Most memorable fishing trip

[Nancy]

On these cold wintry days, I just thought it might be fun to reminisce about our most memorable fishing trip, be it to the Kipawa area or where ever.

I will start off. Ours is a pretty easy one. I think it was about 5 years ago. I think one of the popular commercials (may have been for Geico, but not sure). It was going down a hill on a sled yelling WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!  Anyway, we were going through North Bay on a Sunday heading out to the Lake when a lady pulled out in front of us and we blew our brake line. No place for a garage to fix us up on a Sunday. So John decided he could drive on in. We bought more brake fluid and kept adding. Everytime we came to one of the hills in the bush roads, John and I would yell, WEEEEEE!! Yes, it was a little rough sometimes, but we made it. Someone passed us heading into Ogas, and we told them about our problem. So all the vehicles were well to the side of the driveway when we got there. My concern was that once we got there we wouldn't get stopped before we got up close and personal with cabin 1, since the driveway kind of bends around if. But everything turned out fine. Brad and John "bush fixed" it enough to get us home.

[T-Bone]

I've enjoyed many, many enjoyable fishing trips north of the border dating back to the mid-70s. I would have to say my "most memorable" was a train-in trip me and my two best buddies Marco and Stevie took to Lake Wabitongushi, Ontario. Timing was late-May...we were trying to get the early walleye and pike bite. Quite an adventure.

We had an outpost cabin about 3-miles away from main camp...our first venture to an outpost...seemed strange being isolated like that. We heard noises we've never heard and saw things we've never seen before. After all, our baseline at this point was Pigeon Lake in the Kawarthas area of Ontario...and that's filled with Toronto'nians and all the conveniences of a city. The weather was R-A-W...just brutal the first part of the trip. The first morning we woke up to mid-30s and an eerie winter looking sky and landscape. Water was cold...like ice out was a week before or so. To get on the 'eyes we'd have to boat up the lake 11-miles and fish the border of the sanctuary.

The first couple days a couple of the guides took us out to show us where to go...what to do...what to look out for...etc. There weren't many people in camp and they were just sitting around anyway. These guys were wild and free...young like us...and just had a zest for the north. I can recall it like it was yesterday...Courtney, Gator, then Jay. Jay would play Pantera full-blast in his 18' Peterborough boat which he modified and added a car stereo and speakers to. Gator was just fearless....would weave his boat through other boats only a few feet away to get exactly on the spot he wanted. Courtney was the owner's son and had a true passion for the north. All three of them great guys. We caught some decent fish, but it was just too early to get into numbers.

We saw tons of wildlife we'd never seen before. At least a few moose encounters including one that was staring into our cabin window while we were eating dinner one afternoon. Had a pack of black bears raid our shore lunch...we had to bail out into the boats and watch them rummage through the food being prepared by the guides. Classic memory. The weather did warm-up and we got a little more adventurous...exploring a wild and beautiful part of Ontario that is Lake Wabitongushi. Tried to get back there the next year, but got "iced out" as the lake hadn't cleared yet by the time our week arrived, then sadly we never tried again. We always talk about getting back there...and I'm hopeful that some day we will.

Great memories...



P.S. On another note, broke the 200-day barrier the other day...the official countdown to Kipawa starts soon!

[chiaro]

My most memorable fishing trip was the first time I went fishing alone with my wife for a week. We both found that we had a shared passion, it was like finding out when you are 8 that girl next door had a passion for baseball. Excluding that trip for that reason the most memorable trip would be fishing the Yukon. The fishing was good but the setting was unbelievable. Have you ever been on Kipawa and some sun drenched evening felt like you were in the most perfect place in the world? We fished Dalton Trail lodge and pretty well every day was a new setting, a new experience. It was like my soul was on constant hummmm.