FISH CATCHING TRAVEL
Day 4
In what has become my ritual up here, rising at the crack of dawn, it is one of my favorite things. It starts getting light at 4 and everything is quiet around here. I get to listen to the birds and get my mind right for what is to come each day. And speaking of birds, Canada has some great ones.
When you see things like the bears we saw yesterday you forget the common things you see, like the eagles. I was reminded of that when I got a question from Catfish Tom asking if we had seen any eagles. There are lots and lots of bald eagles and some golden eagles up here. They are majestic birds and so big. They are also surprisingly aggressive. Last year the boys fed one a rock bass, and this year one tried to take matters into his own hands.
John said Clyde was fighting a small pike when an eagle swooped down after it, and almost took Clyde’s hat off. That is the kind of thing that happens up here. What a place. We saw a major crow vs. eagle fight the other day. As the crows would come to harass the eagle he would roll over and use those awesome claws as a weapon to keep the pesky crows off. He was almost flying upside down. And we also could hear ruffled grouse drumming. Interesting way to get a girlfriend! And the Loons are awesome. Their call can be heard for miles. They are one cool bird that we sometimes see in Texas in the winter. Kind of hard to be a fish eating diving bird when the ice is 3 feet thick.
Today it is off to an area we have fished before, Stevens Bay. A flatter shallower area of Lake of the Woods it has lots of reeds. It is known for its walleyes. Now I have caught some in my life, including my biggest up here, but you can put all I know about fishing for them in a thimble. My knowledge is limited to how wonderful they taste in the fry pan. Besides minnows and worms, you catch them on leaches. So yesterday evening here comes Clyde with a sack full of squirming blood sucking leaches. That is creepy. I just might act like a girl, no offense to girls, and have the Shoedog bait my hook.
On another note, Lake of the Woods has lots of access points being so big, but very few free ramps. One we use at a resort close to here charges $15 to launch. Now that in and of itself is a rip off but what are you going to do. So before I came up here I checked their website and they have a deal for $50 and you can launch for the week. So when we put in yesterday as Shoedog paid he asked about it. Well guess what? That is only for their guests! So in other words you pay to stay there for the week, and they charge you to use the ramp. That is crazy. And even better, if you leave your boat in the water at their dock, you have to pay more. Think about it, you pay big bucks to stay there, where fishing is the reason for the season, and they charge you extra to do the thing you are staying there for. And you would think that there would be common curtesy between adjacent resort owners, but in that guy’s case not. When Paul takes a client over there to fish and uses his truck and they come in another vehicle they get charged $25 for the pleasure. You find those kind of folks in many places we visit, but this seems extra wrong. I do not fault anyone for trying to make a living, but when you stay with good people like Paul and Chris it makes that guy like that look petty. I have stayed lots of places but this is only the second place I ever heard of doing such a thing.
And speaking of their ramp, it was a mass exodus off the lake yesterday. As the storm approached we all headed for the ramp. Lake of the Woods is big water, and the storms can be pretty rough. I have stayed to long in many other places when we should have quit, but on LOW you do not mess around. It could be the worst decision you ever make. So to all the wives back home, we are not as stupid as you might worry about. And we are wearing our life jackets. We want to live another day, hell the fish might be biting!
And one last word about weather before I get the rambling hoard up. It changes, and I mean hour to hour. Yesterday was a perfect example of that. It was raining and calm when I got up. We put on our raingear and for the first hour we needed it. Then it cleared off and was calm and beautiful. So we shed clothes. Then the wind starts blowing a 100 and a little later it starts raining. We put our stuff back on for an hour, then it cleared off again and was steamy hot. Then the storm came and on the stuff goes again. Then as we eat supper it clears off and is beautiful. Then near dark it clouds up and starts raining again. Like I said before we left, bring all the stuff, you will need it, maybe several times in one day. Time to make the lunch, fill thermoses, and get them moving. It is day 4 and we only have 10 days left so there is no time to waste!
Same Old Song – Different Day
There is really nothing more to say, while we caught fish, there was a another great moment when the Shoedog did his thing. He is having the trip of a lifetime.
Look at how thick that thing is. So freakin’ big I could not get the whole damn thing in the picture.
We started the day off walleye fishing. They are in the grassy areas in 5 – 7 feet of water. Clyde and John were using leaches, we were using nightcrawlers. We were using spinner rigs and bottom bouncers. It was really tough with high winds and the temp never got above 60 all day. Before it was over they ended up with 7 and we only had 2 keepers. They are all headed to the resort as guests of honor at tomorrows fish fry.
Around noon the wind was just plain blowing probably 20+ so we started fishing for other stuff. When Shoedog and I first put in we fished one small cove with weeds and cover and we put 4 or 5 bass and pike in the boat Then when we gave up the walleye fishing we started fishing buzzbait and jerkbait. Unfortunately the water started to muddy and because of the lay of the land there were very few places to fish that were right.
So we headed back to the one big cove that had perfect grass and weeds and the catching began. The musky above hit Shoedog with about a foot of line out, talk about exciting. I alsocaught a small one, and we caught several pike. I also caught a couple of smallmouth on jerkbait. John caught a musky and they caught a couple more fish before they quit. They tell you not to target musky, but how in the bloody hell you can fish for bass and not catch them I do not know. Hell, we even changed lakes and still caught a couple. Everything is moving and it will only get better as the weather improves.
Tomorrow will be about the same weather so we are planning to fish a small lake close that is covered up with smallmouth and no musky. I think John and Clyde are going back to Stevens Bay to try something different. When they cleaned their walleye they were full of big crawdads, same as ours when Shoedog cleaned them. So they are going to fish crankbaits. We are all tired, so tomorrow the lake we are going to is right across the road and we may go early and quit early. Time to rest up for the long day that will be Wednesday. That is the day we are headed to Bear Bay for the 100 smallmouth day.
So there you have day 4. Not to bad considering the weather. But that is Canada, sometimes you just have to man up. When you come this far there is no taking the day off, but boy it was tough today. Tomorrow I will get back to taking a few pictures and maybe make another video. So keep stopping in to the Shoedog show and thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
