solopaddler Posted May 14, 2007 Report Share Posted May 14, 2007 Well, it was an experience that's for sure! We all learned a lot and had a blast doing it, but I'll tell you I thought it would be way easier than the reality of the situation was. Filming a show, especially for several days in the bush is a LOT of work! Anyhow, we arrived at the Wolf Den just outside the West gate along hwy. 60 Wed. evening. It's a great (cheap) place to spend the night before heading into the interior. We had a really cool old log cabin to stay in These were the communal bathrooms. The first 2 are pretty self explanatory, but we were wondering about the 3rd one! We tried to do an interview with Ben and Robin Wed. evening and found out much to our dismay that one of the wireless microphones wasn't working. Amazingly, Ben used to be an electronics tech and he actually ripped the thing apart, soldered a couple of connections and fixed it! Pretty much saved our bacon as only having one functioning microphone would've been disastrous. Our trip started at the landing Thursday morning loading all our gear into the water taxi After a 10km portage we made it to the first lake (that's Dan in the bow) We had one more short portage before we made it to our destination lake, set up camp and cooked an awesome dinner! The next day we made our way over to a nearby river to film some footage and do some fishing. Along the way I caught the worlds smallest Brook Trout It really was an incredibly beautiful river We caught TONS of Brookies this size, it was a blast! Release shot We set up along side the river to film Dan butterfly filleting our trout Once that was done, we filmed the trout being cooked on the grill (they were delicious!) Here's a shot of the scenery heading back to camp The next day we decided to head to a beach at the north end of the lake to check it out Amazingly we found the remnants of a wolf kill, finding the spot where they pulled the deer down Also found the remains of an old ranger cabin way back in the bush hidden from everything, it was pretty cool too (sorry, no pic's). When we did have time to fish on our lake, we caught a lot of lake trout, most of them around this size Our cameraman Steve even caught a few! Here's our support guy Bruce landing at the campsite with Steve. Bruce is Dan's brother in law and works for the M.N.R. in Bancroft. A more competent, knowledgable woodsman I've never met. He was an incredible asset to have and help make this happen! Here's Dan and Bruce cutting wood Finally, a beaver dam right at the lake. There were hundreds of suckers spawning in the little riffle flowing into the lake and a bunch of trout that followed them in to feed on the sucker spawn It really was a great experience. The weather was picture perfect, the bugs were'nt too bad, and we've now got 7 hours of footage to edit down into 23 minutes! I'm as excited as anyone to see what the final product will be like, 'cause I really don't have a clue! Next film shoot will be on June 7th in the Armstrong area. I'm really looking forward to that one and I think (hope) some of the problems we encountered will have been ironed out! Cheers, Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huntervasili Posted May 14, 2007 Report Share Posted May 14, 2007 Awesome report man... been waiting to see this one... cant wait for your show to come out... where's it going to air? WFN or reg cable(oln)? or is it going to be like ppv? either way WTG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen Posted May 14, 2007 Report Share Posted May 14, 2007 Bill covered all my questions and I will second him on the report, awesome. Thanks for sharing! Jen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FinS Posted May 14, 2007 Report Share Posted May 14, 2007 great report mike awesome pictures wtg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nemo Posted May 14, 2007 Report Share Posted May 14, 2007 Nice one thanks for sharing. Lucky that Ben guy was a whiz on fixing the mics. Heard good stuff about him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyb Posted May 14, 2007 Report Share Posted May 14, 2007 Right on! I was waiting to hear how you fared with the trout up in Algonquin. Looks like another incredible adventure, and I'm sure you'll be very pleased with the final cut of the show. Think of it as taking 23 minutes of highlight reel from your 7+ hours footage, it will be great! When and where is your next shoot going to take place? Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whopper Posted May 14, 2007 Report Share Posted May 14, 2007 Sounds great Mike, glad everything worked out for ya! Looking foward to the final cut! Next up Armstrong area, hmmmm.... now thats and area that really interests me! Great pics Mike! Whopper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Posted May 14, 2007 Report Share Posted May 14, 2007 sounds like a great trip I hope to see the finished video Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccmtcanada Posted May 14, 2007 Report Share Posted May 14, 2007 Awesome! You mentioned it was hard work, but it looks like you loved every minute of it! Cant wait to see the show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solopaddler Posted May 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2007 Thank's for the kind words everyone! Bill and Jen, to answer your question, at this point the show hasn't been sold yet. We've got some serious interest from a couple of networks, but no decisions are going to be made until our "official" pilot is produced sometime in late June and they've got something to see...I'll let you know as soon as I find out. tony, the episode in June is going to start with us portaging our gear into Union Station in Toronto. From there we'll travel 22 hours north and get dropped off basically in the middle of nowhere alongside the tracks west of Armstrong. The route I've chosen