Westmeath Adventure Weekend Reports & Pictures

[scuro]

Looks like a whole lota of fun. Dang I need a boat!

[squig69]

MM
i was going to stop and say hi but didnt see any fish hawk hats so i kept on going. i should have stopped. nice looking boat

chris

[CDF]

Hey everyone,

First of all, I wanna say thanks to all for a great weekend. Weather got better as the weekend progressed...and so did the fishing

A special thanks to some great roomies... Rider, Vince, Joe and Joey for all the stories and experiences shared.

Rider, Vince...looking forward to fishing with you guys over the summer.

Funny how some Hawkers live right in your own backyard...without these fish-hawk meetings, would never have gotten the chance to meet them . Slowly but surely, my fishing buddies list is growing.

Looking forward to the next one,
Cman

[skooter]

It's always best to start at the beginning, ...so

On the the first day, ....God created earth, ....and it was good,
On the second day, ....God created Mother Nature, ....and it was good, ....but not so much.
On the third day, .... God created Fish Hawk.Net, ....and it too, was good,
....however Mother Nature, ....being the first born, ....was definitely spoiled, ...so she rained, ...or snowed, ...or froze, ....or blew, on Fish Hawk whenever she got the chance.

It is rumored, ... that she's mellowing in her old age, ...since it was concluded that this was the best weather, ....as compared to previous spring FH events, .....I'm not so sure I'd call it mellow though

This weekend was a real power trip for me, ....wasn't however for my boat, or my camera.
Boat battery was DOA, ....camera batteries were on life support for the entire weekend. (special thanks here to Hoss, and Andre, without whom, this weekend might have had the "plug" pulled in short order)

Now on to the good stuff....


These are a couple of pics of our convoy....

(side note, .....4:00 AM was the original hook up time, ...however it was suggested we leave in the "wee" hours, ......guess who showed up in the "wee" hours + 15 min.......)

Coffee and P.... break......



On the road again, (took my life in my hands on this one, ....just about ended up trolling for cows....)



7 plus hrs. later, ......home sweet home, ....or a reasonable facsimile...Since home became the kitchen, ..... and lunch hall regularly, every day at 9:00AM and 4:00pm....



After settling in, .....met up with a few of the gang and discussed our plan of attack for the weekend, ....

left to right....Hoss, Cracker, the owner, WIG, BTS, (I should be sitting on the big square blue cooler, ....but somebody has to take the picture....)



Much later in the strategy meeting, .....

left to right.....unknown feet, BTS, Mr J, Hoss, ....WIG had decided to sleep on it, and yup, ....my cooler is unoccupied again, (I can be very elusive)



Plans complete, ...now it was "cocktail" hour....



This is a view of the docking space we had for the weekend, ...this was taken from the last dock, (these were all pretty much filled up by Friday night)




Just some of the fish I got this weekend....





(Jim just held these up because the sun was the wrong way, .... and it was too much of a pain to do a two step about face, ....just so I could hold them)







There would have been a bunch more, but because of the battery issue with the camera, ...they didn't take for some reason, ....one in particular was annoying, ...my big cat was caught with Salmon and Dean about 10:00 at night, ....we had a movie stage set up to take the pic, ....lights, camera, ...action, ....NOT!!!!, that one would have been cool.
My final tally, ....11 pike, 10 cat's and two OOS bass.

These are some pics of Jim with his fish(s) taken this morning, .....thanks to Andre and some "good" batteries....







(just another side note, ....might have had the derby winner this morning, ...Jim was kind enough to "lend" me a type of lure that had been particularily hot this weekend, ...solid hit and bang,...got bit off, ....Jim knows he has a free ride whenever he's down this way)

The rest of these were taken this morning, ....just the last "hurrah's...."







This was also taken this morning, .....but it was pretty much the same scene every morning, ....the whole weekend....



I could barely keep my eyes open when I walked in the door tonight, ....figured I'd just check my messages, touch base with Mark, and call it a night.....but I read through this thread about the weekend, .... and sort of woke up, ....started thinking about the fun I had, ...and woke up some more, .....remembered the three "pop" I brought home in the cooler, ...that did it, ....(glad I decided to include tomorrow in my holidays).

Congrats to all the award winners, ...."well deserved,"

Thanks to RJ, and Fishawk and Bobber, and of course, all the behind the scene helpers, ....for organizing and making my first "official" FH getaway, an experience I'll never forget,.....just having a little trouble "recalling" some of it...(camp fires are dangerous)

To all the members I met, and being totally honest, ....will probably not remember all your names, ....thanks for making me feel like part of the family, ......

Damn, ...it's 3:00, ....pops are gone, ....and I'm toast, ....better hit the sack before breakfast, .....or I may get eaten,



skooter

[Moosebunk]

Hey Skoot, fantastic report and pics bud.

