Bush Country Camp June 9-16 2018

[fishtildark]

Good Morning to all the lucky people that still have a trip north to look forward to.. We just returned on Saturday from a great week of fishing at BCC  on Sasseginega. Jack and I left Friday for our usual day long trek to the Bercai in Temiscaming and hit the Maniwaki rd. at about 8 am Saturday. about 10 miles in we were treated to a bear in the road. Very long legged but not as heavy as Pennsylvania bears.We were  greeted at the landing by Norm who was delivering a group we have gotten to know in prior years so nice to catch up with them  . Arrived at the island and found that Norm and Guy had made some special arrangements on the dock to assist some of the guests with bad knees in getting in and out of boats. As Jack is scheduled for a knee replacement in two weeks this was a life saver..
We went out for our afternoon shakedown trip and had dinner then headed for Pickerel Bay. On the way we were treated to a cow and two calves just getting out of the water as we came around a point and then we were treated to an evening of the walleyes being turned on like they hadn't eaten in days.Jack landed the first fish of the trip, a 27 inch, approximately 7 lb beauty and they the bite was on til we finally left around 930. We don't keep an accurate count because it becomes meaningless when you sometimes troll the main lake for quality instead of the quantity you can get jigging, but we both had pretty much non stop action for about an hour and a half. The remainder of the week was very good with a storm rolling in on Wednesday which turned them on again until Thursday night. As so often happens, they can only feed for so long at the frenzy pace so Friday was much slower , catching probably about 10 fish between us.
The walleye were most all in the slot and the greatest portion in the 16 to 19 range. We had several which were over the 21 inch mark by a big margin and are also still swimming. We caught several pike during the week with the largest being a bruiser of about 38" . that towed the boat around a bit since I had him on 8 lb test and no leader. We tried for trout during the day as is our usual way to spend the midday hours. I lost the only trout we had on as he swam to the boat faster than I could reel.
All in all another great week. Camp is in great shape with many improvements being made to the cabins and boats and motors are continuing to be upgraded. Our 15 hp Yamaha ran well and trolled down great for our walleye trolls. Norm and Chantell and Guy all took care of us well. We are very impressed that the quality of the fishing seems to get better , a pretty good indication of the longer term affect of the slot limits since Bush country has had them in place for years. All you bug worriers.. black flies not bad and Mosquitos were active but not unbearable. the thermocells that Jack bought work great on them.
We left on Saturday and happened into the same bear in the same spot on the Maniwaki. got a picture this time although not a good one. Also am 90 percent sure I saw another moose but by the time I backed the car up, what I saw was gone.
That is probably it for another year although I never rule out the possibility of the late summer return. Good luck to all.

[Greg]

Awesome time!!  I love reading the trip reports - makes me so anxious to go ... just over 3 weeks now!

Thx... Greg

[puckster_guy]

A great post, So wonderful to see them all come in now. I was at camp when you were up there. It rained most of the day that Wednesday. Just some thunder So I just cleaned up the camp and got some ceilings ready to install. The wind kept the bugs down. FTD, what colors worked on that lake for the trolling?

[fishtildark]

Hello Puckster,
I thought of you when crossing the bridge at the chute. Are you on the "road" that goes straight  as opposed to the one being upgraded? we were most successful with perch and yellow perch rapalas but the smaller perch Canadian wiggler also worked.

[Hodgey1]

 Hello FTD, sounds like you had a great trip. Nice to hear that the size and quantity of walleye is improving.  I can’t wait for our trip in another month or so. Very nice of your camp host  to make accommodations for your friend with the knee problem. I think you need to practice reeling faster, to get ahead of the Trout making a run  at the boat. Glad your trip was successful

[Oarin]

Thanks for the report! Glad you did so well and got to see the bears and moose. It's always a thrill for me. Less than a month for my son and me to TBL outpost Can't wait! The reports really get me anxious. Oarin.