has a nice mix of larger lakes, a river with some fantastic rapids (filled with walleye ), and some really cool back lakes. The adjacent back lakes are neat 'cause they're too small for planes to land in, and aren't part of any logical canoe route, so very, very few people go in there. They'll be as untouched as it's possible to be in this day and age. For what it's worth (I think) Breakfast Television is likely going to do a little segment with us on Front Street on June 7th when we're portaging our gear into the train station. I'll confirm that soon BTW, I just noticed that my pictures of the Wolf Den are pretty dark. The 3 bathroom signs are : Does, Bucks, and Bucks & Does. Not sure if you can make it out, but we thought it was funny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hooked Posted May 14, 2007 Report Share Posted May 14, 2007 Another stellar report! Judging by the pics you took, the show should be great to watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishnfiend Posted May 14, 2007 Report Share Posted May 14, 2007 Thanks for the report and pics. It was nice to escape (vicariously through you) to Algonquin for a few minutes. I, too, am looking forward to the video (show). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattyk Posted May 14, 2007 Report Share Posted May 14, 2007 amazing report, thanks for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deabreu Posted May 14, 2007 Report Share Posted May 14, 2007 Mike, nice report and I look forward to seeing the video. I was in the fishing party that met up with you guys at the Dickson Lake portage endpoint both Thursday and Sunday. And then we chatted in the Opeongo store. My name's Mike as well and I'm the guy with the 2 boys. I'm still coming down from the trip we had, can't wait to get out again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solopaddler Posted May 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2007 Mike, nice report and I look forward to seeing the video. I was in the fishing party that met up with you guys at the Dickson Lake portage endpoint both Thursday and Sunday. And then we chatted in the Opeongo store. My name's Mike as well and I'm the guy with the 2 boys. I'm still coming down from the trip we had, can't wait to get out again. Hey Mike, it was a pleasure meeting you and your party. What I'd like to know is do you have any pic's of the huge Brook Trout you guys caught Sunday morning? I'd love to see it! For everyone elses benefit it was caught fly fishing and was 22 or 23" long I believe. Very impressive! (these guys definitely know their stuff! ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deabreu Posted May 14, 2007 Report Share Posted May 14, 2007 Hey Mike, it was a pleasure meeting you and your party. What I'd like to know is do you have any pic's of the huge Brook Trout you guys caught Sunday morning? I'd love to see it! For everyone elses benefit it was caught fly fishing and was 22 or 23" long I believe. Very impressive! (these guys definitely know their stuff! ) I'm also waiting to see the picture as I never got to see the fish either. The Photo was taken with a film camera so we will have to wait a day or so. here is a picture of one I caught on thursday, the second largest of our trip it was ~20" but fairly thin. Not a great picture but the fish looks OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solopaddler Posted May 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2007 Beauty! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokey Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 Thanks guys. Its going to be an awesome show and I can't wait for it to hit the air, but till them keep the pics and reports coming. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ehg Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 The pictures and the post are great. Hopefully that's some indication of the show in works. I think Pete Bowman and Marc Travers tried outdoor shows that didn't work due to lack of fishing, Survivorman they were not. Keep fishing in the forefront and you'll have a winner. 23 minutes ain't much. Good luck, ehg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clampet Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 I can almost smell the fresh air. Thanks for a look into one of Canadas' foremost Provincial parks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Clemens Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 One very nice report Mike. As I was reading you you talking about cooking up an awsome meal ... I was already thinking of pics. Sure enough ... you didn't disappoint. I'll best that was a great tastin' meal. Man I'd love to do something like that some day. Thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crappiesteve Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 Solo..What can I say Awesome Man.Dreams of many. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
007 Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 Fantastic report. Thanks for sharing. Now you've got me all excited for my forthcoming camping trip to Algonquin. Just hope the weather and fishing stays as good as that for us and those bugs stay away. Thanks and good luck with the tv show. 007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moosebunk Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 Mike. I think you're spoiled. lol. No more complaining about how tough it was. C'mon... how tough IS it going to Algonquin to camp, fish, and take pictures. Although, you'd have to carry most people after the first fifth of that portage into lake D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cast-Away Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 What a great report Mike! Were you able to take a quick dip or was the water too cold? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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