First Frost!

Sitting in the office waiting to go flying....foggy and frost on the wings. The 2 things that slow you down at this time of year in the bush! The seasons are changing, the geese are moving and the temperatures have cooled off. The fish are still biting though. I was up at Morley on the Cobham last week again and rebuilt the walkway in front of the shed and closed it down for the season. While we were there of course we had to catch a few fish for supper.... although some of the ones I caught were too big!



The Conaway/Hiscocks party came out of Jeanette Lake yesterday and had a blast. 80's to start the week and 40's to finish it off. Typical weather in our part of the country for this time of year. They did catch many big fish, walleyes were caught up to 29 inches with a 28, 27, and multiple 25 and 26 inch fish to go along with those big boys. Fish went from 10 feet to 30 feet throughout the trip depending on the weather. Here are some pictures,



Here is a huge 42 inch northern pike. Great fish!


It is always good to see these guys, I know when I see them that the season is almost over!

Time for me to start spending time in the bush!

Fall is slowly setting in up here, I even saw 2 small flocks off geese flying south yesterday in some crappy misty weather. The boys and I spent the last couple of nights at Morleys and took the boat over to fix the dock at Daniels. Here is the end result after finding and cutting at least 20 eight foot logs for a new crib and many boat loads of rocks! A nice solid dock!


The fish were easy to find on the way home on the Cobham and we had fish for supper both nights! Keeping the burgers for when we are weathered in for an extra day!!!

This was last week when we were up at Cherrington, the last couple of days have been windy and rainy, not clear like this. All this wind of late has to be the changing of the seasons.....

Cobham River Giant Pike!!

Here are some more pictures from another group of happy fishermen. This time it is from the Cobham River. Randy D. and his group caught 6 northern pike that week over 40 inches and 30 over 30 inches. They worked hard for these trophies, working the bays numerous times and hundreds of casts later they were rewarded and the giant pike are back in the water and growing bigger!

A hook in the hand is not the end of the world!

I recently received the pictures from the Pfeiffer party when Todd had a bit of a mishap. A small northern on one hook of a lure and your hand attached to the other. When grabbing ANY fish you have to be careful, remember you are on a flyin trip miles away from the emergency room. This has happened a few times throughout the years, most of the time if the hook cannot be removed at the camp buy the fishermen and depending on how long they have left on their stay, the hook can sometimes stay in there until you fly out. It is a good reminder to look online for instructions on removing a hook in the wilderness. All I can suggest is that you do not think about it for long, just get it out! Tie a line to the J of the hook and hold down on the front. Then with a fast jerk, pull the line while holding down on the hook and it should come right out with minimal tearing from the barb.

Here they are!



Ouch! And the culprit is there to watch!


I think I know who got the last laugh though!


And there you go, out with minor damage. I saw Todd's hand on the way out and you could barely see where the hook had been!

This video shows how you should do it. They don't mess around, they don't even cut the hook off!

Findlay, Cherrington and Loree.

It has been very windy up here for a couple of days which makes it hard to hold the boat in the spot you want to be but fishing has been good enough that it didn't matter. Findlay lake continues to produce huge walleyes! Here are big ones that speak for themselves. These guys just came out this morning.




This sure looks familiar.....Here is last years post. They catch these quality of fish each year!




Cherrington had the Halepeska boys there for 8 days and they saw many types of weather and caught a lot of fish. The biggest northern were caught in a short period of time. In 4 hours Mark and Don caught a 39, 2-37's, a 36 and 30 inch northern pike. The walleyes had to be hunted with the ever-changing weather but they caught mostly 20-22 inch walleye.

Loree has the widest variety of visitors from around the globe! Austrians, British, Danish, Canadian and American fishermen have come to fish the waters of Loree lake this season and last week we had some more Danes from Toronto. Never had they been on a flyin before but were prepared and ready for their adventure. They learned plenty and said they caught lots of fish during the last week. Smiles from ear to ear! It is great to see someone who was not sure what they were getting themselves into on the way in to the bush and then so happy when they return.

End of August and still warm...except for those 3 days last week!

The seasons are poised to change. We had a cold front come through last weekend and it lasted for 3 days. If you were tough enough to fish in it, fishing was great! It was windy, temperatures in the 40's (one day only) and the rain and mist pelted you. The Doverspike party returned to the Cobham River after a 6 year absence and caught many giant northern pike during their stay through the bad weather. 6 northerns over 40 inches and 30 over 30 inches! They fished all the bays and worked the shorelines with a variety of lures but a 2 bladed spinner was the best, hammered gold.

This is also good weather for staying in the cabin reading a book, playing cards or opening the bar early and having a few cocktails. All of the above were done in the north on Sunday, Monday, and part of Tuesday. Then the sun came back and the temperatures are back in the 70's and 80's. It took the fish a day or 2 to return to normal routines and fishermen had to find them but things are right back on track with nice stable weather in place again.

The Kusmerz party went back to the Cobham last week for their bi-annual fishing trip! Some exciting times have been had on this water system involving these guys and a huge forest fire in 2006. A wildfire that had been smoldering miles away had the right combination of dryness and a huge northwest wind to spring to life and leap and bond its way across the Cobham. Good thing they had friends at the Daniel cabin where they spent the night. I came in the next morning and moved them to another lake that we had open for the remainder of the trip. That was a close one with the fire creeping within 20 feet of the outhouse! This year they were in for what seemed like 3 seasons. Warm the first day, then cold and windy for 2.5 days and back to warm and calm to finish the week off. Fishing was good but there was times where it was better than others with the huge temperature swings. They caught and released a number of nice fish though: Everyone caught at least one 35 inch or bigger northern pike! Sean 38 and 39 inch northern, Tom 37 inch northern, and Dan took the prize with a 42 inch big pike and a 38.5 inch northern that had a huge head and big shoulders.

When I said that you had to be tough to handle the rough weather we sometimes get up here, I was talking about 3 little fisherladies aged 9, 11 and 13 years! Jim S. from Wisconsin has 3 tough little girls and wife. They also were up north during the less than perfect weather. They swam the first day and needed a jacket 2 days later. The girls had a great time and were nothing but smiles on the way home, drawing pictures of the pilot and giggling. They caught alot of fish and had lots of good times where ever they were, in the cabin or out on the lake! They had no concept of time either, the only watch they had quit on the first day so they ate when they were hungry and fished when it was light outside.

September is not far away and it will be time to start closing camps soon and get some of the jobs and improvements done around our camps... and catch a few fish.

Cherrington Lake walleyes are big!

Here are some new pictures of some more trophy sized walleyes, this time from Cherrington lake. I wrote about the S. Arnie Safari and here are a few pics and a little note from the boys who are headed back to Jeanette in 2011.

Dear John and Rena

Here are some pictures that made up the great safari (fishing) we had this year. To bad Arnie was missing in action. You may want to put a couple of these on your revolving picture show or John's Blog. By the way, the fish was really good eating. Sorry I did not get a picture of any of Ed Benka's fish. We are looking forward to next year on Jeanette again. Thanks for all the work you put into these camps that make our adventures so successful.