Algonquin Report

[Cookslav]

I got out on my annual Algonquin Fishing trip Last week, and I finally had a chance to get this little Report done up!!!

Better late then never I s‘pose?….

After a quick 4.5 hour drive we were on the shore with some beautiful weather infront of us.

This years weather proved to be a both a blessing and a curse.

We set sail into the south of the park under clear blue skies, and a cool north west wind….perfect conditions as far as I was concerned!

The cool wind was at our backs the entire way keeping us from breaking a sweat and making the paddle a breeze(no pun intended)

 

We made it to our camping destination in a record 6 hours… a sweet little island with a flat & level site that I’ve stayed at several times before, only this year we were surprised to find some new(and welcome) benches and a camp tables!

 

It must have been a rough winter up that way?…

There were some significant blow downs, making fire wood an easy find, although it made for a few messy portages…

 

We made camp in a haste, collected our firewood, and pumped ourselves enough water to get through a day or two, grabbed quick dinner of Spiced curry noodles, and tuna steak….gotta love those light weight liptons dinners eh!!!

Quick & easy enough to get us off for bit of fishing before dark.

 

One of the Highlights of the trip came this evening…

My cousins 11 year old son caught his first fish….a scrappy little 17 inch Laker.

I got a kick out of his boyish enthusiasm, and enjoyed letting him gloat for a night being it was the first fish, and Unfortunately the only one that night.

 

Day two we awoke to a little frost but it was quickly warmed away with some balmy 18 degree sunshine and some of that stale but every so needed Camp coffee

The High Sun meant the Specs would be hiding in the fallen lumber…

And I don’t know about the rest of you but….

Algonquin specs in high sun and hiding under the wood have always been a chore for me???

So I made the decision to head out to nearby lake with a healthy population of Splake that gave up some tasty treats on last years trip.

I remembered those fish were taken on Perch pattern Rapalas, and their bellies were full of small perch upon inspection so I decided to tip the group off in hopes lightning might strike twice….it turned out to be a good tip

 

After a series of 2 short Portages(just over 500yards)

We hit the water….slight breeze, and tea colour water with a ton of fallen trees on the shore line to work.

 

About 2 hours into casting some of us switched up to paddle trolling the lake to cover some of the shoals.

My cousin and his partner headed out and worked a point in about 20’ of water that they had noticed earlier….On the second pass of that shoal the first fish was on and landed…a beauty 20” Splake on a perch colour Rapala.

A half hour later on the same shoal his Partner had a second 20” Splake for the stinger as well.

Luv this pic….cool look to it!

 

The same two drifted into the shallow bay to have quick beverage break and enjoy their success.

Before they headed back out to the productive Shoal My cousin decided to throw a cast at a big rock just under the surface he had a hunch about….wouldn‘t you know it?

He nailed another beautiful 22” Splake!!!

 

Across the party we had a few hits, and lost 2 at boat side, .but that was it for the day.. Two fast and furious hours, and then it just died, so we headed back to camp with a decent stringer for dinner, and some aching backs from the 7 hours of canoeing and double portages.

Us city slickers are not used to that work I guess LOL…

 

We had ourselves a great fry with some garlic Fish crisp and lemon Juice, and some good ‘OL fashion Tin Foil wrapped Splake with onions & Lemon pepper…mmmmm

 

 

Day Three we awoke to another beautiful sunny morning, and that same bad coffee…

But under the blue skies and high teen Temps the coffee tasted fine to meJ

So….

It was Another Awesome day for Sun tanning, but I knew it meant another day the Specs would be Hiding in those submerged trees

So we went to work early tossing tiny Blue fox, mepps, Panther martins, Rapalas, and a few of us got the flies going to no avail…

For fear of going fishless we switched up in search of lakers dragging out our rusty Cleos, Wabblers, and old faithful Rapalas.

This brought a new first experience for me…

Just before the dinner hour I was in the final 3 turns of my reel and I had a nice fat laker fly up from under the canoe and hit my black & silver shad rap at the “SURFACE” Only about 2 feet off the canoe???

Weird…..

Unfortunately I had no leverage to set the hook, and of course as soon as I did, she went bizzirk at the surface completely soaking me & my brother before spitting the hook and swimming away LOL!!!

Had she dove I might have had enough line out to leverage a good hook set but….

It was not meant to be

To bad cause I figure she would have been a solid 25+ inches I figure???

Oh well,

Luckily My Pops got a smaller feisty 19” laker just after dinner as did my youngest Brother off a point in 20’ of water on the old faithful Perch Rap…So the Groups Skunk was averted!!!

So about an hour after sunset it was Back to camp for some much needed liquid courage, and a chance to swap some “fisherman” stories about the ones that got away.

 

 

Day four was rough…

A little to much liquid courage…but the skies were grey!!!!

I jumped out of bed, drank my crappy instant coffee, and headed for "the marina"….

Unfortunately our grey skies didn’t last past 8am, and to make matters worse the winds picked up and were gusting to 40km/hour….

Not ideal for fishing in a canoe at allL

 

So we fished for Specs till 1pm and made the decision to head back to the Splake lake we did so well on before, as it was a smaller lake with more cover from the wind.

