24" Northern Pike

A while back I wrote a review on the Dragon Baitcaster Reel. For those of you that missed it you can read it here.

To recap, I had issues with the reel right out of the box. It was hard to adjust, and after a few casts it started coming apart. For a $70 reel I was expecting more so I contacted OSI with my issues. They promptly shipped me a replacement reel without any hassles at all.

There is no comparison between the reel I had and the reel I have now. I took it with me to Canada for some walleye and pike fishing and abused it. For those of you that have caught 30″ pike, you know that they put up a lot of fight for their size, and they can strip line with the fastest fish in the water. The Dragon reel held up just fine. Once set it stayed set, and after hammering it for hours on end it showed no signs of breaking down any time soon.

So what happened? I can only guess based on my past life in manufacturing. Once in a while a bad part slips through. The important issue after that is how the company reacts. I was more than happy with the customer service and the quick replacement of the defective reel. And I’m thinking that this may become a standard reel in my box of goodies when I plan to do some casting.

We’ll see after I get back out to this new spot we found on the St. Joe River in Mishawaka.

Dragon Baitcaster Revisited is a post from: Lunker Links

The lack of winter snow left the water   levels down further than we expected but the walleye were holed up and when you got on them, you REALLY got on them. The weather was great and the only real rain we got came overnight. We were predominantly jig fishing, with our jigs hooked weedless because of all the timber, and tipped with a night crawler. Pink, white, and pink and white were the favorite colors again this year. But there were times… many of them… where it didn’t matter what you dropped over the side.

(Steve) We were fishing? The last time we were up here I barely remember anything. It’s sort of a blur. This year’s trip was nothing short of amazing. As Dave said, the weather was perfect, in some cases almost too perfect. We found ourselves hoping for a little wind to get the walleye chop up and running. Note to self, be careful what you wish for, we do a lot of back trolling and 1 foot waves hitting the back of a boat going backwards tends to fill the back of the boat with water pretty fast. If only my bailing bucket hadn’t mysteriously vanished.

hehehehe… The bailing bucket ended up in the back of MY boat where it belonged. It was the first year I had a ‘leaker’ so I’m not complaining. I suppose there was a reason it was on shore, upside down, and without a motor.

This year we took along another Canadian newbie, Ted, to go fishing with us. Ted fishes a lot but had never seen or, or believed, the kind of fishing there is up there. His second catch he landed a 26″ fat walleye. I know that isn’t much for you Lake Erie fishermen, but up here that is a huge fish. The fishing was slow by Short Lake standards until the middle of day 2 when the winds finally picked and started driving walleye in to the now famous Osty Hole.

I went to school with Ted. He’s always smiling and laughing and it was a real pleasure he was able to join us. The Osty Hole… the water was only 3-5 foot deep and what was once the structure we fished in years prior was now islands. But when the wind was right, the walleye were stacked in there.

That started the first of several runs where you could barely get your line in the water before you hooked a fish. Much of the video we have posted was shot there and in a 15 minute span 6 of us caught more than 40 fish.

Yeah and that wasn’t the only “hot spot”. Many of the group had their favorite spots and caught more fish than they have in many years. One such spot was my favorite and Ted and I hit it late one afternoon. The amount of fish was simply insane. We couldn’t count past 5 before we were hooked up with a walleye. Ted was in the front of the boat (letting his beer get warm because he couldn’t keep the walleye off his line) and at one point looked at me and said… “I’m not using night crawlers anymore, they’re too far away.” We’d have stayed there longer but we figured 40+ walleye each was plenty that afternoon. That and we ran out of beer.

This was the first time I had fished a lake with water far lower than we had ever seen before. It was eye opening to see the details of the underwater structure we had been fishing. Assuming that the water is up next year, we will have a huge advantage against the walleye and all their little hiding places. The other eye opening aspect was all of the new hidden danger. What used to be high speed travel channels were now opportunities to do serious harm to both boat and boater so all travel was kept at a slow place while we relearned the routes.

Definitely. Water was down 4-6 feet in my estimation. Amazing what “pops up” when it’s down that much. Fortunately the fishing was great in many spots within 15-20 minutes of camp so we didn’t have to relearn a lot.

We also saw more wildlife this year than in years previous. Moose, ducks, geese, a few bear, even a beaver building a new hutch to replace the one that is sure to become the mother-in-law’s quarters since it is now out of water. But mostly we were entertained by a trio of snowshoe hares that decided that our camp site was the perfect place to have a high speed game of tag.