[Jay Thomas]

Thanks for your report. It's reports like yours that help scratch the itch until our own trip comes along.

Jay

[limacharley]

Thanks for that great report-Congrats on landing some quality walleye.

[puckster_guy]

Hello Puckster,
I thought of you when crossing the bridge at the chute. Are you on the "road" that goes straight  as opposed to the one being upgraded? we were most successful with perch and yellow perch rapalas but the smaller perch Canadian wiggler also worked.

Hang a left after the bridge. I'm about 2 km in. TY ya, perch works well here too' Chrome and shad as well.

[T-Bone]

Sounds like a pretty successful trip to me...nice going. Looking to pull-off a 2-banger like we did last year also...late-July and late-September. We'll see.

[Balsams]

FTD, I believe it was you who gave me some pointers for that lake many years ago when we decided to try Sass one year at BCC instead of Kikwissi. It was early June. It was one of the last years Art was running the camp. There were spots like Seagull Rock which was due north of camp, this side of the west narrows into the north arm I think. I believe cigarette rock or the rocking chair was in the north arm?? We didn't have much luck at any of those spots but did really well in P Bay. I love trolling for pickerel when they are on...have nice galvanized rod holders to set the rod down...watching the rod smack and bend is priceless "fish on!!!". My go to is a small size shad rap in bluegill or perch pattern...or a small size old school rapala in orange color (I encourage all to give this bait a try). We caught some big trout in the pool due north of camp...there are a few humps out there marked with white jugs (years back). Canoe spoon with a dipsy did the trick...and still does. It was Art who gave that tip. Glad you enjoyed. Pickerel is best eating I think early in the year...firm, clean, fresh fillets. I agree about the bugs...not bad. Can kick up at certain times on the mainland, but out on an island cabin (or on the boat), and a bit of breeze...non issue. I hope I can make it back to that lake one day.
Back then there was an outpost cabin south of BCC and on the east shore if I recall...are there any other operators on Sass nowadays? Did you see any folks on the lake other than BCC guests? When we were there we only ever saw 2 other boats, and they were fishing way south...this is priceless to me, our group had the whole lake to ourselves!
Happy returns.

[fishtildark]

 Good Morning Balsams .  you have a good memory. We did ok at seagull but it is one of those places that seems to be better as the year goes on and I like best when there has been a west wind for a while. Didn't fish at the rocking chair or cigarette rock this year. Rocking chair is south of camp a good ways on the eastern shore. Both of these are rather deep and fairly flat smooth bottom. Pickerel bay …. they don't care which way the wind is blowing in the spring post spawn and the same with Minnonie bay. but they move out of those bays in late June.
you are also correct that there is a private cabin(only private on lake ) on the far eastern shore. there is also an outpost from the only other outfitter at the bottom of the lake about a half mile south of that. We saw three other boats from that outpost 2 times when trolling the main lake for trout. The reason you never see others is it is well over an hour or hour an a half with a fishing size motor to get to the other camp. In doing that you are passing so much fishable structure the trip hardly makes sense.
Good luck in getting back there some time. the new owners are very hospitable and Norm has become very knowledgeable about the fishing . He now gives every new guest a tour to make sure they understand the spots with the goal of making sure they catch fish right away on a new lake. Many people shy away from the idea of the road to get there. while it has its places that take some caution , it is simply a two hour trip that we no longer try to set any speed records on . Good luck

[fishtildark]

A couple post scripts for general information because I got good advice here on the board. We got the night crawlers at Billy Bob's and we're very satisfied.service , price and quality All good. Waited to buy beer at temiscaming IGA.price much better than Ontario but I would check ahead on supply specifics.i took last two cases of Canadian bottles out of walk in cooler.They may have had more somewhere but given that the duty free had no Canadian at all there may be something going on with supply.

[Hodgey1]

No Canadian at all there may be something going on with supply.

Say it ain't so

[johnny walleye]

AWESOME