Lake Ogascanan June 25 - July 1

[ziggy6]

Lake Ogascanan   -June 25 â€" July 1
      After what seemed like longer than a year from out last trip north, we set out from Albany NY for our now annual trip to Lake Ogascanan. There were four returning visitors and 2 newbies. We crossed over the border at Ogdensburg, NY without much of an issue and then proceeded to Temiscaming and  the Tem Rose. It was our second year staying there and we have been happy with the results. After our IGA stop, we walked over to the Tem Rose restaurant for dinner. We've tried for the last two years to put a dent in their Bleu reserve but it always seems that they have more than we can consume, but we do try.
    The following morning we picked up our ice and Leeches and off we went.  After the 2.5 hr trip we had finally arrived to our destination. The Mullen’s welcomed us as always and are a great family, gracious and informative as always.  Dan and Jer got us up to speed on fishing conditions, along with info of our new destination for the week, Smiths Pass.
    We got in and started the fishing off …and our routine was established. Early to rise..Fish ….nap , eat , fish, eat , sleep …. Early to rise and so on… We had to work a bit to find fish but we found an abundance of large walleye…many in the 24 -26 inch range, we figure we caught over 25 fish in this range.  We caught enough slot fish to have our annual fish fry and for each of us to take a few home. The conditions were changing and we had to learn to adapt with near still wind conditions... drifting, our usual method, was out of the question but we were able to be successful never the less. It also helped when we ran into a pair of gentlemen staying at Jaways that provided us with valuable advice.   We caught more pike this year than in years past, with newbie Davey even  catching a 34 inch pike on an ultralight rod with 6 pd test on a jig head. We still haven’t gotten onto a Laker yet but a large part of that is that we have them in our area and fish for them throughout the winter so we dont really target them while at Ogascanan.
      Our two newbies were outstanding fisherman and great cabin mates. One of the best moments was when Dan on his first trip caught a beautiful walleye, his first ever, and stood there yelling , "I caught a f....g Walleye!!" with his arms raised in triumph.  Living with 6 guys in a cabin requires the right temperament and attitude and these guys fit perfectly.  The food was outstanding and we've learned this is not a lose weight type of vacation.
     Sunday rolled around too quickly. On that 12 hour trip back to Albany our list of what worked and didn’t work was already being established and calendars being check for our return, next year.  Boy I hate to wish away time but cant wait for next year!

I'll ask Ira to post some pictures...we had a double rainbow that was very impressive.

Ziggy

[SgtCrabby]

Sounds like you had another great time.  Thanks for the report.
We've always stayed at Smith Pass;  we like it's central location.


Still winds?  I haven't seen it calm often.

[Jay Thomas]

It also helped when we ran into a pair of gentlemen staying at Jaways that provided us with valuable advice.  Ziggy

Thanks for your trip report. I spent some time in Sep 2000 fishing Ogascanan from the Smith Pass outpost cabin. Maybe I'm more inquisitive than most. Consequently, can you please share what valuable advice you received. I don't know about anyone else but I can use all the fishing advice I can obtain.

Jay

[T-Bone]

Thanks. Another successful trip chalked up to 2018!!!!!

[ziggy6]

Jay, It was more about locations and time of day activity.  We were hoping around in the am to some different spots and the advice was to hit a certain location first thing in the morning, it was spot on.

[Hodgey1]

Lake Ogascanan   -June 25 â€" July 1
Our two newbies were outstanding fisherman and great cabin mates.  Living with 6 guys in a cabin requires the right temperament and attitude and these guys fit perfectly. 

Amen to having the right cabin mates. I've been on a lot of fishing and hunting trip, all it takes is one backside hole to ruin a trip.

The food was outstanding and we've learned this is not a lose weight type of vacation.

Great food and great fishing, sounds like a great trip!

[Jay Thomas]

Jay, It was more about locations and time of day activity.  We were hoping around in the am to some different spots and the advice was to hit a certain location first thing in the morning, it was spot on.

Thanks.

Jay

[Oarin]

Thanks, weather can change everything and learning to adapt is the thing. (something I'm not good at!) Glad you all had a blast.

[Chazz]

Finally an Ogascanan post thank you.  Be there in 5 weeks staying at Smith's cant wait.  Hoping to target all three species and any tips where and how are appreciated.  How bad was road the road in?

[Ira]

Some pics from our trip.

https://www.snapfish.com/photo-gift/share?via=link&token=QBRbh37pNl2t6RfEU3e0xg/SFO/27947817091060/SNAPFISH


1) Dan's first walleye. You think he was a little excited?
2 & 3) Another spectacular Ogascanan sunset ...
4) ... and moonrise
5 & 6) And after a short shower, a beautiful double rainbow!
7) Edgar with a nice one
Calm evening on the lake
9 - 13) Juice (2), Dave, Ira, and Zig show off some big ones.
14) Dave & Zig enjoy some quiet time. Maybe a bit of a breeze would've brought us more fish?
15) Dave & the big pike nobody thought he'd get in the boat.
16) From the magazine we found in the cabin. Like he needs lessons.

[Chazz]

IRA - did you get a chance to check out the the conservation lakes

[Ira]

No - we decided to pass on that side trip. The way Jer described it, getting to it sounded like a lot of effort - pull the boats up into a mucky area, wade to shore in boots, change shoes to hike to the canoes, carrying paddles from the boats and tackle, ...
More than we were willing to put up with for the experiment.