Moose River Grand Slam. Report

[Moosebunk]

Several months back Mr Moosebunk contacted me to offer up the opportunity to travel north for a week. The plan was to probe many remote northern rivers in search of monster pike and walleye... It didn't take long for me to sink my teeth into this one and so.... the adventure began...

 

As the car door slammed shut on my tiny grey Hyundai I could barely contain myself as what lay ahead for me in the next 7 days was going to be, hands down, one of the coolest trips I'd been on... As per the usual no Phishfinder adventure is complete without misadventure, and it didn't take long for this manifest itself full force.

 

As any of you in Southern Ontario will recall last Tuesday we got beaten silly by some insane rain and winds... I happened to be firing down the 400 towards my destination as this rain pounded my windshield. And that was all fine and dandy until my windshield wipers died... :? :? I just laughed though and I thought to myself, "BRing it on !!". (Little did I know that I had quite possibly just cursed my trip...) Arriving in Cohcrane late I grabbed a hotel and fired out on the PB express to Moosonee the following morning...

 

 

 

As this had just happened to the tracks here a few weeks earlier,

 

 

I kept my fingers crossed no misadventure would follow me here!

Was funny too as I crossed over several points I had actually managed to find roads into on my northern advneture last year!!

 

 

 

As I approached Moosonee certain things began to change and I saw structures I had never seen first hand before...

 

 

And it sure wasn't long before I sat atop the mighty Moose river

 

 

Was funny too... I remember thinking in my head at the time about it being called the "Mighty Moose".... little did I know.... little did I know...

After meeting Bunk in Moosonee we headed across to the Island of Moose Factory where we joined his wonderful wife and children for an amazing steak dinner! (Moose even forced a pint or two down my throat... bad influence this guy is!)

 

And off early the next morning in search of adventure and fish!!

 

 

Moose even let me drive the dang' canoe!! LIttle faster than mine, that's for sure! :roll: We stopped at a few holes on our way to camp and scooped up a coupla' micro-pike with an small eye in the mix as well. Seemed many of the "usual" areas lacked the fish that usually resided there this time of year.

 

We did have blast catching some suckers at one of Moose's favourite pike spots though!

 

 

Hmmm.... wonder why the pike hang out here??

And on to camp we went!! . Really having no idea at this point, how signifigant this INSANELY rustic little cabin would become in our adventure..

 

 

The tent was placed inside as this structure had become swiss cheesed with holes over the years. And after a quick set-up we went out to scout the Cheepas river as we had planned to spend the entire next day probing the eddies and creeks that this hidden gem protected...

Bite was slow when we arrived at our first hole, but a new technique(jig under a float) allowed me to boat a coupla' eyes and Moose managed a few as well... Moose had a quick talk with this guy concerning the whereabouts of his grandparents

 

 

Little bugger' wouldn't budge though.... so up the rapids we went figuring we'd find em on our own. After probing several more inlets/eddies we had a couple more eyes and pike to show for our efforts...

 

 

And as the sun dropped,

 

 

We sped off the Cheepas to return to base camp with hopes high of things to come tommorow.

 

Up nice and early (courtesy of me!!) we decided that we would check out another area and leave the Cheepas for when the weather kicked up A BIT... (the forecast was calling for some chilly temps the following day) So off we went to "the towers".... a tiny trickle of creek flowing into the mighty moose. Water was LOW and the area was EXTRA stained... after a coupla hours of wetting some lures Moose had our first respectable pike of the trip

 

 

We managed a few others but nothing picture worthy... and off we went to try some back bays for some more pike. Weather was gorgeous and i was having a blast!! Even though fishing was slow we knew as the day wore on and the back bays heated up our toothy friends would come out to play... After nailing a few snot-rockets we noticed something on the horizon... looked like grey clouds to me... and it sure wasn't dang' long before the temperature began to plummet faster than I'd ever experienced before. Moose, being an area veteran, knew what to do and got us the hell off the river.

 

Not long after we arrived back at camp grey blanketed the sky

 

 

and the winds began to steadily increase. What the hell we thought... this wasn't supoposed to happen until tommorow. Filling many of the holes in our "rustic" cabin with leaves and moss become somewhat important as the winds cut right through our shelter. Holes like this created a little more work :roll:

 

 

But we laughed and ate and spirits remained high as we tucked away in our little cabin for the night...

 

 

Awaking in the morning , something was odd. The winds seemed to be howling harder... and as I rose from my sleeping bag I was greeted by snow-squalls out our front window. As I balked at the freshly fallen snow now blanketing the forest floor Moose muttered something about his frozen toes.... and yeah, I was dang' cold too!! 8O With only a single useless layer to add it was VERY apparent that we needed to warm our rustic swiss cheese somehow and FAST.... a fire outside would just be pointless.

 

(Shot taken in between one of the squalls)

 

 

There was a nearby cabin that had been destroyed in years past and the suggestion was made to search to rubble for whatever the hell we could find... much to our luck (someone in the sky dang' well likes us!!)we found a BADLY beaten up tin stove and a few sections of chimney piping..

After a serious MacGyver/Surivorman style effort, our creation sprung to life!!

 

 

And I don't mind saying probably one of the most rewarding things I've ever been involved in.. Thanks Moose!

We spent the afternoon chatting, laughing and listening to really bad music...ROTFLMAO THe sky finally broke around 5:00pm but the winds continued to HOWL and the temperature still kept us on our toes. We shore fished the area with nary a bite but the sunset provided hope that better weather would prevail the following morning..

