Bucker Posted August 19, 2012 Report Share Posted August 19, 2012 Hello again fellow NF.N'ers. Well, this weekend was great weather up here, if you were a duck! It's been raining since late Thursday and has only stopped long enough to take all of your rain gear off, just to put it back on again. The weather we've been having up here on the coast has been more like October than August. +6 to +10, down to +4 or so at night. So, needless to say, I haven't been fishing too much. But, after a mostly unsuccessful 'eye outing last Sunday, and being busy at work through the week, I thought I'd tell my pa to gear up for a trip down the river and try our hand at some late summer Specks. I had heard in town that they've been biting well on the big rivers but those are sea run specks, anadromous, born in the fresh water, live there for a few years and come back to spawn and feed in the river and creek mouths following the tide. In at high, out at low. Although a very rare fish for most people to catch as this is their most southern limit, I was looking for the native brookies. The ones you have to nearly kill yourself on a long death march, be it through thick alders and endless boughs of spruce, each of which waiting for a trophy of their own, a torn jacket, scratched eyeball and making sure they cut every piece of exposed skin you have, then tag in their greatest ally, the mosquito. But at the end of such journey you are rewarded with the 'Ole Lady's sweetest gift. