3 SEASONS CAMP JUNE 10-17

Started by CaptainCrappie, June 19, 2017, 05:00:54 PM

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CaptainCrappie

      COMMANDER BLUEGILL and I had originally planned to take two grandsons, my grandson Brennan, a previous three time Kipawa veteran, and his grandson Wesley, never been to the Kip, with us to 3 Seasons Camp for a week of adventure at beautiful Lake Kipawa.  As fate would have it, that did not happen, as Wesley had broken his foot due to a trampoline mishap.  This happened about a week and a half before the scheduled trip. Brennan was extremely disappointed but quickly made plans with his other grandpa who spent the week fishing at Lake Erie. Their group of four ended up catching 83 keepers up to 7 ½ lbs.  Most 2 ½ - 4 lbs.Not bad for 5 days fishing ,eh?

        I spent the night before the trip in a restless sleep, finally deciding to get up before the alarm went off. Loaded a cooler and put it in my truck, and made a pot of coffee. Ate some breakfast consisting of two micro waved breakfast burritos and coffee.  Sat for about 15 minutes thinking of what I could have possibly forgot to pack. Came up with a blank so I went back to the bedroom to say goodbye to my wife who was still sleeping.  She asked if I wanted some breakfast and I told her I already eaten. I told her I was leaving in about 5 minutes and she seemed a bit perplexed on why I did not get her up.  Onward to Commander Blugill’s!

      There is a tradition I have maintained throughout the years that I religiously preform when I arrived at his new palatial estate…  I pee in his bushes. His new neighborhood is different and due to the fact that it was 5:55 AM and mostly daylight, I had to be a tad more discreet than usual.  The Commander’s garage door magically opened and there he was in all his glory.  We quickly loaded his gear into my truck and off went, filled with the exciting anticipation of the week to come.

      Our first stop, was the rest stop at Angola on I90, I ate some McMuffins, refueled, and off we were again.  Making very good time if I must say. Our next stop was at the Duty Free where we exchanged American Dollars into Canadian Dollars.  We got more than we gave so it was a very good deal. The border crossing went quickly, 4 lanes were open, maybe a dozen cars ahead of us. Only a few basic questions, and now we are actually foreigners traveling NORD.

     After reading some comments considering where to stay, The Commander reviewing some previous posts on this web site, decided that he would take T Bone’s recommendation to stay at the Tem Rose.  We checked in, received the room key and checked out the place.  T Bone was correct in saying that overall, it was a bit of an upgrade than The Auberge where we had previously stayed. As we were entering the restaurant for supper, a local gentleman seated outside at a table asked if we were staying and I said “yes.”  He asked me if my truck cap locked and I also said “yes.”  It’s not a super strong lock but it locks.  He proceeded to tell me that being this was a Friday night, it sometimes becomes a bit rowdy. I thanked him and moved my truck as close as I could get to a garage door so it would make it more difficult to get to the truck’s valuable contents.

        After eating some beer battered haddock with fries and coleslaw, we decided to get some shut eye.  Before retiring, I discovered that I had forgot to replace my tooth brush!  I was replacing it and forgot to obtain one.  Rats!  At approx.. 2:00 AM I awoke to drain the tank and heard a commotion outside. I did not go outside to check things out for fear of somehow getting involved with what was happening.  I dozed off and awoke again at about 4:00 AM.  All was quiet on the western front so I ventured outside to check things out.  Thankfully, the truck was not bothered however, there were several broken beer bottles in the lot.  While eating breakfast, a gentleman came over to our table and asked if we were Americans… He proceeded to thank us for all the good Americans have done in the world and announced his disgust with the ways Americans have subsequently been treated. I thanked him for that and he left.  Two fellows came in for breakfast and sat near us.   In a minute or two a conversation began and after some small talk we were surprised that we were speaking to ‘fishtilldark” and his friend. He advised me to visit the convenience store next to ProNature for the tooth brush. Yippee!     Small world! 

          I refueled again (bottom of hill) and off we went to the pick up point at the end of the access road.  We unloaded and took all our stuff to the dock. The bugs are horrendous!  Met a group coming out.  “Fishing was tough”  HMMMM. Infamous legendary, Jerry previous owner of 3 Seasons showed up.  Always a treat.  Haven’t seen him in about 5 years and he asked me if I remembered my shoes.  He doesn’t forget a thing after 20 years!   The customary back and forth about who has gotten uglier always happens. I honestly am very proud to say that he has gotten twice as ugly as me in half the time which the Commander can attest…. But won’t

        On que Reggie arrives and more or less pleasant comments are exchanged. Now its load time.  Whew!  Getting too much for this old guy. The ride to camp stirs stored memories and the beauty of the lake begins its magical ability to lure you in again.  Mostly happy talk on that ride in.  Where to fish, how, results etc. No matter what is said, doesn’t matter.  We are finally here!

     There is the Camp!  Gotta hand it to that Reggie.  The place looks terriffic! With mostly all new docks, the great fish house, Wow!  Now the serious unload and getting the stuff in the cabin and then putting all that stuff in its rightful place begins. Cabin 1 now sports a new porch and a brand spanking new sliding glass door!  Always clean cabin to arrive to.   The nervous energy permeates the setting up of rods, and loading boat stuff in the boat….  If I forget one more time to put the bead on after the bobber stop and before the bobber,  I’m going to crap!  Woops sorry, but it had to be said. I have forgotten to do every possible thing at one time or another when rigging up the slip float!  Can I hear an AMEN?

        Our first evening trip was to Smith Bay. The Commander managed two nice walleyes. A nice 20” and the largest of the trip, a 27” beauty which was immediately released. The 20” spent some quality time on the stringer but I could not convince the Commander that it was legal, so it too was released.  I did not have a bite.   HMMMMM

        We awoke Sunday morning with the wind still blowing.  I heard the wind all through the night. I actually thought it was raining but that was not the case.  The waves lapping against the docked boats was what I was hearing.  We elected to stay in camp till that wind subsided.  Just for the fun of it I casted a minnow shaped crank bait from the dock and managed to catch a 12” small mouth. Reggie estimated the wind gusts at 30 MPH.  Having a small weather station at home, I would have estimated those gusts to be 40-50 MPH. When we did venture out, we trolled the far shoreline from camp so that we were more out of the wind but caught nada in about 2 hours.  The surface temp of the water dropped from 63.7F to 57.3F overnight. That is quite a drop. Sunday evening I landed 4 walleyes. 2 were keepers, 1 too small and 1 (my biggest a 24”) The Commander also caught a small one.

         Our next trips, Smith Bay, Big Fish Point, #3 Flag, Rockman, the mouth of the river across from the Blue Barrel,  and that rock formation we call “Snoopy” produced ziltch!  I did manage to lose a large pike at #3 Flag.   Dang swivel broke.  My drag was maxed out.  I think The Commander snuck over and tightened it for me. Talking to our neighbors on our left, we learned that they were experiencing tough fishing as well.  HMMMMM   What a group of fun loving guys they are!  All Kipawa veterans, with many years of experience. They have developed a strange custom of burning their clothes the last evening instead of taking them home.  They wear those bug sprayed clothes all week and those clothes become toxic.  Staying downwind of the smoke some of those fellows actually sit near the fire in their skivvies!  I’ve seen pictures!  Not a pretty sight!

         Wednesday morning,  we fished the mouth of the Sanctuary and the only fish caught was The Commander’s 4 lb. small mouth.  Nice!   Wednesday evening it was back out to Snoopy.  Snoopy is my favorite fishing spot. The location allows a full 360 deg. View of Hay Bay and I soak it all in.  The forecast called for possible storms Thursday evening.  That being our last evening to fish, which I like to spend at Snoopy, we decided to fish there Wednesday evening.  Wa La!  Got some bites. Saw my first walleyes on camera. (only 2) all trip. Did see small mouth and pike.  I can tell which way my camera is looking by first locating the anchor rope…. However, the water was so stirred up with pollen, that I could not see the anchor rope from where I was sitting.  Worst visibility I’ve experienced. We brought back 4 keepers that night.  We spent the remaining excursions fishing Snoopy.  Caught a 29” pike which  I have resting in my freezer. 

