Fish, Drink, Eat, Sleep

[gordy28]

The Background:

Interestingly enough researching for this trip was what brought me to OFC last winter (and its now a prt of my nightly reading)

A trip for my brothers 40th birthday, a week fishing a new body of water for 4 good friends who love to fish but don't do it nearly enough with all of lifes other commitments

After a month or so of research we decided on fishing Brennan Harbour on the Whalesback channel of Lake Huron.

Reports on the fishing as well as the lodge were extremely positive, plus we liked the idea of the 5.5 hour drive

The trip

After meeting up at 6:45 the trip began in earnest - we gave ourselves plenty of time to hit the 1:00 PM check in and have time to hit the LCBO for final provision yet critical provisions. We had time to stop for lunch in the restaurant in the Spanish Hotel - and were glad we did - if your ever up this way - I recommend it - great food and a diverse menu I was not expecting.

The Lodge and our Hosts

We arrived at the lodge to be greeted by Barry - the mechanic for the lodge - he quickly introduced us to Casey and James the owners - a few quick details and we were getting our stuff loaded into the ATV and trailer by Barry and Andrew the resident dock man. Nicer people you couldn't ask to meet

We had cabin 4 - a nice little cottage just off the path leading to the boat docks - comfortable, spacious with a full kitchen and bathroom

We had upgraded both of the boats we would use for the week - Lund 17 Foot outfitters rigged to fish - one with a 50 horse Yamaha Tiller and one with a 30 horse Honda Tiller

The boats were in good shape - however we were glad we had the 50 horse as the 30 with 2 guys was underpowered for some of the long runs. For most of the week we ran 3 w the big motor and 1 with the 30, and then switched back at our spots

We had chosen the American plan - breakfast in the main lodge at 7:30, packed lunches (or fixings for a shore lunch) and dinner in the lodge again at 5:00 - or if you were catching fish or wanted to be on the water earlier they had no problem putting your meals in your cabin to be eaten at your leisure. The food was amazing - James the owner made awesome breakfasts, and the dinners were incredible home cooked meals - 3 courses for every dinner with a large helping of fresh homemade bread - highlight for me was the waldorf salad, roasted chicken with homemade stuffing, mashed potatoes and green beans followed by a brownie and ice cream!

The Lake

The Whalesback Channel is an offshoot of Lake Huron near the mouth of the Spanish River - separated by Aird Island and John island from the big lake. It seems and fishing more like a shield lake than the great lakes of Southern Ontario - deep main basin, huge looming rocks faces, large boulder strewn shoals, many little islands and big off shoot bays. The water is always slightly stained (compared to the Kawarthas where we normally fish). On fist glance and our first outing - its a tad overwhelming, it seems huge and everything looks fishy - especially when you can target just about any species of fish - the picture books in the lodge show fisherman with trout, pike, muskie, walleye, smallmouth bass, sturgeon, catfish and perch.

Fishing

For us - the fishing was amazing - maybe not to some of the folks here, we didn't have 100 fish days but we were able to quite well - more detail with the pictures.

Our plan was to primarily fish for walleye and bass and try a few spots for muskie/pike

 

We had a great routine - walleye till 11 AM, explore a bit, have lunch, fish for bass, back to the lodge for dinner, evening fish for walleye and back to the lodge for R and R - get up and repeat

We hired a local guide to fish with each boat for a day and it was well worth it - Nigel was great at both showing us spots (some we fished, some he pointed out on our way to and from) and techniques. As mentioned most of us do our fishing on the Kawarthas and primarily for bass and musky - so deep structure fishing for Walleye or even the type of smallie fishing was quite different - and I am convinced that without the lesson on how to properly rig (2 ounce bottom bouncer minimum) and troll the walleye spots, plus the pointers on the types of structures we wanted (large main lake structures with steep breaks to the basin for walleye, shoals with rocks and weeds within a cast or two of deep water for smallies) we would have caught 50% less fish

 

Our totals

Walleye - 100+ fish for the week, the average size was about 17 inches, with 18 - 20 inchers and only 4 fish that broke 20. We did however get lots of 14 - 16 inch fish - perfect for our shore lunches

Smallmouth - 40+ fish for the week, the average size was about 2.5 lbs with 4 fish over 4 lbs including 3 that were over 4.5 lbs

Pike/Muskie - only 2 and both were incidental - we spent one 2 hour session targeting mainly pike following the guides advice but only had one large pike blow up on a spoon and 3 hooks ups that never made it to the boat. We also had a few big hits when fishing for eyes and when you brought your bouncer and worm harness in it was sheered at the leader about 2 feet away from the bottom bouncer - our guide said many of the big pike sit on the same structure the walleye do - feeding on the walleye

 

Our go to baits were:

Crawlers and harnesses for walleye - on a 2 ounce bottom bouncer. best colours were metallic gold with green or orange, flourescent firetiger, white w gold and pink and perch

