Lake Ogascanan July 4-11, August 1-8

[Nancy]

Guess I have been a little lazy and slow about posting our trip reports so I will combine them into one.

July 4 trip
For our first trip, we went with John's daughter and son-in-law and left July 3rd. We left early enough on the third to get ahead of the US July 4th traffic. Traffic wasn't too bad the whole way up and didn't have too long of a wait at the border. We were going to exchange our money at the Welcome center off to the right of the QEW after crossing the border a little ways. Much to our surprise, the lady there said they hadn't exchanged money for a couple years. She suggested Burlington at the mall. So we got off I believe exit 99 and took a right, one block there was the Maple View mall, we found the money exchange place without difficulty. Ginny at Ogascanan said we did at least as good as she could have gotten at her bank. No fees! Yeah! We stayed at the Bo-Mark Motel in North Bay on the way up. It is a clean "mom and Pop" place with real good beds, a bit out of the way when going to Temiscaming. On to North Bay in the morning, breakfast at the Canadian, topped off with gas and ice. Roads going in were better than we have seen them in the past. We made the trip with two trucks pulling 2 boats in two hours and 10 minutes. We were greeted with the usual Mullens greeting at the vehicles. After the 15 years of going there, it is always good to see them again. This is just the second year we have stayed at the southern end of the lake. We were originally booked at Southern Outpost, but changed it to the Island Outpost a couple weeks before the trip. There were concerns about the path and length of walk for some of the less agile in our party. Although, the bank at the island proved to be a little challenging also. John and I had stayed at the Island outpost we think our second or third year there back when they had the old cabins. Now, they have all "new" cabins on the island. I use that term loosely as we thought they just built them about 5 years ago, but in the cement on one of the posts of the cabin was 5-8-2004, Oh well, they seemed new to us.


It is a very beautiful spot with some good fishing right out front. We fished it pretty hard our first trip, but it wasn't until our second trip that we began to see success there. More of that success I believe was related to our familiarity of that time of the year. We scheduled this trip earlier due to the son-in-law's work schedule. We have never been up that early before. Coupled with basically a new end of the lake or at least where we have spent very little time, we really could have done better as far as the fish count. We were trying to fish shallow because we knew they should be shallower, then we tried deeper, but I think the fish may have been somewhere in the middle. Jer Mullens did come up and take me out one afternoon as I was having a little difficulty finding some of the rockpiles he was describing. I did catch this 24 incher. 



It seems like there are more and more who canoe the lake, and on our first trip there were a large group that Jer said was from a Boys and Girls club on a beach just south of us. One day two float planes came is to resupply their needs. Since we went on a fly in a few years ago, John just loves those float planes (actually all planes). It was pretty neat seeing them there.  I was a little slow with the camera, but the plane is there.




We enjoyed seeing the local eagle proudly displaying himself one day on our way up through the lake.




And one of the beautiful sunsets we say while at the island.


We reluctantly left Saturday morning for the trip back. We made the best time we had ever made with two vehicles going. We left Ogascanan at 9:30 AM and got home at 9:30PM. Our wait at the border on that trip was about 20 minutes. They seemed to be looking for something more than usual. The guards were opening up people's trucks and looked into the back end of our trucks. All in all, a good trip and relaxing after just retiring 3 days before.

August 1- 8

We left at the same time again as we knew this was a holiday weekend in Canada and wanted to get up through Toronto before it got too busy. That didn't happen, but traffic never stopped, just slowed some. 

