Headed up to the Nipigon, Ontario area next week in pursuit of Salvelinus Fontinalis. Bring my OT Pack canoe and a quiver of fly rods, the Lavvu tent, and my woodstove. Trip report to follow.
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Happy Scream Day! 😱
Way up North...
- Thread starter DanOver
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That would be down south for us.
Bring back some pictures.
I am bringing a Powell 8 Wt, an old Lamiglass 7 Wt., a 6 Wt. St. Croix and a 6 Wt. Epic Two hander I need practice with. Main target is Big Brookies, but I hope to hook Pike, Walleye, some Lake Trout and anything else I can target in the shallower water after ice out.
Mihun, Do you wear a red suit and drive a sleigh?!! If so, I want some arctic fox pelt for Christmas!
Rabbit Rapids on the Nipigon? Say hello to Dr Cook's ghost. Sounds like an excellent trip, looking forward to your story and pics. Our friend Memaquay's back yard.
I'm expecting an epic report on an epic trip. So no pressure. It. Will. Be. Awesome. Have fun.
Yup, hundred miles south of me.
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I'm way up North also, but I would happily join you if you were going after speckled trout in September and had a extra OT pack canoe for me to use.
I also look forward to your trip report.
BB
I also look forward to your trip report.
BB
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THis was my first trip after shattering my heel and 5 surgeries that resulted last September. The need to be independent was on me, so following my 4.5 hour rehab session, I took off for new country. I had never done the drive from Duluth along the West shore of Superior. Pretty country. Seemed everyone had a canoe or yak on their cars.
A quick sleep in a parking lot, and I was off again with the dawn,
THis was my first trip after shattering my heel and 5 surgeries that resulted last September. The need to be independent was on me, so following my 4.5 hour rehab session, I took off for new country. I had never done the drive from Duluth along the West shore of Superior. Pretty country. Seemed everyone had a canoe or yak on their cars.
A quick sleep in a parking lot, and I was off again with the dawn,
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Got to the camp where I would base my day trips out of and settle on a nice point on Pasha Lake. Set up the Lavvu, got the stove going an had a night paddle.
NO fishies that night, but I was serenaded by loons and frogs as I drifted to sleep by the stove light
Got to the camp where I would base my day trips out of and settle on a nice point on Pasha Lake. Set up the Lavvu, got the stove going an had a night paddle.
NO fishies that night, but I was serenaded by loons and frogs as I drifted to sleep by the stove light
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THe next 3 days were spent searching for brookies, which I finally found a pond full of. A few Pike were landed and some truly huge specimens made off with my flies and leader. They will pay in the falll.........
After hitting the wrong lake with no fish on Day 1 ("You can't misss it, the trail is right around KM 56,,"), I got my pike(s)on day 2 and on day 3 found the Brook Trout honey hole. They were all under beaver lodges and blowdons 12 ' under and had to be coaxed up. a 3" mouse pattern and a large white bunny leach produced. My first, and smallest brookie was 16" and 2.5 lbs. The rest were released. The toughest part was paddling in the wind while trying to cast into a cove. I need to install an anchor in the Pack to keep me on station.
He was the dinner fish.
There was solitude and beauty
THen it was time to fun for the border again.
Lessons Learned: Pack extra foam for the canoe. I lost a block in a microburst coming back through Wisco. It's a lot harder to fly fish in a canoe by yourself. I need to get an anchor and a drift chain going. Check the trail BEFORE you start your carry to be sure it's the right one and passable. I need to get better at the photography thing....
Best,
DanO
I
THe next 3 days were spent searching for brookies, which I finally found a pond full of. A few Pike were landed and some truly huge specimens made off with my flies and leader. They will pay in the falll.........
After hitting the wrong lake with no fish on Day 1 ("You can't misss it, the trail is right around KM 56,,"), I got my pike(s)on day 2 and on day 3 found the Brook Trout honey hole. They were all under beaver lodges and blowdons 12 ' under and had to be coaxed up. a 3" mouse pattern and a large white bunny leach produced. My first, and smallest brookie was 16" and 2.5 lbs. The rest were released. The toughest part was paddling in the wind while trying to cast into a cove. I need to install an anchor in the Pack to keep me on station.
He was the dinner fish.
There was solitude and beauty
Lessons Learned: Pack extra foam for the canoe. I lost a block in a microburst coming back through Wisco. It's a lot harder to fly fish in a canoe by yourself. I need to get an anchor and a drift chain going. Check the trail BEFORE you start your carry to be sure it's the right one and passable. I need to get better at the photography thing....
Best,
DanO
I
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DanO.............
Your trip is one I have had in mind for many years, thanks for taking me along mentally for the ride. If you care to send me a PM with the name and location of the lakes, I promise to keep them secret. I may never get there, but a old guy can dream.