And for the record, at 3am, on a moonless night, while half asleep, trying to ‘relieve yourself’ behind a tree, it’s very hard to tell just how big something is when you hear its footsteps racing up behind you. All I have to say is that rabbit was wrong.. Dead wrong..

lol… Next time wake me up so I can grab the camera… film at 11.

Don’t Be Afraid Little Duck-Walleye Fishing Short Lake is a post from: Lunker Links

How To Fillet a Walleye is a post from: Lunker Links

Unfortunately it seems that our history of doing things the hard way continues to plague David and me.

Sure seems that way. We arrived on Marco Island on Saturday evening. Steve and I had our full day charter with Capt’n Sean on Monday. Gave us chance to unwind, spend the day Sunday shopping for food (and beer) and general site seeing. The full day charter on Monday would work out perfect! We didn’t have solid plans on Tuesday so we could just relax and unwind by the pool at the house if we liked, fish off the dock, and have fish to eat for the upcoming week.

The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

Steve with a Grey Snapper

We talked with Capt. Sean on Sunday night and he suggested that we reschedule for Wednesday. It meant juggling our boat rentals a bit, but better weather on the Gulf is worth waiting for. So we took Monday off and puttered around the island and fished from the dock at the house.

Not such a bad thing,  just hanging around the house. Fishing off the dock wasn’t exactly “trophy time” but fun just the same. But not only did we have to juggle boat rentals (the marina we were renting from wasn’t all smiles) but meals as well since we were planning on having fresh fish that we caught during the week.

Tuesday night rolls along and I give Capt. Sean a call to confirm everything for Wed. morning and he says those dreaded words, “I was just about to call you”. Crap. I hate when people say that. Those words are usually followed by a variation of, you’ll never guess what happened, or, you aren’t going to like this.

Capt. Sean broke his boat. Seriously. I think he’s been reading our blog and wanted to screw with us. Unfortunately for him he broke a shaft and lost a prop while in the Gulf on Tuesday with another charter. The good news is that the marina says that they can have him back in the water by 4:30 on Wed. and we can go out on Thursday. Another phone call to the marina we are renting our boat from to change our schedule with them, again, and we are set for fishing on Thursday.

Now the marina is really not happy since they lost another day’s boat rental. But they did end up with 2 out of the 3 days anyway.

Thursday morning rolls around, weather is gorgeous and we were all primed for a day out on the Gulf Fishing. We met Captain Sean, and his deck hand Captain Ron, this morning. Unfortunately, there were still a few things that needed to be done to the boat so we were about an hour late going out. No matter, what’s an hour in the grand scheme of things? Out to the Gulf of Mexico we headed while chatting and getting to each other a bit better on the way.

It turned out that I would have loved to have that hour back.

We traveled about 45 minutes to our first fishing spot and got out the light tackle to fish for some live bait and see what was up with the water. BAM! Right off the bat Dave and I caught a few small groupers and then the sharks showed up. Way too many sharks so we were off again. Switch to heavy gear and start looking for grouper at around 75 feet. We were using frozen bait, squid and pin fish.

None of us had fished with circle hooks before so we were on a sharp learning curve for getting the fish hooked up and to the surface. We all missed fish, but the fishing was very hit or miss. So every hit that we missed was a huge let down. We did have a few big hits. We are leaning toward goliath grouper hitting the line based on how hard they hit and went straight down. This was really hard on Diane, it was all she could do to hold on to the pole and yell for help.

This leads me in to a common complaint with every charter we have ever been on. Not enough training before we try to fish. I’m not saying we need to spend half the day learning to fish, but spending an hour in the morning on light gear learning how fish the local waters would have made the day a lot more enjoyable, especially for the girls. Poor Vicki spent much of the day just wondering why she wasn’t catching any fish. This isn’t a direct complaint at Capt. Sean, but a complaint on the way the industry as a whole treats charters. Especially with vacationers who are fishing the waters for the first time.

Also to add, every Charter has (or better have) fishing belts. You can put the handle end of the rod in the slot of the belt, grab the rod higher up for better leverage and have a free hand for reeling. Now I wished I would have had one later in the day, but at the very least, it should have been automatic for our wives. Why we weren’t set up with these only Capt’n Sean knows.

The view for much of the day

Capt. Sean worked very hard trying to find fish for us. We put a lot of miles on the boat running from spot to spot, so I can’t fault him for not trying. And while Dave and I understand the need to find the fish, I know that Diane and Vicki were both getting tired of hearing, “pull em up we’re moving”.  At some point it would have made more sense to just stay put and fish for whatever was there rather than spend half the day running from spot to spot.

