Canada canoe trip 2013

[coyote101]

My son and I took our annual trip to Canada a couple of weeks ago. We left Kentucky early on June 3rd and drove about ten hours to Tomah, Wisconsin. Got up on the 4th and drove the rest of he way to Crane Lake, MN. It's about a 1025 mile total trip from the house. Up early on Wednesday the 5th, met up with the outfitter and headed to the wilderness of Quetico Provincial Park.

We travelled heavy this trip, and only portaged our stuff twice going in and once coming out. We stayed at two locations on the same lake, only moving once. We took a screen house with us and it was great when the mosquitos got thick. This is our sixth trip and is the earliest that we have ever gone by several weeks. The weather was great with lows in the 40's and highs in the 60's and low 70's. No high winds this year and we really only had steady rain one evening. It lasted most of the night, but we were in the tent so it didn't really matter much.

The fishing was not as good as I had hoped, but we caught (and failed to catch) some nice fish. I hooked a nice lake trout from the shore on a quarter ounce jig head, got him to the surface a couple of times, but couldn't close the deal. I couldn't lift him out of the water with my ten pound test and couldn't come up with a workable plan before he threw my little barbless hook. I mishandled and lost a couple of nice pike because I'm too much of a wuss to just reach out an grab a big fish with teeth.

We stayed in Quetico till Wednesday the 12th, got picked up by the outfitter and headed back to Crane Lake for U.S. Customs, to settle up with the outfitter, and take a hot shower. Then on to Eau Claire, Wisconsin for steak dinner and a good night's sleep in a real bed. Up on Thursday for the twelve hour drive back to Kentucky.

It was another great trip and if you ever have the opportunity to visit Quetico, I highly recommend you take it. 

Stopped at Gander Mountain in Eau Claire, Wisconsin to pick up a few things.
My son bought a Zara super spook, which is a large top water lure. On our second day of fishing, he cast it and it hadn't much more than hit the water when an adult bald eagle swooped out of a nearby tree where he had been sitting unseen and snatched it out of the water! He lifted it about 25 to 30 feet out of the water before he realized it wasn't what he wanted and dropped it. The line broke of course, but we did find and recover the lure. The eagle went back to his tree.

Passed the Jack Links factory


Spent the night at Crane Lake, MN, loaded up our stuff and headed out. We made the usual stop at Canadian Customs on the way in


International boundry marker. I'm in Canada, the far shoreline is in Minnesota.


The outfitter's boat on one of the mechanical portages


A short video of the portage car going over the hump: (VIDEO)


We set up camp across from Rebecah Falls




And started fishing from the shore. This is my first fish of the trip:


And my second fish:


My son joined me and caught his first one


And then took a break in our mosquito safe house


Caught this 20 inch smallie on day two:



We paddled over to the falls for a couple of pictures






And videos: (VIDEO)


(VIDEO)


Looking back across the lake at our campsite:


And from the campsite to the falls:




A little lake scenery


My son's best pike:


And my only walleye, caught trolling a Rattle trap:


A short break for lunch and a nap


And more lake pics


The best pike I managed to land. I lost a much larger one because fish with teeth still scare me!


Another nice smallie. I didn't measure this one, but it would be close to 19 or 20 inches. I caught this one on the next cast after losing the lake trout.


Our camp kitchen:


We paddled back over to the falls


And I managed to pull one little smallie from the rough water


More scenery:














This is my favorite scenery shot of the trip:


Our little camp visitor:


More fish:


Including this 17 inch largemouth, the only one of the trip:




My son's one and only walleye:


Double rainbow


what could it mean?


Paddling out to fish on a foggy morning:






Fishing near the top of a rapids


Sunset on the lake

[WldWldWest]

Great story as well as great pic's Pat, looks like another good run.
Really diggin the portage railway, very cool!
Question? The tarp between the tree's, Dry storage?
The kitchen looked a lil small

Thanks for taking us along!

[CCP]

 I look forward to seeing and hearing of you and your sons adventure every year. I keep checking in to find the thread. Thanks for sharing it is sooo cool. 

[Dave]

Sounds and looks like an incredible trip.  You have some real nice smallies there.  I'm sure they fought there asses off, too, with that current. 
Did you fry any of them up?  If so, throw a few pics of those in there!!!  We gotta see your cast iron…….     -   cookware, that is.   
Thanks for taking the time to post it all.

[FinsnFur]

Man I am so envious Those are same dang nice smallies!
How does the boat get off loaded? I'm guessing those rails go right down into the water on the end of er.
I wish I was able to take fishing trips with my father again. But he's just unable to get around like that.
It looks like the kind of trip dreams are made of and I'm glad you shared it with us. Nice pics.
Catching Northern in a canoe scares me period
By the way I gotta kick out of your "What could it mean?"

[HuntnCarve]

Looks like your son and you had a great time Pat.  Thanks for sharing your adventure with the rest of us.  You captured some awesome photos and some fine fish.

Dave

[nailbender]

 That's some beautiful scenery up there! Looks like a good time

[Hawks Feather]

Sure looks like a great trip and time well spent with your son.  I really appreciate the images since it makes me feel like I was right there in the canoe with you.  Funny about the eagle.  When I started reading that I envisioned an angler reeling in an eagle and thought if you didn't want to grab a pike by the teeth what would you do with an eagle.   

