims out to the canoe and attempts to climb into the boat almost capsize us and despite our best efforts will no longer remain on the island with RJ and so having caught a couple of good fish we decide to make a day of it and start the journey out. We leave the canoe and gear at the lake so we don't have to carry it in again tomorrow and hike out reaching the road by 5PM and driving back to our campsite. We start a big ole campfire and roast hotdogs and sausages on buns for supper. We are pretty happy, an unfamiliar lake and two good brook trout in around two hours of fishing time not to bad. The night is beautiful and unseasonably warm and the beers go down very nicely. We awake at the crack of 9 o'clock and take our time eating a breakfast of poptarts and applejuice. We strike camp and prepare to leave, hopefully getting another couple of hours in before it's time to head back to KW. We walk uphill all the way in again and launch by 11:30 am. Riley doesn't even want to fish today he just wants to be "KING OF THE ISLAND" We again take advantage of this and stay close and fish when about half an hour later ye olde ultralight starts bouncing around the canoe again at my feet."Nother one John!" I gloat as he's kicked my ass the last couple of trips we've been on. This one is another beauty at 18 inches The day is beautiful and it strikes me once again how lucky we are to have a treasure like Algonquin here in southern Ontario and it makes me a little melancholy to realize that I won't be back to fish it till next spring. One of these days I'm going to have to do a fall trip on the Pett for musky just to extend my enjoyment of the park. About an hour after that John's son is yelling something indistinguishable at us and we turn to look at what all the hubbubs about. We are about a klick away from the island and Boomer has again decided that he misses us and is swimming for the canoe a couple of quick swears later and we dig hard for the island so the dang mutt doesn't drown himself. Rescued dog and a "I wanna go home now" from RJ and we decide to pack it in but troll on the way out. Just before we reach the take out point guess who's rod starts bouncing in the canoe again. A few comments and curses from John and I land the last brook trout of the season. A small one that I promised RJ before we left that if we caught a small one he could eat it for supper. It was a great trip even with some of the more trying aspects of it and I can't wait to get up next spring. Da horse and me PS : Sorry for the quality of the photos in our rush to get up there we both forgot our digitals and had to use a disposable old style camera very tuff to find a place that still develops film. Edited October 15, 2011 by Musky or Specks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mercman Posted October 15, 2011 Report Share Posted October 15, 2011 Fantastic report !!! Almost like i was there with you guys Thanks for the adventure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joey Posted October 15, 2011 Report Share Posted October 15, 2011 Great report Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Posted October 15, 2011 Report Share Posted October 15, 2011 nice I have not been there in 40 years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rustic-Fisher Posted October 16, 2011 Report Share Posted October 16, 2011 Great report, I missed my annual fall pilgrimage into the park this year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.M.05 Posted October 16, 2011 Report Share Posted October 16, 2011 Beauty specs on a gem of lake during the fall in Algonquin. Doesnt get much better than that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Caster Posted October 16, 2011 Report Share Posted October 16, 2011 Great report and nice size fish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROOK Posted October 17, 2011 Report Share Posted October 17, 2011 sounds like a great trip !! but what I wouldn't give to find out more about the canoe cart !!!! I assume it was home made ??? Would there be any way of trying to get an idea of how to build one myself ??? Would your silent partner be willing to give out that type of info ??? getting to that age that I can't carry the canoe for real long portages either !!! thanks in advance ROOK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodenboater Posted October 17, 2011 Report Share Posted October 17, 2011 (edited) Great report ! There a number of lakes off 60 that locals keep quiet about and all you need is a short carry and this one looks like it would be a great place to put up tent if it was marked. If the cart is the one with large bicycle wheel ands folds down, these are indeed the cat's arse. Have seen people stack three canoes or so on them. Edited October 17, 2011 by woodenboater Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jds63 Posted October 17, 2011 Report Share Posted October 17, 2011 very nice report , most of those corridor lakes are stocked and hold some nice brookies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musky or Specks Posted October 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2011 very nice report , most of those corridor lakes are stocked and hold some nice brookies Not this one. I'm a bit of a snob in the park and won't fish stocked lakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musky or Specks Posted October 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2011 sounds like a great trip !! but what I wouldn't give to find out more about the canoe cart !!!! I assume it was home made ??? Would there be any way of trying to get an idea of how to build one myself ??? Would your silent partner be willing to give out that type of info ??? getting to that age that I can't carry the canoe for real long portages either !!! thanks in advance ROOK Lots of commercial models available Here's one http://www.mec.ca/AST/ShopMEC/Paddling/CarRacksCarts/PRD~4015-488/wck-expedition-canoe-cart.jsp?bFlashEnabled=false Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adolson Posted October 17, 2011 Report Share Posted October 17, 2011 Very nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyb Posted October 17, 2011 Report Share Posted October 17, 2011 I love your writing style....and the pics have a certain rustic quality to them....like watching old footage on grainy film. I could learn a lot from you about being patient with kids in the boat...great report once again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solopaddler Posted October 17, 2011 Report Share Posted October 17, 2011 A long time coming, but well worth the wait Brad! For the person who asked I purchased the cart from Cabelas. Best commercially available one I've seen is the Expedition cart sold by MEC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookslav Posted October 17, 2011 Report Share Posted October 17, 2011 (edited) Nice work on the 20" I got my first Algonquin 20 last year, I'ver had many in the 18-19" range, but that first 20" is a special fish....Especially in Algonquin park! As much as I love spring in the park I have to say that the Fall is simply Awesome. 90% of my tripping is done in the spring, and I've gone a handfull of times in the summer and Fall....but every time I do manage to get there in the fall I always ask myself "why don't I do this more often?" LOL! The fall landscape is just amazing, and often the fishing is great it also happens to be the busy season at work though Anyway... Thanks for sharing it looks like a great trip! Edited October 17, 2011 by Cookslav Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodenboater Posted October 17, 2011 Report Share Posted October 17, 2011 this is the one I would get if I had long portages and had to get the canoe and gear across. The height is important and is more ergonomic than others I've seen, saves your back from hunching over while pulling the thing. http://www.outdoorpl...=587--EOU_SSATC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solopaddler Posted October 17, 2011 Report Share Posted October 17, 2011 this is the one I would get if I had long portages and had to get the canoe and gear across. The height is important and is more ergonomic than others I've seen, saves your back from hunching over while pulling the thing. http://www.outdoorpl...=587--EOU_SSATC That's more or less identical to the cart I lent Brad. The MEC Expedition cart is way sturdier. In any case carts are great as long as you're using them on a groomed atv trail, bush road or something similar. They're not meant to be used on portage trails. If you try you'll regret it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musky or Specks Posted October 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2011 this is the one I would get if I had long portages and had to get the canoe and gear across. The height is important and is more ergonomic than others I've seen, saves your back from hunching over while pulling the thing. http://www.outdoorpl...=587--EOU_SSATC Thats the one is was using thanks to Mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROOK Posted October 17, 2011 Report Share Posted October 17, 2011 THANKS sort of what I was interestd in but was hoping someone has some plans for a DIY type set up ???????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mirogak Posted October 19, 2011 Report Share Posted October 19, 2011 Overdue report for sure - and not sure how I missed it till now but glad to see the report. What's interesting is that I too was considering Cannisbay for my stay (but stayed at Rock) and had I done so, I most likely would have run into you without even knowing it. And now I would have replied "so you were the guy in the blue shirt by the water fountain" ... small but beautiful world. Great report Brad - wish I had caught a couple myself but next time. Spring is ONLY 6 months away ... see you in spring. Miro PS: no word of a lie, I dreamt brookies last night. What the hell has gotten in to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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