I echo the same sentiments. Captain Sean worked very hard to put us on fish… 5 star hard. I don’t know the waters… he does… and came with high praise from several people. But I tend to agree with Steve, as the day waned, it would have been nice to simply get on some fish, hang around a bit so we all could enjoy “catching” a little bit more. Who knows, perhaps a couple extra for cooler.

Remember when I mentioned I wished I had a fishing belt? Well, on the way back in, we stopped at our last spot for the day… a wreck. Point #1… when fishing a wreck, would be nice for the Captain to tell us and let us know a bit about “how” to fish a wreck.

We weren’t there very long, something grabbed hold of my line, then proceded to go straight down… fast. It was all I could do to hold on to rod with both hands watching as line raced of my reel. The whole time, Captain Sean was hollering “Get it Up! Get it Up!” (This is the part where the belt would have been VERY handly) Sadly, whatever it was, got into the wreck and was gone.

A very short time after that, same thing. Me, clutching my rod with both hands for all I was worth while line raced out. “Get It Up! Get it Up”… then nothing. Upon reeling in, the end of the line had the tell tale signs of a knot that failed. It happens. It wasn’t until after the fact, when I specifically asked Captain Sean if I should have increased the drag, that he told me that I should be using my thumb on the spool to slow the line going out. Point #2… would have been nice to know this before hand, at the very least, before the same thing happened a second time. Now I know.

Grouper!

It sort of sounds like we are beating up on Sean, and we really aren’t. It’s just the nature of charter fishing, a nature I would love to see change a bit. Maybe even start off the day with just asking the client, is your goal a full limit or to just catch fish and have fun? In our case it would be to have more fun even if it meant not hitting our limit. That said, I hit my limit

I need to chime in here. Not beating up on Captain Sean. I would definitely charter him again. But as Steve pointed out, it’s simply the nature of  charter fishing. I learned a lot about ’how’ to fish just not quite soon enough. I’m a better fisherman than I was because of our trip.

If you find yourself down in Southwest Florida, and looking to do some Gulf of Mexico fishing, you could certainly do a LOT worse that Capt. Sean Black and the Say What? Charter. I’m pretty sure we are planning to use him next time we are down there, unless someone wants to volunteer to take us out for free in exchange for a little review here on Lunker Links.

I’m just sayin’

Say What? Grouper Fishing with Captain Sean Black is a post from: Lunker Links

The reel is a 6+1 ball bearing low profile baitcaster that comes in a right hand crank only design. The reel looks great out of the box and is very light. Additional features include a magnetic cast control system to help with overruns, 6.1:1 gear ratio, and holds about 130 yards of 12 pound line. I loaded the reel with 14 lbs Berkley Crystal Fire Line and took the Dragon with me fishing down to Marco Island, Fl., to give it a serious workout in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

The first thing I noticed right out of the box was the the reel came with no set up instructions. This wasn’t a big deal for me, but if this is your first baitcaster with a magnetic drag you may find it to be a huge challenge to set up. I would love to see a small insert that explains the 3 drag adjustments. The reel also seemed a bit stiff to start with.

I put a medium weight spoon on the line and started playing with it while standing on the dock. Almost immediately I had an issue. On the third cast the brass line guide popped out and hung up in one of the guides on the rod. this caused a massive overrun on the spool and I ended up cutting out some 20 yards of line to clear out the mess. You can see the missing guide if you compare the two pictures.

I did end up using the reel most of the week. It worked better with heavier lures and really suffered in anything other than a downwind cast. And on real long casts it made a very high pitched squealing noise that was annoying. But, it did have some distance to it, or maybe it was my 6′ 3″ leverage going to town on it.

Toward the end of the week I noticed a clicking noise while reeling in and didn’t really figure out what the issue was until I took the above picture. At some point the line carrier guide shaft detached from the inside of the reel. Under load it let the line carrier move and jam and that was causing the clicking noises I was hearing.

When I got home I talked with the guys at Easy2Hook about the reel and the issues I had. No questions asked, they said send it back and they would gladly replace it. At this point I’m reserving judgment on the reel because this could have been a random bad reel, but I can say that the customer service is top notch. I should have the replacement reel in hand in a few days and after I get a chance to fish with it a few times I’ll be writing a follow up review to give my final thoughts on this reel.

Dragon Baitcaster Reel Review is a post from: Lunker Links

USGA Real Time Water Data

While sitting in the truck yesterday, looking at the frozen St. Joe River and then seeing all that water coming over the Elkhart dam, I got to wondering if there was a way to check water levels of the river near me. And no, that rock strike that tore apart my prop and bent the drive shaft on my boat had NOTHING to do with my curiosity. Nothing!

While do some searching I stumbled across our old friends as the USGS and their real time water data charts. While not “exactly” real time, most of the data is between 1 and 4 hours old. That’s real time enough for me. And since you can create custom charts, and they show historical data you can plan your next river adventure to match your favorite fishing conditions.

You start by clicking the state you will be fishing in and then you can pull up all of the rivers in that state. Select where you plan to fish, in this case I’m thinking downtown Chicago could be a lot of fun on the Chicago River.

The things that are most obvious and useful are the gauge height and discharge rate. The gauge height is based on the height above or below the set gauge or zero point. A 0 gauge does not mean no water, just that the water is at the level the USGS decided was a good average point. A gauge height of 10′ could be flood stage levels in many places, while a gauge height of 3′ could just be a very high water level.

The discharge rate is the volume of water moving over a set point in cubic feet per second. This chart also shows you a historical average discharge rate so that you can compare water flow with historical averages. You might want to stay away from rivers flowing at 5 or 6 times their historical average.

So the next time you decide to hit the rivers for a little fishing, it may make sense to take a look at the USGS charts for the previous week to help you make your best fishing location choices.

USGS Real-Time Water Data is a post from: Lunker Links

No knot hooks is a post from: Lunker Links

Looking out over Finger Lake

This October we took a short 3 day trip over to New Buffalo, Mi., to do a little fishing, do a little gambling, and get a whole lot of rest. One of our favorite places in the area is a little bed and breakfast called Sans Souci.

Sitting on about 50 acres is a 20 acre, private, lake. We discovered this place last year by accident and it has now become our halfway house since its almost exactly half way between ours and Dave’s place. Sans Souci has several options for lodging, you can stay in a room at the main house, rent one of the larger houses, or one of two fishing cabins down by the lake. We usually stay in the Dutch House, but hear that the fishing cabins are great. Plus, the fishing cabins come with boats, no gas engines allowed so bring your trolling motor or be prepared to row. But there are plenty of great places to fish right from shore.

Discovering Sans Souci was most certainly by accident but going back again wasn’t. Angie and Sue are terrific hosts. A fully furnished 2 bedroom house, private bathrooms, fully stocked kitchen for less than you can stay at the Casino.

This year we went with the expressed goal of getting some fishing in. And the fishing was good. It was very cold, in the 40s for highs during the day, so the fish were definitely slow and it took a lot of patience to get them hooked and to land. Between the four of us we caught somewhere around 30 fish over about 10 or 12 hours of fishing. One of the great things was the variety of fish in Lake Sans Souci. We caught crappie, blue gill, a largemouth, smallmouth, and even a couple real small perch. All while standing on shore and enjoying beautiful fall days.

We did indeed get some fishing in. Would have most likely fished more if it had been warmer. No matter though, fishing was very good and the fall colors were simply breathtaking.

We love Sans Souci. Its minutes from a casino, just slightly further from Lake Michigan, its quiet and peaceful. If you are looking for a private lake to fish at, consider staying here, or maybe give Angie a call and ask permission to fish her lake during the week. Be sure to bring plenty of night crawlers, the fish like those more than smaller wigglers, and leave the minnows at home, they aren’t allowed here. Most of all, bring a plan to relax and enjoy the quiet for a few days.

Fall day at Sans Souci

Fall day at Sans Souci

Diane's blue gill

This is how you relax

Lake Sans Souci Fishing, New Buffalo, Mi. is a post from: Lunker Links

The Barbee Chain is a series of 7 lakes connected with narrow channels and has more traffic, houses, and people on it, than most urban centers. But we still like going there even though it is horribly over fished. My folks have a cabin there, and we get to use their pontoon boat Absolutely! Just being out on the water and relaxing is worth it.

This year was hot, uppers 80s to lower 90s, all weekend, and the water was low. Down at least 8 to 10 inches from this time last year. Water clarity was bad, worse than usual, and the clearest lake was all but off limits due to dredging. That said, the goal each year is to relax, get away from work, spend quality time with our wives, and do a little fishing. This year the fishing was extra tough. To say the least. When you start stacking up the time of year, hot weather, and low water, the fishing is going to be rough. Had fishing been on our minds at the time, we’d have gotten married in the spring.