Welcome home.

Jerry

[coyote101]

Question? The tarp between the tree's, Dry storage?
The kitchen looked a lil small

Dry storage it is Doug. Here is another pic taken at a different site last year. I have several of those tarps that my wife made for me from some silnylon I got for a dollar a yard at Walmart a few years ago. They are compact, light and very strong.


Another view of the kitchen. This is an old Coleman Peak 1 Apex stove. It is very stable, with a low center of gravity, and has a nice adjustable flame, which allows simmering. I have at least twenty camping and backpacking stoves, and this is probably the best for this kind of tripping.

Did you fry any of them up?  If so, throw a few pics of those in there!!!  We gotta see your cast iron…….     -   cookware, that is.   

Here you go Dave. Filets in the skillet with a little olive oil and Old Bay.


That's actually pike in the pictures. We didn't catch any walleye on the days we planned to eat fish and were limited to one bass a day, no longer 13.5 inches. We weren't catching many fish that small, so we ate pike a couple of times. I like pike just fine, but those y-bones are a nuisance.


Pat

[coyote101]

How does the boat get off loaded? I'm guessing those rails go right down into the water on the end of er.

Right you are Jim. Here is another picture from a few years ago that shows it pretty well.


Here is the cart about to go into the water to pick the boat up. 

Funny about the eagle.  When I started reading that I envisioned an angler reeling in an eagle and thought if you didn't want to grab a pike by the teeth what would you do with an eagle.   

Here is that eagle Jerry. After he dropped the lure he went back to his perch.


Then took off as we paddled by.


Pat

[HaMeR]

Another great week of fishing with your Son Pat!! Great pics & writeup!! Those are some darned nice smallies for sure. Glad you had another good safe run & Thank You for sharing!!   

[FOsteology]

Fantastic! Thanks for sharing and taking us "along", even if it was just vicariously! 

[Okanagan]

Simply a great photo journey for the rest of us.  Bravo!  Thanks for putting up such a clear and uncomplicated posting.

What a great trip with a son.

Re pike bones:  I had three big feeds of fish last week while in N. Saskatchewan, mostly pike but some lake trout and walleye.  So far on most of those trips, a majority end up preferring pike which surprises them.  It is critical to get those bones out however.  We got drenched and run off the water by lightning, etc. more than good fishing!

[iahntr]

Very nice Pat ! Thanks a bunch for taking the time to share it with us !

[weedwalker]

Great pictures Pat!! Looks like you and your son had a great trip. Those are some nice fish you caught too.

[slagmaker]

Thanks for taking us along on your trip Pat.  Love the pics.
Wish i could get my dad to go fishing with me again.

[KySongDog]

Great trip, Pat!   I bet that screen house was worth the effort to pack it along.  They've got mosquitoes the size of humming birds up there!

[WldWldWest]

Pretty clever on the tarp's Since we started "Hammock camping" I've been looking for something really light weight to use besides the nylon tarps which are better than nothing but are heavy and dont pack well. And I have a really tough time spending $80 on a 10x10 tarp designed for that.

How efficient is the stove does a tank of fuel last a while?


( A wife that makes one tarps for camping ,Where did I go wrong? )

[coyote101]

Pretty clever on the tarp's Since we started "Hammock camping" I've been looking for something really light weight to use besides the nylon tarps which are better than nothing but are heavy and dont pack well. And I have a really tough time spending $80 on a 10x10 tarp designed for that.

How efficient is the stove does a tank of fuel last a while?


( A wife that makes one tarps for camping ,Where did I go wrong? )

Doug,

That stove is no longer made, but one of the criticisms of it in old reviews was that it was not very fuel efficient. I did not find that to be the case. I always plan for 1/2 cup of fuel per person per day, but we did not use anywhere near that on this trip. I brought back nearly half of the fuel I took.

What type of hammock are you using? I have a Hennessy Expedition a-sym that I really like, but the tarp coverage does leave something to be desired.

About the wife.....after thirty two years I've decided to keep her. 

Pat

[WldWldWest]

Pretty clever on the tarp's Since we started "Hammock camping" I've been looking for something really light weight to use besides the nylon tarps which are better than nothing but are heavy and dont pack well. And I have a really tough time spending $80 on a 10x10 tarp designed for that.

How efficient is the stove does a tank of fuel last a while?


( A wife that makes one tarps for camping ,Where did I go wrong? )

Doug,

That stove is no longer made, but one of the criticisms of it in old reviews was that it was not very fuel efficient. I did not find that to be the case. I always plan for 1/2 cup of fuel per person per day, but we did not use anywhere near that on this trip. I brought back nearly half of the fuel I took.

What type of hammock are you using? I have a Hennessy Expedition a-sym that I really like, but the tarp coverage does leave something to be desired.

About the wife.....after thirty two years I've decided to keep her. 

Pat

I have a Grand Trunk SBP that I have used a while and just got a Warbonnet Blackbird 1.7 I bought used and havent set it up yet. I never thought I would spend that much money on a hammock!