Pangle Posted July 13, 2012 Report Share Posted July 13, 2012 Last winter I send an email to a buddy asking if he would be interested in a fly in outpost (fully expecting an "no"). To my delight he responds "I've always wanted to do one, let's do it!". Great, I start my research and discover the overwhelming options available. I need advise from someone experienced in these trips. A HUGE thanks to Mike B for steering me in the right direction. On his recommendation we decide on the Chapleau Region. So, we decide to drive up to Wawa Friday and spend the night in order to be fresh for our Saturday flight. We stayed at the Wawa Motor Inn, a clean place, friendly staff and good restaurant. With dreams of spectacular fishing I didn't get the sleep I wanted. I should have just driven through the night, LOL. We arrive at the air base in Hawk Junction and speak with a couple groups coming out. Reports of "ok" and "slow" fishing due to warm, sunny weather start to play with our minds. Anyhow, we load the plane off we go. I have to admit the take off and landing was smoother than any commercial plane I've been on. We arrive at camp and meet the group going out, and with reports of excellent fishing out spirits are now on overdrive. Funny thing is this group were the first Canadians we met doing a fly in trip, the rest were Americans. We quickly set up camp, rig the rods and prep the boats. On the water at 2pm. While waiting for the other boat to get ready, I blindly cast a spoon in front of camp and on the 5th cast land a small pike. Good sign of things to come. We head for a cluster of islands and find a nice drop off. First cast, fish on! It was literally fish every cast. These walleye hit very light, just a tap-tap or some weight, set the hook, fish on! We managed to find fish pretty much everywhere! The bait of choice was a white or pink jig and twister tipped with a worm. My best grub was a motor oil with rainbow fleck that produced big time! Unfortuneately I only had 5 grubs. When thinking walleye fishing you would think early morning or evening as the best times. We found 9am-2pm were the best times regardless of weather. We have wind, calm blue bird scorchers and rain. One interesting point is the lunar cycle indicated 11am would be the best time. I do not think about the lunar cycle much but now will have to do some research. We did not target pike too often but a few nice ones were landed. These pike were very aggressive as they grabbed walleye while reeling in on several occasions. One time, my buddy had a small walleye dangling over the side of the boat for a moment. A pike launched completely out of the water and grabbed the walleye in mid air and took it down. We managed to land both! There was nothing like fresh walleye for dinner each night We had an awesome trip! Incredible numbers and quality of fish. Thanks for reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livinisfishin Posted July 13, 2012 Report Share Posted July 13, 2012 Nice report! Can't wait until I can go for my first fly in! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asdve23rveavwa Posted July 13, 2012 Report Share Posted July 13, 2012 Great report and pics!! Can't beat the beauty of the north and those fresh fish dinners. Not to wish away my whole summer, but, I can't wait until the last week of August when Juli, the boys and I are up there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyb Posted July 13, 2012 Report Share Posted July 13, 2012 I think Chapleau must mean "teeming with walleye" or something.....great report!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillM Posted July 13, 2012 Report Share Posted July 13, 2012 Wow, does that cabin ever look familiar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lookinforwalleye Posted July 13, 2012 Report Share Posted July 13, 2012 Great times and lifelong memories, I did my first fly-in last year with my son and some guys from OFC and it was a great experience! I am looking forward to doing another next year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangle Posted July 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2012 Wow, does that cabin ever look familiar Yes, I read your report penciled on the wall of the cabin! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillM Posted July 13, 2012 Report Share Posted July 13, 2012 Yes, I read your report penciled on the wall of the cabin! Awesome!!! Glad you enjoyed your time up there. We had a riot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jds63 Posted July 13, 2012 Report Share Posted July 13, 2012 Great Report ....Reminds me of our trip up there last September with Park's Outposts, I can't wait to go again .... anyone interested in going this September ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bronzeback Posted July 13, 2012 Report Share Posted July 13, 2012 Excellent report... My wife and I are heading up there ourselves the last week of August and I'm in count down mode already. Mike's advice and recommendations are sure sending a bunch of us Park's way. Can't wait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy Bob Posted July 14, 2012 Report Share Posted July 14, 2012 Great report.....LOVE looking at the pictures.......THANKS for sharing. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GBW Posted July 14, 2012 Report Share Posted July 14, 2012 (edited) The bait of choice was a white or pink jig and twister tipped with a worm. My best grub was a motor oil with rainbow fleck that produced big time! Unfortuneately I only had 5 grubs. Come by Pete and grab some. I'm like a dealer, the 1st is free to get you hooked and the rest you pay for... *edit* to fix the pic's Edited July 14, 2012 by GBW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spincast Posted July 14, 2012 Report Share Posted July 14, 2012 sounds like a great get away thanks for the report Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solopaddler Posted July 16, 2012 Report Share Posted July 16, 2012 Thanks for posting and I'm glad to hear your trip went well! I just got back from Ribes lake with my daughter last night, had a great time as well. Talking to Martin the big bonus is that "maybe" he'll be flying out of Chapleau now rather than Hawk Junction. For those coming from southern ON that's 11/2 hours less driving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooski Posted July 17, 2012 Report Share Posted July 17, 2012 For those coming from Ohio-Mich it is an hour longer. Also thanks for the report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solopaddler Posted July 17, 2012 Report Share Posted July 17, 2012 For those coming from Ohio-Mich it is an hour longer. Also thanks for the report. Without getting into any details publicly I had huge issues with Hawk Air this past trip. And this isn't the first time either unfortunately. Martin will likely offer his guests the choice of flying out of either Hawk Junction or Chapleau, at least that's what he said today. 90% of his customers are now from southern Ontario so flying out of Chapleau is a huge bonus. Regardless of distances involved you couldn't pay me to fly with Hawk Air ever again LOL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pikeslayer8 Posted July 17, 2012 Report Share Posted July 17, 2012 (edited) If I had a resort, outpost camp, flying service, whatever have you. I think it might be a good idea to take extreme great care of Solopaddler and his family. Kinda mike good business sense don't it? Just sayin Oh and Pangle, great report, really enjoyed reading it. Great pictures too. Would like to hear more about that walleye meal preparation. Edited July 17, 2012 by Pikeslayer8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooski Posted July 17, 2012 Report Share Posted July 17, 2012 Well Mike you may not have made the details public but you certainly made the issue public. I would go back with Martin regardless of his flight service as the one hour is hardly worth turning down a great trip. Hope Ribes was as good as Anji and Abbey for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solopaddler Posted July 17, 2012 Report Share Posted July 17, 2012 If I had a resort, outpost camp, flying service, whatever have you. I think it might be a good idea to take extreme great care of Solopaddler and his family. Kinda mike good business sense don't it? Just sayin HAHA! Well Mike you may not have made the details public but you certainly made the issue public. I would go back with Martin regardless of his flight service as the one hour is hardly worth turning down a great trip. Hope Ribes was as good as Anji and Abbey for you. Glad to hear you'd go back. Ribes had some negatives (smaller lake, very small basic cabin), but it's an incredibly beautiful lake and the fishing is amazing. I'll post a full report in due time. It's definitely a great destination! Regarding Hawk Air it takes a lot to set me off. I'm currently still seething about what happened and am "considering" airing my issues with them in a separate thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangle Posted July 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2012 If I had a resort, outpost camp, flying service, whatever have you. I think it might be a good idea to take extreme great care of Solopaddler and his family. Kinda mike good business sense don't it? Just sayin Oh and Pangle, great report, really enjoyed reading it. Great pictures too. Would like to hear more about that walleye meal preparation. Thanks for the replys! The trip was truly amazing for us. As for the walleye meal, I usually make my own beer batter with a 50\50 mix of flour and corn starch (crispier) with a bit of baking powder. On this trip we brought waffle batter (makes a crispy batter) and added what ever dry spices we felt like ie: garlic powder, dill, onion powder, paprika, lawry's salt etc...............we just added sauteed onions and mushrooms on top of the baseball sirloins. The first night we boiled a bunch of potatoes for the week and used them as needed. These potatoes were actually fried in sausage fat reserved from breakfast......very tasty but I could feel my arteries clogging! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pikeslayer8 Posted July 17, 2012 Report Share Posted July 17, 2012 Thanks for the replys! The trip was truly amazing for us. As for the walleye meal, I usually make my own beer batter with a 50\50 mix of flour and corn starch (crispier) with a bit of baking powder. On this trip we brought waffle batter (makes a crispy batter) and added what ever dry spices we felt like ie: garlic powder, dill, onion powder, paprika, lawry's salt etc...............we just added sauteed onions and mushrooms on top of the baseball sirloins. The first night we boiled a bunch of potatoes for the week and used them as needed. These potatoes were actually fried in sausage fat reserved from breakfast......very tasty but I could feel my arteries clogging! Wow, that batter looked great and I love the idea of making a giant batch of taters on the first night so you don't have to mess with em all week. The steaks looking great as well. Nice outpost form! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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