Day 4 - Pine Channel. Day 5 - Richards Lake, pt. 2

Wednesday 8-5 - East of the Lodge

Day 4 of our trip found us headed to the east, to Pine Channel, Roubillard Bay, and the surrounding bays. This is the water closest to the lodge that we usually fish. Pine Channel is usually one of the largest expanses of cabbage in the lake. Usually, of course, is not this year. We found some weed growth, but it was scattered over a large area, and though there were fish there, they were not as concentrated as we had hoped for. We got a few fish, but nothing of note. (In my past 2 trips to Blackmur's, I've taken a 42-1/2" and a 45" pike here, and seen a couple of huge fish that missed baits). We actually started the morning in a small bay called Jackfish Bay, where Billy and Jim caught a lot of fish, while Andy and I got a few. Shorelunch of pike was outstanding, as usual.

Andy's 43 from Crouse Bay


My 37" from Wednesday

The afternoon we fished a number of smaller bays, most being known more for their success in the spring rather than summer. Crouse Bay ended up being the area of choice for the day. It is a small, narrow bay that is an offshoot of a larger bay. The bay itself is maybe 100 yards long and 40 yards wide - not a big piece of real estate. But - it did have some weeds, and that meant pike! Andy caught fire in this bay, taking a 38" and a 43-1/2" pike on jerkbaits - Rapala SW X-raps. I got a 37" earlier in the day, while Billy and Jim both got 38's. Every fish I caught on this day came on a #6 Vibrax spinner with a white tail. Our daily combo bet went to Andy and I, and we were all tied up with one day to go. And the plan was to fly out to Richards Lake again for our last day of pike fishing on our favorite water.

*******************************************

Our last day fishing Athabasca and we opted for the fly-out to Richards - again. Actually, I'd fish Richards anytime I get the chance - I just love the lake and the pike there. Everyone in our group had caught decent quantities of fish on the trip, and everyone had taken a number of trophy fish (over 40"). Except, of course, for me. My numbers were as good as anyone, but I just couldn't put the hooks into any good fish. The monster from the first afternoon was still haunting me, too. But anytime you go to Richards, you have to like your odds to overcome any slump you may be in.

As before, we were the only 2 boats on the lake. The first expansive weedbed we stopped at (the one that had been so good to Andy and I two years earlier) held some fish, but it wasn't giving them up easily. We opted to try one of the other beds. Jim got on a bite unlike any I have seen before. EVERY time we would look over to the other boat, he had a fish on, or was releasing one, or posing for pictures. He must have landed 40 pike that day, and caught the biggest one taken by any of us on this trip - 47" - a truly magnificent pike in ANY waters! He also had a 42" and a 40". Every big he caught fell to the same lure - a Jointed X-Rap #13 in Hot Steel color. He would make long casts, start a straight, slow retrieve and, when the lure would get hung in the cabbage, he'd pop it out. Almost all of the fish took the bait as it was busting out of the cabbage.


Jim's 47" trophy from Richards Lake

Andy got a 43" in the morning, while Billy and I had 38"ers. We got down to the last hour and a half before we had to meet Cliff at eh landing area. We went back to the 1st spot we tried that day. I looked at Andy and said "Time to go big or go home". I put a Dominatrix bucktail (a knock off of a double bladed Cowgirl musky bucktail) (these double bucktails are 11" long, and weigh 3-1/2 oz.) on my bucktail rod and stated casting. Got a small pike right away. Missed another decent fish - at least there were fish in the area that were interested! It was pretty windy with a good chop on the water. I got a nip at the bait and looked down to see a GOOD fish - finally. I watched him inhale the bait about 20 feet from the boat.

Andy's 43 from Richards Lake


It seems like there's always some kind of a story with a big fish that I catch, and this is no exception. The fish hit and came toward the boat. Like they do many times, when pike see the boat they make a run away from the boat, or they dive. this one dove. Only one problem - he dove under and BACK, toward the motor. Which, by the way, was running to try to keep the boat under control in the wind. Even with the big bucktail rod, the best I could do was slow him down, but he went behind the outboard, and the line wrapped around the prop.