My Dad, Uncle, and 2 brothers stayed behind looking for some of the lakes larger Lake trout while the rest of us headed out.

Our luck today was not great….we went 1 for 5

The splake were sitting deeper today and were hitting light as a feather…but My Cousin managed to hang on to another 23” beauty (if there was a trophy for this trip it would have been his this year.)

 

So we headed home for dinner…on the way we found this cow wading in a silty pond between portages…sorry bout the Pic, but we couldn’t get any closer.

 

Once back at camp we found out my My Uncle got a nice 20” Laker…I was glad to see their efforts in the raging winds paid off, but I was beginning to fear I may be in for a personal skunk

So I headed out after dinner for a last ditch effort and was rewarded just as the sun was setting with a feisty 20” laker, which again hit right at the dam boat????

Fortunately the hooks stuck this time….she was no trophy, but a welcome catch non the lessJ

Back at camp we had a final Splake fry to put us to bed , and get us some much needed energy to get us home the next morning.

 

Once again The Gods were smiling on us again for our trip home…winds were coming steadily out of the south East!!!

And stayed at our backs for the entire trip out making for en appreciated easy return.

 

Over all the trip was great!!!

The fishing sounds good but was actually pretty tough….

10 fish caught between 10 guys, fishing for 10 hours a day for 5 days…..

But I can’t complain.

The company was stellar, the weather made fishing tough but it was dry, warm and great for the Tan

 

To summarize.

 

All ten fish were caught on Perch colour Raps, in 20’ of water on rocky shoals and points like this one

Nest year when this tree falls in....I hope to pull a few specs outta there

 

Currently I'd say...

The Specs are still lip locked and skittish, while lakers and Splake seem to be cruising deeper then expected?

Of the fish kept they had nothing in their bellies other then Perch, and nymphs….

Water was COLD….very cold

There was still Ice hanging off the granite in places.

 

BTW

If you find this small Hand carved Giraff staring you down as you walk into your camp...you've found My site!!!!

 

And heres my brother giving the thumbs up saying the camps clean...so don't forget to practice zero trace camping

If we can clean up the site for the next guys, hopefully they'll do the same and I'll find it the same next year as well.

Not much else to say…I think that’s about it LOL!!!

heres a few more pics

 

 

 

Cheers

[Badger Shark]

Man now thats a sweet report, really makes me want to get out and do something like that and Im lazy . How do you find your way to these spots that far in the bush? I would be afraid of getting lost. I guess you have some good maps and a gps? Really looks peaceful and beautiful. Must be nice knowing that you are the only ones around for miles. Ever any problems with wildlife? Once again fantastic report.

[charlied]

man sounds like a great trip...when you first planned the trip did it take you a long time to choose a place, I went to algonquin 2 summers ago and got skunked 2 long days of fishing so it has made me not wanna go back up. Just curious as to what steps you took to plan to hit certain lakes.

[canadian_copper]

beauty report bro

[b2kptbo]

Great rport and pic's, thanks...

[Rich Clemens]

Great report there. You're making my mouth water with the fish fryin' up there. My father spent some time in the Algonquin Park a few years back, just taking some wildlife and scenery snapshots. I can see why he liked it there. Never did a camping trip like that and I'll bet I'm missing out on some great fun. Thanks for posting.

[BryceBurzynski]

Beautiful report!

[gozwob]

Algonquin..........yah gotta love it!! Great report and pics!

[Roy]

You did super on the trip and on the report, Bud. Great memories for everyone I'm sure.

 

 

ps. If some people on this board had their way, not everyone would be able to see this great report.

[danbouck]

great pics

[luv2fish]

Great report, I can't wait for vacation; back to Algonquin!

[Raf]

nicely done cookslav!

[John]

Great report, story well told, thanks for sharing.

 

BTW I know that Giraffe....

[007]

Great report... really whet my appetite for my camping trip to Algonquin next weekend!

007

[Guest mistyriver1]

Now that's a report

 

Thanks

[Mike the Pike]

AWESOME REPORT Nice to see many family members getting together.I love the shot of the young 11 yr old PRICELESS.

WHAT A NICE PLACE.

[mattyk]

thats a great report, thanks for sharing your trip with us!

[Joey]

Super report and pics. Felt like I was there.

 

Joey

[irishfield]

Looked like a GREAT trip and great memories, and at least you beat the fire ban. Rusty the rooster isn't hanging out with that giraffe is he.....

Edited May 11, 2007 by irishfield

[Puckhead]

Awesome report!! Looks like a blast!

 

Great point Roy, that would be a shame...

[tbayboy]

Wow what a wonderful sounding trip even if the fishing was a bit off. One of these days I've gotta convince some friends that its worth the trip.

[Golfisher]

What a great report! Thanks for taking the time to share it with us.

[Peps]

great report and awsome pics

 

 

 

 

Peps

[Big Swede]

The Big Swede deems this report worthy

 

Nicely done bud! If you can ever find me a nice patch of soft moss to rest my head and more importantly, get those fish to start biting, I may just have to join you guys so we can get the band back together again!

[Motorhead]

Now that`s a Great report... Looks like you got into some nice fish and the weather was an added bonus...

Just wondering on the beer bottle picture??? I thought you weren`t allowed to bring in glass containers???

 

Doug