Catching up...

[Cookslav]

I’ve been sadly absent from this great community as well as others I somtimes frequent for a while now and I apologize for that….sometimes life just gets complicated and free time can become a short commodity.
All one can do is prioritize I suppose so this…..is my “catch up” post

The reason for my absence is simple,
I recently came into a promotion at work that has seriously (although temporarily) decreased the “free time bank” I used to have. The new gig involves a fair amount of travel through out Canada but I love the job so it all comes out in the wash I suppose?
I spent the majority of my spare time in the winter working on a summer Project…My boat.

I bought this boat off of a Board member about 5-6 years ago for a song and a dance more or less and she has served me well.

She is a 1969 starcraft falcon whom my son affectionately named “Bluey” LOL…

Well Bluey was deserving and in need of a makeover…that and I can’t sit still…so…a winter Project was born!!!
I sold the motor as it was in need of some repairs, I ripped out the hood and spill boards

 

 

 

 

 

flipped it over fixed the rivets, patched some “suspected” leaks and Painted the whole thing.

 

 

 

While off the trailer I found some time to rewire the Trailer with all new LED signal/Break lights and because of the age of the trailer...I replaced the axel and wheel assembly. Once the trailer was completed and the boat returned to its resting place I re-insulated the floor and replaced some older rotted boards.

 

 

 

I reinforced the hull rims and gunnels, built a casting deck with under floor storage and battery compartments.

 

 

Added 2 back bench seats with under seat storage and 2 side rod lockers.

 

 

Re carpeted the whole thing, installed locks on all the storage units, installed a fishfinder, running lights stepping boards.

 

 

two removable seats in the middle for joy rides, Put on a brand new Merc and new bow mount trolling motor….

 

 

 

It’s a brand new boat for me, and less then half the price!!!

 

Next up...was my Anual "Spectacular" trip for The Trout opener in Algonquin Park.

I'm glad I found time to go but appologize for only now finding the time to properly report it…

This years ice was a concern but….so was flooding and road access.
I was contacted by the park service a week in advance and told my camp permit was cancelled due to ice still being on the lakes so they were needing me to change the dates of my trip and more then likely our location as well.
Despite a shaky uncertain Ice out forecast we Hedged our bets on a new location and changed our dates to be 3 days later which we were told would be our best bet.
Then….the rain fell….and fell….and fell.
If you can recall Huntsville to Pembroke was under water and many access roads were washed out including our newly desired entry point….DOH!
Once again the park called me and cancelled my permit…this is the first time in 20 Years of Camping the park I’ve had my permit cancelled twice. So once again we changed our location. But I wasn't worried, that’s the great part about Algonquin park!
There are just so many wonderful lakes and access points to choose from that no matter where we entered I just knew we were in for a treat.
Our entry access lake was bone chilling cold as expected from the recent ice out but, the interior lakes were ridiculously warm due to the recent rains, and run off, not to mention the glorious sun and warmth?

For those whom remember....

The week after Trout opener was a balmy 24 degrees only days after ice out. it’s the first time in my life that I have camped in summer like conditions with ZERO bugs.

If that were not enough the water in our desired lake….was warm enough to swim, which we did so comfortably.

Here is an exsample of the Summer like hazy conditions we enjoyed ALL week long.

 

The comfortable conditions were great, but the concern now shifted from access issues to

“I wonder how all this crazy weather, and dramatic changes would effect the fishing?

Day one we noticed it had an effect…The fish were tight lipped and skitterish
Haunts that I knew to be great early season spots were baron and inactive producing no fish.

We threw every trick in the book at them to no avail….I think it could have been frustrating had we not been enjoying the sun and bug free warmth all day, only to finish the day with some beer around the fire LOL!!!
It’s a tough job but someone has to do it right?
Day two we made some adjustments and started to work deeper specifically targeting shoals with hair jigs and deeper casting baits which paid off for me first!
My canoe partner slipped the net under feisty 18.5” specimen which I coaxed in with heavy weighted Blue fox cast along the shadow of a rock ledge that dropped from 6’ of water to about 30’

 

Back at camp we compared notes around the fire and the verdict was out….
Fishing was still very slow, my fish was the only one to grace our bellies that night.

Day 3 the boys went to work hitting the deep with long trawls washing spoons of every color, deep raps and weighted spinners…The thought was to pretent it was summer and try more traditional summer techniques.

This turned out to be a great decision!

Much better results saw us bringing in a haul of 5 fish for the table.

The fish were scattered between 14” and 17” and all caught off shoals and rock ledges in 12’ of water or more. Not one fish was pulled from shore structure on the trip…which is a bit of an oddity for the opener in my opinion?