This would be the appropriate place to talk about the gear I use, and why. The line on this particular reel was 80# Power Pro braided line. The leader was a 12", 75# Terminator Titanium leader. Why such heavy gear? I like Power Pro for its inherent toughness, but I dislike one of the properties of ALL superbraids - their thin diameter. I've found that anything under 40# test has a tendency to "eat into" the spooled line when a lot of pressure is put on it, whether from a series of big fish, or by using big jerkbaits and working them with slack-line jerks. the line gets hung up inside the outer bands of line on the spool, and consequently hangs up on the cast and decreases your casting distance (at best) or starts a hopeless backlash (at worst). So - I use a line with the DIAMETER that I like - anything over 30# test is certainly sufficient to play and land any pike. I like the diameter of 80#, so that's what I use. With regard to the leaders, I like the larger size of the Crosslok on the 75# leader, so that's the one I use.

My 42" pike from Richards Lake

All this info actually has a point - the line wrapped around the motor, and the pike got drawn in toward the prop. The boat had been put in neutral, so the fish wasn't hurt. But he was stuck. We got the fish into the net - thank God for long handled nets - and I cut the line. The slick braid came through the motor effortlessly, and I had my pike. 42", with an hour to spare! I am completely convinced that the heavier than normal gear is what saved that fish for me. I believe lighter (30#) braid would have been nicked and would have broken. the same for cheaper, lighter leaders. Bottom line - I got lucky.

Final tally on our little bet - Jim and Billy - 86". Andy and I - 85". Billy got a 39" pike in the last 15 minutes to better his previous best for the day by an inch - the winning difference!

The baits we used that caught the most fish on the trip were: Rapala Jointed X-Rap 13 in Hot Steel, Burt jerkbait - Orange/ black spots, Rapala SW X-Rap, Vibrax #6 w/ white tail. I DID use the lure sent to me by Lizzie over at Fisherbabe - the "Hammers" she loves to use. Cabelas Canadian Casting spoons, 7/8 oz. orange and brass. You can see from the picture that it was hit hard - a bunch of the paint was torn off. But I didn't get any BIG fish on it. Unlike Lizzy's group. If you pay atention to th epicture, you'll see some fabric wrapped around the hook. My guide - Laurent - liked the spoon, too, but wanted it to have a little bit of trailer action. He cut a strip off his shirt and tied it onto the treble base. I caught a few fish with it afterwards (it DID look good in the water!), and I'll keep that one "as-is" as a memento. The Hammer was the only spoon I caught any fish on during the week.


A selection of good lures from the trip

I always try to take along a few new baits to try. The best of these on this trip was an Optimum Double Diamond swimbait, seen above. The one in the picture above is the SMALLER of the 2 sizes I used . The bigger, and better one was almost 8" long. The action is tremendous and the profile big enough to entice the biggest pike. You need a substantial hook for these big baits - I used an 11/0 weighted Mustad swimbait hook, and it is barely big enough for the bait. The only downfall is significant one when pike fishing - the base of the tail is very thin, allowing the "wag" of the tail to be extreme, and gives the bait its great action. But - little pike (or big ones) short strike it and remove the tail very easily.

All in all - another memorable trip to Blackmur's Athabasca Lodge. We're already planning our return trip.

Shallow lakers - in early August??

On the way to Poplar Point


Our third day - Tuesday - came clear and calm. The decision was made for us to go "west of Fond Du Lac" to try for lakers in the morning, and, based on the success or failure of the morning attempts, go for more lakers in the PM, or pike. Fond Du Lac is the village where all the native Deni guides live. They commute (by boat) daily to work as guides for Blackmur's. The area where we fish for lakers is known as Poplar Point, and is the end of the eastern arm of the lake, where the lake opens up into a freshwater ocean. When the waters are flat, as they were this morning, it is a 1 hour and 30 minute run, wide open, to reach Poplar Point. When the water is rough, it can be a very unpleasant 2 hour run - most of the time, trips to that end are postponed in bad weather. As you can imagine, the guides - with years of experience under their belts - are expert boat handlers.

This is the only element of the trip at Blackmur's that I find a little frustrating -when you fish the far away areas, your amount of actual fishing time is reduced due to the extending running times. When you factor in the run each way, and the shore lunch, you may only have 4-1/2 hours of actual fishing time left.


Typical day 3 laker


When we planned this trip, there was no plan in the works to do ANY lake trout fishing. Typically, in the first week of August, the lakers are seeking their comfort zone with regard to water temps by hanging in the 100 - 120 foot deep range. You can catch them by pulling a 3-way rig with 6 - 10oz. weights, but I don't care to do that usually. However, this year has been different. The cold water temps that have stifled the weed growth in the bays have had a different effect on the lakers - they never went deep! Cliff mentioned that some people in camp the week before caught lakers trolling lures on unweighted flat lines - that is unheard of for early August. Also, some of the lakers caught had been big ones - around 40". So - we decided to give a morning to the lakers.

The calm waters allowed us to get to the point a little bit earlier than anticipated, and the 2 boats rigged up and started fishing. I flatline trolled a T-55Flatfish while Andy opted for a spoon. We were into fish immediately. I could see that the other boat had fish coming in as well. Bottom line - the 2 boats combined for 20 lake trout in the morning. All about the same size - great eating size. One interesting sidebar: Billy was in the other boat and, in late morning, had still not landed a trout. Jim had 6 or 7. We got a call on the radio, and Billy noted that he was being "Wolfed" [referring, of course, to my last name, and the fact that I couldn't buy a fish for the first 2 days]. In the same breath, he asked to borrow a 3-way weight, as he had lost his on a snag!! The nerve! Of course, we gave him his weights, along with a Williams Whitefish spoon, and he caught 3 lakers in the next 20 minutes.


The beginning of a Fire Fish lunch



10 minutes later - Fire Fish is served!


Lunch was the fresh lakers, cooked as "Fire Fish". The Deni usually do this one per trip, using either pike or lakers. The side is taken off the fish, skin intact, and not de-boned. The pieces of fish are placed directly over the open fire on a grate, skin down, and turned once. The pieces are then cut so there is a section with bones and one without bones and the meat is peeled off the skin. It is so simple it's scary, and the meat is delicious. This shore lunch took place on a classic windswept rock at the mouth of a bay. It is so beautiful out there that words can't do the spot justice. The rock striations are vivid, the moss vibrant green, and you wonder how anything - like the few trees and shrubs - can possibly live there. The pictures don't do the area justice, but they're better than my words.

Misc. Shorelunch pics








The afternoon was spent looking for pike in the bays on the north side of the eastern arm. We had steady, if unspectacular, action. No trophies fell to our lures this afternoon, and the big fish of the day was actually my 36" pike. Every cast in these waters might result in a trophy pike but, on this day, we had to be content with the normal-sized fish and their aggressive strikes.

On a positive note (for me), we won our team bet - 70" to 60", reducing the lead to 2:1

Richards Lake, and the frustration (for me) begins

Andy's 42" pike from Richards Lake

Day 2 of fishing found our group of 4 flying out to Richards Lake. It's sort of an interesting concept to fly out to a different lake when you are on an enormous arm of the 9th largest lake in North America. But, Andy and I have fished Richards before and have both taken our Personal Bests on that trip (Andy's is 46-1/2"; mine is 46") We both consider Richards to be a "small-ish" lake, but everything changes due the perspective you have up north. When we were on the lake this past trip, we figured, based on width and length estimates, that the lake is around 7,500 acres. Plus - the only time it gets anglers is when Cliff flies groups in from his camp. It has extensive weedbeds in the lake - 2 rivers feed into it. It has a terrific population of pike, some of which are very big. It also has whitefish and walleye.