Diane and the Mighty Blue Gill

Red wigglers are always a hit with the Blue Gill. But we also brought along a few dozen crickets and picked up some minnows. The red wigglers were the best bait for what we were fishing for this year. Like in the past though, the main goal was to relax and put the girls on fish, not necessarily catch big fish, just catch fish. Since we couldn’t get to one of the better spots on Kuhn Lake due to channel dredging we went to the far end of Irish Lake and anchored about 40 feet from the lily pads. Almost felt sorry for that guy dragging the dredge pipe the lenght of the entire lake with that little boat… almost.

Immediately the girls started plucking little blue gill out from under the boat in about 6 feet of water. They weren’t even casting, just dropping their lines over the edge and watching the fish come for the worms. LOL… And I was right in there with them!

Largemouth Bass

I decided that I didn’t want to try to fish over the top of them, and after catching a little perch on a worm I switched over to a 4″ perch stick bait and started casting over the opposite side of the boat in to deeper water. I had been seeing bait fish boil out of the water every 5 or 10 minutes so I figured that there had to be something a bit larger over there eating. On about the 15th cast I caught this small largemouth bass.

And that was it. Not another hit the rest of the time we spent fishing. Fortunately we also brought my go fast boat and we were able to spend some incredibly stressful time zipping around Big Barbee pulling the girls around on a tube.

That was worth the price of admission! Fortunately that Friday afternoon, Big Barbee wasn’t littered with boats, skiers, jet ski’s, etc. Saturday was a different story though. Not sure who had more fun. The girls getting whipped and bounced around on the tube, or us in the boat laughing hysterically at the girls getting whipped and bounced aroung on the tube.

There was no shortage of food and “beverages”… as usual. Prime Rib ala Steve, Beer Battered Canadian Walleye, and fresh Brats and Italian Sausages grilled over a wood fire. YUM! Almost forgot… the first year we did fire roasted King Crab Legs! Speaking of Walleye, you know you are planning on poor fishing when you go to the lake in Indiana, but bring fish you caught in Canada with you for dinner.

On a final note, those of you that don’t take your wive’s fishing with you are really missing out. You don’t have to go out and fish hard and make them miserable. Take the time to make sure they catch fish, any fish, and relax for a weekend of casual fishing. You won’t regret it.

Anniversary Fishing is a post from: Lunker Links

We’ve been heading “up north” every year since then and 2009 was no exception. Our group has remained tight over the years and always a pleasure getting together for the trip. I couldn’t have been more pleased when Steve joined us 3 years ago. (Probably not as pleased as me though) He loves to fish just as much as I do (perhaps more if that’s possible). Enough rambling though.

Steve and I have decided to chronicle our trip this year. A diary of sorts if you will. We’ll be adding, editing, and “conversating” about the debacle that happened. We invite our readers to check back often as the story unfolds. I promise we’ll have you saying “HO JEEZ!” as often as we were.

The Walleye Fishing Trip That Wasn’t

Day 1 June 8th 2009

Steve, I, and my Dad, headed out from the Chicago area bright and early this morning for the first leg of our trip. Gear packed along with a whole lot of supplies and food for the group, including 1000 nightcrawlers. There were 7 of us this year. Our group meets on the first day on the north shore of Lake Superior in Two Harbors MN.

While rounding the tip of Lake Superior we saw what can only be described as the ultimate definition of optimism.. We saw guys in wet suits trying to surf in 40 degree water and 4 to 5 foot waves in Lake Superior.. I thought it was the funniest thing I ever saw.. It was until later that I realized that there are people, in MN, with wetsuits and surfboards, for just such occasions.. Like I said, optimism.

We take it easy driving, stopping when we need to stretch. Nothing worse than having to drive hard and be really tired at the start of the fishing trip. We met up at the hotel with the rest of the group mid afternoon. Cocktails, snacks laughing, pictures as we look forward to another year of great fishing.

Early evening 4 of us decide to walk over to Culvers for a bite to eat. My Dad stays behind because he’s not feeling particularly well so I told him I’d grab him something and bring it back to the room. When we get back, Dad is on the phone trying to arrange a flight out of Duluth back to Chicago. He’s a bladder cancer survivor (still cancer free) and had developed some problems relating to that, which needed medical attention.

After spending nearly an hour and a half convincing him that we needed to drive him back, because the earliest flight was a connecting one and didn’t leave till the following morning, we jumped back in the truck and headed back to Chicago. It was around 3:30 AM when we met my Mom at the emergency room to get him to “his” hospital and doctors. The whole time he was “urging” Steve and I to leave and get some sleep because we had a long drive ahead of us the next day. Remember, we had at least half the food and supplies with us for the entire group.

