Walleye, Lakers & Trophy Pike Of The Chapleau Game Preserve ~ A Fly In Trip To Park's Cam Lake Outpost

[solopaddler]

In the heart of the Chapleau Game Preserve lies Little Missinaibi lake, an iconic Canadian fly in destination. A sprawling multi-armed lake of over 3600 acres and 50 miles of shoreline it's an anglers paradise. Dominated by towering cliffs, old growth pine and a plethora of ancient Indian pictographs it's a special place indeed.

 

Park's Fly In Fishing operates a rustic outpost on adjacent Cam lake with a trail behind it leading to a boat cache at Little Missinaibi. Cam/Little Miss was the only camp operated by Park's that I'd yet to fish. Truth be told I'd have fished Little Miss much sooner as there's two other outfitters operating camps of their own on the big lake. However they're much more expensive and in one case requires a minimum group of six to book.

 

The small but perfectly comfortable (and cheap) outpost on Cam lake, closed for a number of years and now reopened, presented a perfect opportunity to sample this great fishery. After talking with Martin Wearn, owner of Park's we chose a date in mid June and the stage was set.

 

Joining me on this adventure was my partner in crime on many a trip, Bill, and two other friends from the Hamilton area Greg and Craig.

 

It was to be a short trip, only 4 nights, and with an endless amount of water to cover and a perfect weather forecast on tap we were anxious to get in the air and get started.

 

 

 

This map clearly shows the vast amount of water we had awaiting us....

 

 

 

 

Spirits were high as we took off from the Chapleau River in an aging but well preserved Beaver aircraft and skimmed northward into the Game Preserve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's not a long flight, maybe 15 minutes, and in no time at all we banked and began to descend, preparing to land on Cam lake.

 

 

 

As mentioned the outpost is rustic, but it had a certain charm when spied for the first time. Set back from the lake in a grove of spruce with a comfortable covered porch in front to take in the view, it was all we'd hoped for and more.

 

 

 

 

After saying our goodbyes to the pilot, we quickly unloaded and unpacked, readying gear for our initial foray. There's a trail right behind the cabin that leads to a boat cache on Little Miss. Martin had flown in earlier in the spring with a work crew to clear and mark the trail, and at the same time flew in boats, motors and plenty of gas. Accomodating chap that Martin. All we had to do was carry our fishing tackle and lunch across the trail, everything else was waiting.

 

It didn't take long and we were packed and off down the trail, eager to fish.

 

 

 

 

It took us roughly 12 minutes give or take to traverse the trail, and our boats were soon in view.

 

 

 

 

The question now was where do we start? With so much water to cover it was a bit daunting, but we had a game plan. Simply looking at the map we were able to eliminate a vast amount of water. Being mid June and with the historically late spring we believed the fish would still be shallow. Inflowing creeks would be a key pattern, and there are dozens of those on Little Miss. In addition the substantial Missinaibi river flowed north out of the lake and appeared to be navigable for several km's before rapids halted your progress. We both felt that would be a great place to start so we made a beeline for it.

 

Once again our instincts proved correct as we found a huge pod of walleyes stacked on a bouldery hump on the inside bend of the river. I'd like to say we finessed them using live bait rigs and floating jig heads, but that would be a lie. These fish would've hit a beer cap. Bill slayed them on a simple Len Thompson 5 of diamonds spoon. I caught them on jigs, Husky Jerks, Williams Wablers...whatever caught my fancy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This short video clip shows just how crazy it was...

 

 

 

 

 

The balance of our short stay was spent fishing new water. We could have easily sat on a couple of prime spots and caught fish all day long, but we were drawn to explore. On the main lake itself we found concentrations of fish in several key spots: neckdown areas, warmer back bays, and either long reed points, or adjacent to banks of reeds. The key component being warmer water and mud bottoms. Why muddy bottoms? We were there at the height of the mayfly hatch and a large percentage of the fish were cruising these warm flats in search of emerging nymphs. On the main lake proper there's no doubt this hampered our success a bit, but we persevered.

 

In contrast to our crazy success in the outflow river, on the main lake we had to pull out all the tricks. A small chunk of worm threaded onto a slow death hook pulled behind a small bottom bouncer was lethal. Not surprising considering what the fish were feeding on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As mentioned earlier there's several Indian pictograph sites on Little Missinaibi. It's not surprising to me at all that early natives held this lake in reverence. It's beauty is hard to describe.

