Lac des Milles Lac report (NW Ontario)

tbayboy · July 11, 2007

Well I finally got the pics uploaded, the videos merged and caught up on enough sleep to try and write a report that you all would enjoy so here goes!

For the last few years a bunch of us guys who went to high school together have been getting together back in Thunder Bay for a guys only fishing vacation. This year we had a lot of cancellations: no money, no time off, had a baby last week - you know, lame excuses all. After confirming Jason's excuse:

we had to head out with just 4 of us this year. The nice thing about a smaller group this time meant we got to pick from many spots and decided to head to Lac des Milles Lac (lake of a 1000 lakes) but this time try the south end of the lake at a lodge that until recently was boat in only. After someone managing to fill a single truck and boat with enough food and gear for 10 people including such essentials as $75 worth of good cigars, $20 worth of bug deterring bad cigars, $60 worth of fine steaks, 15 bottles of wine, 3 bottles of port, one bottle of grappa, 4 kilograms of cheese, loads of other assorted food stuffs, 11 rods, 15 plano boxes of lures and other stuff, 20 bags of soft plastics and 4 days worth of crawlers, minnows and leaches we were finally ready to go. So lets begin the review with the drive in:

Wednesday July 4: The drive in

Every year we try to leave early but its never meant to be and this year was no different. After a short drive on the highway we turned onto the logging roads. As some of you know the quality of these roads can vary but we had a 4wd truck and 2 of the guys had driven it 2 weeks earlier so we knew what to expect. When nearly there the road leaves the forest and crosses a couple kilometers of marshy (umm dont know why but when I say m-a-r-s-h the board changes it to 'whats his name') land. In the middle of this was a huge puddle and Dave (the driver) decided to move a bit to the side to keep a couple wheels dry just in case. Seemed like a plan til we realized that the side of the road was part of the m-a-r-s-h. Swoosh - 10 feet forward and 4 feet to the right:

Wow what a mess. And yet we were so close - Michael points out the lake:

Then him and Steve go for a little 3 k run to the lodge to see if they can come dig us out. 20 minutes later they're back with the owner in his truck and re-enact for me the run:

Unfortunately his truck wasn't able to budge ours an inch so back he went for something a bit bigger:

Even that didn't work at first but as the video shows he figured it out:

By the time we got the truck checked for damage (nothing but a lot of moss to extract thanks to the soft ground), the boat rehooked and got unpacked the sun was almost completely gone but Dave was not going to be denied his first night of fishing after ditching his own truck so me and him ran out for a quick check of the bay. We marked quite a few but only pulled in one before heading back (realized we only had a pen flashlight on us). Nothing amazing but the fishing had begun:

Thursday, July 5: One hungry pike, Michael and Steve clean up

After a few pops Wednesday we decided not to set an alarm for Thursday morning but we were all too pumped to sleep much and were up snarfing down a quick breakfast by 8 and soon after on the water.

We started with a patch of pencil reeds (I'm probably wrong about the weed types sorry), a nice rainbow greeted us:

And soon we were on to fish:

Unfortunately most were around that size but the weed edge also caughed up this guy, a sign of things to come:

and our first of only a few perch this year:

We then moved over a bit to somewhat deeper water to start some jigging. The week we got there was just the end of the mayfly hatch and there were still plenty around:

Luckily, thanks to all the tips from OFC I had a bag of brown/orange grubs that I tipped with a small bit of worm on a yellow jig head and we started pulling in a few when suddenly my walleye seemed to get quite a bit stronger. Something was definitely going on and when we got a look at it I knew I needed to find the camera:

He actually took it twice - he spat it out then hit it again. Unbe-dang-leivable, what a rush. Here's a couple more pics of this fish thief caught in the act:

15 minutes later my hands are still shaking when Dave hooks into something big and inactive, a classic log. Wouldn't you know it - he pulls up this:

yep, its the same pike but this time we get him in the boat (sorry for the bad hold pic):

40" on the dot but pretty lean, still had some good teeth to him:

I don't remember much more about that day, nothing could top that action. Luckily Steve and Michael in the other boat found a nice shoreline to work and brough in a full limit of nice dinner sized walleye so out came the fryer to end an exciting first day on the lake.