Once assured that he was fine and getting the care he needed, we headed to my house to take a nap. It was about 4:30 AM when we got there. “HO JEEZ”

Let me jump in here a moment to say that Joe and Dave are awesome. So awesome that I drove a total of 1,150(ish) miles just to get to “Chicago”.. I checked Google Maps and it said it should have only taken 120 miles to get from my house to Dave’s house.. Visions of Bugs Bunny, Albuquerque, and wrong turns spring to mind..

At this point we have driven about 1,000 miles in less than 24 hours just to have diner at Culver’s in Two Harbors.. I love Culver’s Butter Burgers, but that’s a bit of a stretch even for me.. Its not like is was Sonic.. I’m thinking that the fishing better rock at this point.. Oh, and that Joe is okay..

Day 2 June 9th 2009

After a couple hour nap, I started making phone calls. First to my Mom to make sure Dad was doing OK. He was and again I was told (in no uncertain terms ) go fishing. Then to the rest of the group to let them know we’d be getting started but meeting them at the outfitters tonight was most likely not going  to happen as was originally planned. Finally to the outfitters to let them know what was going on in order to reschedule our fly-out a couple of hours later. They were most accommodating.

After having unpacked things we weren’t going to need because for the first year since 1978 Dad wasn’t going, we headed out around 9:30 AM.

Here is where things get a little foggy for me.. I seem to remember waking up and getting in the truck.. Even driving through the construction in Rockford, again, but I don’t recall taking the only garlic we had for the whole trip out of the truck..

( Yeah… that kinda sorta would have been me. I didn’t realize that the box labeled “Island Spices” didn’t have all the spices in it and the box labeled “Dinner June 9th 2009″, one that I unpacked because we weren’t going to be there, had the rest. “HO JEEZ!”… Dave)

What I do remember is that we saw Wisconsin State Troopers in a 30 mile stretch North of Eau Claire both going up and coming down, and no where else, the day before.. I’m not saying that I would use that knowledge to gain an advantage while trying to cut time off of the trip.. BTW, anyone ever try to get a hotel room or buy beer in Thunder Bay, CA?? Dave has

Ahhhhh… Wisconsin… land of cheese. Both of us were pretty tired and I decided to loudly announce “CHEEZ” everytime I saw a billboard or sign for cheese. Didn’t take long for that to evolve into “HO JEEZ!” Actually, the evolution had started the night before as we tried to keep each other awake driving back.

Once we reached Duluth MN I decided to call the outfitters (cell service gets really sparce from here on in) and let them know that that we would not be there tonight but would make Thunder Bay Ontario. Let them know that we’d be leaving there at 5:00 AM to drive the last 3 hrs. Annette said that would be fine and would let the rest of the group know what was going on since they were still right out front because they locked their keys in the truck. Another story altogther.

Next stop to stretch our legs before the border crossing was to be Grand Marais MN because it’s last place with cell phone service until Thunder Bay so we could touch base with our families. Especially important for Steve.

I guess here is where I do some backfill on my drama.. My Mother-In-Law had been in and out of ICU for just over a month when we left for Canada the first time.. I wasn’t going to go, but my whole family told me to go, so I went.. But MIL was going in to surgery on this day, late, and there is really no way to talk with family once we get to the lake..

Once we hit Grand Marais I called my wife, no news yet.. And then I called my Sister-In-Law and left instructions that no matter what happened she was to call the outfitter and I would radio them every day to see if there was any news.. At this point MIL hadn’t been to surgery yet..

It should also be noted at this point that we are getting pretty goofy.. All the driving, lack of sleep, and Ho Jeez!!, was really getting to us..

One thing to take in to account when crossing the border these days is that Border Agents aren’t paid to have a sense of humor.. They want quick, accurate, and polite answers to their questions.. They deal with hundreds or thousands of people every day trying to cross the border, the last thing they need is a comedian.. So after driving about 2,000 miles, getting almost no sleep, and discovering the joy of answering Ho Jeez to nearly evey question, you can see where we might have an issue..

Border Agent: Your reason for visiting Canada??

Tired Dude: To fishnap your fishies and smuggle them back to the United States as political prisoners! (Ho Jeez)

Tired Dude 2: Political Asylum (Ho Jeez!)

Border Agent: Do you have any live bait??

Tired Dude: Wormies!

Border Agent: What is that bait packed in??