Our secondary pattern (which produced both walleye and smallies) was long lining original floating rapalas or husky jerks in hot orange/white, clown and black/silver with an orange bottom

 

Okay - some pictures

The view from our cabin porch our first night:

 

Stringer from our second day

 

Shore lunch - great spot on a small beach on one of the islands with a picnic table, campfire, fileting station and a cooking station - it was so good we decided we must do it again one more time before we left (ask James - he will tell you where it is)

 

Walleye - a few of our larger ones

 

Smallies - big uns and others

 

We ended up finding and milking a great walleye spot 5 minutes from the lodge on our first night - we then refined our pattern with what we learned from the guide - but best of all was this, pretty much every night before we rolled home

 

Finally - the group shot - our first day fishing and probably the only time we got the 4 of us together in a photo

 

 

Trip Review

Overall it was a great trip - we got lucky with the weather - we only had one day with high winds that brought in big waves (and I'm talking rollers of the 6 to 8 feet variety), we started fishing in 28 - 30 degree weather and finished the week with highs of 20 and post frontal conditions - yet we never got skunked and our last day was probably our best for smallies and we found a new walleye pattern

One of my favourite moments was probably ruminating over the map at the cabin table with Scotch and stogies pondering the next days fish based on the front - and then going out the next day and putting a whooping on the fish!

 

Lodge Review

Pros - great people, the food was awesome, very reasonable prices, nice cabins and access to truly incredible fishing, close access but you never felt crowded - we rarely fishing with more than 2 boats within eyesight and after labour day we hardly saw any other fishing boats except for other lodge guests, access to town - its 5 minutes from the lodge - which was great when we ran out of beer and smokes!

Cons - its big water - the wrong week of weather and you could get blown off the lake every day. Boats - the 50 horse was great, but the 17 ft boat with 2 big guys and a 30 hp did not make for fast rides. We had a long run to 2 of our best bass and walleye spots and after the 2nd day we primarily put 3 guys in the boat with the 50 and 1 with the 30. One other thing was that gas and bait is not included in the American plan pricing (only other trip I have done of this type it was) - we felt the final tally was fair - but I would prefer it all be taken care of upfront

 

I'd give it an 8 out of 10

 

Considerations

Think about hiring a guide through the lodge - we found it very helpful

Definitely upgrade to the 50 tiller or think about bringing your own boat - we drove a lot and our prop/lower unit was never in much danger if you use your maps and pay attention

Bring a GPS

Do some research - through this board and many others we had lots of spots to check - most of which proved to hold fish

Think about going with your family - they have a nice kid friendly beach, a play area, firepits and other things to keep kids busy

 

Overall - we had a blast, and at somepoint I will go back - maybe with the family when my daughter is a bit older or we have tried a few more spots - we have decided to do it again in 2014 with a few shorter trips between now and then - right now its a toss up between a guided Quetico/BCWA trip or a fly in to one of the many fine outposts we have seen here (Beteau Lake, Parks Fly In, Kesagami)

 

Thanks for reading and to all of those who helped along the way - many thanks!

Gordy

[captpierre]

Excellent report! Never herd of this place before

[chris.brock]

great report, looks like you guys had a great week, I've always wanted to try that area

[Roy]

A super report Gordy. Thanks for taking the time to put it together for us. A very enjoyable read this morning.

[Jigger]

Awesome report Gordy! You guys sure put a whoopin on em! Thanks for the morning read.

[aplumma]

Nice report looks like not only a good time was had by you all but a future place for others to visit.

 

 

Art

[Spiel]

A super report Gordy. Thanks for taking the time to put it together for us. A very enjoyable read this morning.

 

I concur.

[corvette1]

great report congrats

[solopaddler]

Thanks for the detailed report Gordy, sounds like a great week.

[Christopheraaron]

Thanks for the report! Looks like a great time had by all.

[LucG]

Great report, I like the break down!

[laker19]

Good stuff man that sounds like fun......gotta be some nice trout/salmon in that area?

[spincast]

great report - thanks for taking the time. Looks like a great selection of fish - would like to see one of those walleye eating pike come up to the boat.

[gordy28]

Thanks for the comments-enjoyed writing it now I just need to do more fishing

For trout-they are there rainbows for sure and the lodge owner said lakers as well-just very deep. If you had a big boat-not a huge run to clear the whalesback and head out to the North Channel where I believe there is a healthy salmon and trout fishery

 

Wish we got some pike as well

Gordy

[ctdd2006]

...was waiting for that report. Glad you had a nice trip. Fish the river at all?

[gordy28]

...was waiting for that report. Glad you had a nice trip. Fish the river at all?

We never did -closest we got was some of the shoals just past green island

Weather was good enough that we fished the channel all week

Thanks again for the input CTDD