         Wednesday evening we were invited to attend a camp feast put on by our fun loving neighbors on our left.  I was absolutely blown away with the menue which awaited us.  Salmon, escargot, bacon wrapped onion rings, deviled eggs with horseradish mayo and bacon, jalapeno sausages, chili,  just to name a few items. I ate my fill, so did everyone else.  Plenty of left overs.  Amazing!  Of course we thanked them!  Our contribution of Johnsonville Bratwurst and buns paled in comparison.  Who Knew? Thanks again guys!

          There is a situation that gets to me every time it happens, usually when the wind is not cooperating There you are, intently watching your float…  Take your eyes off of it for a few seconds… turn to look for it again and for the life of you, you can’t find it!  Now sometimes that float is gone with good reason.  Something has dragged it under and is making off with your leech!  Other times you can’t find it because you’re looking in the wrong freeking spot!.... So you start reeling in and it appears to the right or left of you, or under the boat….just doing its thing. The boat moved!  Not so much the Bobber!  Oh Man!

           Being somewhat of a stubborn guy with 70 years of  experience at it, I always take with a grain of salt, the comments I hear concerning the fishing. Even when the people in the know, with far more experience and knowhow than me proclaim that the fish are not biting, or are not at a specific place,  I put it in the “oh sure, sure,”  category.  Ill figure it out. I also pay little attention to where I’m told not to fish.  There are those iconic spots such as Rockman or Smith Bay where I’ll go to anyway.  I don’t get up there to fish often so I like to revisit those spots where some very nice memories were created. Those fish won’t know what hit em.  After all, I’m Captain Crappie!  I have a t shirt that states, “ At the mere mention of my name fish tremble!”  Well, when all was said and done, it was me and The Commander that trembled!  Our veteran neighbors told us “very tough fishing”,  Reggie said, “ Slowest Spring in his 12 years of camp ownership.”  Other cabins in camp echoed the same.  Thursday evening the weird smell of burning  insect repellant saturated clothes filled the air.   Friday, it finally calmed down and people brought back fish.  This week should be a killer of a week.  I guess it’s a, … shoulda been here next week scenario. 

         Are we sorry with our results?  Do we consider fishing other lakes in the future?  heck no!   The odds just caught up to us.  Did we enjoy ourselves? heck yes!  That ride out is such a melancholy ride for me.  Usually very calm, beautiful sunrise, coupled with the reserved goodbyes at the dock.  Now it’s on to The Auberge for breakfast to meet up with General Rhybak, Col. Steve and friend George,.  Always a treat!  The return to the States always seems longer. We were in some slow traffic after getting off the 407 but never stopped.  It was slow at a couple of other spots but it wasn’t that bad.  We exchanged our funny money for regular money and this time we took the hit. The female guard at the border was pleasant.  No problems.  After  1254.2 round trip miles, I’m back at home and wondering where that week went.  I remember batting my eyes twice.

         One final comment.  The Agency responsible to insure the future of the black fly can officially remove it from the endangered species category!  Their foresight has assured a fine breeding population for generations to come. Our children and grandchildren can now be assured the joy of dealing with huge clouds of black flies along with a bonus growing population of mosquitoes, and future employment will be found in the growing bug spray business! 

P.S.  Leeches caught all our fish.  A worm tipped jig struck out. Trolling produced none.

God Bless!

C.C.



           
You don't get these days back.  Live each day as if it were your last and one day you will be right.

ziggy6

Absolutely Great report..A joy to read it...thank you!

