couple o' months in review - Report

[AKRISONER]

Hey guys,

 

As many of you already know, but for the first time viewers, I post these reports a few times a year because I would probably get fired from my job if I posted a report after every weekend of fishing that I partake in. I used to say I'd do this semi annually, however recent life changes have flipped those plans and now I find myself fishing a heck of a lot more.

 

For those of you that have followed my movements around some of you will be left scratching your heads saying "hey I thought that guy moved to the west coast?" Well I did, personal stuff happened that resulted in me coming back to Ontario solo, but I'm not complaining, I fell outta a relationship and right into one much stronger with the water and these gilled dinosaurs that we all love to chase.

 

This report will feature fishing, and other crap that I did, because why not, the outdoors is the outdoors!

 

But to start of...

 

Things were a bit a rocky on the west coast. When things go rough for some people, some turn to vices, some try to surround themselves with lots of people to get rid of the loneliness that can creep into ones psyche. Me on the other hand, I go outside and collect my thoughts.

 

The fishing season is somewhat slow in the lower wasteland of BC during the early summer months, hence one looks to the hills for entertainment. A friend and I decided that the hikes most Vancouverites partake in weren't cutting it when it came to a challenge. With only minimal mountaineering experience or equipment the best that we could do was find the hardest marked hike around and knock it off aggressively. I've done harder mountaineering including skinning in the Rockies, so I knew physically I could pull it off, however not knowing what we were getting ourselves into we got the dogs and headed out for the lions binkert trail. Length 16 kilometers elevation gain 1280 meters.

 

Out of the 4 climbs i had done in BC every single one had been done in terrible visibility which puts a bit of a damper on the expected reward of slogging up a hill for 2 hours straight, get to the summit and see absolutely nothing...except this time it was going to be closer to 5 hours straight up. As we embarked on our journey this climb appeared as though it was going to be much of the same, up and up we climbed the journey taking us through various types of sub alpine rain forest

Legs getting fairly tired after one particular tough section

an hour and a half up this slope we climbed through the clouds. We reached a plateau 3 hours in but with 0 visibility it was hard as heck to figure out just where the heck we were, were we close? We're we far? When all of sudden in a blink of an eye the heavens opened and the west lion was staring down at us

Our spirits renewed and with the goal in sight we continued our journey up, the dogs appreciating a cooldown in the snow.

 

As we climbed our view got better and better until we reached the summit, plenty of pictures, some lunch and it was time to make our long way back down...or so we thought. My buddy simon's Sheppard husky cross is getting on in his years but is as tough as nails. He laid down on the summit during lunch, but now he didn't want to get up...boy oh boy we're we in trouble now.

 

We proceeded to carry and drag a 70 pound dog for the next 7 hours back down the mountain, the poor guy got home and didn't get up off his bed for the next 3 days. My dog a few years younger and smaller faired much better but had a limp the next day, rookie lesson learned, pooches do have a limit even if they are as tough as nails.

 

Both pups recovered fully within 6 days...a little paw rash wasn't gonna stop em

 

A few weeks later a friend of mine from high school who has fully embraced the whistler lifestyle of teaching ski lessons in the winter and guiding fly fishing in the summer shot me a message to go out for a fish. I had taken it upon myself to get myself a bit of fly fishing gear earlier in the spring with the intention of taking up fly fishing. As per my previous report I had experienced one skunk in a local river, but Dan had been guiding some of the local lakes near whistler for stocked trout.

 

Lucky for me Dan had some float gear, and some knowledge of a local back lake, out we headed into some really beautiful country at a fairly high altitude. Just our luck, a very strange weather pattern developed mid summer, temperatures had been in the high twenties for weeks with little rain, the day I headed up to whistler the morning low was 4 with a high of 9! Out we paddled in our belly boats and it quickly became apparent, this weather had the fish turned on. Thousands of trout jumping on a hatch, out came the drys, we matched the hatch I hit my first fish on the fly and what followed was 6 straight hours of little alpine rainbows smacking our drys on light fly gear. What a beauty day.

 

 

BC was warming up to me a bit but then things took a turn for the worst, and a 1 day turnaround saw me with flights booked and me heading back to onterrible

 

Landing in Toronto, I was reminded instantly, Ontario ain't so terrible at all

 

I knew where I was headed as soon as humanely possible.

