Northern Ontario report - lake 'X' (Dialup BEWARE)

[Fishnfiend]

I got back on Thursday morning from 5 days of camping and fishing in Northern Ontario with my dad. A fellow OFC'r gave me the tip about this lake which has fishing at par with fly-in lakes.

I went to 'lake X' last year on May 24 weekend and found it quite busy and also got snowed on. The cold front meant poor fishing, but I went back this year regardless.

Lake 'X' is located about 550 kms from my parents' place outside of Orillia, which is 200 kms from my home. It is located a few hours northwest of Sudbury. That's all the details that I will give about it's location.

 

Last Friday, there was a serious forest fire on the road that we needed to drive on Saturday (Halfway lake Provincial Park). I was a little worried that we would have to make alternate plans when we got turned around. However, to my amazement, they had the road open on Saturday when we got there. They were still battling the fire and it was still smoldering as we drove through. Here's a shot that I took out the window:

There were kilometres of forest scorched along both sides of the road. They were still fighting the fire on Thursday morning on our trip home!

 

My father has been fortunate to have been on several fly-in trips before and was a little sceptical about my choice for our trip. I assured him that it was remote and he finally agreed when we got to this point:

We hadn't seen a vehicle in 1/2 hour and we were still about 1/2 hour from the 'boat launch'.

 

At the 'boat launch' we discovered that the water level was really low. With some determination and brute force, we launched his 16' boat. 1/2 way to camp (about 4-5 miles) we saw our first moose:

 

Here's a shot of 'home':

 

We arrived pretty late in the day, but were blessed with this sunset on our first night:

 

We didn't anticipate the cold/nasty weather that hit us the next day. But, bad weather for us meant good fishing. My father put on a walleye clinic on the morning of day # 2. We were using bottom bouncers and spinners with single hooks (stingers added shortly after this point).

 

My dad is quite a good sport. He had an accident with a table saw on Wednesday and was still willing to go on the trip. This meant that I had to do just about everything, but I figured that it is partial payback for when he did everything as I grew up. He caught fish for a solid hour and a half on Sunday morning while I baited his hook, netted his fish, took them off the hook and rebaited his line. I think I had my line in the water for a total of about 10 minutes.

I did catch the biggest 'eye at about 20 inches. The average size fish was about 13 inches with a couple smaller (cigars) and a couple larger. The fish bit most in the morning and evening, but could be caught throughout the day on spinners, jigs with twisters, worms, xraps, etc. (almost anything).

 

Many hammerhandle pike were caught as well but no pictures were taken. Sorry.

 

Here's the sunset on day 2:

That's camp on the left (where the deepest 'v' is in the trees).

 

We had no problem filling the livewell for shore lunches which we had for the first two days.

We did catch and relese about double our limit every day and didn't eat any for a couple days as we had to eat the food that we had brought with us.

 

On day # 3 we drove back to the truck for some more gas for the boat and to drop off the chainsaw. On the way, we gathered a bit more firewood and I saw something that I had never seen before:

There was a MASSIVE dragonfly hatch. They hovered around camp (eating mosquitoes) and followed us around in the boat. At any given point in time there were 200 + dragonflies in sight:

Not only were they flying all around, but they were on every tree in sight:

 

There are also perch in the lake...apparently only jumbos!

Contrary to the photo, I was very happy with the perch. It put a few holes in my hand when I grabbed it, hence the grimmace. I caught another one almost this big from shore at camp (on a berkley power grub and jig), but he was camera shy and self-released.

 

On day # 4 we had two moose within 200 metres of camp.

 

Last years calf:

 

and a good sized bull (still growing and in velvet). We got within 15 metres of him for pictures and he fed all day along the northwest shoreline. His camoflage made him disappear on occasion, but the shaking trees (from him feeding) kept giving away his location.

 

We fished hard on the evening of day # 4 to catch some fish to put on ice and take home. We brought 7 'eyes' home and 10 pike. Who could stop fishing with a view like this?

 

We went back to camp and I cleaned the fish, got a fire going and cooked up about 2.5 pounds of venison steak to have with the bottle of red wine (vintage french) that I brought to celebrate a great adventure with a great man.