We met @getthenet and his wife for dinner and a beer. It was really great to sit down and get to know them more. We do have some great people on this board. The next morning, we went out for breakfast, and what did our wondering eyes see, but a cedar strip boat from Pennsylvania. So we were fortunate to chat with @Dog and crew. They were on their way out when we were going in.  We got started out to the lake but had made arrangements with @puckster_guy to stop by for a visit and get to see his piece of paradise. He has a beautiful place and the cabin is coming along nicely. It was great visiting with him, and he took us out for about an hour of fishing before we had to hit the road again. we each ended up with one and PG getting two. It was my first time dealing with a floating dock. All I can say is who needs beer when you have a floating dock, I think the affect is about the same. LOL

For this trip, it was our first ever at the main camp. We were at Ogas when the Mullens' started building "The Point" cabin and that was about 4-5 years ago (I think that may be more accurate than the Island construction estimate LOL). We have always said how much we liked that cabin and wanted to stay there. I guess it was one of the things in John's bucket list. It proved to be everything we expected in a very positive way. You get all the amenities of the main camp, but with it being out on a point, it gives you the feeling of being very secluded. Since we live in the country at home, we don't care to go to the bush and have neighbors within arm's reach.  Not sure why but I didn't get a picture of it, I think I have taken pictures of all the cabins we have stayed in, but missed this one. After our arrival, it has always been customary to have fish the first night. We were planning a trip north to a couple spots where we knew we could get fish in the boat, but with it threatening a storm, we didn't go up and came in empty our first night. Sometimes there is a reason it is called fishing and not catching. We fared much better the rest of the week. Several days the beginning of the week it threatened storms and we fished in some pretty good rains. We found a few new spots that were productive for us. I got this 24 incher and the second spot, we just pulled up on it and right away  John got this 23 incher.



It's not often John and I get doubles, because when one catches a fish the other reels in to avoid the fish getting tangled in the other person's line. But here are doubles John is holding that hit simultaneously.


We actually caught very few fish under 15 inches on our second trip, with most being in the 15-17 inch range. We always enjoy pike fishing, but he have always had better luck with pike with a good bright sun. We did not have one of those days during this trip so spent our time chasing walleyes. I asked John if there was anything he wanted to be sure that I put in these trip reports and right away, he said that he wanted it to be known that he outfished me one day. 

We were treated to two rainbows one evening. This one was especially beautiful. Just some of the extra benefits of the trip.



A couple from York, Pa were at Ogas that same week celebrating their 30th anniversary. They were out fishing one day toward the end of the week and drifting in 35 feet of water and caught a 30 incher. They took the picture, released it, and she got her jig back in the water, bang, right away had a 28 incher this time. I can't imagine that! What a rush!

We had a pretty good week fishing, but think last year was better as far as numbers go, but then again we were at the end of the lake where we don't have as much experience. Although, by week's end we were starting to feel more at home on the south end of the lake.

We had a pretty uneventful trip home, except we had the longest wait at the border that I ever had experienced, about 45 minutes, but was still home at 9PM. That is such a wonderful part of the world. Only wished there was a way to spend more time there. Now comes the long wait to next year.

[puckster_guy]

 Great post guys. Love the pictures, you had better luck then I did that week. The fishing was kinda slow that week with several t-storms and scattered showers rolling thru. It was a pleasure meeting you guys ty for the visit......Joe

[CaptainCrappie]

The only thing better than one trip report is two trip reports! Loved those picks!
Thanks Nancy!

C.C.

[rambler]

Nice report Nancy. How did your new boat perform?

[john c]

The boat worked fine, BUT we miss the old one.  Old was 2 feet longer, wider, and the 40 hp was alot better for getting around.

John

[Oarin]

Thanks Nancy, great report and pictures !

[SgtCrabby]

Great reports Nancy!  Love the pictures too.

When you and John walked into the resturant, I was mega surprised because I didn't know y'all where doing 2 trips this year, and then meeting getthenet and his other half (I will not venture anything about who's the 'better', I lose them all).   It was a good impromptu gathering.

[wvmedic]

Great report, thank you for the pictures.

Jeff

[600 miles north]

Great to read your trip report as always Nancy! Sure is nice seeing all those pictures everyone is able to post this year from their trips, thanks to you making it easier.

I always loved seeing the float planes come in as a kid. We don't get them near as often anymore at the Laniel end of the lake, But once in a while we do. They used to land right out from our cabin and taxi into town.

Thanks for all you have done to make this board as enjoyable as it is!

Brad