 

I was greeted my first morning at the lake by classic strong Georgian bay west winds, and high water...things were gonna be ok, our dear Mother Nature told me so.

 

Smallies and pike were caught, life was good

 

A bit of retail therapy didn't hurt either. One of the best purchases if not the best I have ever made.

 

A mission of mine is to share my passion for fishing with my nieces and nephews, with the kids begging me to take them fishing, out to the dock we went with a small rod and some worms to dunk, the kids having a riot learning how to wait for the bite, set the hook and reel em in, the perch and gills were putting smiles on everyone's faces, but that smile was quickly off of my 3 year old nephews face when this smallie nearly ripped the rod out of his hands and jumped out of the water.

 

A bit scared, the kids a natural, and continued to beg me to go fishing on the dock for the rest of the weekend.

 

Knowing I was gonna be heading back up to the lake again In 3 days I did something that I never do, I left my tinner "reveen" formerly "tinner Magic" (if you get the reveen reference speak to me) in the lake. What's the worst that can happen in 3 days? How about 120mm of rain in two hours...so ya that happened. News from my neighbors was that locally boats were sunk, the thoughts of dragging my poor boat out of the lake made it pretty hard to sit at the office that day, but as they say "ish happens"

 

Lucky me our neighbors had their nephews bail out their boat that evening and send a photo. in said photo I could see my bow mount sticking up over the dock...sitting low...but floating

 

Back up we went Dave and I bailed the boat for over half an hour, she was heavy but alive. (Couldn't find the damn sump pump) A solid weekend of fishing including a smallie with the size of a giant but the weight of a baby had us perplexed. She still went 4 and a half, but if we ran into her in November full of bait...she woulda been heavy.

Calm weather allowed us to venture out into uncharted and severely untamed open water, fishing in an ocean on the moon, the bite was slow we managed a few but perhaps even fish don't like living in a rock wasteland.

 

It's always fun when these guys smack your swimbaits and put on an aerial show.

 

A weekend up with the boys for a bachelor followed, being the best man, I had to make a good host and guide for the boys. A really cool round of golf at seguin valley

 

and some fishing was going down something was strangely amiss for two reasons, one a school of about a million+ shiners had moved into my bay, making every single cast of the rod look like the fountains at the belagio.

 

Second and Weirdest of all for the first time in a couple of years, I personally got skunked for an entire weekend. It meant good news for the boys though because I would be working water over, would get hit or even get a fish on and lose it, I would then point in a particular direction and give instruction and put the guys on fish. So in the end the guys were happy with all of the fish I was putting them on.

 

I've wanted a fishing tattoo for a while, so I pulled the trigger, my artist incredible, here's the progress to date after my second sitting

 

A firm believer of the fish gods, have your gear in order, respect the lake, and persist persist persist, the fish gods always pay you back, and you get what you put into It. My first time back in the boat after getting a nasty Essox engraved on my body the fish gods paid me back for my skunk on my 4th cast this slobby girl took a Zara pop r and put a show on for me. Things were even again.

 

An impromptu invite for a trip up to pigeon lake for some musky action was given from the homie Dave, we stayed at pigeon lake resort in nogies creek. The crew had gone up Thursday night but I was forced to drive up after work Friday. While in the car Dave called me up and said that had already caught 3 skis in a couple of hours, things were looking good! Saturday greeted us with bluebird skies and warm weather...and subsequently a dead lake. We fished all day without a follow, even Fisherpete who was out on another kawarthas lake said the bite was off...nothing like a day of musky, I guess we needed to reach our 10,000 casts. Heading in we agreed after dinner to try the night bite, simple trolling the edges I threw on the shallow invader, and within 20 minutes I hit pay dirt

 

We then hit another that ended up getting lost after line got caught up in a rod holder. We woke up the next day and trolled some more and this chunker came to play

 

Called the day early and headed home, pigeon had delivered once again, but I wasn't done with her yet.

