Air Cochrane

[pikehunters]

Going to put deposit down on Tommorow lake. Anyone here outposted with them before??

 

 

[solopaddler]

There's few guys on the board who've flown with them many times before and have always been very positive about the experience. I'm sure they'll chime in at some point.

 

Over the years I've flown out of Cochrane several times. Main reason being, the drive up hwy 11 is very easy from southern ON.

 

My take on the area north of Cochrane is this. Great fishing, no complaints there, but universally crappy outpost camps, boring terrain and shallow dishpan lakes with little to no structure. The latter two being very typical of the swampy james bay lowlands where the camps are located.

 

I'll still fly out of Cochrane if the opportunity presents itself because as mentioned the fishing is good and the drive is easy. That's a big factor when time is limited.

 

But if I have a choice I'm flying elsewhere. For someone driving from southrn ON outfitters in Hawk Junction, Folyet, White River, Hornepayne, etc, etc., have camps that are located on the canadian shield. Much more "typical" northern terrain and generally clearer, more diverse and interesting lakes.

 

The region north of Nakina is even better imo. Still on the shield (it swings up as you travel west from Cochrane), larger lakes, high quality outpost camps and another level of fishing altogether.

 

Over the years I've been on a lot of fly ins, well over 30 for sure.

 

If you're interested I can gladly give you my personal recommendations.

 

Cheers

[craigdritchie]

Great comments solo, to which I would only add one thing - in my experience, those meso/shield lakes to the west also tend to produce bigger fish than lakes in the James Bay country. A 40 inch pike from lakes near Hearst or Nakina usually weighs a good more than a 40 inch pike from north of Cochrane, as a result of that more diverse habitat and a more diverse forage base. Ditto for the walleyes.

 

I've fished many lakes between Cochrane and James Bay, and never had a problem with the quantity of fish. If a person wants to catch walleye on every cast, it's utopia. But for someone who wants to target larger fish, I would definitely agree the lakes between Nakina and the Manitoba border are in a whole other league.

[fishnsled]

My take on the area north of Cochrane is this. Great fishing, no complaints there, but universally crappy outpost camps, boring terrain and shallow dishpan lakes with little to no structure. The latter two being very typical of the swampy james bay lowlands where the camps are located.

 

That pretty much sums it up. Been to Floodwood, Mikwam, Brailey, Yesterday and the cabins all could use some help. Having said that good times were had and fish were caught. Mark is a good guy to deal with. Here are a couple of the reports from those trips to give you a better idea.

 

 

Mikwam 2009

 

Mikwam, 2008 part 1

 

Mikwam 2008 part 2

 

Floodwood 2007 part 1

 

Floodwood 2007 Part 2

 

 

We went to Yesterday in 2010 and had a incredible cold front move in on us on the first day. +30 to -2 Needless to say the fishing was tough and didn't have much to report on for that trip. We still caught fish, just not numbers or size. Good time was had, well except for the hook in my finger and a trip to the hospital once we were out. We also spent a little extra and got the satellite phone from Mark. Worth the extra for some peace of mind in my opinion. Last year we were off to Eddie North's camp for something a bit different.

 

I can't speak for Tomorrow Lake personally but would expect it to be similar to the others I've been. I'd go back to the area and will most likely do so with my buddy and his kids in a year or to for a trip.

[pikehunters]

There's few guys on the board who've flown with them many times before and have always been very positive about the experience. I'm sure they'll chime in at some point.

 

Over the years I've flown out of Cochrane several times. Main reason being, the drive up hwy 11 is very easy from southern ON.

 

My take on the area north of Cochrane is this. Great fishing, no complaints there, but universally crappy outpost camps, boring terrain and shallow dishpan lakes with little to no structure. The latter two being very typical of the swampy james bay lowlands where the camps are located.

 

I'll still fly out of Cochrane if the opportunity presents itself because as mentioned the fishing is good and the drive is easy. That's a big factor when time is limited.

 

But if I have a choice I'm flying elsewhere. For someone driving from southrn ON outfitters in Hawk Junction, Folyet, White River, Hornepayne, etc, etc., have camps that are located on the canadian shield. Much more "typical" northern terrain and generally clearer, more diverse and interesting lakes.

 

The region north of Nakina is even better imo. Still on the shield (it swings up as you travel west from Cochrane), larger lakes, high quality outpost camps and another level of fishing altogether.

 

Over the years I've been on a lot of fly ins, well over 30 for sure.

 

If you're interested I can gladly give you my personal recommendations.

 

Cheers

 

 

Great imput & thanks I agree. Flown out of foleyet many years Gosenda & Ivanhoe. My opinion there lakes are getting hammered over fished for the pike anyway.