Tired Dude: Marajuana and Magic Mushroom compost! (Ho Jeez)

Border Agent: Do you have any firearms or handguns?

Tired Dude: Nope! Just a box of grenades in case the fishing is slow. (Ho Jeez!)

You can see where this is going.. We did that for more than an hour before we got to the border.. Then we had to try to clear our heads and talk straight when we got there.. Ho Jeez.. .. ..

We finally made it to the duty free right before the Pigeon River Border Crossing at 8:40 PM local time. Fill up with gas on the US side and hit the duty free for a couple of cases of beer. Duty free closed at 8:00 PM… NO BEER FOR YOU! (ho jeez).

There are days I’m glad I don’t drink.. After watching Dave cry in the parking lot this was one of them..

No worries. We’ll cross the border then it’s only about a 20 min drive into Thunder Bay. We’ll get a hotel room so we can get a bit of rest, and I’ll buy beer there.

The Valhalla Inn is right off the highway in town and a pretty nice place so we stopped there. No Room For You! (HO JEEZ!) They sent us to another hotel a block away… a scary hotel! But as tired as we were it was clean so no matter. Depends on your definition of clean, and it only smelled a little bit after we opened the windows.. I told the clerk at the desk he could really make my day by directing me to the nearest beer store that was open (It’s now about 10:30 PM with the time change). I’m not used to getting laughed at hysterically when asking about where to buy beer…

“You’re in backwards Ontario ehh. All the beer stores close at 9:00 ehh.”

<sigh>

Oh well, some vodka, tonic, and a splash of Mountain Dew will work for tonight. Gotta hope the outfitter has beer on hand (they usually do) otherwise I’d be fishing beerless (HO JEEZ!).

You know, for a fishing story, we sure have said a lot without even getting to the fish yet..

Day3 June 10th 2009

The adventure picks up the next morning at 4am.. We had about 300km to go to get to the outfitter, and the plane was leaving at 9am so we had a lot of 2 lane road driving in bear and moose country to get done in a hurry.. The main reason we stopped in Thunder Bay was that we simply didn’t want to risk driving that late at night, tired, in moose country.. That would have been the perfect capper to an already less than perfect trip..

We hit Mattice Lake Outfitters around 8am.. The Iowa crew was already up and sitting around the office drinking coffee and waiting for the weather to clear so we could fly out..

(This is where the “beer” part enters the picture… again. They did indeed have plenty of beer on hand so I asked them to please grab 2 cases for me, which they were only too happy to do. While we were settling up with the outfitters and getting our fishing licenses, I told them to to add the cost of the beer to my bill. Wasn’t till I checked the receipt later that I found out it was $45 a case! Ho Jeez!)

As soon as the weather was good enough to fly, we jumped in the Otter and took off.. I love to fly.. I’m a member of the EAA and my dad owns 2 planes.. So when I opened my eyes and saw that there were trees higher than we were I just relied on the fact that Don was probably as excited to stay alive as I was and went back to sleep.. I have no idea if anyone else got nervous, but I was too tired to care..

Finally, touchdown at Short Lake and time to unload the plane and fish..

Usually unpacking is a calm, civil event, but I was so tired I just wanted to dump the gear and get in the boat.. Even if it was cold, and windy, and sort of raining.. I quickly dumped my gear in the room Dave and I were going to share, and then, in a fit of brilliance, I grabbed one of the spare mattress pads from one of the unused bunks.. The cabin we stay in sleeps 10, more if you prison bunk, but 10 is safe.. Since we were 4 guys short this year I decided to do my princess and the pea impersonation.. It was good..

Once the food was stashed, the gear in the rooms, thermals and rain gear put on, Dave and I agreed we were wasting too much time and just strung up one rod each, threw our tackle in the boat, and hit the water..

It was cold.. Not the coldest ever, but colder than I’m used to fishing in. The new thermals from Cabela’s, and the new Gor-Tex bibs worked out great for keeping everything warm but my fingers.. And that was survivable as long as I didn’t have to tie on any new leaders..

Ho Jeez!! It's a fish!!

Dave took us out to one of the always has fish spots on the lake, and start fishing.. After a couple of missed Walleye I finally had my drag set right and my jig tail on right, and we actually started catching fish.. Really, here’s proof!!

Yeah, it was cold. The surface water temperature was less than 50 degrees so we knew the fishing  was going to be slow.

After we got back to the cabin I decided to take a short nap.. All that driving left me a wee bit tuckered out.. I missed dinner.. Slept right through it.. Woke up several hours later, ate a few cookies, went right back to bed and slept till about 6am on my princess bunk bed..

