Recently we published Mike Borger’s 2010 report to Eddie North’s Attawapiskat River Adventures. Here is Part 8 of his 2009 report that he took in September. The pictures of big fish still abound but they are also accompanied by more narrative about the details than last time. We again have divided the trip report into multiple sections. Make sure to check out each of them.

Here’s Mike…

After an equally exhilerating and exhausting few days of fishing we were ready to head home. Or were we?

On a fly in trip there are no set schedules as you’re at the whim of the weather gods. Although we were packed and ready for the plane a thick, dense fog had rolled in creating almost zero visibility and as low a cloud ceiling as I’ve ever seen. Not ones to waste an opportunity we grabbed our tackle and set out to fish what’s now called Caribou Bay.

This last little kick at the cat was entirely Jason’s show, the lad scored big. He had the lure they wanted that morning that’s for sure. I will however take credit for my incredible choice of spots, boat handling skills and an uncanny ability to place him in the perfect position for a cast.

In between Jasons goliath pike we both managed a slew of smaller pike and walleye. Bonus fish indeed and a better way to end our adventure I can’t imagine.

By early afternoon the fog began to lift and we made our way back to camp. Eddie had provided us with a satellite phone and we had finally managed to reach the airbase: They were on their way northward to pick us up. In no time at all the skies fully cleared and our ride showed up:

Glad to be heading home to our families it was still kind of bittersweet to be leaving such an incredible place as we winged our way south.

Some Final Thoughts…

1. The weather and time of year were not condusive to catching large pike and we still did very well. A bit later in the fall and obviously in the spring/early summer this place will be mind blowing. It truly is a pike factory.

2. Eddie Guergis is a truly oustanding individual and someone who I believe I can consider a friend now.

3. Jason I already knew was a great guy, Doug and his dad were previously unknown commodities and are now in the friend category. For me one of the best parts of the trip was seeing Gerd break his personal bests of both species multiple times. I couldn’t have picked 3 finer gentlemen to join me on this adventure. Thanks for the companionship gents, here’s ’till the next time.

4. I’ve fished for trophy pike in a lot of places and Beteau is on par with the best of them. What makes this camp so unique for an angler from southern Ontario, the logistics are very easy. There is no flight to Winnipeg or other far flung jump off points. There is no mind blowingly long drive to get to the airbase (12 hours from Doug’s place). The price is a fraction of what places like Knee Lake and Kesagami charge. All in all it’s highly reccomended.

5. It was extremely difficult if not impossible to chronicle this trip properly. With pictures from 4 different cameras thrown at me all mixed together it was a challenge. I did the best I could, hopefully I didn’t make too many errors.

6. I CAN’T WAIT ’till next June!

Hope you enjoyed,

Cheers, Mike

Part 1 – Introdcution
Part 2 – A Flight Down Memory Lane
Part 3 – Getting Our Feet Wet
Part 4 – A Land of Plenty
Part 5 – Gluttonous Cannibals and a Trip Upstream
Part 6 – Wolves, Moose, Bears and Giant Pike
Part 7 – Intensity Rewarded
Part 8 – Plane Late? Not A Problem

Recently we published Mike Borger’s 2010 report to Eddie North’s Attawapiskat River Adventures. Here is Part 7 of his 2009 report that he took in September. The pictures of big fish still abound but they are also accompanied by more narrative about the details than last time. We again have divided the trip report into multiple sections. Make sure to check out each of them.

Here’s Mike…

Never before have I ever fished so hard. Graced with perfect weather and the possibility of a goliath on virtually every cast we fished intensely every day. Casting like machines for hours on end we really got into a rythym and after a couple of days pretty much knew instinctively what the other had in mind. A well oiled machine if I do say so.

Our last full day we ramped it up to another level and were rewarded. The morning was damp and chilly with a thick fog hanging over the water. For the first and only time we donned our goretex suits to ward off the chill as we set out on a milk run of our best spots.

Once again casting bucktails the day started off well:

A bit later in the day we made a long run to a large bay that we’d fished unsuccessfully twice before. Needless to say Jase wasn’t overly thrilled with the decision but being the good sport that he is he went along for the ride. It turned out to be a fortuitous choice. In the middle of this large kilometer long bay was a small isolated pocket of reeds. After working the usual key spots with nothing to show we turned our sights to the mid bay reeds.

As is often the case something odd, something that sticks out and is just a little bit different will produce fish. There were definitely a few fish hanging around this small isolated reed clump.

This next fish was not only incredibly long, but fat. She looked like she had just swallowed a baby duck LOL!