See ya again in about 3 days when you wake up from all your playing

[bucketmouth]

Anyone grab a blue folding chair? Most likely left by the fire or cottage #2...

NT - told you I'd let you know what I was forgetting by the time I got home

bucket

[Wallyboss]

LOOKS LIKE A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY EVERYBODY.

[Scum Frog]

Thx for the reports and pictures. Sounds like a good time was had by all and the fishing was good!

[Mr.J.]

I'm with skooter on this one, campfires are very dangerous, or so I am told because I don't remember too much of any of the fires I was at. Most people have learned I am a babbling idiot when I taste the ales

But what a blast and a great big thanks to all who participated and organised such a great event.

The hot spot for me was the far west dock, I sat down with topwater and we started filling up with cats and then eventualy started culling the smaller ones. Bobber and fish-hawk were having some fun teasing me until I hooked into my fist pike, 34 inches, great netting eye-tracker, that wasn't easy.

[Pints]

Great reports and pictures. Wish I could have been there. Looks and sounds like a great time was had by all. Looking forward to more reports.
Congrats to the organizers, a job well done.

[nighttroller]

It was my first Fiah Hawk adventure and definately not my last. Finally got to put faces to a lot of names I didn't get to meet this past winter but I hope there isn't a test! The weather could have been a little nicer but the fish co-operated dispite the nasty cold front. I stayed in a cabin with Tony, Ransome, HOF and Bucketmouth and I fished with Bucketmouth all weekend. Our best day was cat fishing on Thursday and once we found them, the cats were more than willing. We boated 7 between 18 - 25.5". Next up was Walleye on Friday morning (5:00 am comes early when you leave the fire at 1:00) and we discovered we shouldn't have left our stinger hooks at home in our ice fishing kits. We went through a lot of minnows and manged a few small walleye. Over all we boated around 10 walleye between 5 - 15.5". Some good eaters in there! Pike fishing started good for us but turned in to a follow fest. If we caught half our follows we would have had some good points for our respective virtual derby teams. Saturday we managed a few more small walleye, pike, a some smallies that seemed to be everywhere. Sunday morning a few more pike, Bucketmouth had some nice follows but that was the story of the weekend! The biggest excitement we had was probably Friday night by the sandbar when I hooked into a good fish, it was head shaking and thumping like a nice walleye. I was thinking I had a good one for big walleye on the weekend, but when Bucketmouth shone the light on the fish in the water there was a big ugly ling that measured 24". All in all the fishing was good considering the weather but like everyone said the food was great, and the company better. I can't wait for the next one!

[skooter]

Anyone grab a blue folding chair? Most likely left by the fire or cottage #2...

NT - told you I'd let you know what I was forgetting by the time I got home

bucket

Seen it Sunday morning while I was tying down the boat, ....MT asked if it was mine, ....I think he might have it......

[Dartee]

Do you think MT is playing that thing, or is it holding him up

Yah I think the guitar was holding him up,,,Notice Bobber is listing to his left (was that way most nights)


Westmeath was my 1st as well and had a blast. Amazing how 50 people can be put together and its like meeting old freinds.
Didn't catch any sizes to brag about (but it was catching).
Didn't take any pics of since it usually was raining when they were caught.
Would have loved to at least see the couple of breakoffs I had.
1 doubled over my med-heavey spinning rod, took about 20 yards of line and then gone 10lbs fireline cut through like butter..no leader X-rap gone.
But I wish I had the camera handy when the moose swam by Sunday morning.

Thanks to all the faces I meet and put names to this weekend. Don't ask me to match them up there is just to many.
Thanks BIG-O for the taking the boat out of the water.
Thanks to the guys in cabin 2,, Skooter, RUK,Legend, Walker, JimW, Steve-G (the snoring champ).

Thanks to all who put this past weekend together. Bobber, Fishhawk, RJ, the ladies with the food and all the rest.
Breakfast this morning before work was rather plain and a little sparse.

Here is a shot of the normal looking sky. Not the bright and sunny Thursday shoots from skooter.

The docked Fishhawk Flotilla




notice the smooth water..Sunday morning only and of course the sky cleared as most boats came back in for breakfast.



MT--did you find your way home okay
I'm glad I missed the turn (in Beachburg) I was supposed to take to my brothers and that your lights were out or you would have been taking the very scenic route though Forrester Falls.