 

Day 4 a couple of us hiked back to a small lake that is stocked to see if we couldn’t fill a stringer for the crew. It’s a bit of a hike, but again….the weather was beautiful, so it didn’t take much convincing to go for a stroll LOL!
We managed a quick 4 fish with in about an hour which was a fun refreshing pace.
The fish from this lake had an interesting color, almost Tan…I have never seen Speck’s with a light brownish hue like color to them?

 

 

The pictures are not great but they had a distinctly odd color….The meat was still that usual dark red as you would expect,

but they just were not all colourful outside?

 

But tasty regardless with a little home made Provencal butter and open fire smoke....mmmmmm

 

Day five was spent coming home…
Despite the lower number of fish as compared to my usual trip, we had a blast.
It will go down in history for us as the opener we Swam, got sunburnt and wore shorts…with NO bugs!

 

Here are Some other notable pics just because...its so beautiful there

 

Next up...Bass opener!!!

I was just dying to put the new and improved Bluey to the test.

So I headed out to Lower Buckhorn for the Bass opener weekend with a friend.
Despite being the Bass opener my true goal was to put that first Musky in the new boat.
I had never fished this particular lake so I decided to trawl and mark areas on the map to return to later for casting….that lasted no more then 15 minutes before this 40” beauty Smashed my Super Shad Bluegill. What a blast…I got 4 solid jumps, one that seemed more like a cartwheel LOL!.

 

I managed to raise a few more big girls on the trip, but no takers unfortunately…
The Bass fishing was on fire I might add, we managed many largies and Smallies in the 16"-18" range but no trophies.

It was more of a numbers game it seemed…the bass were particularly loving the weedless frogs, poppers and any thing up top making for a great trip.....Who doesn’t love surface fishing bass right?
But brothers and sisters don't get caught out there at dusk with out some bug spray, or netting....it was BRUTAL
Anyhoo,

Now its finally vacation time and I’m looking very forward to getting some quality fishing time in on the new boat…hopefully I’ll have another Late summer report to catch up again!

Cheers,

 

[Freshtrax]

Starcraft falcon! Nice! We had the same boat... Now yours is way better.

[Moosebunk]

It's odd but back in May it did cross my mind that you hadn't popped up your annual Gonk tour report... and as this report started I thought, well he's explaining why. But then ya made it there anyways, pounded some specks and we got the show afterall. lol. Quite the spring to deal with, had to cancel out on a trip as well due to late ice dates.

 

Great, great work on the boat. Quite the undertaking but you've done a helluva job with it. Hope to see more reports with you and Bluey.

[misfish]

What a great job you did. AMAZING.

 

Great fishing report. I was wondering though,the first pic with the trout on the plank and still on the chain,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Did ya think it was going to get away?

 

 

TFS

 

Report

[spincast]

Back with a bang; great report and some fantastic specs. Beauty job on the StarCraft

[Cookslav]

Thanks for the kind words folks,

The boat project was actually pretty fun...I like working with my hands.

I needed more space to work in the boat though, I was just finding it a bit cramped.

Anddespite being an older lady....I was pretty attached to that boat so I wanted to take the time and salvage her.

 

Ya Moose it was nuts this spring....first it was shaping up to be a record late Ice out so we adjusted our plans but after the monsoon I thought we were pooched. Luckily some area's of the park were able to open with in our vacation dates because had the park not been granting any permits I would have been forced to cancel as I had travel with work looming the day after the camping trip....so I had no back up plan.

 

I was wondering though,the first pic with the trout on the plank and still on the chain,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Did ya think it was going to get away?

 

You can never be to careful ya know LOL....

[ehg]

A great report from Algonquin as usual.

Having a skilled chef along must had been a huge bonus for your buddies.

 

Nice job on the Kawartha musky.. Those super shad raps work well for the Kawarthas. Always wondered about Bluegill one.

 

Excellent stuff!

[solopaddler]

Outstanding report!

As far as the tan colored specks go I'll hazzard a guess the lake was very clear without any tannin stain.

I've seen trout like that before on a number of small spring fed lakes.

[Rich]

Man, amazing job on the boat!

 

(And a great report of course)

[aplumma]

Glad to see you are back in the fishing mode. It was a nice trip and a beautiful boat to fish in congradulations.

 

 

Art

[adempsey]

Nice job on the boat. Some great fish too!

[davey buoy]

The boat looks like new!,great job!and the fish well .

[Handlebarz]

I to have not been posting much just busy around here work life family and business all take up much time but I'm able to check in just not posting alot.

 

The boat project is always a great reward when done as the wife and I did it to two of our other boats then make great memories in it.