Canada 2009 - The Year of Mike

This was the year of Mike.  First he shows up at my place with a new Saturn Outlook that he picked up the day before.  Used the Cash for Clunkers and made out pretty well.  We loaded the sucker up and headed for Chicago to pick up Johnson.  The three of s were headed to Hayward, WI for a little sleep and some golf Saturday morning.


We arrived in Hayward about 10p.  Mike and I had the same problem last year.  Hayward rolls up the sidewalks around 10p.  We found a pizza joint, Coop’s and made it just under the gun. 



After some delicious pie, we checked in to the Comfort Suites and hit the sack.  The alarm went off almost immediately for our 7:50a Tee Time.  We woke to cool temps, strong winds and spitting rain.  We also found out upon checkout that the Comfort Suites screwed up our Stay and Play and that there was no one around who could fix it.  So after getting bent for the room, a small disturbance in the lobby, and me telling everyone within hearing distance that I would never stay at the Comfort Suites of Hayward ever again, I called the course, canceled our tee time and headed the truck towards International Falls, MN. Nice easy drive, the scenery is awesome.  We arrived at the border to find about an hour wait.



Across the border and making good time, we arrived at the cabin around 4p.  Unloaded the car and iced down some beers.  Then it was down to the rocks to see what we could find.






Mike and I caught a couple little pike which made us feel a little better than last year when you couldn’t get a bite from the rocks.  Bad Sign!  So hopefully this would be a better year.  The water was down 6-8 feet from last year, but seemed at normal Summer pool. We had a bite to eat, played some cards and got to bed early.  We’d put the boats in the water, and hopefully be fishing tomorrow. Awoke to high poofy clouds, temps in the mid 60’s.  Weather was a concern before we left.  But so far so good. We drove down to Locke Bay Camp and had Andy help us get the boats in the water.  Miracle’s never cease.  They started right up.  It is hard on a boat to only be run a week or two each year.   Mike and I packed up the boat and went looking for something to hit a lure.  Scott and his dad took off in search of “da meat” as my grandfather would say.  They went looking for Eye’s for supper.

 

I finally talked Mike into getting a new pole this year and even into using braid.  He made a few casts and talked about how much better this set up felt than his old one.  I suggested jerkbait off some rock face just past the cabin and he immediately had a smallie.  Again, the year of Mike, first fish, which would be the pattern for the week.   I kept the boat moving along the shore and away from the locals swimming around the small bay down from the cabin.  Mike is beating and banging with this 10” smallie in the back of the boat.  I’m like dude what are you doing, we was trying to flip the smallie off with his pliers without touching it.  Sissy.  I keep tossing my popper and laughing to myself.  About 3 minutes later,  I hear a small splash and look back to see him staring into the water.  I caught a flash out my eye and I look into the water.  “was that your pole?”  I ask.  “Yup”.  Mike had managed to kick his brand new pole, with brand new spinning reel, spooled with brand new braid off the side of the boat and into the river.   I reached for a tackle bag and started tying on a couple big sinkers and a huge treble.  I encouraged Mike to try the same, after the shock wore off of course.  I started to fan the area with casts when Mike asks if I thought that little smallie could pull his rod very far.  He never even got the damn thing unhooked before the “incident”.  I didn’t even answer, I turned the boat up the shore, changed back to my popper and started chucking again. 

We hit a few small pike and the occasional smallmouth nothing big but you never know when one will pound you.  The day was fairly uneventful.  Totals in the 20’s each.  We’ve done better, we’ve done worse.  Scott and his Dad seemed to have much the same luck.  Walleye were steady, not crazy.  No big ones.

Monday arrived with some rain.  I heard it pounding the windows and rolled back over for a few more winks.  When I woke up around 9:15a it was just overcast, the rain had let up.  Mike and I threw on the rain gear and headed for Muriel Lake.  It’s a windy little path through some marsh to get there, but last year proved it was worth it.  The rain just wouldn’t stay away and through showers and fighting to wind we made a valiant effort.  I found that the smallie bait of the week was a 3.5” Zara Spook.  They were pounding the thing, even in rough water, but especially if we could find some protected water.  Mike was hitting pike on spinnerbaits with regularity so I put on my 2nd pole for areas when I couldn’t throw the spook.