 

Here's the best example that we found:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course no trip would be complete without a shore lunch and Little Miss has an amazing amount of picture perfect spots. One glorious sunny day all 4 of us met up, fish in tow and indulged ourselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch on that day we went for a tour down to the very south end of the lake. This short clip travelling through a narrows between two main lake islands shows some of the typical scenery we navigated through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I havn't talked much about pike but we did catch a good number of them including this chunky mid 30's fish by Bill. That fish would prove to be a prelude for what was to come....

 

 

 

 

 

What makes this location truly stand out and something I've yet to mention, there's several other back lakes adjacent to Little Miss that are easily accessed and fished. Two in particular stand out: Elbow lake and Trump lake.

 

Elbow is a walleye and pike lake and is accessed via a narrow winding creek from the outflow river on Little Miss. It's easily navigable the entire way up with zero obstructions. From Elbow there's a short 200m trail into crystal clear and cold Trump lake which has lake trout.

 

On one of our days we planned an excursion in there, figuring we'd start with Trump then fish Elbow on the way out.

 

Here we are entering the narrow creek leading into Elbow lake.

 

 

 

 

It was a 5 minute boat ride up the creek and we were soon on Elbow lake. With lakers on our mind we made a beeline for the portage trail carrying our tackle across first, then motor and gas.

 

 

 

 

There were two boats cached at the end. One leaked a tiny bit, the other leaked a lot. We chose the former and were soon on our way.

 

 

 

 

Trump lake was a true gem. In sharp contrast to the shallow, warm tannin stained water we had been fishing, it was absolutely sparkling clear, clean and rocky. Just beautiful.

 

It took a bit of time to figure things out, but once we did we caught oodles of fish. They weren't big lakers by any means, 3lb's tops, but they fought like possessed demons and were absolutely beautiful.

 

Most of our fish were caught in 30-40' of water. Luhr Jensen Power Dive Minnows put a good number of fish in the boat, as did heavy bouncers and 3-way rigs with either tiny stickbaits pulled behind them or simply a 4" Gulp minnow threaded onto a slow death hook (that was especially lethal!). We also caught a bunch of fish flatlining spoons along the shoreline, so really the fish were everywhere!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We fished Trump on our last full day and time was running out as the sun started to drop lower in the late afternoon. We still wanted to fish Elbow lake so we reluctantly packed out of Trump back to our boat on Elbow.

 

We caught a mix of pike and walleye as we worked our way down the lake having a blast in the process before IT happened.

 

In preparation for our trek into Trump lake we'd left all unnecessary equipment back at the landing. We weren't expecting any really large pike and large walleye are a cinch to grab anyway.

 

Of course Murphy's Law struck. Perhaps a large esox should have been expected, maybe even inevitable.

 

 

 

In any case, no cradle? No glove? No problem!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This fish was actually heavier than anything I caught in the Attawapiskat a few weeks back. Just a remarkable fish and a great way to cap the trip!

 

After a bit of revival she shot away strong and fast. She's still there in Elbow growing even bigger...

 

 

We fished for a bit longer but everything was pretty anticlimactic after that. We caught a handful of chunky walleyes and released the last one in the golden glow of early evening. What Bill as a budding photographer calls the "magic hour".

 

 

 

Magic indeed.

 

 

 

For those that are interested I shot a short video tour of the outpost camp at Cam lake:

 

 

 

 

Speaking of Cam lake there "is" a substantial population of walleye and pike in there. With such a short amount of time to cover such a large amount of water Billy and I didn't fish it. We stuck to the larger water in the hopes of larger fish. The other two boys fished it for at least one full day and they had a blast catching tons of fish. I wish we could have devoted some time to it, but it'll have to wait 'till next time.

 

Speaking of which there will be a next time for sure. I believe that this may be Park's best outpost location, and that's saying a lot considering some of my previous trips. The sheer amount and variety of water to fish along with the added bonus of lake trout is what sets it apart. You'll never get bored at this location.

 

That said there is a 12-15 min trail to walk and the cabin is FAR from being the Ritz. If you can get past that then you'd probably love this place. I sure do.

 

 

Once again a big thanks go out to our hosts Martin and Jennifer Wearn of Park's Fly In Fishing. Those guys went WAY out of their way to accomodate my every need, thanks guys I'll be back!