[Canadian Bacon]

It was great to see everyone out there this weekend and some fantastic Reports to boot!
Personally I headed up To RUK's place Wednesday night to head out good and early Thursday morning and meet the convoy at Antrim.
A little breaky and we were off...we almost made it with out incident but RJ and RJ Sr. broke down just about a mile from Laurention View.
Once that was all cleared up we were off..got ourselves settled launched the boat and headed out. We did some exploring but not really much fishin...that is my excuse for no fish on Thursday..
Snag showed up at around..well I dunno I had a few into me we stayed and mingled for about an hour or so (might have been longer )..then took off to her cottage down the road. Now I really haven't had a drink for awhile and could not keep my eyes open. I was litterally out on my feet. Snag had never seen me in that state before and she got a double dose as Saturday night I had a few more. She said it was very interesting. ....Not sure what that means
I woke earlyFriday morning and decided to have a Jacuzzi..yeah that's right!! It was very relaxing but you shouldn't put too much bubble bath in a jaccuzzi
Snag was still asleep so I went out to take in the morning air..it was beautiful. I didn't have my camera that morning or I would have definately taken some great shots. I was down by the water on the beach (that is right they have a beach) when I hear a little voice.."I wanna go fishin", Yahoo she is up..lets go!
It was a slow go for us to start and my go too lures weren't workin...Snag managed the first one and was the leader in the clubhouse witha 16" Walleye

It was very good eatin too!!
We made our way in and out of a few bays where Snag lost a giant on a sluggo....That sucker came right to the boat and it would have been hard to beat this weekend!
I hooked into this with a an Orange and Green Spinner bait...
Dropped her back in and moved away....
The next day we headed out and brought RUK with us...and was it cold



This one is RUK...

I was able to hook into a coupl of beauties like this


Saturday night came and Pappa and Mamma Snag came for a visit..thank god because for a while I was feelin a bit under the weather..Mamma Snag made sure I knew what to do to feel better and I did about and hour later..damn codine! We ate some fantastic fish that night too..THANKS GUYS! I think that was a highlight for everyone there!!
We wanted to head out early in the am so it was an early night to hit the hay. The alarm sounded at 5am..but the rain was pourin down....kinda snoozed for another two hours and hit the water around 7ish...
Today we did alot of trollin..
I hit this little fella

and Snag struck a pose....SASSY!

The biggest fish on the weekend for us was this 30incher...Looks like she had been in a few wars...


I certainly enjoyed myself this weekend!! I had the best fishin partners I could ask for...the cabins were fantastic...the food incredible and the company second to none! This was by far the best Fish-Hawk weekend ever. It just keeps getting better. For those that missed it...man i hope ya can make the next ones!! You really don't want to miss them!
Mike and Bobber...Thank you for the wonderful gift!
RJ....WOW man what a fantastic job ya did, i think everyone was very very impressed!

PS..sorry about the big pictures..I suck at that!

[topwater]

First off I would like to thank Fish-Hawk and Bobber for providing the web site where we meet all these wonderfull people , without Fish-Hawk .net there would be no adventure weekends,and most of us would not have met . The Fish-Hawk logo is now proudly displayed on the back of my van .

To RJ and all the organizers of the weekend thank you for a job very well done .The accomadations were great, Thanks to Laurentian View Resort for hosting us for the weekend. and of course to the ladies that kept us fed "THANK_YOU!" the food was fantastic and nobody walked away hungry.


Thanks also goes to Legend for taking me out in the battleship ,It was must appreciated ,and it was great getting out to fish with you again

here we are motoring down the river , note the calm water a rarity at Fish-Hawk advetures


after motoring around to seveal spot's Thursday with little success we headed over to Nighttrollers spot where he had been having some success with the cats well It was a very limited spot and after several moves Night-troller swings by and sais that we are right on the spot where he had caught his Cats sure enough we start to finally catch a few
unfortunatly I did not have my camera with me this time
however Legend managed to get 5 cats between 18 and 20.5 inches while I manged 2 cats and 2 mooneye ( a new species for me) I believe Legend has a Pic of one of the mooneye ,sidenote their teeth may be small but there sharp


Friday was a bust on the water for me although Legend managed a couple of small pike.

here we came across Tony and Ransome in Ransome's new ride, looks good



we opted to go back to shore about 2 pm for a stretch. We got back and found Mr J and Skooter catching cats off the dock, well we stood around for a while until Mr J hooks into another fish shortly after declaring he can catch cats but thats all he can catch he brings this beauty in




another view


a quick measurement ( 34 inches ) and she was released


after that cath the dock started to get a little crowded as Myself ,Legend ,Eye Tracker , and Big O joined the party

Legend manges to land another


Its real nice to see that Big-O is mastering these baitcasters


here we have few shots from Sat. Night ......

my thanks to Vince for holding and keeping that flashlight cranked up for I don't know how long it was appreciated, and to Duck Gunner for jumping in and helping Big-O and I with the fish fry

This Pic still makes my mouth water


and of coursed no eavning is complete without the entertainment

anyone else remember the post no guitar playing for Bobber



some of the boats Sunday morning


And For wolf here's the nature shot this is Fridays dinner( BTS couldn't quite catch it) snacking down on the droppings form the fish fry


To everyone that attended this weekend thanks for making it so memorable and to those that missed it you missed a fantastic weekend