Dumoine trip

[Jig and drift]

Well another trip has come and gone. This was my 24th straight year going to Dumoine. So here is my review. We drove up on Sunday, which is always our plan to avoid local traffic. 40 + minutes at the Peace Bridge was really the biggest hang up of the day. The traffic on the QEW was heavy but once we hit the 407 race track the ride was easy. Hit North Bay at 6 and ate at the Wacky Wing place again, it works. Off to Temiscaming and the 102 stop for license. Overnight at Auberge and breakfast at the dinner. The woman there working by herself at 7 AM does agree at job. Pretty sure she was their last year. The bush roads were good. Maniwaki was just fine. The Red Pine  expansion will be nice when done but it is better than it was. They were putting down fresh fill dirt and grading right in front of the bridge. Bearne Rd was pretty fair but the big hills as you get deeper are still pretty wash boarded. The final little stretch back to Dumoine in rough in a couple spots put overall it was a good drive in and out. 72 miles one way in 2 hours. Two bear sightings going in and two bear and two young moose on the way out, good,stuff. We had great weather that first week of July. They have had a ton of,rain and the lake was high. Bugs were not that bad. Eric said the black flies like 2 weeks prior were horrible but they were not bad. Went with the Watkins bug cream and it worked great. Fishing was good but not great this year. Last year was tough but this year was better. Plenty to eat and brought our limit home. The strangest thing was the bite. All,week it was very "soft". Like a gentle dog taking a treat. Little guys and bigger guys all hit the same. Lost a lot of worms and missed a
Ot of fish but it was such a gentle bite which was really odd. That usual,heavy hit never really happened. We had a couple at 3 lbs and Eric the owner got a 5.5 lb 26.5 inch beauty and he said hit hit super soft as well. My son was the northern king for the week with 7 total 5 while jigging. They were the only ones that hit really hard. Again we caught plenty and ate all we could and took our limit so it was a good trip but they were not jumping in the boat for us this year. The fish are there but we had to work for them. Again it was a great trip and everything went really smooth. Did get caught in a hail,storm the last evening that had legit golf ball,sized hail. Man did that hurt. Made it to a little private red cabin on the south end of the lake for shelter. Boy were we happy that it was there.

[Jay Thomas]

Glad to read that you and your group had a good trip. Thanks for sharing.

Jay

[NortonJoe]

Sounds like it was a good trip! 15 days until we leave for Lake Watson...ah, can't wait!

[Oarin]

Thanks for the report. Glad your group had a great time. The soft bite sounds like we get at TBL.  1 more sleep and we're on our way!!

[Netman]

Thanks for the Trip and Road report. We leave for Grassy the 12th of Aug. (those washed out hills can get real interesting at times! - kinda like driving on bowling balls)

[SgtCrabby]

Thanks for a good fishing report and the road report.
A soft bite hum, I wonder if it'll still be soft when I get into Lake Ogas next month.

[BH]

Thanks for the report.  Should we include hard hats with our rain gear?  Golf ball size hale, ouch!

[T-Bone]

Thanks for the report...would like to see that lake someday.

Soft bite. Hmmm. Feels like that 90% of the time to me. Any doubt, set that hook! 

345 hours.

[Jighead]

Agree with TBone. Soft bite 90%+. I always say if you are waiting for that "hit", you will catch very little during the week...

[Jig and drift]

The soft bite was really a first for all of us to the degree it was this year, it was very strange. The hail really did hurt and yes driving on bowling balls is a great analogy.

[DumoineCap]

Thank you for the report.  We leave in less than 24 hours for Dumoine, excited to hear it was better than last year.  Sting'r hooks from Northland tackle company have always helped with the soft bit.  And for the roads 2 hours would be record time for us.  But for some reason we make three times the stops on the bush road as to pavement. 

http://www.northlandtackle.com/northlands-gum-ball-jigs-and-stingr-hooks

[BH]

Can you use stinger hooks in the Lake Kipawa zone?