For the 5th year in a row I joined a group of hardcore ice anglers up in the Calabogie Highlands. It is some of the nicest scenery around with awesome trails that lead to lake after lake. Despite it’s beauty the fishing is often tough and average to below average quality of angling. Birdee made a return appearance this year and was pretty pumped up about having her own ride this time around.
Birdee and I decided this year to treat it more like a vacation weekend than a fishing trip. We took our time doing anything. Spent lots of time just catching up with old friends and sharing a few laughs or a few hours at the Poker table. In the end it was a fantastic 4 days in outstanding company.
Load in on Wednesday morning was a breeze. We were ready to head to the Hills!
We picked up a second Yamaha Bravo. Perfect machines for this.
With a group of 27 campers we loaded up the parking lot.
The load-in was a piece of cake. Birdee decided to stay back at the camp and hang out while I snuck out for a few hours fish. I set-up on one of my favorite little flats in 50-54 feet of water with my two buddies Rob and Andre. Immediately we were marking fish. Sadly for me the only Laker I’d see on the weekend I flipped off in the hole within the first 15 minutes of fishing. The rest of the time it was playing around with the herring population. Andre plopped out two above average Lakers for the area.
We left the ice early that day and headed to join the rest of the crew at the camp. After a solid meal of hot Chili plans were set in place for the following day. With dozens of lakes at our fingertips small groups spread out all over the area to give the various lakes a look.
We arrived back at the camp to hear of tough fishing on the main lake near camp which certainly softened the blow from our tough day as well. After an awesome Roast Beef meal, Birdee and I decided we’d simply hit the main lake nearby and hope the fish would turn on.
After a laughter filled evening and a hearty breakfast, Birdee and I made our way down to see if the Lakers were hungry. Birdee had her pop-up setup in no time.
After about 5 minutes I decided to hop inside the HT Pop-up with Birdee. The weather took a turn for the worse flipping over unattended portables in the white-out conditions. We simply hunkered down and stayed warm. Our issue was we only had one hole punched inside the pop-up so I watched Birdee jig. A few Herring visited us topside again. Yawn City.
We decided to retreat back to the camp at about 1 O’Clock. The weather nor the fishing kept us interested. That early wrap-up on the day allowed me the opportunity to get us packed up for the next morning. Load-out went off without a hitch.
One thing Birdee and I have come to the conclusion is we seem to be fishing less and less on this trip. It’s really great to just catch up with old friends in a great setting, fish are certainly just a bonus. A great 4 days it was and we can’t wait until next year already!