As with all our large pike she was released to swim again after a short revival session in the cradle:

A truly fantastic day!

Part 1 – Introdcution
Part 2 – A Flight Down Memory Lane
Part 3 – Getting Our Feet Wet
Part 4 – A Land of Plenty
Part 5 – Gluttonous Cannibals and a Trip Upstream
Part 6 – Wolves, Moose, Bears And Giant Pike
Part 7 – Intensity Rewarded
Part 8 – Plane Late? Not A Problem

Recently we published Mike Borger’s 2010 report to Eddie North’s Attawapiskat River Adventures. Here is Part 6 of his 2009 report that he took in September. The pictures of big fish still abound but they are also accompanied by more narrative about the details than last time. We again have divided the trip report into multiple sections. Make sure to check out each of them.

Here’s Mike…

The next day we navigated up a small inflowing river travelling for several km’s before being stopped by a small rapids. According to Eddie this was a walleye hotspot in the spring. Not so in the early fall but we did manage a bunch of walleyes working the well defined channel in the lower two thirds:

Upon entering the delta where the river spilled into the lake we slowly cast our bucktails in search of pike, weaving them in and out of the patchy but not dense weeds.

I managed to get on a bit of a roll:

After the action slowed and the chatter died down we heard something amazing in the back of the bay about 1/2km away. A pack of wolves obviously agitated began yipping and snarling with the odd howl thrown in. We were enthralled especially since it was mid morning with a hot bright sun. It’s just not something you normally hear at that time of day. As the pack edged closer and closer to us we suddenly heard a huge crash and a harried looking cow moose stumbled out into the bay not far from us.

As both Doug and Eddie later said it was probable that the wolves had already brought down the calfs as the cow moose was alone.

As we approached for a closer look the poor beast caught wind of us and you could literally see its indecision. Face us or the snapping wolf pack behind it. We backed off and the bedraggled animal managed to slink into the alders without making a noise. I suspect she didn’t go too far though.

What can I say? The rest of the day was a pike fest (with the odd suicidal walleye thrown in for good measure.

We had the experience with the wolves and moose, and Doug and his dad were fortunate enough to see a bear:

Did I mention this place was teeming with wildlife?

As usual the dynamic duo held their own on the fishing front:

That evening back at camp we had another tremendous feed of fresh walleye. Amongst all of the many amenities, Eddie’s got a propane cooker for outdoor use that we put to good use:

Part 1 – Introdcution
Part 2 – A Flight Down Memory Lane
Part 3 – Getting Our Feet Wet
Part 4 – A Land of Plenty
Part 5 – Gluttonous Cannibals and a Trip Upstream
Part 6 – Wolves, Moose, Bears And Giant Pike
Part 7 – Intensity Rewarded
Part 8 – Plane Late? Not A Problem

Recently we published Mike Borger’s 2010 report to Eddie North’s Attawapiskat River Adventures. Here is his Part 5 of his 2009 report that he took in September. The pictures of big fish still abound but they are also accompanied by more narrative about the details than last time. We again have divided the trip report into multiple sections. Make sure to check out each of them.

Here’s Mike…

We hit the river early the next morning. The night before was a cold one and we were anxious to catch the early morning bite.
Bit of a chilly ride enroute to our destination:

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Recently we published Mike Borger’s 2010 report to Eddie North’s Attawapiskat River Adventures. Here is Part 4 of his 2009 report that he took in September. The pictures of big fish still abound but they are also accompanied by more narrative about the details than last time. We again have divided the trip report into multiple sections. Make sure to check out each of them.

Here’s Mike…

The next morning dawned clear and cool with a bit of a nip in the air.

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Recently we published Mike Borger’s 2010 report to Eddie North’s Attawapiskat River Adventures. Here is his Part 3 of his 2009 report that he took in September. The pictures of big fish still abound but they are also accompanied by more narrative about the details than last time. We again have divided the trip report into multiple sections. Make sure to check out each of them.

Here’s Mike…

Once we settled in and readied the boats it was time to fish. We were all dog tired and didn’t have a lot of time with the sun falling quickly, but the pull was strong.

Doug and his dad had about an hour head start on us. They were working a bay directly across and within sight of the camp. We motored over to chat and it seemed Dougie had had a decent start. Throwing small bass sized spinnerbaits he managed a couple of chunky monkeys:

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Recently we published Mike Borger’s 2010 report to Eddie North’s Attawapiskat River Adventures. Here is Part 2 of his 2009 report that he took in September.