Friday, July 6. Attack of the baby gators

We headed straight to the shoreline that the other guys had done so well at the night before and started mixing up trolling crank baits (husky jerks, x-raps and shad-raps) and casting to the shore line and soon found some fish:

Unfortunately it also started raining pike. My dad calls them grass pike but basically it means any pike less than oh say 24 inches. Over the next few hours I must have landed 30 of them of which 25 where less than 18 inches long. You know how panfish can start to get annoying when they keep pecking away at your bait when your trying for the real fish, well thats exactly what this was like. Now I remember why everyone up there hates pike, what a royal pain in the ass.

We did however manager to get a few eyes out of the mix and, as a nice surprise, we found smallies. I had heard there were smallies there but I had no idea how many. None really big, this one was probably at the top end of the size range but boy were they a fun change.

Unfortunately all those rocks managed to eat a few good lures too including the legendary 'ghost' that PatrickG regularly kicks my butt with here in Toronto (I finally find one and lose it on the first day out of the box - grrr). We worked the shores for most of the morning had fun but I swear I never want to see a small pike again.

After a late lunch we headed to a hole to try some vertical jigging. Talk about picky fish. We were marking them but they wouldn't bite until Dave tried an orange jig with a live minnow tip and all of a sudden he's pulling in fish every 5 minutes. I had a yellow jig with a brown grub and worm and wasn't getting a nibble. I switched to the live minnow and still nothing. I switched to an orange jig with the minnow and wouldn't you know it - I'm pulling in fish left and right. Go figure. The nice thing about this kind of fishing though is that you get to relax and take in the scenery:

And for any of you who have the pleasure of living up in that neck of the woods you know what the dragon flies are like - big as your palm and totally fearless:

Another beautiful sunset and we soon headed back for another night of food and fun

In particular, Michaels poached fish with olives, butter, olive oil and herbs (improvised with what was lying around) was probably the best fish dish I've ever had:

Then came the port, grappa, beer and cards and the next thing I remember its Saturday

Saturday, July 8: Trolling for eyes

Friday night we really tied one on and in the interest of all involved we'll just say what happens at the camp stays at the camp (all I'll do is quote one guy "I have a confession to make, I ate all the doritos). So that meant a bit of a later start Saturday. After a nice breakfast where we got to use up the left over salsa

We headed out to try trolling deep rigs for a change. Dave tied on a bottom bouncer and worm rig and I went with a more basic lindy setup. Just a few minutes in Dave is on the board:

Every pass we'd pull in another fish, it was going great even if Dave was out fishing me when my rod bent in a way I really wasn't ready for. After a few minutes of fun fights (for an 'eye anyhow) I pulled in what turned out to be the big hen of the weekend:

23", certainly no monster but a good 6 inches over the next best we had for the trip.

After a late lunch/early dinner we headed out at 6 for the night bite and at 6:15 we were back after rounding the corner and seeing a big front coming in with water to sky bolts that absolutely crackled in that big sky kinda way. 45 minutes later and it was perfectly clear and the lake was glass so back we went.

We pulled in a couple fish when the weather changed yet again:

So in we went. Turned out that it missed us for the most part, just a bit of rain but we were tired of running out and back so we had dinner and went to sleep early.

Fast forward to 3:30am and I'm woken by gun shots. As I wake up I realize its not gun shots, its hail. Big hail. And its bright out. Too bright. I wish I'd had the energy to grab my camera because the storm was insane - sheet lightning you could read by, winds that turned the lodge siding into a green zone that took a pressure washer to clean and gumball size hail that left the tinfoil cover of our frying oil pot looking like a meteor shower had hit it. By 4:30 it was all over, gotta love the weather.

Sunday July 8, 2007: Post storm slowdown

After getting a bit more sleep we got up for our last morning on the water. I headed to the boats and this was on the path:

The boats had a bit of water in them:

but the morning was beautiful with a nice mist on the lake

We tried to tempt some fish to bite but knew it would be tough after last nights crazy weather, during the attempt I managed to snap this, this picture is my favourite of the whole trip, to me it really sums up NW Ontario fishing:

We landed 4 fishing between the two boats in a few hours and I finally managed to get a loon near the boat when I had my camera out, it just doesn't feel right without a loon pic

We cleaned those up, packed up and stopped at the lodge to confirm that we'd back next year.

