Portage into Cam Lake

[410001661]

We hiked the portage trail into Cam Lake 3 years ago Sept and to check out the lake and cabin.  The cabin was closed for repairs but the lake is beautiful and the fishing was second to none.  The bear made one hell of mess.

[akaShag]

I've seen some "bear-proof" cabins here and there in the north.  Swede saw blades nailed to window frames, plywood "welcome mats" with roofing nails (pointy ends up of course) spaced in a 3 inch grid, and the plywood screwed to the deck, heavy plywood shutters on windows, etc..........which seemed to work for those folks that owned the cabins.

I take it, this is an outfitter's camp?  Whereabouts is Cam Lake?

Doug

[chris.brock]

 

 

Chapleau Game Preserve Shag, that camp has been plagued by bear problems, my wife and I cut the portage years ago, lol

I'm curious what you caught in Cam Lake 410? Maybe the biggest walleye I've seen on any trip came out of Cam

Edited January 18, 2021 by chris.brock

[410001661]

13 hours ago, chris.brock said:

Now that is funny.  We caught lots of eater size Walleye in Cam Lake.  We only used a tin boat with a set of oars - no motors were left at the camp.  Small shallow lake.  

 

Chapleau Game Preserve Shag, that camp has been plagued by bear problems, my wife and I cut the portage years ago, lol

I'm curious what you caught in Cam Lake 410? Maybe the biggest walleye I've seen on any trip came out of Cam

 

[woodenboater]

someone had fun cleaning up that mess. wonder what those stains on the fridge were. Looked kinda like blood...

but yeah, been to some cabins near Grassy Narrows FN and all windows had saw blades attached. mice on the other hand got in easily of course...

[akaShag]

32 minutes ago, woodenboater said:

mice on the other hand got in easily of course

I really hate mice, and mouse crap.  We rented a cabin on a Hearst Air Services fly-in and it had a mouse condominium project inside.  And when I asked about the boarded-up front window, "Oh yeah, there was a bear came through that last week with our last guests."  😮

So all things considered, I'd rather have the mice than Mister Blackie.  But I still hate mice.

[woodenboater]

7 hours ago, akaShag said:

So all things considered, I'd rather have the mice than Mister Blackie.  But I still hate mice.

yeah, mice make sleep miserable when you can hear them scurrying around. but def wld choose mice over bruins if only cuz black bears are def an unpredictable predator. with teeth and sharp claws.

[BillM]

Not a fan of Cam lake.  We portaged into Little Miss daily.   Cabin was small but did the job.  Not a place I'd ever go back to.

[chris.brock]

when I fished Cam twice it was a supposedly a pike only lake, it was fast action for hammer handles but after 30 pike somebody would catch a walleye and the walleye were all 4 pounds or more  

[BillM]

I don't think we pulled a walleye out of there, lol.  Hammer handles all over the place though.

[fisherman7]

18 hours ago, akaShag said:

I really hate mice, and mouse crap.  We rented a cabin on a Hearst Air Services fly-in and it had a mouse condominium project inside.  And when I asked about the boarded-up front window, "Oh yeah, there was a bear came through that last week with our last guests."  😮

So all things considered, I'd rather have the mice than Mister Blackie.  But I still hate mice.

Which lake was this at? 

 

[410001661]

11 hours ago, BillM said:

Not a fan of Cam lake.  We portaged into Little Miss daily.   Cabin was small but did the job.  Not a place I'd ever go back to.

Cam lake is not big at all.  Definitely better to walk the portage trail to back out to Little Miss.    Did you ever fish the rapids on the north end of Little Miss?  Beautiful spot and was pulling in fish every other cast

 

Edited January 19, 2021 by 410001661

[akaShag]

1 hour ago, fisherman7 said:

Which lake was this at? 

 

Wanzatika.  Not sure of that spelling.  We were there for a moose hunt, and did some walleye fishing as well.  In a week I think we caught less than a dozen walleye, BUT I did shoot the only moose I ever shot.  We did not see any bears, nor any other moose.  There were a number of other issues as well, like only enough firewood for a day or so, and no chainsaw to cut more.  We spent time that we should have been hunting or fishing, on gathering driftwood to burn in the wood stove, until they flew in a chainsaw and gas and oil.  Good thing my buddy had rented a sat phone from them.........  I would not go back.