The pictures of big fish still abound but they are also accompanied by more narrative about the details than last time. We again have divided the trip report into multiple sections. Make sure to check out each of them.

Here’s Mike…
Continue reading »

Recently we published Mike Borger’s 2010 report to Eddie North’s Attawapiskat River Adventures. Here is his 2009 report from a trip that he took in September. The pictures of big fish still abound but they are also accompanied by more narrative about the details. We again have divided the trip report into multiple sections. Make sure to check out each of them.

Here is the introduction. Hope you enjoy. Here’s Mike…

Earlier in July of this year I was fortunate to become aquainted with Eddie Guergis. Eddie had aquired an old run down camp on Beteau lake, a widening of the Attawapiskat river 260km north west of Nakina from the natives in Lansdowne House.

As many of you know it’s difficult if not impossible for outfitters to open up new bodies of water as the MNR is not giving out any new land use permits. The only way new waters are opened up in Ontario is by flying further north and leasing from the natives.

Eddie hit the jackpot with the Beteau lake camp. It’s an absolute fish factory with tons of water to fish and explore and huge numbers of both trophy walleye and northern pike.

He started reconstruction of the old native camp earlier this spring and by August it was mostly transformed: A large separate kitchen cabin with all the amenities, 2 very comfortable sleep cabins, a storage shed and a fish cleaning shack. There’s still work to be done, but the bones are there already…

After speaking to him at length I was compelled to book a trip for prime time in June of 2010. What completely caught me off guard was an offer from Eddie to come up and fish the 1st week of September. He was flying in several planeloads of materials and promised we’d be able to squeeze in with our gear and hitch a ride.

I started looking for others to go. Skud AKA Doug was keen to go and asked if he could also bring his dad. In his mid 70’s and an avid angler in his own right, Gerd had never before been on a fly in trip. With Doug stepping up to pay for his pops as well I couldn’t say no. (You’re a good son.)

So the cast of characters was set: Myself, Jason (Basskicker on the board), Doug and his dad Gerd. The excitement was palpable as we loaded the truck in the early morning hours of September 1st and hit the highway for the long drive north to Nakina….

Part 1 – Introduction
Part 2 – A Flight Down Memory Lane
Part 3 – Getting Our Feet Wet
Part 4 – A Land of Plenty
Part 5 – Gluttonous Cannibals and a Trip Upstream
Part 6 – Wolves, Moose, Bears and Giant Pike
Part 7 – Intensity Rewarded
Part 8 – Plane Late? Not A Problem

Fellow blogger Brett from Apthorpes Fishing & Hunting Adventures, just got back from a late June 2010 fishing trip with Air Cochrane to their Nettogami Island camp. Brett has an excellent detailed report at his blog. He also has a lot of videos to give you an idea what the trip was like. Here’s a small excerpt…

That evening we helped our annual Lake Nettogami fishing contest by which the boat with the most total inches of fish caught in a two hour period would win. Big Shu and I were in a boat, Ben, Jake and Charlie in another, with the Wilkes comprising the third boat.. We headed to the place on the lake that produced well for us at the end of last year’s trip. Taking advantage of a North-west wind Shu and I drifted over the roller coaster shaped lake bottom catching 150+” of fish in the first 30 minutes.

This tranquil state of fishing utopia was suddenly interrupted by Charlie yelling at us while Jake drove their boat up to ours. Charlie complained that his fish had swallowed his lure and needed help getting it out. They were awed by our total fish count that I shared with them while big Shu removed the lure from the pike. Then Jake, with a devilish look in his eye, wished us well and told Ben to shove their boat off. This grin did not fade as he drove the boat 20 yards down wind from our boat where he stopped the boat and started fishing. Each boy promptly caught fish while drifting over our fishing hole!!!! They proceeded to always stay 20 yards in front of our boat, catching fishing, and quickly passed the 200″+ count. Shu and I shouted angrily at them, calling them unethical, and other such words that should not be printed in a public blog, and which only seemed to fuel their delight. Needless to say, when the two hours were up the boys contended to be victorious while Shu and I claimed it was a victory shrouded in controversy!

Doesn’t it sound like a great time? So, check out Apthorpes Fishing & Hunting Adventures for more details on the report.

This is part 5 of a photo essay of a trip by Fishing Traveler friend Mike to Eddie North’s Attawapiskat River Adventures. If you haven’t read the intro, please check it out for more details on the trip report. This part features some of the walleye that Mike caught on his trip. Remember that Mike was focused on the pike and not walleye.

Here’s Mike…

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