What a great trip with great friends and a perfect mix of fishing - every time on the water was a different technique, a different spot and different results but always with some fish brought in. Makes me wonder what the heck I was thinking when I moved down south.

Anyhow, this report sure ended up long didn't it I hope you enjoyed it, I've put up a sample of the better pics at flickr (click this). I've also merged all the vids (including a couple that weren't above) and put that up at youtube:

Edit: For those of you with google earth you can download the location from here: http://www.box.net/shared/ati61jzzx6

Edited July 11, 2007 by TbayBoy

danbouck · July 11, 2007

Awesome Report! Love the Videos, thanks :Gonefishing:

Golfisher · July 11, 2007

Wow, what an amazing report!

cityfisher · July 11, 2007

great job !! sounded like a great time !

danw · July 11, 2007

Great report. Nice youtube material. And very nice pan pictures.

Weeds · July 11, 2007

Nice report and some beauty pics.

Mike the Pike · July 11, 2007

Now that was an amazing mind blowing detailed report that was better than watching the morning fishing shows Stuck chevy's,poor little eye,great pics and vids.Thank you for taking the time to upload and I know you put alot of time into that one.I thought the stubby beer bottle was history or was that just vintage Beer :whistling:

:clapping: :thumbsup_anim:

MTP

tbayboy · July 11, 2007

Thanks guys. The stubby is red cap - they had a limited edition bob and doug mackenzie stubby case a few weeks ago and one of the guys had some left. As for the length I made a point of scribbling down a note each night so I'd remember what had happened then I just sat down and started typing but getting it all set was a nice reminder of all the fun so I didn't mind the time taken at all.

PatrickGG · July 11, 2007

Awesome report Tbay you guys looked like you had a blast and the fish fry sure looks yummy.

Joey · July 11, 2007

Truely awesome report from start to finish. I was there right :lol:

That storm must have been something. Look at all the leaf pieces stuck to the cabin door

Thanks

Joey

bassmaster4 · July 11, 2007

awesome report the piek attacking the walleye is amazing

dustink · July 11, 2007

Great report....thanks for taking the time to share!!

dk

Shelley Cooper · July 11, 2007

:thumbsup_anim: Awesome report, pic's and vid's..

Thanks for sharing.....

Smokey · July 11, 2007

Beauty pics and great report. I've always wanted to fish the lake, I drive every year on the way to the moose hunt and it's such a nice area.

Thanks for the report.

Roy · July 11, 2007

This has got to be one of the best reports I've seen. Congrats to you and your buds.

lunkerbasshunter · July 11, 2007

wow thta is one heck of a report!!!! Good job guys!

CHeers!

ccmtcanada · July 11, 2007

Wow!! Talk about a report...complete with pics, video and great commentary. Great job Sean! Your trip sure had lots of excitement...from the truck getting stuck, to mother nature at her worst, some GREAT fishing and GREAT times. Your pics turned out amazing too...they really helped capture what you guys experienced up there. Thanks for taking the time to put this report together...gotta be one of the best ones I've read!!

pigeonfisher · July 11, 2007

Report of the year!

I like that you guys eat and drink in style, while in the bush!

Fish Farmer · July 11, 2007

Now that is one hell of a report :thumbsup_anim: , thanks for taking the time sharing your trip with us.

crappiesteve · July 11, 2007

Awesome report,and Pics. :Gonefishing: of your trip Thank for sharing.

Steve

crappiesteve · July 11, 2007

Awesome report,and Pics. :Gonefishing: of your trip Thank for sharing.

Steve

1leggedangler · July 11, 2007

What a great report! Nothing beats getting away with the highschool buds for a couple of days of fun. Awesome pics of the sunsets, thanks!

Cheers,

1leg

Bitsmith2k · July 11, 2007

unbelievable.. i dont mind coming into work and getting a sweet report like that, first thing in the morning.. nice job sean..

Tacklebuster · July 11, 2007

Thanks for treating us to such a fine report, pics and vids. What an experience to have that pike hit your walleye, would you have been able to land the pike and walleye?

suds · July 11, 2007

I thoroughly enjoyed that! :clapping:

Thanks a ton

suds

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Lac des Milles Lac report (NW Ontario)

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