May Long Brookie report

[danc]

If you've already read tjsa's report, then you know that it was unseasonably cold up here for most of this past weekend. But it's nothing that we haven't seen before. When you live "up north", the May long weekend can be 30C or -10C. This year much of it was -10C. I arrived at the lake with the boat in tow an hour or two before my partners were expected. They'd be pulling a camper. I thought that this would be a great opportunity to launch and go and catch a fish or two before they showed up. But when I looked out at the lake from the launch, I quickly changed my mind. A wicked wind was blowing right towards the launch churning up major white caps and stinging any exposed skin. I parked the boat on shore for the night and when my partners arrived, we set up camp and discussed fishing tactics for Saturday. However, this is what we awoke to Saturday morning.

 

 

Snow, freezing rain and those same biting winds kept us huddled in the camper for which turned out to be the entire day. A few games of cards and a couple of short walks kept us entertained for Saturday. On one of my walks, this guy flew up into a tree right in front of me. He was really chowing down on buds from this tree.

 

 

The skies started to clear on Saturday evening. This was a good sign for Sunday. My buddy said that this was Venus beside the moon. I wasn't sure.

 

 

Sure enough Sunday morning greeted us with clear sunny skies, although the wind still had a bite to it. As we gathered our gear together to launch the boat, we were treated to a rare sight. Two flocks of Pelicans circled over our camp site for about 10 minutes. I'm not sure if you guys have them in Southern Ontario, but they are a rare sight up here. They are awesome flyers. They reminded me of the Snow Birds the way that they were grouped in tight formation and their precision maneuvers were nothing short of amazing.

 

 

Finally to the fishing. We had to work for them, but we did ok. We ended up with about a dozen Brook Trout from about 14 to 21 inches in size. They were pretty good scrappers considering the 38F to 41F waters temps that we caught them in. Here's a few fish pictures to round out my report.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope that your long weekend was at least warmer than ours.

[mattyk]

nice report thanks for sharing the pics!

[Greencoachdog]

Dammit man!!! How can y'all stand it up there???

 

Excellent report and pics!!!... and I never knew that Pelicans inhabited the Great Lakes.

[bucktail]

Nice report Dan!

What was the pattern going?

It's 4 weeks till I get there, any chance youll be up there?

 

Darren

[tbayboy]

Yikes that one icy looking boat. Glad to see it turned out well though and great pics as always.

[fishdawg]

ahh the first of DanC's 07 reports

keep'em coming bud, they are much enjoyed & appreciated

[Joey]

My God, you look absolutely frozen in that pic Dan.

 

Great report, too bad about the weather. It was only nice here on Saturday, then the wind ruined Sunday's fishing and the cold ruined Monday morning's fishing. I'm sure you had a great time shootin the tho eh!

 

Joey

[BLACKFISH88]

Awesome report!I've never heard of pelicans around this neck of the woods....neat.

[Tacklebuster]

Great pics and report. Nice to see all the wildlife thriving. I thought we had it cold on Saturday.

[Jen]

Great Pictures!

 

and

 

Awesome report,

 

Cheers,

 

jen

[Tomcat]

Great report and pics. Thanks for sharing.

[solopaddler]

It does look frigid, great report nevertheless. Love seeing brook trout reports!

[MuskyBill]

Great report, Dan, and as usual, awesome pictures...

[ccmtcanada]

Dan...great report!!! The pics were great as usual too. That was venus...was down at the lake and a star gazing club was down there with their telescopes...they told me that was venus...and they were offerring free peaks thru their equipment. It was pretty cool.

 

Wow...those pics and temps remind me of my trib adventures in January!! Crazy cold out there...but you guys fished anyways and were successful...now thats perseverence for you!!!

 

Thanks for the report....made me glad I dont live up there....LOL

[Roy]

Another beautiful report, Dan. Man that does look cold though. Your pics are exceptional.

[misfish]

That pic of the boat would make a lesser man stay in bed.LOL

 

Nice report and pic bud.

TFS.

[Puckhead]

Great Report - man, you have one heck of a skilled eye with that camera - some of your shots are just brilliant!

[tjsa]

D-D-D-D-Dan, you look c-c-c-c-cold,

 

Nice report btw, great pics as usual.

 

Wasn't too bad for us walking through the bush, everything was frozen to the branches all day, and we had our rain gear on, and the wollies. Guide icing was a problem, but easily solved, the water temp was warmer than the air temp, so sticking the rod in the water and swishing it a couple of times cleared the guides, sometimes leaving rings of ice on the line. But they broke quickly.

One other problem I had was the line freezing on the spool, and had about 4 tangles, but got all of them cleared.

 

Dammit man!!! How can y'all stand it up there??? dunno.gif

Excellent report and pics!!!... and I never knew that Pelicans inhabited the Great Lakes.

 

Glen, how can y'all stand it down there in all that heat??

 

Yes, we have white pelicans migrate up here every year. They are on Nipigon Lake, Black Sturgeon Lake, a couple of the other larger lakes near Nipigon, as well as Lake of the Woods, probably quite a few more also. I have seen them occasionally over the years, but never got anywhere near enough to them to take a decent picture, they are wary birds.

[fatherof3]

very cool pics.thanks for sharing

[Entropy]

Hmmm, and I thought I was cold laying on the lawn watching fire works. Yikes!!

[Headhunter]

Looks like a nice December day on Quinte!!! Yikes, cold, but success! Thanks for the report and I too did not know about the Pelicans!

HH

[gozwob]

that was a sweet report man! ......and those specs are awesome!!

[fishnsled]

Great report Dan. Hats off for puttin up with the cold and getting some fish, I'd do the same. lol

[b2kptbo]

BRRrrrrrr is right, but glad it worked out for ya. Grat pic's, thanks...

[pameladallaire]

Thanks for sharing your pics Dan. We had the same weather.

 

I have a question about photographing wildlife with my new digital camera. Should I be using manual exposure to get the correct lighting or do you use an auto setting. Now remember, I'm a complete beginner when it comes to photography. I just can't seem to get the lighting right.

 

Pam