Then Tuesday rolled around.  Bright sunshine and clear water, not the best of conditions for our style of fishing.  We headed out in the morning and had more of the same.  Decent action nothing big.  The leader was established by Mike at 25”.  After a trip in town for some lunch and supplies, we headed out again where I took the lead with a 26”.  That is when the fun started.  Mike launched a spinnerbait towards shore and the clump of grass he landed beside swirled.  I immediately reached for the net.  We had a jumper.  I could hear Mike’s intake of breath as this nice pike came out of the water once, twice and even a third.  I dipped the net in the water and Mike had a nice 36”.  Somewhere between unhooking her, taking her picture, and getting a measurement, Mike took a nasty deep gash on his left thumb. Either gill plate, or tooth, I’m not sure but one of them got him.

 

We got her back in the water and I headed for the dock.  After a few minutes of patch work, some bandages and lots of cleaning, I talked Mike into heading back out to finish off a beautiful evening.  We zipped back down to the end of the bay and got back to work.  As I maneuvered us across the entrance to Muriel a boat came down the river and stopped about 20 yards away.  I wasn’t sure what they were doing exactly, but they were definitely honing in on our turf.  An older gentleman and what looked to be a teenager hailed us from the boat. “You the guys from the Tri State Fishing Club?” they asked.  I kid you not.  We are.  “I’ve been following your website for a few years now.  I found it during a search for Locke Bay.  Then I recognized the cabin and knew where you were from.”  Needless to say, I was stunned.  I mumbled a few thank you’s, Mike sat silently in the back.  We exchanged some pleasantries and with wishes of good luck the two were on their way.  It was surreal.  Mike and I shared a laugh.  I was very glad that they took the time to come down and chat with us.  The power of the internet I guess.

Wednesday morning broke and Scott and Rob needed gas, but Andy is closed on Weds. so Rob would have to run to town.  Mike wanted to rest his sore thumb, so Scott and I went out and did a little casting along the banks.  The action was actually the best yet.  Scott and I both hit 8-9-10 fish.  Then a nasty little storm blew in and blew us back into the cabin.  A couple of episodes of NCIS later and I couldn’t take it anymore.  I grabbed my gear and headed for the river.  Scott decided to come along again.  The action remained hot and we both caught 5-6-7 more.  Then off to the West you could see it building, dark clouds and jagged lightening.  We headed for the cabin… again.  I decided to take a nap, heck with it.

Mike and I took to the water in the evening, it was a little cool from the front, and the fishing had slowed considerably for the same reason.  Spinnerbaits continued to produce, but not much else.  I decided to look for a winner.  I know this is the year of Mike, but I couldn’t give up, it was Weds.  I started chucking a 6” popper along the weed tops in deeper water out in front of the boat instead of casting to the shore.  I hit a 29” before we turned the first corner of the bay.  I hit a 31” as we moved to the far side and a 30” in the deep corner from where we started.  I just couldn’t find one with enough size and gumption to strike.  I caught a lot fewer fish, but they were more stout than what we had been catching.



The skies went dark and we headed back to the cabin for some grub and cards.  Mike and I threw a couple of steaks on the grill, lit a couple of cigars and enjoyed an awesome evening.

We decided to get an early jump on Thursday.  We were going exploring, looking for new and exciting trophy pike waters.  We threw open the throttle and zoomed down the river.  We passed Powder Puff, or Rattlesnake (that’s for you two guys on the river Eh.) and zipped back into the end of a long run as far as we could make it.  Grass, weeds and what seemed to be perfect pike water met greeted us.  Weather was once again perfect if a little too sunny and Mike and I went at it.  Mike hit the first fish.  Shocker.  In the year of Mike, he nailed first fish almost every single time we were on the water.  Not a good sign.  We had a couple of beavers give us hell for being too close to their home apparently which was the second time this week we were smacked and splashed at.  Disconcerting to say the least.  Git outta here Beaver!  We fished until the trolling motor battery was completely drained.  We had worked our way clear back to the beginning of the finger having hit every nook and cranny and anything remotely cover like along the way.  We were both into our high 20’s on total.  Nothing big, but a great fun day of fishing.

