Cracking The Code On The Attawapiskat ~ Fishing Hearst Air's Brand New Outpost Camp

[solopaddler]

Flowing unimpeded for 748 kilometers from it's headwaters at Lansdowne House to James Bay, the Attawapiskat River is a powerful watery highway of epic proportions.

 

Upstream at Beteau lake where I've fished before it's much more intimate in nature with many more slack water areas and a more benign nature. Once the north channel of the river merges with the mainstem they combine and flow east towards James Bay. Numerous small feeder rivers add to the volume and the river becomes imposing. It's strength is deceiving, it truly is big water. The only other river I've ever fished that's comparable is the Kenai in Alaska.

 

Hearst Air's outpost at Pym Island on the mainstem is well known for its fantastic fishery. What few if anyone knows is Hearst Air has another outpost camp located 40 odd kilometers downstream from Pym. It was formerly private camp that they just recently aquired. Not open to the general public yet my group was the fortunate first to fish it.

 

The entire trip was arranged at virtually the last second so the camp wasn't really ready for guests yet. However Hearst Air delivered two 20' freighter canoes, motors and plenty of gas on short notice and really, what else matters?

 

Joining me on the trip was my friend and boat partner Aaron Shirley as well as Doug Orton from the board and his friend and cameraman Kevin.

 

Would we be able to find the fish in this water so vastly different from what I was used to? What effect would the late spring have? The water was cold, turbid, and flowing 6 feet higher than normal.

 

Time would tell...

 

 

 

The morning we flew in was picture perfect, clear blue skies and a light breeze from the north. Loading the Otter at Hearst Air's dock our anticipation was running high.

 

 

 

Once in the air the terrain north of hearst quickly transformed. Sparse trees dissapeared and we were left with boggy muskeg interspersed with small pothole lakes. It's desolate yet hauntingly beautiful and never ceases to inspire.

 

 

 

The sight of ice still clinging to the shores of the lakes was testament to just how early in the season it was.

 

 

 

As we circled the camp it was obvious the river was in flood stage, our pilot being forced to avoid the numerous amount of logs and debris floaing downstream. Landing safely we taxiied up to the camp carefully.

 

There was no dock in place yet so we backed the plane in. I had to jump off the pontoon at one point into the icy water to grab a rope as the wind and current was pulling the plane away. We got 'er done though.

 

First sight of the camp set high on a bluff overlooking the river was awesome.

 

 

 

We quickly unpacked and with help from the pilot got the propane fridge running and the camp into some semblance of order. Such a pretty spot! I snapped this quick pic from the deck overlooking the river.

 

 

 

In short order we said our goodbyes to the pilot and he was off leaving us alone in the wilderness.

 

 

The location of the camp was chosen wisely. Right beside camp there's a substantial inflowing river that's unnamed on the topo map. Hearst Air calls it Canada Creek and it's eaily navigable 2km's upstream to a small shallow lake.

 

It was expected that this feeder creek and lake would provide excellent fishing for obvious reasons as it was substantially warmer than the main river and once the boats were set up that was the first water we tackled. Although we did catch fish, a few small walleyes and hammerhandle pike, shockingly the big girls were nowhere to be found.

 

Perusing the top map we made a decision to run upstream to a small island cluster. Fishing the slack water behind it Aaron struck paydirt first with a chunky pike.

 

 

 

Shortly afterwards continuing on upstream we found a motherlode of larger walleyes hanging out at the mouth of a small inflowing creek. Aaron did most of the damage with a black/silver Husky Jerk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We caught scads of fish in this spot, a bunch in the high 20's, truly impressive walleye. Still, we had more water to explore and we pushed un upstream. Several kilometers further upstream a mild rapids with two small islands in the middle of the river looked promising.

 

 

 

 

Surprisingly beyond a few dink walleye this spot did not produce. It was a head scratcher to say the least and left us scrambling to figure out a consistent pattern.

 

The next four days we were blessed with perfect weather. Warm sun, no bugs, and little to no wind. We took advantage and explored much of the river both upstream and down from camp pushing the boundaries further and further each day.

 

Aaron constructed a most awesome paddle/push pole for our boat and here he plays guide, paddling me into a prime spot where a huge beaver dam blocked a small creek entering the main river.

 

 

 

One smaller but chunky pike was the result. More impressive though was the beaver dam. It was a Beaver's version of the Hyatt Regency.

