And it begins.
I tell Jaz, bring a buddy out of Ottawa and he’s quick to mention RJ. I hummed and hawed over it for about... a second, then told Jaz I’d talk to RJ myself. Wasn’t long after and we were all on board, but with half a year to wait.
The boys arrived in Moosonee Friday evening after the long train ride on the Little Bear thru the day, and having driven the Redbull redeye from midnight to 8am to arrive in Cochrane for the Little Bear’s departure at 10:30am. Long road for fish, when they arrived they didn’t seem too whipped at all, more like completely jacked for the fishing to come. Quick tour of Moose Factory and some surf and turf for dinner, RJ let’s it be known that it’s better up here than he expected, and on that we retired for the night.
Saturday morning it’s on. Weather is calling for SW winds 5km, mainly sunny and a high of 6C. Perrrrrfect. By 8:30 our pilot John has us in the air heading to fishing heaven.
Gentle touchdown on the lake we’re quick to setup for pike then drill a few for eyes. Jazman takes no time, drops his line, counts to 11 seconds and ices himself his first plump and golden Kesagami eye.
Jaz simply taking no prisoners, then shows us fellas about 20 minutes later that the lake has a few pike too, and so while jiggin’ eyes with the toughest little Rattlesnake he tags this 35" pike in the lip and sinks into the beast with a good venomous bite.
Things go quiet awhile. The eyes just keep coming with reckless abandon and Jaz puts the biggest hurt on the populace icing one after another, but, other than me tagging a 32" snot rocket, the pike shut down until 2:30.
Then all he!! breaks loose.
RJ’s rod in the distance is getting play, and from his butt on the ice the big fella’s up and ripping out there for it like a teenager on Viagra. Jaz and I are quick behind him.
At the hole, a violent hookset is followed by the screams of reel peel and so Jaz get’s the camera rolling to capture it all on vid. We’re quick to understand this is a BIG pike. A big pike that didn’t want to come easy, but, after 8 minutes or so it did succumb to the big mans charms.... and then it was RJ holding his first trophy pike.... a humbling 44" at 22lb’s. And yeah, Fatty Granny came on a big ‘ol herring...... happy..?
The action didn’t stop there though. RJ’s rig kept firing and a few fish were missed, then mine started going and I missed a few too. The walleye slowing we cut that out and got more lines down for pike, and before long my rod tip dropped into the hole and I was into a good fish. No one started the camera for me though... lol... probably cause I just horsed the "little" 38 incher up the hole in no time.
Score one for a big Red Devle with a chunk of fallfish.
After a special photo shoot and this pike going back to the swim, only a short time later PikeSlayerinator 007 ringalings off in the distance. Bolt of lightning I’m there and hand-lining another bohemoth pike that’s locked right onto a Williams Whitefish. “Hammer of THOR!!!â€my bicep strikes blows to the stubborn leviathan below, until I am victorious.
Another one bites the dust.
Heading home that night John our pilot flies higher than usual so we can all have a great view of James Bay. The boys in my opinion though, were already flying high enough.
RJ’s big fish turned out 2 inches bettering my personal best. Jaz had caught his own PB pike, and half of the 70 walleye we caught for the day. A 38" and 37" for me and I was actually feeling defeated. lol. But we all did well on the pike in actuality, with Jaz picking up 3, me 3, and RJ the 1 Gran-momma.
Sunday rolled in cloudy, breezy, but with an expected high of 11C. Waking up stiff we three rode back over to Moosonee to meet our pilot Dexter for the new days trip in.
Not long, us back on the ice, it was quickly apparent that RJ still had that horseshoe lodged firmly up his colon. A couple other planes around, I’m sure they heard the crack below the 4 feet of ice when RJ snapped another herring firmly into the maw of his first pike of the day. A healthy looking 38" special.
Not so quick to be outdone, a herring down on PikeSlayerinator#1 lassoes a 38"er of my very own. Yeehaw cowboy.
Jazman, a couple hours later, just disgusted by it all, having watched RJ lose fish after fish after fish, takes on a half bowl of my chowder and walks off to take a nap beside his tip-up. Out for about 40 minutes laying in his floater suit in the slush, I look over at Jaz and then say to RJ, “his flag’s up.†RJ’s response, “HEY JAZ. YOUR FLAG!!!†And so from a lying position we see Jaz raise his right arm and give us a thumbs up, then, in a sloth like motion rolls over to his belly, puts his hand on the tip-up, gets to his knees, grabs the line, and sets the hook. When RJ and I see him pull some line to the ice then suddenly see all that line get pulled back under by a fish, we get moving to his aid.
Finally, and again, Jaz has a newer personal best pike. A 38"er to call his very own.
A lull in the pike action after Jaz’s fish and we fellas take to jiggin’ some eyes for awhile.
But, it turns out eyes aren’t the only thing around to be jiggin’. RJ hooks into a fish and remarks that he’s got one with a little pep. Surprise at the hole, he’s also got his first ever whitey...... or blackie by the looks of it.
“Bitterman†comes out for the second time this trip but is quick to fix his foul mood by simply getting a whitey too. Thing with this fish was, when it came to the ice it flapped around and sprayed it’s fish poop all over Jaz and me. Grrrrrrrr.
Late afternoon RJ and Jaz might as well have packed up and gone home. It became the Moosebunk show. Over yonder PikeSlayerinator#1's tip dropped like a stone and the bell called me over. Gripping the line I struck, and it was on. The boys arrived and I told them it was a heavy fish, and when it finally arrived at the holes bottom we were stuck in a stalemate. For a few minutes it seemed all I could do was just bump the pikes head on the bottom of the ice and try and get it to move. Desperate for something to happen I let a little tension off the line and the fish sunk just enough for me to make a sharp short pull up and right. The fishes head was in, and came up heavy as it was tugged up a 40" deep ice hole.
OHHH Yeah... new personal best of my own.
Aunt Girthy rolled into my arms for a 20+ pound hug and 42.5 inches of slimy kissing.
I told her to come and see me again next year when she’s a little bigger. Always told myself I was going to mount my first 20+ lb pike, but, RJ made it right when he said that I’ll get a bigger one.
And just 10 minutes later, I could have nearly had that bigger one on. My rod tip dropped on my other set-up and off running I picked it up, clutched the reel and drove a Williams home. A shocked pike just then about pulled me down the hole, and off in the distance that got RJ and Jaz running to me.
A good battle and the final pike of the day was on the ice. A wily 39"er this one was.
The boys had their fun. I had my fun. It was another stellar Kesagami experience. Jaz picked up a personal best 38" pike, about 20 some eyes, and a second small pike for the day. RJ caught his 38", a second 32", a first whitey and a few eyes, and I managed 3 pike with the 42.5, 39 and 38 inchers. No complaints come the end of day two.
That’d be it for fishing Kesagami. The warm weather was cause to flood the ice road and runway for the plane and so come Monday we all rested our tired bones, had a good meal of garlic butter pike and whitefish BBQ smoked on a cedar plank, and, relived in our minds what was a real festive time for us three doods.
Time flies, but these memories will last.