The weather was nice for the short (20 minute) flight on the Otter. We were dropped off, along with our guides, and en route to the weedbeds. The boats at the fly-out lakes are a bit smaller than the ones at camp but more than adequate. We got to our first weedbeds and started in. Billy and Jim started catching fish right away. Andy got one, and I missed one - a perfect start. Then - i went cold. I missed hits. I didn't get any hits. And, all the while, I watched everyone else catch fish. My reel broke - the sideplate of a new Abu Garcia Revo Winch fell off on a cast and fell into the lake. I was so pissed off I couldn't even see! Everyone was on a jerkbait bite. Jim seemed to be hooked up everytime I looked over at their boat. I knew the bait he was throwing, watched his retrieve to see if there was something different than what I was doing, and proceeded to duplicate it , and get next to nothing.

Billy's 44" pike

I don't want this to sound like I'm complaining, but the frustration I was experiencing was unlike anything I've ever felt. I've been in situations where I've been outfished but never really cared, even in tournaments. This, however, was terrible. I was on my favorite numbers / size pike lake in the world, everyone around me was catching fish, and I couldn't buy a hit. When I did get a hit - I'd miss the fish. It was the toughest morning on a great lake in my life. By lunch, I had landed 6 fish, nothing of any size. Andy had a 42-1/2" to take big fish of the morning.


Jim's 41" pike

Shore lunch has a way of making a person forget about everything that bothers them, even if it just happened that morning. I may be the first person to write about the therapeutic qualities of a shorelunch of fried pike, potatoes, onions, and beans, but my research shows a 100% success rate of getting people out of their morning funk!!

PM brought more fish - I even got a few. But nothing of size for me. Billy and Jim got a double-header of 44" (Billy - new PB) and 41" (Jimmy - new PB) while I watched and tried not to get bummed about my lack of success. I really DO love it when the people with me catch fish, especially big fish. I just like to catch SOMETHING while I watch them take pictures all day of their trophies!

We ended up catching around 135 pike on our fly-out on Monday. Not a bad day by any means, but a little low on the historical data for Richards. We (not that I had anything to do with it) got 3 over 40" that day. I still love Richards Lake but, on Monday, it didn't like me.

Oh yeah - we had an ongoing bet on this trip. Andy and I would add the lengths of our best 2 pike and Billy and Jim would do the same. Longest total wins for the day. Day 1: me and Andy - 68"; Billy / Jim - 80". We got smoked. Day 2 on Richards - Team Billy / Jim - 85". Team Joe / Andy - 74". Waxed again.

Chilly day ahead

I'm supposed to go fishing on Tuesday on Lake Oneida in upstate NY, near Syracuse, on Tuesday. Just checked the weather forecast of Weather Underground - high of 50, 50-60% chance of rain. Good clothes make a day like that bearable. Layers of Under Armour and Medalist will keep me warm, Muck Boots keep the feet warm and dry, and a great rainsuit will keep all the bad stuff out. I truly believe that a rainsuit is the item of outdoor clothes you should spend the most on, and get teh best you can afford. Especially for fishing. When hunting, especially upland birds, where yo uput on mile after mile, I could be pursuaded to change my opinion to leather boots. Either way, quality clothing can make terrible weather bearable, and extend your time on the water or in the woods. And thats what it's all about.

Since I don't have any photos that mean anything to this post, Ill throw in a pike from Lake Athabasca in June 07.

Actually, it does have something to do with the post. That rain coat will see action again on Tuesday. I can't remeber the brand of it - it's made primarily fo the sailing industry - but the coat and pant hacve been with me on a lot of trips and have always performed flawlessly.