[akaShag]

54 minutes ago, 410001661 said:

Cam lake is not big at all.  Definitely better to walk the portage trail to back out to Little Miss.    Did you ever fish the rapids on the north end of Little Miss?  Beautiful spot and was pulling in fish every other cast

 

NICE photo!  It has "Northern Ontario" written all over it!

[misfish]

6 hours ago, akaShag said:

NICE photo!  It has "fly fishing" written all over it!

👍

[akaShag]

Brian your computer is mal-functioning, doing misquotes and all that.  😉

[fisherman7]

9 hours ago, akaShag said:

Wanzatika.  Not sure of that spelling.  We were there for a moose hunt, and did some walleye fishing as well.  In a week I think we caught less than a dozen walleye, BUT I did shoot the only moose I ever shot.  We did not see any bears, nor any other moose.  There were a number of other issues as well, like only enough firewood for a day or so, and no chainsaw to cut more.  We spent time that we should have been hunting or fishing, on gathering driftwood to burn in the wood stove, until they flew in a chainsaw and gas and oil.  Good thing my buddy had rented a sat phone from them.........  I would not go back.

That's too bad. I've done a number of trips with Hearst Air and all were great, but then again we were fishing and it was the summer. 

[passthepitonspete]

On 1/19/2021 at 8:31 AM, 410001661 said:

Did you ever fish the rapids on the north end of Little Miss?  Beautiful spot and was pulling in fish every other cast

We camped at these rapids at the Little Missinaibi outflow for one night on our way back out to [big] Missinaibi. Lots of water even in late July. We caught a bunch of small walleyes from shore and from the canoe.  It's a nice campsite on the open rock. 

The next day was the crux of the trip - the section of river downstream from this point to the Trump Lake portage. We waded the full canoe back down, but it was so difficult that if I were ever to do the trip again, I would reverse the two portages through Elbow and Trump Lake instead, the way we came in.  

The fishing in Little Missinaibi Lake is just OK, but in my opinion the fishing in [big] Missinaibi Lake is much better. But it's a BIG lake - we were lucky that both times we paddled it in the canoe, we had light winds. At one point, my buddy hooked something enormous - in the 20-plus-pound range - while trolling a deep diver on light line on my jigging rod.  He fought that fish ten or more minutes while I chased it with the canoe so he didn't get spooled.  Unfortunately we never saw the fish because on the light line we were unable to pull it to the surface - but it had to be either a BF pike or a BF lake trout.  Too bad!  I don't mind so much losing the fish if I at least get to see the fish! It just let go down deep, and we never saw it...

If you fish Missinaibi, you can drive right to it and stay at the provincial park, which is sure to be deserted this coming summer.  You'll want a big boat and tons of gas, because it's a HUGE lake. But there are huge fish in it, and one of them is swimming around with my buddy's name written on its side.  I really like Missinaibi. 

As mentioned in another post, we did well for lake trout in Trump Lake.  Easy to catch with a silver deep diver trolled around. Bring a fish finder, of course.  

Below are three pics from the Little Missinaibi outflow.  

Edited January 20, 2021 by passthepitonspete

[BillM]

On 1/19/2021 at 8:31 AM, 410001661 said:

Cam lake is not big at all.  Definitely better to walk the portage trail to back out to Little Miss.    Did you ever fish the rapids on the north end of Little Miss?  Beautiful spot and was pulling in fish every other cast

Yup we fished that.  Spent most of our time in the river and giant rocks leading to Elbow.  Big snakes and big walleyes (for us at least)

[410001661]

On 1/20/2021 at 10:40 PM, BillM said:

Yup we fished that.  Spent most of our time in the river and giant rocks leading to Elbow.  Big snakes and big walleyes (for us at least)

Ya....you had me until you said snakes!  I HATE snakes

[410001661]

5 minutes ago, 410001661 said:

Ya....you had me until you said snakes!  I HATE snakes

Yep....you mean this place

Edited January 23, 2021 by 410001661

[410001661]

[BillM]

1 hour ago, 410001661 said:

Ya....you had me until you said snakes!  I HATE snakes

Big snakes, aka pike    There' s no rapids when you make your way into Elbow.  Once you get in there towards the west end you need to watch out for the giant boulders.  We slammed into one so hard I thought I broke my face off the front of the boat, lol.  We also did Trout lake for a day, that was fun.  Nothing giant but lots of fish.

Edited January 23, 2021 by BillM