Well, I did it, and what a decision that was. Headed up to a local Calbogie area lake with BTS and crew. We set off on our adventure about 7:00 am from Brian's place. Meet the others for breakfast and like a little kid at Christmas, couldn't wait to get back to the lake that on my last journey, managed to skunk me...
So off we go, within a half hour we're unloading the ATV's, and ski-doo. Things don't start great the ski-doo seems to be having issues, stops running too much, something isn't right. Not only that BTS' ATV doesn't seem to want to start
Well, here we are in the middle of Bug F**k Nowhere we need cables for the ATV. But luckily for us, there's another cabin where we leave the trucks. The gang there happens to have a set of cables. This after what seemed to be an eternity as they tried to find them.
Well we get the ATV running. The issues appears to be, it had been stored indoors, the garage, while Brian built the ice shack. Then with the cold weather at night, it just appears condensation was the culprit. It was fine for the weekend. Thankfully.
As for the ski-doo, not as much luck, Jeff decides he'll bring it to a local mechanic to have a look. Anyway, I believe it was the fuel pump. Jeff managed to get back to the camp quite a few hours later.
So now we're all at the camp, fishing doesn't start until midnight, what shall we do? What else? Have a beer, or two We also unpacked and got setup for the fishing to start. Seems one of the lads heard one crew did really well last year, during the night. So we decide we'll fish at midnight for a few hours.
But first we decided, as usual to throw $5 each into the pot for the big fish of the weekend.
We started a fire and sat, had a beer or two, told a few lies and fished. Well Brian was the first to pack it in around midnight, he did manage to come back out again and stayed until 1:30 or so. Not even so much as a bite at night.
Well, I was next to pack it in around 2:00, followed by Kevin at 3:30 or so. Fish won round one. No bites, No fish But Brian and I weren't surprised. We're just a social pair, hate to see anyone fish alone!
So off to bed we go, eagerly anticipating the first day. Morning comes early after a short sleep, Jeff is up early checking out the others who had come for the opener..he's back in minutes to tell us, they're biting!!
That's all I needed to hear, sprang up like a rabbit and out I go, followed shortly by Brian. Kevin isn't having as much luck getting out of bed, having just battled with the 40 ouncer
Well we got into a few that day, the fish weren't biting hard but they were biting, that's all I cared about. Managed to get the skunk off me pretty quickly. OK, so we get a couple more throughout the day while enjoying each others company and sharing some laughs. Unfortunately, we left the camera inside as we didn't want the cold screwing them up in our pockets all day.
Well, Brian decides he'll fish until it gets dark while Kevin, Jeff and I go eat. Well wouldn't you know it, he comes back in with a fish, giddy as a school boy. He holds up a Speck about 3/4 of a pound. He makes some comment about how he told us he'd get the biggest fish..
Ok, so it wasn't the biggest fish BUT!!! he opens the door, reaches out on the table on the porch and pulls this in....Holy crap!! It's 5 pounds of the most beautiful Speckle I've ever seen..What a bloody beauty male! Sorry for the indoor pic but, it was night anyway.
Here's another of this awesome fish!
Well the next couple days would prove to be great. We got quite few more, and these aren't small Brookies. They are a pound on average the smaller ones. Man what a trip. And of course Brian just had to do it again. Here he has a good 2-3/4 to 3 pounder. Wow!
How serious a fisherman is this guy? Check this out. Won't even sit still long enough for a photo. He's still checking lines..
We totaled 14 on the ice, one short of our limit. We missed realistically, 2-3 times as many as we caught. the boys never saw them bite so lightly before. They were impressive though. They'd come through in schools and the lines would go one after the other for short periods.
Here's our 14 for the trip.
Brian's 5 pounder was crammed into the freezer so it doesn't look as big but, believe me, it was a hog!
Can't wait to do'er again Bud!
,,,,very nice looking fish you guys got there....