 

 

 

As stated the river was in flood stage and because of that we were able to effectively eliminate 90% of the water.

 

Current breaks were key, slack water behind islands and anywhere a small creek flowed in. Best of all was an island cluster with a creek flowing in behind it, a double barrelled combination that occured several times and proved to be dynamite.

 

Finally we were starting to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Best of all these fish were actively hitting hardware when we did find them. Inline bucktails, spinnerbaits, spoons, they all worked. Occasionally we'd toss a smaller plastic as either a follow up bait or for a change of pace and they worked too.

 

Best plastic was a 6" white twister tail rigged on a light swimbait head. It was more or less the equivolent of an after dinner mint and the fish couldn't refuse.

 

 

We entered a small brushy feeder creek at one point and managed a bunch of mid sized pike. Every little pool, turn and bend coughed up at least one fish...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heading further downstream the beauty of the river was incredible. In this clip you'll note two things. One, Aaron never sits still. When he's not on the tiller he's constantly tinkering with his tackle. And two, you can clearly see the huge blocks of ice still lining the river banks in spots.

 

 

 

 

We caught fish consistently in every prime spot we fished.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mid week we had a huge fish fry thanks to Aaron. What many of you don't know, the man has developed his own coating mix that is fantastic. The fact that he wouldn't give me the recipe speaks volumes.

 

 

 

 

 

We also managed to get the dock put in before dinner and were treated to a spectacular sunset for our efforts.

 

 

 

 

Fortunately we had a sat phone with us and were able to get up to date weather forecasts. On what was to be our last good weather day Aaron and I made a decision to push the boundaries even further.

 

Looking at the map there was a particularly enticing island cluster a good 45km's downstream (that's a 90km round trip). Would it procuce? Honestly we didn't care that much as the sheer adventure of exploring this vast hinterland was motivation enough.

 

Loading the boat with an extra motor and gas we pushed off downstream. Pretty much every grade A spot we stopped at produced fish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here a mid sized pike dropped into the bottom of the boat (accident) and proceeded to clamp onto the butt of my rod and chew it to bits. They were savage!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the way down to this glory hole we navigated through a kilometer long section of rolling rapids. Basking in the warm late afternoon sun and back in shorts and t shirts we shot this clip of our ascent.

 

 

 

 

The boat plastered in fish slime, our hands cut and bloodied we made our way back to camp.What a day!

 

Believe it or not I only posted a fraction of what we caught that day. It was maybe the best day of pike fishing I've ever experienced.

 

Back at camp that night we all hit the sack early. Kevin is one of those fortunate people with the ability to fall asleep within seconds of lying down. He's also one of the noisiest.

 

 

As the rest of us lay there listening to him drone on oblivious to our misery in a contented stupor, I shot this short video clip.

 

 

 

The balance of the week the weather truly did turn for the worse. High's of 6 degrees, wind, rain and even snow at times. Still we persevered and caught fish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On our way back upstream we pulled into a channel between two islands, one that hadn't produced a thing in our earlier attemps. Just like that the fish were on and we got into a few.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On our last day Aaron and I fished on completely oblivious of time. Despite the nasty weather we'd continued to catch fish. I looked at my watch and was shocked to realize it was 9:20pm. We'd both figured it was 7-7:30 tops.

 

Still facing a 11/2 hour boat ride back upstream to reach camp we finally packed it in. We were done.

 

Pulling up to the dock at 10:45 Doug stood waiting for us.

 

"So, you made it back alive, I was starting to get worried!", "I'm guessing you guys beat the fish up pretty good?"

 

Yep, no doubt about it!

 

 

 

 

For those who are interested I shot a short video tour of the camp.As mentioned Heast just aquired it as it was previously a privately owned camp. Great, great facility and once it's truly prepped for guests it will be spectacular.

 

 

 

 

A big thanks to Melanie Veilleux of Hearst Air. She was a true pleasure to deal with and was instrumental in making this trip happen for us at the very last minute. Thank's Mel, you're the best!

 

http://hearstair.wordpress.com/

 

Finally a big thanks to my friends who joined me on this adventure, you guys were great. I'd spend a week in the bush with any of you again.

 

A special thanks to my boat mate Aaron. My friend you were a joy to fish with. It's rare that I fish with someone who's on exactly the same wavelength as myself. You fish hard and you know your stuff. Thanks for making the trip truly exceptional for me!