Kills me to see a pic of a 40" pike on a stringer. That is what i like Air Cochrane, NO PIKE KILLED. I live on Lake Erie & fish Ontario for the serenity of being in the true wild & trophy pike, not to bring home fish. Fished Napken lake with Hearst but the drive & $$$ compared to Air Cochrane i think is worth the drive. They claim no one has fished tommorow lake for 20 years, they are building a new camp this summer & won't be ready untill Aug 1st. I'm booking for aug 4th so I hope the camp will be done!! Hopefully virgin waters will produce the trophies we fish for.

[solopaddler]

Great imput & thanks I agree. Flown out of foleyet many years Gosenda & Ivanhoe. My opinion there lakes are getting hammered over fished for the pike anyway.

Kills me to see a pic of a 40" pike on a stringer. That is what i like Air Cochrane, NO PIKE KILLED. I live on Lake Erie & fish Ontario for the serenity of being in the true wild & trophy pike, not to bring home fish. Fished Napken lake with Hearst but the drive & $$$ compared to Air Cochrane i think is worth the drive. They claim no one has fished tommorow lake for 20 years, they are building a new camp this summer & won't be ready untill Aug 1st. I'm booking for aug 4th so I hope the camp will be done!! Hopefully virgin waters will produce the trophies we fish for.

 

I'm 99.9% sure Tomorrow lake has been fished more than that.

 

Regardless I'm sure you'll do okay.

[JIMMAR]

I'm 99.9% sure Tomorrow lake has been fished more than that.

 

Regardless I'm sure you'll do okay.

 

I fished Verena a few years ago. Originally we were going to Tomorrow but when we inquired about the fishing early in the season, they said the fishing was tough and that you had to work hard for minimum daily catches and that Verena was available, so we changed lakes. Cottage roof leaked during an evening T-Storm, other than that it was a typical fly in cabin. Walleye and pike were plentiful, drifting lindy riggs with worms and leeches for walleye, 2 3/4" red devil spoons for pike, just awesome. The river was 10 min walk for brookies. Pink and white worden rooster tail spinners 1/2 oz did the trick. When fishing the river, take 1/4oz jigs and plastic grubs (orange) and fish slower water and deep holes down stream of the turns in the river for river walleye. 2-3lb walleye in the river, 1-2 lb in the lake. Pike were in the 2-3ft nothing huge. Brookies from 2-4lb. Needless to say we ate well and had alot of fun. Can't wait to go again.

 

I heard that Tomorrow Lake is one of the more popular lakes.

 

Good luck on your trip.

Jimmar

[skeeter99]

Great comments solo, to which I would only add one thing - in my experience, those meso/shield lakes to the west also tend to produce bigger fish than lakes in the James Bay country. A 40 inch pike from lakes near Hearst or Nakina usually weighs a good more than a 40 inch pike from north of Cochrane, as a result of that more diverse habitat and a more diverse forage base. Ditto for the walleyes.

 

I've fished many lakes between Cochrane and James Bay, and never had a problem with the quantity of fish. If a person wants to catch walleye on every cast, it's utopia. But for someone who wants to target larger fish, I would definitely agree the lakes between Nakina and the Manitoba border are in a whole other league.

 

 

just drive a little further to kapuskasing

 

and you can drive into lakes saganash/brunswick/oulet/ghost the quality is unbelievable every fish 3 to 4 pounds and every year we get a 9 or 10 , and the numbers are mind boggling at times 3 guys fishing from 10:30 to about 3;30/4 pm we got our personal best record of 217 walleye

[solopaddler]

just drive a little further to kapuskasing

 

and you can drive into lakes saganash/brunswick/oulet/ghost the quality is unbelievable every fish 3 to 4 pounds and every year we get a 9 or 10 , and the numbers are mind boggling at times 3 guys fishing from 10:30 to about 3;30/4 pm we got our personal best record of 217 walleye

 

Really? I fished Brunswick when I lived in Kap, it was nowhere near that good for me LOL!

[skeeter99]

Really? I fished Brunswick when I lived in Kap, it was nowhere near that good for me LOL!

 

 

not all shoals are created equally LOL!!!

 

did you fish gulfoyle when you lived there, easy 100 fish a day with a big one almost everyday

 

I think you guys fished the area before the mnr put the slot into effect (it was in effect in kap district 2 years before the rest of the province) it was pretty sad the first couple of years you were keeping 16 inch fish to fill out limit cause everything you caught was over the slot (but there was literally tonnes and i mean thousands of 16 to 18 inch walleye) the slot was 4 under 16.1 or something dumb like that and one over 22 (alot of guys up there quit fishing up there since it was not worth 4 small fish with the gas and time to get them)

 

now after 6 or 7 years you still catch a tonne of fish(not really changed over the years) but now you fish all day and have trouble catching the small ones to fill out your limit in the slot you are only allowed 1 over 18.1 (good luck catching 4 walleye up there under 18.1) catch 100 walleye bring back 2 between to anglers since they were all to big LOL!!

