Shining Tree Trip May 28-June 4 2016

[the spirit of fishing]

Well the time finally came.

Our annual week long trip to Shining Tree Camp started May 28.

A week away from our trip the long term weather showed forecasts of beautiful sunny, warm weather all week. The day before departure the forecast had changed. Now the whole week was forecasted to be of changing weather. Rain most days with the sun peaking through only occasionally. The latter forecast was closest to being correct. The majority of rain came through the night so it didnt slow us down.

Our usual group of 6 was reduced to 5 due to one member preparing to get married. We had found a replacement for him, however for medical reasons the replacement had to cancel 10 days prior to our departure. An ominous sign of what was to come or a great trip missed by those who couldnt make it?

Wed soon find out.

We all finished the long drive early Saturday afternoon. Me alone from just outside Ottawa and the others from the Trenton, Kingston area.

After unloading and putting everything where it belonged in the cabin it was time to do what we have done over the years. Everyone grabbed a rod and headed to the docks to reacquaint, rehydrate with beverage of choice and watch a slip bobber hoping to catch the first fish of the trip. The other main goal of our dock gathering was to plan our adventures for the next morning.

 

All went well except the bobbers werent getting us any fish, strange because we always have enough action from the dock to keep us enthused. Another sign of what was to come?

At any rate a plan was made for very early the next morning to a splake lake we all have enjoyed fishing very successfully previous years. We all agreed this plan would not be altered! , as previous years weve come up with plans that could and would change multiple times.

We like our first real fishing of the trip to be very successful for all of us. It pumps everyone up for the days to come. It also puts fish in the freezer, very important as we plan on eating fish for more than half our meals while there. Usually we fish a combination of waters we know where and how to get fish and explore several unfamiliar waters over the week. We find its a good way not to get bored of fishing one place and provides a challenge figuring out new waters.

Sunday morning we all waited for someone to get up to start the coffee and by the time the first persons kidneys couldnt hold anymore it was 6:00, already almost 2 hours behind schedule!

While having coffee one of the guys decides he wants to go for walleye instead, ok me too. So three go for splake and two of us for walleye.

So much for not altering the plan!

A few hours later the three splake fishermen meet us at the walleye spot. They only got one small splake. This is a lake we have been able to select which fish to keep previous years .. oh, oh. The two of us fishing walleye faired better. We had 2 bass over 3 pounds and a walleye on the stringer with multiple fish released. Things are looking up.

While having our brunch at the cabin our plan for the afternoon is made. Were going to attempt to get into a lake trout lake. Using fish on line I thought I could see a way to drive close to the lake and I convinced the others to give it a try.

Unfortunately the trail didnt get us close enough to access the lake. As an alternative we knew of a speck lake wed never fished that was close. It had easy access, too easy we had always thought, but it seemed now was a good time to try it.

We fished it for 3 hours and although the occasional fish showed on the finder, we had no action.

Time to go back to the cabin and regroup.

Three of us old guys decided to relax around the cabin and discus where and what we wanted to do in the coming days. The two younger men went after walleye.

The two returned with smiles all around. Multiple fish caught, biggest was a 23 walleye-released along with bass and other walleye, a couple kept for a meal.

Overall not a bad day considering we had a couple of setbacks.

The rest of the week went much better.

Only once were we not able to access a place we wanted to fish, that was because of the trail washed out prior to the launch area. Since we were unable to get to the walleye at that spot we went to another lake and had success there.

We also selected some other trout lakes to explore. One each of splake, rainbows and specks.

We found cooperating fish in all the new lakes.

The biggest fish of the week was a 27 walleye also multiple 21-23 fish (all released), splake almost 5 pounds (released), rainbow 3.7 pounds, specks 2.9 pounds and smallmouth bass 4 pounds.

All in all another great week in Shining Tree.

Many thanks to our great hosts Derek and Cathy at Shining Tree Camp, we cant wait for our next visit!

Pictures to come.

Edited June 13, 2016 by the spirit of fishing

[adempsey]

Sounds like you guys put together a pretty great trip. Thanks for the report!

[Terry]

Nice report

I love shiningtree but haven't been there in a few years. Might be time to plan a trip

[Gnote]

Sounds like a great trip! I really gotta finish putting my trip report together lol.

[Joeytier]

That's an amazing week! Nice to be in a place with such variety.

[the spirit of fishing]

Thanks for the nice replies.

A few photos now included.

 

[Joey]

Wow, looks like a great place with some great fishing, thanks for a great report

[msp]

Nice ! Lots of good fish !

[woodenboater]

dem bass look nice !

[pics]

Nice trip, thanks for the report!!

[FloatnFly]

nice report. a customer of mine goes to Shining tree around the same time, you may have seen him around

[the spirit of fishing]

 

FloatnFly- The only others in camp were Americans except for one single guy who I believe is retired. At the places we went fishing we didn't see another person so I don't think we ran across the guy you know.

Perhaps he stays at one of the other lodges in the area.