JLG

Good reading.  Thanks for posting a report of the week Deb and I should have been at Kip.  Maybe next year...

JigginFool

Nice report!!  Thanks for sharing..

BH

Gtray story and thank you for sharing.  May have to change your ritual and water captain bluegills yard on the ay home to change the outcome next year.
Love fishing

puckster_guy

great report Cap't always eloquent. I think just being on Kip is reward enuff. Some yrs the fish cooperate and some they don't. But when they're on they're on! Happy you had a great time.
Days spent fishing don't count against life :)

Balsams


getthenet


NortonJoe

Don't know about you all, but I look forward to Monday and Tuesday during the summer hoping there is a new report to read!  Thanks for the report...
Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.
~Henry David Thoreau

Oarin

Thanks, we've all had weeks like that. Excellent report!

NortonJoe

Quote from: Oarin on June 20, 2017, 08:48:10 AM
Thanks, we've all had weeks like that. Excellent report!
Even when the fishing is slow, there's no place I'd rather be with some good friends, a few cold drinks and the lake!
Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.
~Henry David Thoreau

T-Bone

Nice report Captain...sounds like you had a good time despite the bugs and marginal fishing success. To go out in your first evening and not have a bite...wow...that would shake my confidence for sure. At least Commander got a couple nice fish to keep the spirits high. Weird how things can change from one week to the next. We heard from Alwaki that fishing has been superb so far this season. I'm confident there are some ups and downs in that assessment also though. And I got a quick report from Rhybak on Sunday morning...they seemed to be doing just fine so far in both finding and catching keeper fish.

Just interested on your technique. Were you strictly using a slip bobber set-up? Did you try vertical jigging? Casting / swimming the jig? What type of structure and depth were you fishing?

Thanks again for the report...and the post-trip insights...

37 (nice to be in the thirties....)

Embrace every moment...you only get it once

Jay Thomas

Hi CaptainCrappie,

Very very satisfying to read a trip report from you and Commander Bluegill again. Sorry to read that the grandsons didn't make the trip. Easy to relate because I have a 4 day speckled trout trip coming up in Jul with my daughter and my two grandsons (ten and eight) and I'm very much looking forward to the trip. Walleye trips with the guys are in mid Aug and early Sep. Regardless that you and the Commander didn't boat 200 walleye, because I've had the pleasure of enjoying a couple of trips to Lake Kipawa with you guys, I know you guys still had a wonderful time. Your mention of General RYHBAK and Colonel Steve reminded me of this picture - hope you enjoy seeing it again.

Jay


limacharley

very appreciative of your report....some of you guys are really good story tellers.
Everybody is a genius.
But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree,
it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.
- Albert Einstein

CaptainCrappie

T BONE, I vertical jigged, casted a jig, casted and trolled worm harnesses and lures.  It became a joke (between the fisherman in camp) as to where they go when you can't find tem..  Well,  when they are not shallow , they must be deep, or somewhere in between, eh?  We jigged/trolled in water up to 40 ft or so. Like I said, I only saw 2 walleyes on my camera all week. Ready for this?  I saw very few (near bottom) perch/minnows as well. Its like they vanished!  Did see a few suspended bait balls but nothing chasing them or among them.  We cornered camp owner  Reggie as to where they might be. "In the lake"  He sure knew where they weren't cause he knew where we and everyone else were fishing, but acknowledged that fishing was the slowest he has seen in 12 years.... this time of year.  I'm sure that constantly changing wind had something to do with it. That's my best excuse. I'm not going to that "Galloping senility" excuse. When everyone in camp is not catching much of any thing, it says says a lot. When the veterans in camp.... up to 85 years old with over 40-45 years fishing the Kip are getting skunked, it is not just your luck. Its OK though.  Kipawa is still a beautiful place to spend a week.  Watch the reports this week! I'm predicting they will be awesome!

C.C.
You don't get these days back.  Live each day as if it were your last and one day you will be right.