 

Finally a thanks to my boat partner Bill, you're a good man. Thanks for putting up with me and letting me take the tiller for 4 straight days.

And to Greg and Craig, you guys were a blast and made the trip truly memorable. We'll definitely do it again!

 

 

 

Hope you guys enjoy,

 

 

 

Cheers,   Mike

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

[Locnar]

Holy jeebus! That's what you call an epic fishing trip. Some sweeet fish too! How much does a trip like this cost?

[mattyk]

Awesome trip!

[kickingfrog]

Phew! Just got done before the game. Awesome.

[davey buoy]

Mike you live the life of riley lol.Another trip of a lifetime for most of us. Great read and great pics.Bill your doing pretty good yourself!!Thanks for sharing!!

[adempsey]

Awesome looking trip! Thanks for putting that all together, especially so soon after the last report.

[Skud]

Jealous!!! I have not had a fish on my line since last October. Great report

[solopaddler]

Hey glad you guys enjoyed!

 

 

How much does a trip like this cost?

In the grand scheme of things very little, especially for someone in southern Ontario. The drive to the jump off point is very easy and short which makes trips of less than week feasable.

 

Mike you live the life of riley lol.

 

That's my favorite saying (my daughters name is Riley HAHA!)

[RickOnt]

Hey Mike

 

Another amazing trip and report!!

 

Some excellent photography.

 

Rick

[Terry]

wow, another lake on my list

 

thanks for sharing

[kickingfrog]

… And sure take the big guy that can carry his weight on the trail, knows how to handle a rod and can't eat fish. More fish for you.

[fishindevil]

Wow !!!! Another epic trip mike !!!! You guys did awesome !!!!! Great read & videos too !!!!! Huge fish...... Amazing

[lookinforwalleye]

Nice trip report Mike I am getting close to another fly-in and that trip would fit the bill just fine.

[Cosmos]

Thank you. That's one awesome report.

[Toad Hunter]

When I die, I hope Heaven is like one of Mikes "BAD" trips... I think I could live with that ( I suppose I should point out I meant bad FISHING trip ) -another mind blowing report sir.

[Burtess]

Awesome report as usual! Love that pike!

 

Burt

[solopaddler]

Thanks for the comments guys, glad you liked.

 

Jealous!!! I have not had a fish on my line since last October. Great report

We should do something about that Dougie.

 

… And sure take the big guy that can carry his weight on the trail, knows how to handle a rod and can't eat fish. More fish for you.

 

Yep Billy is a good man for a lot of reasons including more fish for me LOL!

[Cudz]

Very cool.

[asdve23rveavwa]

Pretty good

 

LOL, stellar as always Mike! I'm sure you knew I was kidding when I said "not bad" for the last report.

 

Another Chapleau gem...make that gems.

[adempsey]

In the grand scheme of things very little, especially for someone in southern Ontario. The drive to the jump off point is very easy and short which makes trips of less than week feasable.

 

Are they flying out of Chapleau with Canadian Airventures as a regular option now?

[irishfield]

Another great adventure boys!! Maybe I should work on some scheme that I go everywhere our boats do!!

[BillM]

Wayne, first thing I said when we got to the dock.,... Sweet brand new Naden! LOL!

[solopaddler]

Are they flying out of Chapleau with Canadian Airventures as a regular option now?

 

Yes.

 

Another great adventure boys!! Maybe I should work on some scheme that I go everywhere our boats do!!

 

Naden boats rule the north Wayne, you'd literally be everywhere.

[Freshtrax]

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a323/solopaddler/Cam%20Lake%20June%202013/Cam-LittleMissJune2013057.jpg

 

is it just me or does it look like a big pike painted on there 2 thirds of the way down in the middle.....

 

 

epic trip...i am totaly envious..

[can u fish]

Thanks for another great report Mike a great read and awesome photos i am realy looking forward to fishing Abbey Lake September 6th can not come soon enough as you know i booked this trip based on your report on Abbey lake i tell you one thing i know where my next 3 fly ins are going to be after i fish Abbey Lake.First up will be Anjigaming then Cam Lake and finish things off with Ribes Lake and the great thing is i do not have to do any research on Parks fly in fishing as you have given all the info on this perticular outfitter with all the great reports and photos that you have posted with that being said i am realy looking forward to your next post as i know you have a few more trips planned for this year so good luck to you on your next adventure.<br /><br />Cheers Mitch....