Quetico '09

[2thDoc]

went out of atikokan, ON. first time back since 1985. Used to go for a week every summer with my dad and brother when I was a young teen. Bro and I decided we needed to take Dad back as his 70th birthday present. Weather was shitty, but we made the most of it. Temps were in the 50s most days with lots of wind and drizzle. Here are some pics....

If anyone is interested in a canoe trip with good fishing at a VERY reasonable price....look me up.

getting ready to leave: we were able to use this 18.5ft kevlar canoe to get in as we had 2 aluminum canoes stored at the cabin....but we ended up having to fish three to a boat just so two could fish and one could keep the boat from crashing against the rocks.



food for 5 days:


too rough/rainy to fish first day, so we fished around the island 100 times and this is all we got:


first full morning greeted us with a ray of hope...but it turned to shit a little bit later as the wind came back up and the rain started. BUT it turned out to be our best day of fishing despite the weather. I feel certain we landed over 50 bass that morning.....


cold and wet but catching fish:


plenty for supper:

[2thDoc]

loons:


lunch was fish stew this day:


view from cabin:


cabin:


weather:

[2thDoc]

pontoon we fashioned using aluminum canoes. took it out one afternoon but scrapped the idea as waves crashed over the bow:


lake trout = yummy


catch and release:

[2thDoc]

load o' gear to portage out:


dad carrying his share:

[2thDoc]

portage:




outfitter in atikokan:

[bitesize]

looks like lots of fun!

[trailertrash]

Are those smallmouth? I have never caught one but plan on doing so soon. The lake up here is suppose to be full of them.

Looks like overall you guys had a good trip. Congrats.

[Glenn]

Looks like a blast. Sign me up for the next trip.

Pro tip: You can make that Apple Brown Betty an Apple Brown Peggy by adding a tbsp of orange juice.

Courtesy of Peggy Hill.

[jwilliams]

Great pics Kev. Beautiful scenery. Fishing must've been good for that group of people to catch fish. WOW. I know your dad enjoyed it immensely. What a great trip. What was the total count (fish). That fish dinner has made me hungry. Three people in a canoe? I bet your dad and bro made you paddle so they wouldn't get hooked in the ear.

[Simple Man]

Looks like a helluva good time, 2th.

[Take em']

Anytime with Dads are good times. IMO

[BigBrother]

Good stuff toofer!

What was your biggest smallie?

[GobblerHntr]

Man that looks like something I'd like to do even though I'm not a huge fishing fan. I'd go in a heartbeat for the experience! That was a really cool 70 birthday presant for Doc.!

[Chap]

Great pictures!

[HARV]

Glad you had fun 2th!See any moose or bears?I'd go up there ya know but it's too damned far.Natural High any good?

[Chessbay]

That is my kinda joint.

Looks like y'all had a good time. Good thing Squatty did not go.....he'd a probably snatched the reel out of pops hands.

[2thDoc]

natural high 7 grain pancakes are the shizzy

biggest smallie was close to 4lbs. we kept all the 2 pounders for supper. fishing was plenty good with 50 fish mornings...but the BIG fish were hard to find. rough seas made it hard to fish, for sure, with most of the bite on soft plastics (senkos). i bet we caught 10 fish under a pound for every one over 2 lbs....

no moose or bear but did see some scat and tracks on one portage.

the 5 day package with food, room, and board was less than $500. had we gone farther into the Quetico Park and tent-camped, it would've been even cheaper...but let me tell ya', it was NICE to have a dry place to go with the weather we had.

[2thDoc]

oh...and the three man canoe was really perfect. plenty of room (18.5ft long) with middle seat set pretty close to back seat....but my dad is a lefty and was able to go the whole weekend without hooking me or my brother in the ear.

[trailertrash]

How long of a hike into where you guys stayed?

[2thDoc]

two portages. three lakes. one portage was 800 yards. not bad at all.

the cabin was grand-fathered in because that lake used to be outside the park boundary. if you go one more lake in, its tent-camping only. when i went as a teen, it would take us 12-14 hours to get to our base camp. usually 8-10 lakes and portages approaching a mile. bad thing about that is it takes 2-3 trips on each portage to get all the gear in....but its worth it when you get there. you can drink the lake water straight....and the camping sites have no trash...no fire pit...and look like no one has camped there in years. it really is as close to "natural" or "pristine" as I have ever seen....