 

 

Hope you all enjoyed,

 

 

 

Cheers, Mike

 

Edited June 9, 2013 by Mike Borger

[Rich Clemens]

Great report. Trip of a lifetime - maybe two. Thanks for taking the time to put all this together for us.

[kickingfrog]

Ya well, I caught a couple of walleye and pike last week too.

[wantabigone]

Thanks for the writeup

[solopaddler]

Are the vid's working for you guys? They're not showing on my end.

[danc]

Impressive Mike. Love the color of the Walleyes. Like my signature says, "I'd rather go north in the summer than south in the winter".

[Christopheraaron]

Great report Mike! Can't wait for the next 4

[BillM]

All the links are broken for me Mike.

[4x4bassin]

Great report as always Mike , That is some crazy pike action .

[spincast]

Awesome - that river is one of the top ones for my bucket list. Just an amazing fishery.

[Bill Shearer]

Great narrative as usual, but I fear the Photobucket links let you down.

Still a great recap.

[danc]

Pics and vids worked first time I looked at it. Now it's a bunch of URL NOT FOUND and broken html links.

[Walleye'm Fishing]

Same here, pics and vids worked a little while ago but not at the moment. Great report with some fantastic fishing and scenery. Awesome bright golds on the walleyes!!!

[Bear]

Incredible action ....... beautiful pictures ..... awesome fish ..... thanx for sharing

 

maybe to much Beautiful fish porn ...... maybe the cause of the broken links ??

[Musky or Specks]

I've been waiting for this one. Unfortunately pics and vids are down.for me anyway

Edited June 9, 2013 by Musky or Specks

[Joey]

Ya, it's all broken here too :{

[solopaddler]

Fixed, thank the Lord. Man this board can be frustrating at times, hope that never happens again!

[Joey]

Okay, I see them now. WOW, that a report Mike. Well done!!!

[adempsey]

Great report! Thanks for putting it all together. The videos are always nice addition and the photos are amazing.

 

Definitely a fishing paradise.

[solopaddler]

It was pretty frustrating let me tell you when I thought I had this posted then the links failed. I edited something then when I submitted the edited post everything was fubar. I had to delete every single link one by one and reinsert good ones from photobucket and youtube. An extra 2 hours easy.

 

Anyhow glad you guys enjoyed,

 

 

Cheers

[Musky or Specks]

So much Pike slime. Very nice report Mike. Thats not snoring LOL wait till you get a chance to camp with me. I've had whole camps ask me to take my tent and move further into the bush.

[Moosebunk]

The best way to get the real feel and best meal deal is to dine on the full course of pics and videos smothered in text. I'll take some Attawapiskat well done with a side of awesome any day.

 

Hope Doug feeds us some more too.

 

 

Eddies, creeks and islands... ohhhhh pike and eye drive-thrus.

[Aaron Shirley]

Great write-up Mike! Excellent photos as well.

 

Thank you for putting this all together, it was an awesome trip of a lifetime to say the least.

 

It was an absolute pleasure to fish with you as well. It isn't often you get to fish so hard for a week with a like-minded person and enjoy each other's company so much.

 

You told the story very well with such a great variety of the photos. I think the OFC server would crash if you posted all of them lol

[solopaddler]

Thats not snoring LOL wait till you get a chance to camp with me. I've had whole camps ask me to take my tent and move further into the bush.

Hey no problem Brad, that's what earplugs are for. As far as Kevin goes I was 30' away when when I shot that clip. Did you turn up the volume? The man was a human power auger LOL!

 

The best way to get the real feel and best meal deal is to dine on the full course of pics and videos smothered in text. I'll take some Attawapiskat well done with a side of awesome any day.

 

Hope Doug feeds us some more too.

 

 

Eddies, creeks and islands... ohhhhh pike and eye drive-thrus.

You SHOULD have been with us on this trip Bunk. Next year can't come soon enough!

 

It was an absolute pleasure to fish with you as well. It isn't often you get to fish so hard for a week with a like-minded person and enjoy each other's company so much.

 

You told the story very well with such a great variety of the photos. I think the OFC server would crash if you posted all of them lol

 

Thanks bud and yes I had 550 photos on my camera alone. I posted none of yours or Doug and Kevins either.

 

Hopefully Doug chimes in with a few photos of his own.

[Freshtrax]

Crazy pike .... That place is a pike factory