 

Pete and I made plans to hit balsam, but holy crepe the forecast was not good. Winds outta the north gusting to 80 we settled with pigeon with the hopes that the lake would at least let us on her. Starting in the south end things were fine, as we headed on the main lake things started to get ugly, standing in some damn good chop tossing shadzillas pete was trying to fish but also spending most of his time keeping us outta the cabbage lol. That's when this girl hit boatside and went absolutely ballistic

 

Troll back and I hit another one in the exact same spot not 10 casts later, this one smaller and covered in growths, she came unhinged boat side and I didn't mind one bit lol

 

We headed out further through 4 foot chop the whole place looked like mud...the lake had turned over and the day was toast.

 

I headed home totally satisfied though, two skis in 10 casts, can't ask for better than that. It was prime time fishing season and the lakes were delivering.

 

I was getting majorly excited for a long planned weeklong trip with the homie Dave, 8 straight days of fishing were planned, with spots found last year, this year we planned to fish them hard.

 

Dave's dad and buddy came up and they wanted footballs, while Dave and I hooked up with some more small ones, Jamie's intuition paid off with some heavyweights

 

The gents then decided they wanted a feed, out we went the next morning and limited out the boat in short time, I even caught one of the weirdest fish in my life...I'm 90% sure this is the rare blue pickerel?

 

The damn thing looked like a salmon

 

Then I look over at Dave, he sets the hook and his rod folds in half...snag...but then his line cuts through the water. I immediately say, our pickerel net ain't gonna do! While Dave struggles to keep his line on his medium light rod outta the outboard. I roll up my sleeves, this pike was gonna get hand bombed. The hook sitting perfectly in the corner of the fishes mouth keeping the flurocarbon out of its teeth I knew I could get her. I slowly bring her near the boat once and she rolls and says no way, Dave fights her back up near the boat, I grab the line and bring her close, telling her it's ok, it's ok as I slide my hand into the gill plate, pinch and I've got her! Dave's PB pike

 

The old timers put Dave to the task of cleaning their catch, we helped them pack up the boat and did some evening fishing, couple of dink pikes and a beautiful sunset. Solid day indeed

 

A hunt the next morning saw Dave get his first duck, jeez mallard tastes like steak! I had no clue

 

did some fishing that day as well taking advantage of the glass we were being rewarded with

Dave and I got back to the cottage and decided that the pickerel fishing was so hot we wanted to see how many we could catch in a morning, and more importantly get an upgrade on size. We woke up and got ready for first light and headed out

 

Hit the honey hole, and put 30+ fish in the boat in a couple of hours all caught and sent back to grow up. By this point in the trip i Getting tired of catching mid teens eyes and 2 lb smallies...where the heck were the big fall fish? I could see Dave's mind itching. I said "Dave let's go hit somewhere else, go wherever you want" Dave replied "can we fish those spots I've always wanted to but we never do because you won't let me" I say, "at this point I don't care I need a damn big fish" we gun err to a spot Dave has always wanted to fish and start trolling around finding the edges hoping to mark something, when another local who was clearly up fishing for the week as well swung by trolling cranks, he got a bit upset because we were parked on the line he was hoping to take but not fishing. He put his hands up to say "what gives?" Dave gets the heck outta the guys way and says screw this, lets go "over there" guns the gas and doesn't even notice the rock at 11 o'clock that he's about to run into I yell "stop" he says holy (crepe) puts the boat out of gear and we stop. "Jesus I thought we were going to that rock, I didn't even notice this one" I'm thinking in my mind, what the hell is going on in Dave's head that he doesn't notice an obvious rock right infront of him, it's almost as if natural instinct was driving the boat. Sure enough immediately Dave screams "ommmmgggggg look at that friggin mark" there lied a big hook, so big the plotter put two fish icons on it. I drop in, sit for 15 seconds....thunk

 

"huge smack Dave"

 

Wiggle

 

"Omg"

 

Rod tip starts going towards the water

 

"I'm on, get the Damn net"

 

There 10 feet down I see her, scared to bring her close to the surface and have her shake off, Dave pays me back for the pike landing with one of the deepest net jobs I've ever seen

 

9lbs of Georgian bay gold, you'd think by the look on my face I was happy or something.

 

My trip was basically made at this point.

 

I spent the next few trips out casting big baits for musky with the odd numbers eye trip mixed in. At this point I was really just enjoying being on the water 10 hours a day.

