ckewley Posted March 14, 2016 Report Posted March 14, 2016 "We are Freemen of the Land and don't abide by seasons and limits and such......" Chris Brock You could just tell that the weekend would be something special, perhaps a tale to tell grand kids. A tale that is 25+ years in the making & would involve a old map, elder folk, myths & legends & BEER (some whisky too). It goes a little something like this, there is a lake in the Haliburton area that was netted by the MNR in the distant past that proved Giant Grey's & Monster Walleye lurk its waters. A old mountain man knew this lake & would fish it often. 25+ years ago there was a young Chris Brock making a name for himself in the fishing community around those parts. His name would reach the ears of the old mountain man & he would think to himself "I will one day fish with this young fella". Sadly that would never happen, however he left Chris a very special map with his dyeing breath & it would take some 25 years to find Chris (or so I'm told). So Saturday finally rolls around & I blast my way to Chris's retreat where I was met in his driveway by a buddy of his named Eddie, Chris was out pulling his hut off of Gull. Once in Chris would say he has something special planned but that would have to wait, we would need to hit one spot in order to prime ourselves for what's to come. This could be the last weekend where there is safe ice so the rule book gets tossed. Nothing is going to stand in our way. We head out to this lake Chris knows to get primed. On the lake we start marking fish pretty much since the get go but they weren't very active. It was said "who's ever last to catch a fish does dishes" I was on the board a few minutes later with a small Laker. Chris would follow a short time after. With dish duties sorted out we proceeded to put a hurt'n on the Grey beauties. Eddie wouldn't find a fish all night for some reason..... Would would leave the ice after dark & head back to Chris's place for a awesome dinner. Slow cooked pork roast with potatoes & some weird orange things that I gave a wide berth too. We would be joined by Bain around 10pm, this is when the myth & legend story about the lake came out. We could hardly wait till morning, not getting a lot of sleep but sadly Eddie couldn't join us for this trip. Time change happened so we slept in a bit but were soon on our way to parts unknown. Upon arriving we noticed that the area has been built up abit, meaning cottages dotted the landscape. Private Property signs everywhere with the exception of one tiny area, that was our way in....hell even if it was private it wasn't going to stop us. We head out on this lake looking for a good starting point. Bain finds one for himself while Chris & I head across the lake to a point. Holes drilled 75' & 45' not 15 feet from each other, very sharp drop off. There would be a lot of holes drilled & the only thing our sonar's would pick up is baitfish....tons & TONS of baitfish. Good thing for fish to get big, not so good for us fishing. Bain would use the smallest jig he owns & would hook just what the baitfish are, Rainbow Smelt!!! Frigging big smelt, must have been a good 7-8". A couple of locals came out to fish in front of their cottage so Chris goes over & starts up a conversation. The legends are quite true, there are some big fish swimming around as he had a picture from a week prior where he landed a 12lbs Grey, his son landed a 14lbs Walleye but that doesn't happen every day. With so much food swimming around you need a wee bit of luck. Not feeling all that lucky we start to cover more area in hopes of at least seeing something on our sonar's, Bain manages to pop a couple of Rock Bass & Chris lands a couple of small Walleye. A great day for sure & a hell of a great weekend.
Jds63 Posted March 14, 2016 Report Posted March 14, 2016 Great going guys !!! Hope I get an invite for some summer fishing !!
Joeytier Posted March 14, 2016 Report Posted March 14, 2016 Just enough of a taste to make you wanna go back eh? Awesome report guys
Freshtrax Posted March 15, 2016 Report Posted March 15, 2016 Thanks for the report it was a good read after a long day at work.
chris.brock Posted March 15, 2016 Report Posted March 15, 2016 GOD BLESS HALIBURTON! An oasis for Freemen of the Land like us.
Gnote Posted March 15, 2016 Report Posted March 15, 2016 Sweet report! You guys always make it look like a good time!
Dutch01 Posted March 15, 2016 Report Posted March 15, 2016 Sweet report! You guys always make it look like a good time! For real! Adventure stories like this are the thing I like most about this site. Great report.
Steelheadphycho Posted March 15, 2016 Report Posted March 15, 2016 I'm ridden with jealousy!!! Great report and congrats on the even better weekend!
MJL Posted March 15, 2016 Report Posted March 15, 2016 Great report! I've never fished the Haliburton lakes before but they're definitely on my bucket list. Thanks for sharing
misfish Posted March 15, 2016 Report Posted March 15, 2016 Beer,fish, bonus dinner,friends, and a great day spent. Thats a good day to be had.
RickOnt Posted March 16, 2016 Report Posted March 16, 2016 :thumbsup_anim:"GOD BLESS HALIBURTON! An oasis for Freemen of the Land like us." I will drink to that!!!
RickOnt Posted March 16, 2016 Report Posted March 16, 2016 Looks Like a fun day lads Great way to spend the last ice days
Old Ironmaker Posted March 16, 2016 Report Posted March 16, 2016 A great report as well as photographs Sir. I wish I was there especially for the magnificent dinner and I am sure there were copious amounts of libation shared afterwards. As Far as the 14 pound Walleye referred to I'm sure they used the same scale I use which is not the standard scale used by weekend civilians that watch home improvement shows all week and cut civilian 2X4's that are only 1.75" and 3.75" all weekend with their civilian measuring devises and civilian calibrated scales and their civilian tools. Seriously I enjoyed you report, thank you. JD What is a Rainbow Smelt? Serious ??
ckewley Posted March 16, 2016 Author Report Posted March 16, 2016 A great report as well as photographs Sir. I wish I was there especially for the magnificent dinner and I am sure there were copious amounts of libation shared afterwards. As Far as the 14 pound Walleye referred to I'm sure they used the same scale I use which is not the standard scale used by weekend civilians that watch home improvement shows all week and cut civilian 2X4's that are only 1.75" and 3.75" all weekend with their civilian measuring devises and civilian calibrated scales and their civilian tools. Seriously I enjoyed you report, thank you. JD What is a Rainbow Smelt? Serious ?? You are probably right about the size, I don't think there was a picture of the Walleye just the Laker. I wish I took a picture of the smelt (actually Bain caught 2 of them) may have been bigger than 7" things were the biggest I've even seen. These ones had a very dark brownish back and a "rainbow" side, quite a striking fish actually, may have been spawning colours??. The mouth is filled with big teeth for its size, if they grew to be huge I wouldn't swim in any water they were found in. A picture I swipped from the net, that was about the same size
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