We arrived back at the cabin to give the battery a charge to find out we had been fishing for 8.5hrs and it was 4:30p.  Seemed like 2p maybe.  Scott and his dad had better luck that day and it was a good thing.  Second night of fish for dinner.





We decided to give Muriel a second try Thursday evening.  The conditions were perfect.  Calm, warm, little overcast.  It was going to be perfect.  We pulled in to the bay at the far end by Muriel Lake Rd. and started chucking.  Mike with his spinnerbait, hit 2 right out of the gate.  I was throwing my big popper again, and had a fish on my second cast.  Not a big one and I grabbed him by the back of the neck and started to remove the hook.  Like a flash he jerked his head and I had a treble hook stuck deep into my index finger.  I was pissed.  I told Mike I was going to need a little help.  I held the pike, Mike gently flicked the hook from its mouth while I held the second hook as steady as possible.  With the fish off, I unwound the hook around its o-ring and removed the lure.  I sat there and stared at the treble sticking out of my finger.   It didn’t bleed really, just a couple of drops, and it didn’t really hurt a ton.  Just a constant uncomfortable pain.  I decided we needed to head back to the cabin and reevaluate the situation.  I had Mike pull the trolling motor and I carefully drove us back to the dock.  I ran up the steps and dug into the tool closet.  At the angle the damn thing was in at, there was no way to cut the hook, and it was deep down past the barb to the curve.  I’d have to head to the ER and get it removed.  !#@$%@



5.5hrs of waiting, no meds, $420 U.S. and about 12 minutes of actual work to numb, make an incision and remove the hook later, I was on my way home with Mike at the wheel.  Quick political note… I do not want a healthcare system in the U.S. like the Canadian trainwreck that I experienced, and you shouldn’t either. 



Friday morning, last day of the trip, Mike has a wound, I have a wound, heck with it, let’s get on the water.  We decided to get back to the scene of the crime since we really didn’t get much of a crack at it the evening before.  Muriel it was.  The fish cooperated and I broke off a biggie.  “That was the one!” as we are so apt to say on our Canadian adventures.  Mike caught the first fish of course, but then it was a see saw battle for a couple of hours.  He actually was up 14-12 when I pulled out a Strike King spinnerbait with a Red Eye blade.  It was like throwing live bait.  I hit 1, 2, 3, 4.  Every cast and next thing you know, I am up like 22-14.  We worked our way around the corner and then used the big motor to get us way back to the end of Muriel.  Scene of last year’s winning 38.5” pike catch.  I changed to a Bodega Bay Lure that nailed the monster last year.  Mike kept the spinnerbait.  It didn’t take me long to change back as the exposed trebles picked up grass and weeds on every cast.  I had run out of spinnerbait trailers and gone to putting a buzzfrog on the back of my spinnerbait to create more of a disturbance in the water and it didn’t let me down.  I hit a nice 31” pike but it was not what I was looking for.  The bar had been set at 36” and this was the last day.  The action was fast and furious for a while and I talked Mike into switching to a spinner with a bigger footprint and we hit 10-12 fish then as the battery slowed down, so did Mike’s action.  I remained hot however and nailed several more and broke off yet another really nice fish.  Total for the last morning of the trip, Brian 31, Mike 18.  Almost 50 fish in about 4.5hrs.  Great way to end the trip.



In a very anti-climactic end to a very crazy week, we were only able to fish for about 2hrs Friday evening as the trolling motor battery didn’t take a good charge that afternoon.  Didn’t really matter much anyway, it spit rain and the wind was howling.  The fishing was slow and we were tired after another long week.  We headed in early, polished off the rest of the beers, played cards, and laughed our butts off until later than any of us should have with the long trips home on schedule for the next day.  I was ready to come home as I am sure the other guys were as well we missed our kids, our wives and our normal routines.  Still it’s hard to go to sleep that last night knowing it will be 360 days until you will be back on the Winnipeg River catching big pike, big smallies and big walleye. 

Thanks as always to CB’s Hawg Sauce.  The Crawfish gel never lets me down.  Bassfury for some great headwear that I needed since we fished in the rain more than a little this year.  And Bodega Bay Lure Co.  I pounded fish on his lures all week and they always look just like they did out of the box.


WAR

Tags: Fishing Bass Canada