My brother brought a friend up and even hooked into an eye that would have been the catch of the year most years, but poor him, I was stealing his thunder. Still solid though, don't tell him I said that

 

Over the course of the week I would estimate that between Dave and I and my dad brother and his buddy in the other boat we put at least 200 eyes on the deck. In about 15 hours of fishing...not bad at all.

 

Thus concluded my week of fishing, and here I find myself stuck in Toronto with a newly elected trump, another tattoo sitting. Next week I'm going to see WWE survivor series with the boys...what a debacle that's gonna be.

 

But damn...I still wanna go fishing.

 

Manitou I'm excited for your comment.

Edited November 14, 2016 by AKRISONER

[msp]

Nice. Thanks for sharing

[Fisherpete]

Wow, now that was a report! Lots of species and some great sized specimens too. Looks like a blue walleye for sure to me! Glad to have you back in ON by the way, but the fish ain't!

[GBW]

very nice post! thanks

[leaf4]

Whirlwind year for sure! Great pics and fish thanks for sharing!

[manitoubass2]

Excited for my reply??? Lol.

 

Thats one heck of a report man!!!

 

I like your outlook on life??

 

Those nature shots are to die for! Whatta experience Id imagine?

 

Great fish too! Multi species, love it!

 

That blue eye is a rare catch!!! Great photo showing how dark they can be. On a sunny day you can Really see the colours pop!

 

Love the truck! Im more of a tundra guy myself

 

Love the ink! I need some work done soon!

 

And nice form on the golf swing!!(gawd I love golf)

 

Great report bud!!! Ill be lookin this through a few more times for sure!

Edited November 15, 2016 by manitoubass2

[Freshtrax]

Nice going, too bad about BC, but life goes on make the best of it.

[Old Ironmaker]

That is one great report Akrisoner, and more importantly one great attitude for dealing with what life throws at us from time to time.

 

You guys sure put a beating on some poor unsuspecting fish.

 

A "hike" in BC, more like climbing K2. That pimple called the Niagara Escarpment we from Hamilton call a mountain, what a joke, you were in the Mountains. I have copied a few pics of yours and I hope to paint one this winter.

 

A Dodge Ram,,,,,,,,,,,really? It's not a Chevy but regardless nice ride.

 

Has anyone told you that you are standing on the wrong side of the Golf ball? If that is you I like the positioning and balance. I would however like to see your left elbow tighter to your body by 6"s. Do you find you are hitting over the top a lot? Classic Chicken Wing. As they say those that can't do teach.

 

Thanks for the fantastic read Akrisoner. I would love to know how you came up with your handle "Akrisoner"? It has always intrigued me.

 

I say if anything you do, say, play, paint, write, sing that evokes an emotion you have succeeded in your Art. You have succeeded on this one young Sir. Thanks once again, well done.

 

Johnny D

Edited November 15, 2016 by Old Ironmaker

[bobowski]

awesome report bud. Love the GBay gold.

[AKRISONER]

thanks for the comments guys...

 

for the flack on the ram...they are the only company making a half ton diesel, I cant complain about getting 9.3l/100

 

Iron, that hike wouldnt have been too bad at all if we didnt have to carry a 70 pound dog the whole way down lol. The guide says its a 9.5-11 hour hike, we figured we could have crushed it in 6.5 if we didnt have the dogs. Just gotta power through the tough sections, nothing gets your heart pounding though like climbing a slope like that for hours at time. I did some skinning in the rockies a few years back with my cousin

 

 

your advantage on the west coast is that you start at sea level...climbing in the columbia ice fields, your base elevation is 1,900 meters and then you climb up to 3,000. When i did that trip i trained for 3 months in the gym 6 days a week and the elevation nearly killed me still.

 

Iron did you teach golf at some point...its hilarious because secretly in that golf photo I actually did top the ball...funny thing though is i skipped the ball 3 times on the water and hit the green!

 

Im not sure if it was just the pressure that gave me the chicken wing, or if thats a normal thing in my swing. I will have to ask my friend whos bachelor party I was hosting, hes a CPGA pro.

 

Im actually surprised no one mentioned the duck! I feel like duck hunters are keeping it a secret that mallard breast is like filet mignon.

