Watson Lake Cabins May 20 - June 4

[Teach]

It is a rainy day in Georgia.  Laundry is done and cloths box and sleeping bag are packed for the next trip.  Boxes of food and supplies have been sorted through and put away.  Truck, boat, and fishing gear have been cleaned and converted back to “local” use status.  Where are all the trip reports?  Time to write my trip report.

Travel up: I departed Georgia on May 18th.  Uneventful drive north.  Picked up night crawlers in Delaware, Ohio.  Got to Dad’s in central Ohio and finished packing.  On May 19th we did last minute fresh veggies, dairy, and fruit shopping then headed to Buffalo to meet my nephew who would arrive from Texas around 11:00 pm.  A driver in Buffalo saw my Georgia tag and was encouraging us to “get the heck out of New York while you still can.”  At 5:00 am on May 20th we crossed the boarder with no issues and proceeded north.  Stops for leaches, beer, butter, license and after 5 hours on the dirt roads we arrived at camp.

Fishing: The fish were “snapping”.  Week one the fishing was great!!  No live bait needed.  Artificial only.  The bass world calls it a “Ned” rig.  ¼ oz. ball jig head with a 4in. worm.  Used Zoom Trick worms in brown, black, watermelon, and broke them in half and used each half.  Fish in the river were in 12 to 20 feet of water.  Fish in the lake were 18 to 24 feet of water.  If you missed a strike, just put it down and either that one came back for it or another one had our jigs.  By the end of week 2 the fish moved a little shallower and leaches or crawlers were out producing artificial unless you were in heavy current.  If the conditions were right, (wind and current) nothing was as fun as vertical jigging the river below the old bridge.  Get the boat and jig to move at the same speed so that your line was vertical and jig was just above the rocks.  SNAP!! Game on!  Here I like using the Power Bait Max Sent flat worm in black.  These are the numbers I am sure of.  We ate 44 walleyes between 15 and 16 inches long.  Brought home 18 walleyes between 17.5 and 18.25 inches long.  (3 that size fits perfectly into a jumbo zip lock bag) We had at least 8 walleyes that went 25 inches long and one pike that was 40 inches. 

Wildlife: Loons were plentiful and talking, grouse were pounding their breasts and woodpeckers were pounding the trees, eagles were souring and the red wing black birds were singing.  Saw a moose on the shoreline the first day out.  Had a turtle lay eggs in the sand beside the cabin.  Never saw or heard the bear (or bears) but they visited and left teeth marks in the snack cooler, 5-gallon gas cans, oil mix jugs, and boat seats.

Bugs: This was only the third time I have been able to fish opening season.  The first two time we didn’t see a bug. This time however, the bugs were out from the start.  Not as bad as I remember the early to mid-June bugs, but they were out!!  We skipped a few showers, used fragrant free soap, sprayed lots of 40% Deet on our bodies, wore light colored clothing, fogged the cabin, used kill coils, and currently I can find just one bug bite in the middle of my lower back.

Weather: I would say the weather was warm and dry for this time of the year. Most of the heavy rain happened at night and never interfered with our usual fishing times.  The water temperature was mid to high 50s at the start (The male walleyes were losing their sperm sacks.) and was mid to high 60s by the time we left.

Travel Home:  Smooth trip home.  The road out (Bearn about 10 miles east of the Red Pine intersection, Red Pine, and Maniwaki) had all been freshly grated. Made it out in 4 hours!!!  Crossing the boarder took less than 10 minutes. The last 2 time now the border guard wanted to know the relationship of passengers in the vehicle.  Air conditioning stopped working around Calhun Georgia, but is miraculously working fine today.  Can’t fix what is not broken (yet!).

Take Aways: My nephew was MONEY!!  He has never really fished before. “What was I thinking”?  I asked him what hand he wanted to reel with, showed him how to tie a palmar knot, supervised when he tied the double uni knot, (I LOVE braid with a fluorocarbon leader) and he did GREAT!!  Oh sure, there were times he thought he was snagged only to discover he had a fish.  Oh sure, there were times he was pumping his rod and gave the fish to much slack.  But who cared???  He kept up with us in catching lots of fish and he was the one who caught the biggest pike.  He fished from 7:30ish to 1, took a break, then fished from around 4-8.  Wash, rinse repeat that cycle for 14 days straight!!!!  Now that is MONEY!!
I have a feeling that when I ask dad if he wants to spend 2 weeks in Canada or 2 weeks at Pymatuning next spring, he is going to pick Pymatuning because of the chance there is an early spring again and bugs!!  He is 85 and I get it!!
I noticed this trip that the bush is starting to becoming a forest.  The tree canopy is starting to choke out the underbrush and you can actually see though the trees.

Next Trip:  September 2-16 2022

[NovarDave]

Thank you for the report Teach, hope you have a great trip in September as well.  22 days

[Jay Thomas]

Thanks for your informative trip report. It was a great read. Two solid weeks of fishing - colour me envious. And another two weeks in Sep.

Jay

[Oarin]

Great report! Glad you had a good time.

[puckster_guy]

Great report Teach. If you wanna take a break from the drive, stop in at Red Pine for a beer.

[Jig and drift]

Good stuff Teach !    Great info and the organization of the topics. Well done, as a retired teacher I respect your outline.  2 weeks and a return trip you lucky man.   We go to Dumoine and have to love that Bearn Road the farther east you go. Hilly and rocky.

[Hodgey1]

Nice report @Teach , I definitely understand your dad and the bugs. It's great that at 85 you are still able to get him to go and spend that kind of quality time together.