(Yours truly with a decent-sized brook trout)
Spending 5 days in God’s country portaging canoes, eating steak, playing cards and horse-shoes, battling trout, battling flies and relocating turtles.
Man, you gotta love it!
(Our faithful Spruce Grouse ‘Lori’ Partridge, nestled in her usual spot during a horse-shoe game)
(My new toy for the trip courtesy of Thornley Fallis and Ford Canada…review to follow)
(Outdoors Guy Sr. and the boys taking a break)
(A gorgeous 22″ brook trout taken by Bruce Rogers – topping his previous personal best of 21.5″)
(Another shot of Bruce’s behemoth which would probably go a solid 4-pounds)
(Another nice-looking trout!)
Final fish count: Outdoors Guy 8, Outdoors Guy Sr. 4, Steve Enright 4, Bruce Rogers 6
Besides the 22″ giant, we caught 6 trout in the 18″- 19″ range and the remainder measuring between 14″ – 16″. Not a pile of fish, but a good average size for brookies.
I just got back and already can’t wait to go again!!
Outdoorsguy
Another banner year! congrats on being # 1 with the catch… memories are “Priceless” with Outdoors Guy Sr an friends. That ’Lori’ Partridge is still there year after year! surprised nobody had a snack (During the Open season). I suppose she is a member of the group and it’s always nice to see her!
Thanks Alain D. for the kind words.
And yes, that darn bird is there with us every year…Im convinced the sound of the horse-shoes clanging or the radio playing is what attracts her!
Only thing I haven’t figured out yet, though, she used to be a ruffed grouse and now she’s a spruce grouse..hehe..not sure how that happened!
Outdoorsguy
Jeff, bet those were tasty! Where is it you go for these?……..
Johan, didnt I say that already?
I was in God’s country, man..hehe
Outdoorsguy
P.S. In the Temiscaminge area of QC actually…3.5 hours of hwy..and 4 hours of God-awful bush roads! And to answer yer question..Yes, they were friggin delicious!!
P.P.S. I did see the Grande Chute(High Falls) btw Iggy, nice!
Nice catch. Heading out to the Zec Pontiac tonight, wouldn’t mind hooking one the size of Bruce’s.
Hey Norm..great to hear from you!!!
Better keep an eye out for moose, seems to be a lot around. And bears too..we counted over a dozen scat piles along the road on way out…..ugghh.
Then there was the bear that got into our food box at 3 am yeaterday am..course, turned out to just be a team of mice having a snack, but you get my point..hehe
I’ve been thru ZEC Pontiac before…up near Usborne lake..nice area!
Outdoorsguy
I was talking to our outfitter in that area of Quebec and he was telling me the Spec,s are pounding the bait this week and the blackflies are out. I found that out last weekend at the cottage, when the sun came out you couldn’t stand outside for 1 minute
Glad you had a good time, bet you’re glad to be back at work!
The outfitter has invited us up for an overnight to check the road and the place out, not all that far as the crow flies to where you were.
Iggy, we were a bit west of you, but not all that far and I did see several signs for your Outfitter. Based on the moose sign up there this year, you should do very well this fall!
I pity the poor bear hunters heading up there now, well actually I dont, but they will see some flies!
I was most surprised to see 55 degree water on Sat morning…blew my mind..especially since ice has been off for nearly a month.
Outdoorsguy
Jeff, nice trip.
How do you post pictures again if I usually use imageshack.
I went last Tuesday through Friday morning to Muskrat Chalet and fished Collins lake. Although the OFS members practice catch & release, I did keep some for a good meal back home.
Good for you LG, the biggest thing I ever caught at Collins lake was a 7-point buck….hehe…never fished the lake but
sounds like you did just fine!
Hope the OFS had a good time? They’re good people! Was Grant with them?
Outdoorsguy
I have fished sort of up that way only still in Ontario but a couple hours outside of North Bay. We did cross the the QC side for beer of course. Are the logging roads relatively decent on the QC side?
Johan, yes the roads up there are actually not that bad….but tend to rattle yer kidneys after 4 hours or so..hehe
Outdoorsguy
If you are referring to Grant Hopkins, no he was not part of the expedition.
Nice fish Jeff!!! Real beauties!!!
After a few days of portaging and fishing you just start ot get ‘toughened up’ and it’s time to come home. Always a shame. I hope memories from that trip will keep you satisfied until the next one. Make it soon.
Thanks Maple, I was quite pleased with our catch…considering the bulk of them came last Sat during the overcast conditions…once the bright sunshine arrived, things slowed down considerably.
