Watson Lake Cabins July 25-August 2

[NortonJoe]

Well another trip is in the books at Watson Lake Cabins and it was a good one...the fishing was outstanding in spite of weather that literally "was all over the place."  We left Friday morning from Akron, Ohio and made our traditional stops at Angola, NY for lunch and the duty free to exchange money and grab a bottle or two.  The border crossing was no problem at all with about a 10-15 minute wait.  We drove on to Huntsville where we stopped and had a nice dinner on a patio overlooking the water (I wanted to break out my tackle but, alas, no license yet).  Then on to North Bay where we had a few liquid refreshments and a good night of sleep.  There's nothing like travelling north on 101 and seeing the granite outcroppings and pine trees to let you know you're getting close.  Next morning you get up, step outside and take a deep breath of air that seems cleaner and fresher, even in North Bay.  A little breakfast, then grocery shopping, a few stops for license and beer and then the 67 miles back on the logging roads to Lac Watson.

The trip back on the roads was actually not too bad; Maniwaki Road was in good shape with very little washboarding, Red Pine Chute Road was in good shape and the others were decent with no major washouts or obstructions.  As usual the trick is to drive carefully and take your time.  However, it's always a great feeling to see the road open up into the camp and step into "home" for the next week.

First, a word about the weather...it was literally all over the place.  We had days where we had wind from three different directions, rain followed by sun followed by more rain, etc.  The key was to prepare for anything when you went out into the boat (one day I forgot my raingear and paid dearly with a wet behind).  So, one would expect that the the wildly changing fronts and weather patterns would wreak havoc with the fishing right? Wrong.  We caught more quality fish on this trip than I can remember in a long time, if ever.

There were seven of us in camp with three boats and all caught plenty of fish (three fish dinners and we could have done more).  The biggest walleye caught was 22" with plenty between 18" and 22".  The largest northern pike was 32".  The northern pike were biting as aggressively as ever on just about anything, but seem more apt to bite anything flashy and silver being trolled.  We had the best luck with walleye either trolling hot 'n tots or jigging with pink jigs and worms or a crappie harness and worms.

We decided this year to explore new areas of the lake and found some new holes and areas of structure that turned out to be very good for the walleye bite.  We decided that we just have to go back in a year to further explore. 

As usual, the week always seems to go by far to quickly and soon it was time for the trip back.  It's very hard to explain to people who have never been there, why we get a faraway look look and wistful expression when talking about the Kipawa area.  To me, its about stepping back in time for a bit to a simpler way of life.  It's about memories and comraderie, laughter and a smile, telling the same stories every year and still laughing.  Ah, only about 358 days to go...

[Jay Thomas]

Thanks for sharing your weeks adventure.

Jay

[600 miles north]

     Great to hear your trip was a success Joe! So nice to hear how Kipawa affects all of us here on this board the same way. It is like an addiction, and like you said, back to a simpler time.

     I love how you added the french text to your report. We have some French friends on the lake who try much harder to understand us and try speaking our language than we do theirs. I felt like we are missing out on a whole other aspect of the lake, by people who would know the most about it... the people who live there. So it's just my way of showing a little respect to their culture and hope that we will in return get more interaction if others of us do the same thing. Thanks Joe. I requested that we have some sort of translator available here on this board, which Nancy is going to look into.

    Super d'entendre votre voyage a été un succès Joe! Tellement agréable à entendre comment Kipawa nous affecte tous ici sur cet office de la même façon. C'est comme une dépendance, et comme vous l'avez dit, le retour à un temps plus simples.

J'adore comment vous avez ajouté du texte français pour votre rapport. Nous avons quelques amis français sur le lac qui tentent beaucoup plus difficile de nous comprendre et essayer parler notre langue que nous font les leurs. Je me suis senti comme nous sont manquants sur un tout autre aspect du lac, par des gens qui connaissent le mieux la question ... les gens qui y vivent. Il est donc juste ma façon de montrer un peu de respect pour leur culture et j'espère que nous nous en retour obtenir plus d'interaction si d'autres de nous faire la même chose. Merci Joe. J'ai demandé que nous avons une sorte de traducteur disponible ici sur cette carte, qui Nancy va examiner.

     Brad

[CaptainCrappie]

Norton Joe, your week in paradise turned out just fine!  I think we all want others to experience the good things about this life and a good trip to the Kipawa area is certainly one of them.  Thanks for posting!

C.C.

[NortonJoe]

Thanks all, it is ALWAYS a great trip! @600 miles north, I agree which is why I did the Google translator thing!

[rambler]

Wasn't that weather interesting. darn cold!

[NortonJoe]

@rambler...It was the craziest weather I've seen there in a very long time.  Amazingly, as I said, it did not seem to affect the fishing so all was good!

[john c]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us.  The loooooong wait has just set in.

John