Three days of rain resulted in minimal pictures this week, flooded
boats and roads. Over 6” of rain can really wreak havoc on a fishing resort. We
had two boats swamp and near record water levels. Many of the fishermen still
went out and did well with fishing. As for ourselves, I got out three times
last week and Barb got out once.
Road damage from the rain |
The next day Barb and I went to a remote lake about 70km’s
from camp but with the roads in the condition they are due to the rain it took
us 2 hours to get there. On the way to the lake we saw a cow moose and a huge
wolf. Once we launched the boat we fished the mouth of an incoming river where
Barb had caught a 25” walleye last year. The river was really moving into the
lake due to all the run off so it made it very difficult to hold the boat in
position. After being in this spot for about 15 minutes Barb snags her jig on
the bottom of the lake. She is yanking on it trying to dislodge it from the
rock or log it is stuck on when the line starts moving out into deeper water,
it is not a snag at all but a giant fish! I maneuver the boat trying to follow
the fish so it does not run all her line off the reel and help her fight it.
For 4-5 minutes the fish just stays in the deep water. She eventually horses it
off the bottom and it comes up near the boat and we get our first look at it,
it is a HUGE northern! Barb caught at 43” northern two years ago and this one
was much bigger, at first glance I would estimate it at 48-50”. The fish sees
the boat and simply turns and swims back to the bottom, not rushed, not even
acting like it is hooked, just turns and swims away like it is the top fish in
the lake and does not care it has a line trying to pull it the other way. Over
the next 5 minutes we get it near the boat two more times but not close enough
to get a net on it. Eventually the fish swims back into shallow water where
there were deadfalls and debris from the inlet of the river. As I am operating
the motor trying to keep it in deep water, Barb is trying to keep it away from
shore with her rod. Eventually the fish won by getting into the brush and
breaking off the jig. I was expecting Barb to be really bummed out losing such
a monster fish but the first thing out of her mouth was…”wow, that was cool!”
We fished throughout the lake picking up a handful of walleyes and eventually
returned to the area where she had that pike on, but it either left the area or
wanted nothing to do with us but we will be back!
I also got out to Onaman and fished with Kazi and Yoko, a couple
in the area from Japan. He spoke some English while Yoko spoke very little.
They showed up in camp yesterday unannounced and no reservations and asked if
there they could stay here and if someone could take them fishing. Kazi, a 69
year old physician from Okinawa, said he bought a fishing pole yesterday and
wanted a big walleye as he had read about them but had never caught one. Kazi and I fished while Yoko watched and took
pictures. I went to one of my favorite reefs on the lake and started catching
some nice walleyes, meanwhile Kazi was having his own good luck catching
northern pike…… Yoko insisted on taking a picture of each and every fish we
caught laughing and giggling the whole time! After his 4th pike in a
row, I started calling Kazi “Pike-man” and he started calling me “Walleye-man”
Yoko thought that was the funniest thing in the world and giggled while she
continued to take pictures of our catches. Kazi caught two more pike and Yoko
was calling him “Pike-man”. Finally Kazi got the hang of getting his jig on the
bottom and started catching walleyes. By the end of the day he was a “Walleye-man”
as well. The biggest fish of the day was a 25” walleye Kazi caught late in the
day. As we released that fish he said he was done and wanted to head back to
camp. On the way back to camp we saw 5 bears including this sow and cub who
were nice enough to pose for pictures for us.
Walleye-man Kazi!
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The adventure of the week goes to a group that was in camp
last week. The group consisted of a father, his two 8 year old twins and an
adult friend. They did not get out fishing two days due to rain but when the
clouds parted they booked a charter on Lake Nipigon which is about 30 miles
away. Lake Nipigon itself is about 60 miles wide by 90 miles long, a huge body
of water. They were going for trophy pike and brook trout. Day turned into
evening and past the time they should have been back. Evening turned into night
and they were still not back. The other groups in camp became more and more
concerned about them. So many things could go wrong out there, hitting a
submerged rock or log, engine trouble, running out of gas………There is no way to
effectively look for them ourselves in the dark on such a big body of water. Chad
eventually called the OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) and reported them
missing. As a general rule, they will wait until morning to search of lost
parties. I woke up the next morning hoping to find their truck parked in front
of their cabin but when I looked, there was no truck. Hoping for the best, we
waited to hear the search results. About 11:00 that morning we see their truck
pull into camp and did they have a story to tell! About 3:00 the afternoon
before the head on their engine blew so they were dead in the water. They were
able to paddle to shore near an area where the guide had a camp set up several
years ago, once they got there they were able to build a makeshift shelter with
a tarp, build a fire and even cook a few fish. Once the sunset they knew they
were there for the night. According to the dad everyone had slept pretty well
except him as he was tending the fire. The next morning about 7:00 he said he
heard the whoop whoop of a helicopter in the area and said that he was never so
relieved to see it settling down on the beach in front of them. The next part I
would not believe if I did not see the pictures myself……. Once they helicopter
landed the pilot got out holding a pizza and said “Did someone here order a
pizza?” After taking a few pictures the pilot said they could take their
fishing rods but everything else had to stay there and be recovered later. The
helicopter took off with the group and landed them within a hundred yards of
their truck at the marina! Although that group headed home a day early,
everything ended well, they even booked to come back next year. You can read
more about this adventure and see pictures of the helicopter and kids eating
pizza by clicking the link to the Pasha Lake website on the right side of our
blog page.
All in all it was a great week and I learned a valuable
lesson…….how to get a pizza delivered out in the bush!
Again, sounds awesome! Are you guys camp hosts?
ReplyDeleteNo, the owners of the resort are good friend so we are just hanging out for the summer. Very beautiful and unique area.
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