 

 

We awoke to much of the winds and bone chilling temperatures... we made the decision to leave the river while the wind was at least manageable and headed for home. We fished many holes along the way and although it seemed the odd pike was biting, including this 7 lber,

 

 

the eyes were nowhere to be found. Not surprising following the insane cold-front we'd just been nailed with!! As the wind chilled us to the bone we made our way down river. When we finally arrived as Moose's house I'd never been that happy to enjoy a warm shower... We shared a few pints and made plans to get out again the following day.

 

Awaking again to the same bone chilling temps we headed out to the North French river anyways in search on some eyes or pike, and after several hours of probing the accessable areas of the river with a fine toothed comb could not even buy a sniff. It was great though as Moose shared many techniques and thoughts on how to fish this great area, including this fantastic impersonation of cold front walleyes

 

 

With our tails between out legs we headed back towards Moose Factory.... it was funny though because the closer we got, the less familiar the area looked. Took Moose to explain we was taking me to try something COMPLETLY new in a last ditch effort to ham some fishies in the final hour... we sped many KM's north towards the Mouth of the Mighty Moose were she collided with James Bay. We would be riding a high tide into an otherwise hidden side creek for coaster brookies... rumour had it they ran into this tidal creek just as the buds broke on the poplars/alders in the area... and it just so happened they had opened today. As we approached the area the creek was supposed to be we saw NOTHING.... sand everywhere but no creek... :? Moose suggested we stop for lunch and allot the tide to rise to see if she would reveal her magic... within' 30 minutes the tide went from this

 

 

to this

 

 

And the mouth of wavy creek revealed herself!!

 

 

Once inside she seemed little more than some sand and water.... not what I'd heard of as a typical brookie area. But it became apparent something was up as we trolled by a couple of other boats.... they suggested we troll white twister tails..... for brookies???? Well didn't take long before Moose hoisted a nice 15" inch Sea-run brookie into the boat( I believe Moose has this pic) followed just after by my 16"

 

 

As we trolled up and down we missed several fish and then Moose grabbed this guy.. A nice 16"

 

 

As we sat taking this picture

 

 

Moose's rod sat dangling in the water.... and BANG!! Number 3!! It was dang' nuts... we were literally hammering sea-run brookies. The bite seemed to die and we missed several hits but were rewarded with this final treat

 

 

A gorgeous 17" and by far my biggest brookie to date.... so cool. As we left the river we felt a sense of accomplishment.... The sun was dissappearing on my final evening in God's country

 

 

and we had hit the Moosonee grand slam.... some eyes, some pike and we topped it off in the final hour with some fine coaster brookies. What a trip!!!

I had a blast fishing with Moose and couldn't have asked for a better person to share the water with.

 

Until next time...

 

PF

[irishfield]

Looked like a LOT of fun lads....well except for that white crap!

[Nemo]

Awesome report boys. Great to see those Brookies.

[Joey]

Great report. Amazing pictures. You guys are lucky to have found that stove. Way to go.

 

Survivorman!!!

 

Joey

[Moosebunk]

Got back out the following day to the creek and picked up a total of 5 more searuns with my buddy Shawn. Fish were between 13 and 16.5 inches.

 

And yeah, they made the pan. Heck, 2 fish took their own eye out by hooking themselves right through their skulls and out their own eyes.

 

Sheeeesh, fiesty.

 

 

 

 

 

[Mike the Pike]

Moose once again great report nice shot of the 3 synchronized swimmers in formation.

I love the way you write a report .A true nature poet.

 

Thanks I know how much time it takes to make a report like that so I appreciate it. :Gonefishing:MTP

Edited May 25, 2007 by Mike the Pike

[007]

Wow. What a great report - adventure, fifferent fish species and fantastic scenery.

 

Thanks for sharing and WTG!

 

007

[Badger Shark]

Man Moose you are one lucky guy to be able to fish that area of the country. I hope to someday fish up north, I just love the thought of being surrounded by nothing but nature. :clapping:

[BryceBurzynski]

Very nice report!

[Roy]

You were right Drew, that Phishfinder dude can surely spin a yarn. I just had the time to scan your/his excellent report and I'll be sure to take the time to savour it in depth a little later today.

 

You guys never disappoint.

Be well....

[Smokey]

Great read, Thanks. Fishing cold fronts sure can make things tough.

[ccmtcanada]

Wow...great job on the report PF!!! The pics and story kept me riveted...sounded like an awesome trip! The snow would have been a bit unsettling...LOL. Thanks for taking the time to write it up....great report....

[jediangler]

Another great report from the far north. The scenery is always breath taking. Great photos too.

[Fishnfiend]

Wow!

To say that I am jealous wold be an understatement.

 

Thanks for a very well written report and pics.

[Entropy]

Looks like a great life !!

[solopaddler]

Great trip guys. The picture of the cabin at night is really cool, I like it.

Good job on the spec's as well, I'll just bet they were incredible eating, the meat on them looks bright red!

[douG]

Now that's a report! Very nice read, gentlemen, as always. Thanks.

[Terry]

great report and trip

[PERCHER]

That was totally A W E S O M E !!!!!!!!!!.Great report and great pictures .Thanks for posting that.Dan

[fishindevil]

WOW. ...simply an amazing fishing report and pictures,i really like reading your posts,i would love to fish there one day,thanks for sharing....cheers

[danc]

Beauty report(s) guys. And some awesome photos too!! Thanks for sharing.

[JEREMY]

Thats what a fishing trip is all about boys way to go.

[lovetofish]

Great report!