2842km an unforgettable week on an island, and a few tank Brookies

[Freshtrax]

A few weeks back me and two good friends did a trip 5 years in the making.   We have himmed and hawwed  made excuses over the years this that and the other but we finally made it to Nipigon.

Its an intimidating lake, no known charts, shoals that literaly jump out of 200 fow , not many campsites marked, water is cold as sin and a few hundred km from anywhere.  But over the years seeing a few reports here and there of the monsters that lurk we couldn't resist the urge any longer.

   We left on a Friday night drove through the night and arrived around noon at the launch of our wildest dreams.  The lake was flat we , explored a bit and found a suitable site about 10 km from the ramp. 2 trips to haul our gear and fuel for the week , a few hours to set up camp  and the wind picked up. It would not let up for 48 hours along with a relentless driving  rain. 

  We managed the odd boat ride here and there but with 39 degree water temps  , 10 degree air temps and white caps everywhere we were not pushing our luck.  We managed a few Brookies from shore and a billion annoying pike but this was not what we signed up for.   We hunkered down in our bugtent/tarp Igloo of sorts and rode out the storm.  She was not going to give it up easy. 

  2 days later the rain lifted  our beer and whiskey supply's severely depleted we had the itch to fish hard.  The winds still strong for the next 2 days  we were bound to the sheltered side of islands but we covered miles and miles of fishe'y looking shoreline picking up the odd Brookie here and there about a million annoying pike.  Even managed  the odd accidental Laker in 10 Fow on Brookie gear    it wasen't till the 4th evening till we kinda figured them out.   We managed a 25.5' and a 22" 10 min apart along with a few other fish that would be trophy's in any lake but this .

We had been hovering around the marine radio for days on end at this point and on the 4th evening we got the news we had been watiing for.    For the next  two days the lake was a pancake and we could roam as we pleased.   It was pure bliss putting over 150 km on the boat  fishing the most ridiculous Brookie shoals / bays, / points known to man.   

 

 

PS.whitefish are annoying. you think you have a trophy Brookie on and its a dirty whitefish  we must have caught 50 in 5-10 fow. 

 

For a First time on a rather intimidating , massive, and scary at times lake we felt like we learned allot, dealt with the cold water temps  and picky fish and cant wait to get back and explore the 95%of the lake we haven't seen.

You only get one ride in life, get out there , explore, and enjoy.

Fish Porn in no particular order

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 24, 2018 by Freshtrax

[Freshtrax]

  

Edited June 24, 2018 by Freshtrax

[b2kptbo]

Beauty report, looked like a great time, thanks for sharing...

[spincast]

been waiting for that looks like you had fun bad weather welcome or not -some nice brookies there . Its an intimidating body of water and amazing fishery for sure. Big,not another soul to be seen most of the time, and rugged, above and below the surface.   looking forward to my return visit soon

 

[Sinker]

Oh man, salt in the wound!! Looks like a great trip, regardless of weather. Its all about the adventure! 

 

S. 

[misfish]

FISH PORN 

Great read Andrew.

[Rizzo]

Quote

its a dirty whitefish 

Too funny. Went salmon fishing with a buddy and when I caught a laker instead that's what he called it...a dirty old laker. You have some awesome pictures there and memories for a lifetime, too bad the weather didn't cooperate but still looks like a fantastic time

[bigugli]

Despite the weather, looks like an amazing trip

[Jds63]

great report , did you guys have some maps that marked the shoals ?

[pics]

Just got home from up in that area.. Too bad we couldn't get out on Nipigon due to having a small boat.. Lol 

[Freshtrax]

4 hours ago, Jds63 said:

great report , did you guys have some maps that marked the shoals ?

No I used various satellite imagery sites as the Google earth imagery is not the best images  on nipigon and made my own.  Never seen quite so many vertical lines on a graph for bottom.. if I was under 50 fow I had one hand on the throttle.   I looked down at the graph nice and had just drove over 15 fow  150ft on either side 

 

2 hours ago, pics said:

Just got home from up in that area.. Too bad we couldn't get out on Nipigon due to having a small boat.. Lol 

There's stretches of the river that are more are friendly to small boats that's what I did 2 years ago but not quite the same experience 

Edited June 24, 2018 by Freshtrax

[Steve Piggott]

I've been to Nipigon a few times, great to see pictures again. I will be heading back next year.

[floater]

Fantastic. Sure is nice up there. Pm me what side of the lake you launched on? Didn't see that dock in any of the lake access points we checked out on the east side!

[lunkerbasshunter]

those are some amazing fish and the scenery is incredible!  

Cheers!

[Gerritt]

Awesome report! Thanks for sharing it

[msp]

Excellent. Cant wait to get up there one day 

[Nemo]

Awesome thanks for sharing.

[SirCranksalot]

Wow! I'd like to add that to my bucket list, but then I'd have to get a bigger bucket!! ?

[LeXXington]

wow amazing trip!! on my list to do!!

[huzzsaba]

wow! sounds like an amazing trip! Great photos and beautiful fish!

[blaque]

Wow, what a trip......those bad weather days are hard to stomach when all ya wanna do is get out there. Hope your camp was on a leeward side and ur boat didnt get too beat up on the beach. 

[sparky302]

Some nice brook trout up there !!! Nice catch !!!!

[jjcanoe]

Looks like it was an excellent excellent trip!!

 

[dintymoore]

Beautiful. I would love to do this. What was the boat you were in?

[MCTFisher9120]

Wicked adventure and fish looks like a hell of a trip! Thanks for sharing