Lake Ogascanan June 28 - July 3rd

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      Well it seemed we really started our trip in February when we decided to book our visit with the Mullen family at Ogascanan. The initial crew grew from 2 of us into 4 including my son who had just graduated High School. Even though he commented that it seemed like more of my graduation gift than his...go figure.   We bombarded Ginny Mullen with silly questions which she answered with patience and understanding. We also utilized this forum to give us an idea of what to bring and what to expect and we were very thankful for the responses and advice.
    So FINALLY June 28th showed up and we hit the trail from Albany, New York bright and early crossing over the border at Ogdensburg, NY. From there we cruised on up to Temiscaming for out stay at the Auberge Canadienne.  We took the advice from this forum and were able to get our shopping in at the IGA on our day of arrival which freed us up from that chore on Wednesday morning. After a few beers and dinner in town we were set for our final jump off.  Ran into another group from Ohio that was making a similar trip and we would actually end up sharing the same island when we got to camp.
     Wednesday started a bit slow since the free breakfast at the Canadienne never materialized since the cook/ workers failed to show up. We were able to get a rain check for the following Sunday morning though. Nevertheless we survived with breakfast at another establishment after which we proceeded to pick up our leeches at Kipawa bait before heading out...
     Well in the Mullen brochure it raises the question.. "How did you ever find this place?"   well about an hour into our off road trip that question was asked several times.  We did finally arrive around eleven no worse for the wear except for the cans of Blue were rubbed not so blue after the tumble in the cooler ( no worries though they tasted just as good). We got a great intro from Jeremy and Dan who really took the time to explain the lake and how we should go about fishing it. 
      The next several days consisted of fishing, eating and sleeping...repeat  ... and eating and sleeping weren't that important even though we had enough food to stay for two weeks. We found our leeches were a bit more effective than worms. For guys who had never used leeches before this also was a learning experience...its amazing the different techniques guys will try using to hook them...eventually we all came around to the grip it and hook it idea..
     Our highlights included:
Quite a few walleye in the high 20 inch range( 28" being our biggest) and a cloudy morning when the fish were very hungry..and we felt obliged to help them out.
We were also lucky enough to have a loon nesting on our island which was pretty cool as well.
We were able to catch enough walleye for a fish fry and also to take a few fish home. Overall we caught somewhere in the amount of 40 -50 walleyes.  Along with about a half dozen pike.
We learned that sunny days might be nice for the fisherman but walleyes and pikes aren't great fans of those conditions.
The last evening at the last minute one of our buddies had a fish on for several minutes but couldn't get it into the boat before it cut the line...so we decided at that time that we need to come back next year and see if we can finish the job and catch that one.
Ran into Sgt Crabby and Dog of this forum on the way out which was nice to actually meet some of the people that we have been communicating with for the last several months.
Our trip out was fairly uneventful except for that pesky Check Engine light ....which came on at the end of the bush road..but went off as we hit the US border ( go figure)...13 hours later we were back to home and already missing Ogascanan.
    What did we learn?    All of the tackle we purchased prior to our trip was a "bit" too much considering we used very little of it.
The more we fished the better we got at it.
  Jeremy and Dan know what they are talking about and following their advice really paid off. 
   The entire Mullen family and camp set up is very professional and welcoming.
   That this trip is SO different that it's tough to explain it to other people.
    That we need to do it again!

                       Thanks for your help... Ziggy and Ira
I'll ask Ira to post some pictures since he is better at that.

 

[wvmedic]

Thanks for the report, sounds like you guy's had a good time.

Can't wait to see the pictures.

Jeff

[Fort Wisers]

Thanks for the report, nice detail.....glad you enjoyed, it's an amazing area!

[Jay Thomas]

Thanks for your report. Glad to read that the 21 inch maximum harvest length for walleyes (implemented in 2012) is having positive results. Bring on those pictures, please.

Jay

[Oarin]

Thanks!!!

[600 miles north]

Sounds like you had an enjoyable experience. Thanks for sharing the highlights of your trip with us. Can't wait to see the pics, or videos 

Brad

[Ira]

Maybe the easiest way (for me, anyway) to share pictures is to post a link. These include
1) Ziggy & son getting some last minute instructions fromJeremy
2) Juice w/ the first fish of the trip
3) me w/ the first walleye - 27"
4)me w/ a pretty nice pike
5) Juice w/ 24" walleye
7 & 8 ) Ziggy & son w/ our first keeper
10) our host on the island
11) Juice w/ 24" walleye
12) a group shot after our best outing
13) we'll come back for that one in a year or two
14) some friends we saw on the way out, wishing us safe travels.

Zig's report was pretty accurate, although the only witness to the 28" walleye he caught was his son. Nothing suspicious about that.

http://www.snapfish.com/library/share?w=snapfish_us&c=snapfish&l=en_US#QBRbh37pNl2t6RfEU3e0xg/SFO/27939722448060/SNAPFISH

[puckster_guy]

 Great pics Ira. I love that huge walleye. So happy you guys had a great time.

[tbayboy]

What a great report.  Sounds like you guys had a great time.

[SgtCrabby]

Great report guys.
I also was happy to meet y'all, even if it was at departure.
I'm very glad you're planning a return, there is something magical about the whole Kipawa  area and especially Lake Ogascanan to me.

Sgt Crabby 

[getthenet]

Very cool ! Once the Kipawa area gets in your blood it's hard to let go !

[johnny walleye]

thanks for the report and nice pics.

[TBIRD]

Great Report & photos - a nesting Loon WOW! a 1st for me.