One spring 40 some years ago while fishing for Brook trout at a stocked lake in Northern MN, I met a Radiology PHD, who had a guide (pack mule) and a trophy wife. They had planned to sleep in hammocks, because of lack of flat spots for tents. We had camped at a nice site near the start of the portage into the trout lake. The early spring weather was really windy, but as the sun set the breeze died and the temperature dropped well below freezing. In the middle of the night a soft lady voice call out to us from outside our tent, "Knock, Knock". The trophy wife had frozen out of her hammock, and had come to our side of the portage looking for warmth. My girlfriend and I made room for her inside our two person tent where she quickly warmed up and began snoring softly. As soon as it started to get light I went across the portage for some early morning fishing with her husband. The Doctor later that day told me that the next time they went fishing it was going to be near Beardmore or Geradlton. Except for the "guide" and the hammocks, all the Doctor's stuff was first class, he even had a Seliga W/C canoe, the first I had seen, which gave me my first case of "Canoe Envy".
Your trip is one I have had in mind for many years, thanks for taking me along mentally for the ride. If you care to send me a PM with the name and location of the lakes, I promise to keep them secret. I may never get there, but a old guy can dream.
One spring 40 some years ago while fishing for Brook trout at a stocked lake in Northern MN, I met a Radiology PHD, who had a guide (pack mule) and a trophy wife. They had planned to sleep in hammocks, because of lack of flat spots for tents. We had camped at a nice site near the start of the portage into the trout lake. The early spring weather was really windy, but as the sun set the breeze died and the temperature dropped well below freezing. In the middle of the night a soft lady voice call out to us from outside our tent, "Knock, Knock". The trophy wife had frozen out of her hammock, and had come to our side of the portage looking for warmth. My girlfriend and I made room for her inside our two person tent where she quickly warmed up and began snoring softly. As soon as it started to get light I went across the portage for some early morning fishing with her husband. The Doctor later that day told me that the next time they went fishing it was going to be near Beardmore or Geradlton. Except for the "guide" and the hammocks, all the Doctor's stuff was first class, he even had a Seliga W/C canoe, the first I had seen, which gave me my first case of "Canoe Envy".
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B. Birch,
Sure, I'll give you directions to the best brookie ponds... "It's easy to find..YOU CAN"T MISS IT!!" Just kidding, I'll send you a PM with some ideas of where to stay, etc. Now that I've dialed some of this is, I'm going back in October with the Labradog to shoot some grouse & Hares and fish walleye and pike in Pasha lake. Brook Trout season will be closed by September.
As far as going, don't think too much. Load up your vehicle and get going. Very few of us on our deathbed will wish we had worked more or watched more TV.
DanO
B. Birch,
Sure, I'll give you directions to the best brookie ponds... "It's easy to find..YOU CAN"T MISS IT!!" Just kidding, I'll send you a PM with some ideas of where to stay, etc. Now that I've dialed some of this is, I'm going back in October with the Labradog to shoot some grouse & Hares and fish walleye and pike in Pasha lake. Brook Trout season will be closed by September.
As far as going, don't think too much. Load up your vehicle and get going. Very few of us on our deathbed will wish we had worked more or watched more TV.
DanO
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What a story, I'm going to star packing a spare sleeping bag, it's never too late don't cha know
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I like your taste in Bamboo Fly Rods, I recognized the hand writing on the rod as from the Heddon folks. I have my grandfathers Heddon and a clone of it in a lighter weight. When you go back to even the score with the Northern Pike, get some of that braided wire leader material that you can knot into the end of your leader, that should save a few flies.
Holy crap Pasha Lake is a half hour from me, if I had known, I would have come for a visit. Did you try that little lake connected to Pasha by a port? I fished that about 20 years ago with good success for brookies, but I heard that it had gotten fished out.
We are expecting a banner bunnie and bird season this year. Think the bunnies will be peaking. If you want info about areas further north by an hour or two, let me know.
We are expecting a banner bunnie and bird season this year. Think the bunnies will be peaking. If you want info about areas further north by an hour or two, let me know.
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Slightly off topic, but I had to comment on the hammock story ... there are pros and cons with both tents and hammocks, my group left the ground years ago and I don't see us going back.
If you bring the wrong sleeping gear or rig your gear wrong, it doesn't matter if you are in a tent or hammock, you won't be comfortable.
Same idea with fishing, I have decent gear, but don't really know how to judge were to fish ... hence i don't get many fish dinners on the trail, lol.
Brian
If you bring the wrong sleeping gear or rig your gear wrong, it doesn't matter if you are in a tent or hammock, you won't be comfortable.
Same idea with fishing, I have decent gear, but don't really know how to judge were to fish ... hence i don't get many fish dinners on the trail, lol.
Brian