I was a bit sad, though, not to see any of our ‘mystery trout’ this year…I know you’ve been encouraging me to keep a specimen to have analyzed. I’m hoping they’re still some around.
Outdoorsguy
Black Flies were horrendous at the cottage on the weekend, I trid to put my dock in the water yesteday but only got have dome, also do a 7.5 km run on Sunday getting ready for Ottawa Race Weekend this coming weekend
Got rambling on about Black Flies and forgot what i wanted to post.
There was a fishing derby on the Gatineau River this weekend up above the Paugan Dam, I went for a drive to see all the guys I knew that were in the tournament, on my way there I almost ran over a grouse, saw a dandy turkey in the field and then a moose at the back of a field on my way into the boat launch. A lot of nice fish were cought but a weird thing, a guy caught a Walleye that was bigger but outside the slot size, so they wouldn’t count it in the derby. Weird, you catch the biggest fish but sorry, we can’t count it.
Iggy, I suppose that’s when you know ‘rules and regulations’ are running our lives!
Never heard of anything so ridiculous..but I guess the fact that it was a ‘derby’ and not a ‘tournement’ where fish are released, might explain things.
How big was it anyway? (The moose in the field, I mean..hehe)
Outdoorsguy
Outdoors Guy:
It sounds like a wonderful weekend (minus the black flies).
I will be interested to hear your feedback on the truck. I have been trying to talk my husband into getting one.
no it was a tournament, I just call it a derby, but it was released after it was weighed, it weighed 4.2 lbs, not a lot of big fish caught, it was so bright and sunny and hot, not exactly fishing weather. The cow moose was small, probably two years old, the moose around this area are small compared to the Westerm moose I hunted
Yeah, it is a different sub-species of moose you hunted up in NW Ontario.
When are driving up to the new moose area? Is it this summer?
Outdoorsguy
I think we are going to take a drive up in early to mid June, they guy said just give him a couple days notice
and we can stay overnight, then we have a 5 day fishing trip up there in July, then the moose hunt in September in the middle of the rut. Never hunted moose in the middle of the rut and I sure hope it’s not too warm. We are bringing our ATV’s up for the fishing trip to get into some remote lakes and also for some scouting.
The guy who owns the place also told me last week that he has some lakes that have no access and the Quebec MNR are asking him to fish them, so he’ll do a one day fly in, fly you in in the morning and out that same night for $100.00 each for two guys. He’s going to fly in a boat and motor to these lakes, but there are no cabins or raods. What I was wondering is what happens if the weather prevents him from getting in at night?
Could be a long cool bug infested night with no way out but to wait, maybe sleep under the boat
Iggy, if I were stuck up there over night with nowhere to sleep, it wouldn’t be the flies I’d be worried about. Been going into the region for over 25 years, and haven’t seen the bear sign ever as we did this year!
That fly-in deal does sound interesting though…
Outdoorsguy
Apparently, according to the outfitter, the Quebec MNR want him to fish the lakes, why would that be? They’ve been there for thousands and thousands of years and never been fished, you can’t tell me that suddenly the fish have gotten so plentiful that they need to be fished, or maybe this is just another in a long list of outfitters fairy tails LOL
Jeff, I’m not afraid of bears, they are afraid of me 😉
Big weekend coming up, Ottawa Race Weekend and I’m in the 10k
You running too Jeff?
sorry Iggs, more of a walker than a runner.
I really dont think the QC Ministry ‘wants’ him to fish those lakes….but if they can expand their territory lease to him, that does mean more $$ in their pocket…and the larger the exclusive rights lease he has, the more he pays for it.
Yes…I’d say most bears are affraid of you, but what about the ones that aren’t?
Outdoorsguy
I guess I’d just have to hope these bear are all afraid of me, I’ve had my fair share of bear encounters up in that area, one bear was chased off by me three times in one morning
I think these lakes are already in his territory, just never been fished because the only way in is to bushwack and then you’d get in there and not have a boat, but he can fly boats in on his float plane
I would like to volunteer to go into those lakes if they are looking for a few good men to sacrifice their time for the betterment of the fishery…
I am just that type of guy.
Jeff, if you need help on the Ford writeup just ask, I am on my 4th new-to-me Ford Truck.
man Johan, you’re helping everyone out today..hehe. My F-150 review will be out tomorrow…I gotta do something to earn my keep..hehe
You got me beat, I’ve only owned two Ford trucks
Outdoorsguy
This week’s Outdoors Column:
http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/05/25/black-bears-love-leftovers
Outdoorsguy
Bass anyone??
http://blogs.canoe.ca/outdoorsguy/fishing/bass-season-around-the-corner/
Outdoorsguy