Actually, we headed back to the cabin at the right time. I needed to get  dinner started for the group and it started raining pretty steady about 15 minutes after we got in the cabin. If it wasn’t for the fact that one of my “duties” is as camp cook (which I enjoy) I’d have been in my bunk as well. I made to about 8:30 and didn’t move until the following morning.

Day 4 June 11th 2009

With the issues at home we decided to call the base camp in the morning on the radio.. This is when we found out that Dave’s dad was doing fine, but my mother-in-law had passed away the night before.. It was not a complete surprise, but still not entirely expected either.. Dave asked about getting us flown back out of the lake so I could get home ASAP to be with my wife.. The next available plane would be early, 7am, the next morning..

One of the issues with going truly remote to fish is that you simply can’t leave when you want to.. It has to be scheduled and you are also at the whims of the weather.. In my case there was nothing to be done but wait.. And since we were already there, we went fishing.. But this time with a mission, we needed our limit ASAP because there was no way I was going to do this much driving, for this little fishing, and not take home a full limit of Walleye..

The fishing really was slow this year.. Ice out was 2 weeks late and we were right at pre-spawn or post-spawn.. Whichever it was, the fishing was just really slow.. But we did limit out, and Dave even caught a nice Northern, on a jig with a pink and white tail, that was every bit of 36″ and fat.. Unfortunately the whole day is sort of fuzzy for me.. Between the lack of sleep and the drama at home, I wasn’t as in to the fishing as I would normally be.. I’m pretty sure I even fell asleep in the boat a few times with my line in the water..

It was all I could do to stay awake. Wasn’t like I had fish keeping me alert. But we made the best of it nevertheless. We did get our limits prior to lunch which was nice so we could get them fileted, packaged, and in the freezer.

I’m hoping that we get the ‘real’ fishing report finished here in the next couple of days..

When we finally called it a day we had a nice fish fry and then spent the rest of the night playing Pitch..

Day 5 June 12th 2009

Up early to get ready for fly out.. The weather was closing in fast so we needed to be ready to go the moment that the otter arrived.. That left the cooking to the guys that were staying.. That in itself might have been worth the cost of the trip.. I’m sure that they know how to cook.. Just out of practice.. I saw burnt toast, burnt ham, and something that looked like poached eggs being served in bowls.. I decided that a bottle of water and some cheese and crackers would be enough to get us on the road..

I really hope they didn’t starve after we left..

That was “interesting”. I’ve made breakfast for the group for a lot a years. Actually, took over almost all the cooking for a few years now. It’s something I enjoy and expect to do. It’s one of the things that’s so great about our group. Everyone has the things they do around camp. Noone need say anything. They just jump in and do it. Everyone contributes.

The rest of the trip was just more driving.. 14 hours of it to reach Chicago.. Then a short sleep and another 2 hours to get home.. In all I drove 2,908 miles in 5 days to get about 10 hours of boat time fishing in Canada.. Not exactly the best trade off..

I do want to thank a few people though.. First I want to thank the fine state troopers in Wisconsin and Illinois.. They stayed out of our way and let us make some great time going up, coming back, going up again, and coming back again..

I really want to thank the awesome people at Mattice Lake Outfitters.. They really made a rough trip as easy as possible and were more than generous.. I was completely prepared to pay extra for the early flyout, but they not only didn’t charge us for that, they even gave us a partial credit for the days we didn’t get to fish.. How awesome is that?? We left the money there as part of our deposit for next year.. If you are looking to do some fishing in Canada, and want to stay with a top shelf operation and do some great Walleye fishing, this is the place to go.. You won’t regret it..

I have to second this. Don, Annette, and the staff were simply amazing. I’ve fished with several outfitters over the past 30 years and they have been nothing but wonderful! They exemplified that this year indeed. We booked our trip for 2010 with them before we left.

I also need to thank Dave.. I don’t think either of us would have survived this week alone.. Between his dad and my mom we spent a lot of time locked in a truck together.. I’m not sure I could have done it with anyone else and not killed them..

I definitely need to thank Steve. Thank you Steve! There would have been no way I could have made the “trip that wasn’t” without his help. That being said, let’s not try and do the same thing again!

Finally, if you made it this far, you are insane.. And I like insane people..

I’m with Steve. So for all of you who read through the entire “adventure” I have but one thing to say…

HO JEEZ!

Walleye Fishing Trip That Wasn’t is a post from: Lunker Links