2300kms of some of the nicest scenery you'll ever see as you drive up and over Lake Superior....stunning
Friday Oct 1st 3am
Sean arrives at my place, we load the truck with his gear and off we go to p/u Brian at his place.
Being so early we didn"t get light until North Bay, thru Sudbury was uneventful and soon we werealong the shores of lake Superior and holy crap is that area beautiful
A couple pics from the truck as we were not about to stop and delay our arrival to the final destination.
Sean at the wheel.....this is not a trip you want to do alone and in one shot...
we were fortunate enough to see some bears on the drive , this one was running around like crazy and a couple hundred feet up the road we saw why. It's cub had be hit and killed by a car...poor thing
Our plan was to drive 17hrs straight to Nipigon and rest the night starting again early the next morning to complete the final 7hrs of the drive.
A quick supper in Nipigon and it was off to bed.
Sat Oct 2nd
Fresh off a good rest and anxious to get started fishing we had a quick stop in Rainy River for groceries and beer (lots of beer
)
We arrive at Red Wing lodge right at the time we predicted and by 1pm we were looking back at the dock going out for our first fish.
Our view
Our first day Sean was able to hook up a small muskkie (no pic) and a couple pike...but we were looking for big girls
Back at the lodge we had a grooup pic of all the guys who made the trip
Great group...more laughs than you can imagine
Sunday Oct3rd
We awoke to disaster....my boat, still tied to the dock was....submerged.....yes underwater, as in I could barely see my motors!!! In a state of panic I jump into the 54 deg water and start to bail like a madman. Soon others were helping and the lodge owner brought down an electric pump to help and within minutes we had it floating again.
From what I could tell the livewell fill switch had been turned on and filled my boat. Possible an animal in looking for food?? I'll never know.
Plugs out, fluids changed and numerous other tweeks and believe it or not.....both started and ran like nothing had ever happened
Off we go and beat the water with large muskie baits for a shortened but good day. Day 2 brought us no success with muskie but we did manage a decent pike
And Bald Eagles galore...watching them fight, feed and generally just hanging out doing what Eagles do was so awesome.
Monday Oct 4th
We awoke to a boat still floating, good start in my opinion!!
The day was beautiful and muskies were waiting
We started with a pike
But it wasn"t long before we were into muskies
Sean with a nice one!
And me to follow it up.
Sad part was that Sean had his rod snap on his fish, too bad as it was a custom made rod given to him as a birthday present a few years back....sucks
.Brian would have to wait another day for his first Muskie action.
Tuesday Oct 5th
Switching tactics proved to be successful as Brian holds a nice pb muskie for a pic.
On the same structure Sean holds up another one , a bit smaller but still a beaut.
The night before we had made arrangements to meet at an island that has a great shore lunch spot. I can tell you if you get a chance to do this....do it! I have done many in my lif but not like this. Keith cooked us up a feast for kings which we enjoyed while overlooking some of the most amazing scenery imaginable...simply breathtaking
Our docking station for the lunch.
The menu was fresh Pickeral, potatoes, peppers, onions and wild rice....simply amazing
Day 4 was another day and another breakage as Brians casting reel decided it wanted to fail...yet another breakage...and to top that off one of my saltys exploded on a snag so we were also down a rod holder.....but there is still more to come
Wed Oct 6th
We had planned to make a long run to an area that looked good on the map and had also planned to make the run with some other members of the group. 7am we were taking of from the dock and about 5kms into the run....I blew my 115 Evinrude....yup...toast!!!
At this point we knew we were reduced to the 9.9hp kicker so 90% of the lake was off limits.....sucks
But we were not to give up as we simply re-evaluated our situation and adapted.
Trolling some areas we were almost immediately into muskies
Boy did I need that fish as spirits were shaky and I was pretty down on the motor breakage.
Sean with a nice Pike...which we kept several of and had some awesome good breakfasts with.
Nap time....
It's amazing the structure and number of islands...every turn had more of the same and it seemed endless.
Brian with another beast
Pelicans were everywhere and man are they big....
We ran into our buds out doing much of the same as us and had a good mid day tactic chat.
Hooks like this were common...getting them to bite was another story
Small one.
Brians second pb of the trip....
We hooked an old bunch of line and attached to it was a bunch of Rusty Crayfish....an invasive species....so the did not get released.
Friday Oct 8th
Friday was flat calm and was like someone had rounded up all the wildlife..very few birds, no fish activity and hot.
We lost(Brian) a decent Muskie right at the end of the day and a pike was released as well.
Some shots.
Sat Oct 9th time to leave
After some great highs and some big lows we were on the road again,
now of to Kenora to meet up with some MCI guys who opened a great Muskie store right on the shore of LOTW's. You can test your buy out before you pay for it....how cool is that.
Figure 8 Muskie shop...great stuff guys! Awesome store.
View from the store front deck
We headed ouot to Vermillion bay on Eagle lake to take in the first ever North West Muskies Canada chapter meeting which was great and a pleasure to meet all the outstanding folks who worked so hard to get it up and running. Cingrats guys...all the best with the new chapter.
Brian summing up the general idea of the trip.....no beers in the boat though.
Sunday 10th Oct
We awoke at 7am and hit the road and decided to drive straight to Ottawa...yes 23 hrs straight...
....man what a killer 
But I'd do it again in a heartbeat
Some pics on the way home.
What a great trip I'll never forget