[skeeter99]

Really? I fished Brunswick when I lived in Kap, it was nowhere near that good for me LOL!

 

 

the 217 walleye day was on owlet lake on the west side of pearce lake attached to ghost lake through a small creek (jumping 4 beaver dams on the way up) great fun

[solopaddler]

That's pretty interesting.

 

I was living up there 15 years ago when I fished Brunswick.

 

Fished a bunch of better back lakes but none that you mentioned.

 

Best trip I did while I lived there was paddle the Missinaibi river.

 

Some truly awesome fishing for trophy walleye.

[Moosebunk]

Fished 3 lakes on the Mikwam system with Cochrane Air one hot summer and spent different times over 5-6 years trying some lakes off the 652. Didn't much enjoy the quality or quantity of fish, although ripping around and exploring was a tonne of fun.

 

I've taken pictures and explored many rivers and quite a few lakes from Cochrane as far north as the Ekwan, and from the Quebec border 500-600km west to Pym Island, and I could probably publish a book with 100's of photos that would make a person think the James Bay basin is one beautiful paradise.

 

The fishing though, agree with Craig and Mike. Tonnes of smaller eyes is the usual theme. Only with the Attawapiskat further west did I ever fish a waterbody that had higher quantities of bigger eyes mixed in with bigger pike.

 

The pike in the east just don't seem as muscular as some of the ones caught further west though. That said, potential for big fish still exists. The shallow, tannic waters of Northeast's best in Kesagami comparatively to Nipigon's very clear and deep water, each give the other a run for their money for size of fish and potential numbers of. Both fish differently too, making each an equally enjoyable experience.

 

It's almost too bad people couldn't get the chance to experience more of the James Bay rivers though. The lakes do feel "boring" in contrast to traveling and exploring around the next bend. There are no outfitters on pretty much all of them due to the limited season caused by unnavigable low waters, but in places on many of the rivers, at the right time the fishing can be out of this world good! Someone book Bull Moose Shoals for walleye opener some year and we could prove it.

 

For having Cochrane such a close drive to Ottawa or the GTA though, it is an easy choice for a quality fly-in escape that puts an angler out there alone with the chance to enjoy good eating eyes and the odd slobby northern. That's what it's about and it's great people are still trying to support outfitters giving the experience.

[pikehunters]

I fished Verena a few years ago. Originally we were going to Tomorrow but when we inquired about the fishing early in the season, they said the fishing was tough and that you had to work hard for minimum daily catches and that Verena was available, so we changed lakes. Cottage roof leaked during an evening T-Storm, other than that it was a typical fly in cabin. Walleye and pike were plentiful, drifting lindy riggs with worms and leeches for walleye, 2 3/4" red devil spoons for pike, just awesome. The river was 10 min walk for brookies. Pink and white worden rooster tail spinners 1/2 oz did the trick. When fishing the river, take 1/4oz jigs and plastic grubs (orange) and fish slower water and deep holes down stream of the turns in the river for river walleye. 2-3lb walleye in the river, 1-2 lb in the lake. Pike were in the 2-3ft nothing huge. Brookies from 2-4lb. Needless to say we ate well and had alot of fun. Can't wait to go again.

 

I heard that Tomorrow Lake is one of the more popular lakes.

 

Good luck on your trip.

Jimmar

 

Intersting fact being all the research I've done & there is currently no cabin on tommorow lake, unless they stay in tents!!

 

If anyone has anymore info on this I would appreciate it as the outfitter assured me that no one has stayed on this lake & it has been resting!!!

[Pikeslayer8]

That pretty much sums it up. Been to Floodwood, Mikwam, Brailey, Yesterday and the cabins all could use some help. Having said that good times were had and fish were caught. Mark is a good guy to deal with. Here are a couple of the reports from those trips to give you a better idea.

 

 

Mikwam 2009

 

Mikwam, 2008 part 1

 

Mikwam 2008 part 2

 

Floodwood 2007 part 1

 

Floodwood 2007 Part 2

 

 

We went to Yesterday in 2010 and had a incredible cold front move in on us on the first day. +30 to -2 Needless to say the fishing was tough and didn't have much to report on for that trip. We still caught fish, just not numbers or size. Good time was had, well except for the hook in my finger and a trip to the hospital once we were out. We also spent a little extra and got the satellite phone from Mark. Worth the extra for some peace of mind in my opinion. Last year we were off to Eddie North's camp for something a bit different.