 

Thanks for the comments everyone, my fishing partner dave and i pride ourselves in being multispecies anglers its great to get some recognition for it. Maybe the next report will have some steelhead and brown photos...time shall tell.

 

 

[manitoubass2]

Hows this for an ugly finish OI? ???

 

 

I shoot good scores with my horrid swing so I dont tinker with it.

 

My 12 year old has a swing that makes pga tour pros jealous.

 

Another year or two and hell be smashing me on the course???

 

Akr, keep that duck thing on the hush hush.

 

Akr, I envision some great hip hop playing when your "hiking"( thats mountain climbing brother) lol

Edited November 15, 2016 by manitoubass2

[Walleye'm Fishing]

Thant's an impressive couple o' months right there!

[Old Ironmaker]

Not a bad finish actually Rick.

[manitoubass2]

Not a bad finish actually Rick.

I hope not! Ive only been at er my whole life lol.

 

Thanks OI

[Old Ironmaker]

Akrisoner, you mentioned " skinning" a few times, what is it? As far as golf like I said those that can't do teach. I have been golfing for too many years to be as inconsistent as I am. Birdie, par, birdie, 7!!! That's me now. OK, what is "reveen". The illusionist? Cooking Duck correctly is a secret. My hunting buddies bring me duck every year because they cook it wrong, a salty wooden plank is what it tastes like when they cook it.

 

Rick that isn't the Railway Hole on Royal St. Annes is it? No wonder you hit drives 300 yards, you get 200 yards of carry on that concrete parking lot fairway.

[Musky Plug]

Awesome report! Awesome pics! Sounds like an awesome few months all around, well done sir!

[manitoubass2]

Akrisoner, you mentioned " skinning" a few times, what is it? As far as golf like I said those that can't do teach. I have been golfing for too many years to be as inconsistent as I am. Birdie, par, birdie, 7!!! That's me now. OK, what is "reveen". The illusionist? Cooking Duck correctly is a secret. My hunting buddies bring me duck every year because they cook it wrong, a salty wooden plank is what it tastes like when they cook it.

 

Rick that isn't the Railway Hole on Royal St. Annes is it? No wonder you hit drives 300 yards, you get 200 yards of carry on that concrete parking lot fairway.

Sorry for the golf talk akr lol

 

OI thats kitchen creek in fort frances during fall.

 

I average 270 driving, but Ill hit some 300s in good conditions. On that course there is 3 par 4s I consistantly drive.

 

Last year I even drove 10ft from the green on a par 4 362 yard hole.my drive was 358.

 

You gotta see GBW golf, hes OFCs pro

Edited November 15, 2016 by manitoubass2

[AKRISONER]

hey no problem about the golf talk, i love golf, i just cant afford to pay 100 a round to play it every week lol...prices are getting insane. I was actually a member at north halton for a few years in my teens. Good times indeed!

 

Whats crappy about golf is that all of my friends are sub 10 handicaps so I look and feel awful in comparison to them lol. Im about a 18 handicap.

 

Iron i forgot to answer your question, Akrisoner is pronounced Ae-Kree-One-Er

 

Its an old nom du plume from back in my graffiti writing days. I write AKRIS....or Ecris the french for "to write"...AKRIS is a mash up of my last name sorta...Krysa...except the Y is an I.

 

Skinning, refers to using a splitboard the skis on my feet in this photo

 

are actually made of a snowboard that has been cut in half. The bindings swivel on the two halves to make a pair of skis. You then use a pair of adhesive climbing "skins" on the bottom of the skis to stop them from sliding backwards. this allows you to climb up slopes in snow. Its kind of like cross country skiiing except on skis that cant go backwards allowing you to climb very very severely steep slopes. The bindings even have a flip up stand that prop your feet up so that when you are standing on a sever slope your feet are flat but the skis can be on an angle...hard to describe

 

this image is the best that i can do to describe what im talking about..one binding is in flat mode while the other is in slope climb mode

 

[Old Ironmaker]

Enjoy it while it lasts M2B2, you will be 40 soon. Humility changes as the years pass.

 

I too apologize Ak.