 

 

I hope that some of you enjoy this report and I apoligize for the lack of fish pics, but I was quite busy as my father was injured and unable to take pics. He sure could catch walleye though!

 

Thanks for the tip Mike! I owe you one.

 

We only expored about 1/3 of the lake, so I will be returning at the end of August for a week. I know it's a tough job, but somebody has to do it.

Edited June 6, 2007 by Spiel

[PatrickGG]

Looks like lots of fun, thanks for sharing your experience and pics.

[mattyk]

nice trip thanks for posting pics.

[tbayboy]

Great report FishingFiend, Gods country up there for sure.

[huntervasili]

Looks like a great trip with a load of fish to boot... WTG

[Rich Clemens]

That is one awesome report FnF. Those last two pics are simply awesome. Really enjoyed reading your report. Thanks a lot for taking the time to post it.

[irishfield]

Beauty report FnF! A great outing with your father..can't beat that!

[Whopper]

I agree with Wayne great report

 

 

I really like the moon shot!

 

Whopper

[Fishnfiend]

God's country for sure, TBayBoy.

 

We saw a bald eagle, some bears, otters (I think) a few thousand Canada geese and about 10 loons. It was like a nature show!

We even had a pet seagull that hung around just offshore waiting for fish remains. He would squawk at us whenever he ran out and was hungry...

 

I had a panick stop on the way home when a HUGE cow moose decided to stop in the middle of my lane on the highway in the fog...

 

If the mornon that passed me about thirty seconds later in a pickup truck (doing 100+ kms / hour) is reading this...you're welcome for saving your life!

[bassmaster4]

great report thanks for the pics

[Clampet]

Well worth the effort getting there.

Nice going with.. well... everything!

[Mike the Pike]

Beauty report ,father and son fishing in paradise.Great pictures thank you very much for that report.

 

MTP

[Dutch]

Thanks for sharing.

[glen]

Hope the table saw didn't take too big a bite and it heals up well.

 

Great report.

[007]

Great report - felt like I was there with you. Nice wildlife shots. Nice sized perch too.

 

Thanks for sharing

007

[Tarzan's Jane]

I really enjoyed reading your report. Loved the pics too. Especially liked your expression of respect and love for your Dad.

[Hooked]

I too have to say that I really enjoyed reading this thread. Looked like aton of fun. And that scenery looks simply awesome. When I go fishing, a big part of my enjoyment is the scenery, when you put both together, you get what you had. Nice going.

[Smokey]

Great report and lots of great pics. Thanks and looks like you have a nice little hide away there at lake X. Thanks

[Carp]

Some nice shots FF.

Can't beat a fishing trip with dad.

[Bly]

Great read! Thank you for sharing your fishing trip....looks like paradise! I always enjoy the scenery shots, I commit them to memory so I can see those while I am fishing vs the usual graffiti buildings rusty rail cars etc. Hope your dad's hand heals fast!! Thanks again.....really enjoyed it!

 

 

bly

[easton13th]

Amazing report !

 

Thanks for sharing, sure looks like one fantastic adventure!

Have your Dad take care of his hand! Unless it is easier just to reel all those fish in and have someone else do all the grunt work or him. Sure looks like it worked on this trip. Congrats!

 

Easton

[solopaddler]

Hey, great report bud! Really glad I could be of help to you, and happy your trip was a little better this year!

[Terry]

sounds like a great trip and lake to fish

 

hiway 144 and 560 is about 458 km from Orillia 100 more km and you are there......so it's not that far from the area I like to fish

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Another Excellant report on OFC!!!! I foind that dragon fly hatch and all those dragon flies interesting. I've noticed there are have been more insects in general out on the lakes this year also.

[Fishnfiend]

Another Excellant report on OFC!!!! I foind that dragon fly hatch and all those dragon flies interesting. I've noticed there are have been more insects in general out on the lakes this year also.

 

The pictures of the dragonflies don't do them justice Johnny. They were literally swarming....EVERYWHERE!

I will never forget them - that's for sure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike, lemme buy you a beer sometime.