 

I can't speak for Tomorrow Lake personally but would expect it to be similar to the others I've been. I'd go back to the area and will most likely do so with my buddy and his kids in a year or to for a trip.

 

Wow, thanks for reposting this. Did cost me much of the Super Bowl as I was reading your old reports during the first half. My wife really liked the baby moose pictures.

 

Really nice reports!

[pikehunters]

Intersting fact being all the research I've done & there is currently no cabin on tommorow lake, unless they stay in tents!!

 

If anyone has anymore info on this I would appreciate it as the outfitter assured me that no one has stayed on this lake & it has been resting!!!

 

 

Just checking!!

[fishnsled]

Wow, thanks for reposting this. Did cost me much of the Super Bowl as I was reading your old reports during the first half. My wife really liked the baby moose pictures.

 

Really nice reports!

 

Glad you and you better half enjoyed them. (Sorry about it costing you much of the Super Bowl...)

[pikehunters]

Fished 3 lakes on the Mikwam system with Cochrane Air one hot summer and spent different times over 5-6 years trying some lakes off the 652. Didn't much enjoy the quality or quantity of fish, although ripping around and exploring was a tonne of fun.

 

I've taken pictures and explored many rivers and quite a few lakes from Cochrane as far north as the Ekwan, and from the Quebec border 500-600km west to Pym Island, and I could probably publish a book with 100's of photos that would make a person think the James Bay basin is one beautiful paradise.

 

The fishing though, agree with Craig and Mike. Tonnes of smaller eyes is the usual theme. Only with the Attawapiskat further west did I ever fish a waterbody that had higher quantities of bigger eyes mixed in with bigger pike.

 

The pike in the east just don't seem as muscular as some of the ones caught further west though. That said, potential for big fish still exists. The shallow, tannic waters of Northeast's best in Kesagami comparatively to Nipigon's very clear and deep water, each give the other a run for their money for size of fish and potential numbers of. Both fish differently too, making each an equally enjoyable experience.

 

It's almost too bad people couldn't get the chance to experience more of the James Bay rivers though. The lakes do feel "boring" in contrast to traveling and exploring around the next bend. There are no outfitters on pretty much all of them due to the limited season caused by unnavigable low waters, but in places on many of the rivers, at the right time the fishing can be out of this world good! Someone book Bull Moose Shoals for walleye opener some year and we could prove it.

 

For having Cochrane such a close drive to Ottawa or the GTA though, it is an easy choice for a quality fly-in escape that puts an angler out there alone with the chance to enjoy good eating eyes and the odd slobby northern. That's what it's about and it's great people are still trying to support outfitters giving the experience.

 

Sounds like you have the experience! That is my problem I've been all over foleyet, gogama, sudbury & feel, just my opinion, they get the shiat beat out of them all summer. I am or our group is unable to go until aug. So that puts me into a situation to find a lake that gets limited pressure. Flew to Napken lake with Hearst air few years back, did no better there than Lincoln lake with Ivanhoe. Hearst was a third more $$$ & a third more driving. It's also a group thing where a couple of the guys wan't to cut back on drive time so it puts the western edge of Ontario out of the picture. Or maybe I'm expecting to much. Anyway we are hoping that this lake will pan out & if it doesn't on to another one next year..

 

As for fishing pressure on Tommorow lake it might be getting confused with Today lake or Yesterday Lake. Really who the hell named these ones. They are all in a stright line N of abitiby. I spoke with Mark yesterday & he reassured me that no one has stayed on this lake in 20 years unless they snuck in & pitched a tent!!

[pikey3648]

Was wondering about French Lake ,,, if anyone has fished it and any success they may have had.

[pikey3648]

That pretty much sums it up. Been to Floodwood, Mikwam, Brailey, Yesterday and the cabins all could use some help. Having said that good times were had and fish were caught. Mark is a good guy to deal with. Here are a couple of the reports from those trips to give you a better idea.

 

 

Mikwam 2009

 

Mikwam, 2008 part 1

 

Mikwam 2008 part 2

 

Floodwood 2007 part 1

 

Floodwood 2007 Part 2

 

 

We went to Yesterday in 2010 and had a incredible cold front move in on us on the first day. +30 to -2 Needless to say the fishing was tough and didn't have much to report on for that trip. We still caught fish, just not numbers or size. Good time was had, well except for the hook in my finger and a trip to the hospital once we were out. We also spent a little extra and got the satellite phone from Mark. Worth the extra for some peace of mind in my opinion. Last year we were off to Eddie North's camp for something a bit different.

 

I can't speak for Tomorrow Lake personally but would expect it to be similar to the others I've been. I'd go back to the area and will most likely do so with my buddy and his kids in a year or to for a trip.

Hi, was wondering if anyone has any info on French Lake, going there is coming Sept.