 

Get out here to Haldimand-Norfolk to golf. 40 to 50 bucks including cart on great courses that have a high slope rating. Check out the Greens of Renton online. The course not 5 miles from me is Coral Creek designed to host the Canadian Open in the early 60's but they ran out of money. Often rated in top 100 Ontario semi-private courses in Canada. 48 bucks all in Monday to Friday. That course would easily be 100 in the GTA or Niagara. One par 5 was rated as most difficult in Ontario a few years back when they redid the course. Over 530 yards from middle T's, 250 to the first water hazard, 275 to clear it, then 250 to clear second water hazard, lay up is to an Island. Of course the green is surrounded by pot bunkers. I put a 7 on the card and go to the next T.

Oops, forgot the 80 foot plus high Oaks guarding a portion if the green.

 

I have never scoped skis like that, but then again I haven't skied like since forever Dude.

 

I asked you about the name before now that I remember. Enough on this computer get out fishing so I can read another report.

Edited November 15, 2016 by Old Ironmaker

[manitoubass2]

hey no problem about the golf talk, i love golf, i just cant afford to pay 100 a round to play it every week lol...prices are getting insane. I was actually a member at north halton for a few years in my teens. Good times indeed!

 

Whats crappy about golf is that all of my friends are sub 10 handicaps so I look and feel awful in comparison to them lol. Im about a 18 handicap.

 

Iron i forgot to answer your question, Akrisoner is pronounced Ae-Kree-One-Er

 

Its an old nom du plume from back in my graffiti writing days. I write AKRIS....or Ecris the french for "to write"...AKRIS is a mash up of my last name sorta...Krysa...except the Y is an I.

 

Skinning, refers to using a splitboard the skis on my feet in this photo

 

are actually made of a snowboard that has been cut in half. The bindings swivel on the two halves to make a pair of skis. You then use a pair of adhesive climbing "skins" on the bottom of the skis to stop them from sliding backwards. this allows you to climb up slopes in snow. Its kind of like cross country skiiing except on skis that cant go backwards allowing you to climb very very severely steep slopes. The bindings even have a flip up stand that prop your feet up so that when you are standing on a sever slope your feet are flat but the skis can be on an angle...hard to describe

 

this image is the best that i can do to describe what im talking about..one binding is in flat mode while the other is in slope climb mode

 

Thats sick akri!!! I tag as UH-OH and NATRON

 

Uh oh was just my first bomb and it caught on, I actually tagged it SLK RICK.

 

NATRON was a nickmane I got from the local natives basically slang for "the white guy thats more native than natives" lol

Edited November 15, 2016 by manitoubass2

[Old Ironmaker]

Tagging, nice. The rest I wrote is suitable for a PM only.

[Moosebunk]

Outta breath reading about that first climb.

 

Coffee got a little cool reading this one straight through. Well done man!!! A great sunny season full of awesome experiences for you... and some nice fish too.

[AKRISONER]

thanks for all of the comments guys

 

manitou your name is hilarious hahaha thats so funny.

 

Iron im waiting for your PM about tagging hahahahaa

 

moose, ive only been fishing hardcore for a couple of years so ive got a long ways to get to your level, but as a fellow multi species freak, i get it. In fact a PM is in your inbox about an interesting species that I think its time to catch.

[manitoubass2]

thanks for all of the comments guys

 

manitou your name is hilarious hahaha thats so funny.

 

Iron im waiting for your PM about tagging hahahahaa

 

moose, ive only been fishing hardcore for a couple of years so ive got a long ways to get to your level, but as a fellow multi species freak, i get it. In fact a PM is in your inbox about an interesting species that I think its time to catch.

OI is old and doesnt understand art.

 

His pm is gonna be about tax dollers???

[Old Ironmaker]

OK you 2 hooligan hip hopster whipper snappers I bite. The Art I get, in fact I really enjoy it, some is amazing. Some is just plain crap with the territory tagging just like animals marking their territory. What I do have issue with is me having to cover the cost of painting over my private property. Also the cost of painting rail cars when I was at the plant. Stelco at 1 time had the 3rd largest railroad behind CN and CPR. Taggers would jump the fence at night and tag rail cars. No harm, no foul? The car numbers couldn't be read and now I have to climb the slippery rungs of the cars and ID the material, dozens of them a shift and usually when it's cold and the rain and snow is blowing off the harbour.

 

The Art I really get.