Pacemaker Fishing Forum

Just got back from eight days of fishing in northern Quebec.  Most of the time we get up there this time of the year, the fish are just leaving their beds. Due to the long winter this year, we saw no evidence of spawning beds. 

The first four days it was cold and rain.  No lily pads on the lakes, very few mosquitos, horse flies weren't biting.  But that didn't deter the fishing.  Fishing was epic with numerous four to six pound smallies caught, along with some bonus pike & walleye.  On day 5 the skies cleared and it was hot.  The last couple days there were overcast & cool.  Perfect fishing weather.

After one of the storms, we were rewarded



The reserve was empty.  Many days we believe we were the only boat on the water. 

We stayed in an outpost cabin on an island. Remote, alone, and no power.  We motored there, with our gear, in a 14' jon with a 20hp outboard.  The cabin did have propane for lanterns, stove, refrigerator, and we hoped, hot water. At first, there was a problem with the pressure pump.  The finally got a hot shower on day 4.  The next day, the supply line to the pump was clogged and didn't get fixed the rest of the trip.  We boiled lake water on the stove to clean dishes and take sink baths.

Here?s a pix of the boat coming up to the cabin after a storm



We were electronically dark most of the time. No cell service, no TV, no news paper.  The only time we got service was our daily trips to the lodge to get either a new trolling motor battery, gas, or report the hot water issue.
The best spots had rock gardens extending 30+ feet from shore




In the middle of the trip, I got a nice gift.  We've been going up for 10 years.



The early season brought in big fish in big numbers.  These fish have shoulders and wear you out hooking, fighting, landing and releasing.  On day 2 we switched to a lip gripper because the smallies up north have teeth and would cut up our hands good.

Baits we used were mostly stixbaits, flukes, and swimbaits. 

Got to the point where we stopped taking pix of fish.  First because we had so many.  Lastly is when the wind pick up, the boat would rock so much it was not safe.

The bite was never finicky.  We had many heart breaks loosing big fish.  Sometimes, the bite was wide-open all day and crazy.  At times, the bite was soft.  At other times, explosive bites too , you had better be holding on to your rod, or it would be ripped from your hands.










We also caught some bonus fish





At about 0400 on the day of departure, I felt a sting on my hand that rudely awoke me.  Got up and brushed off a wolf spider about the size of my hand.  Fished for about 5 hours, then it was time to go home.  The next day, went to the Dr's and her eyes were the size of saucers when she measured the distance between the fangs.  I could tell that spiders terrified her, especially big ones.

My Dr. reminded me that I'm 70 and not 40 anymore, and I should start acting that way when thinking about going out in the bush for 8 days.

She put me on a regiment of antihistamines and antibiotic cream.  Took about a week for the venom to leave my system and for the whole time I slept on the ceiling held by a web.

Last edited by hookup (Jul-04-26 3:34PM)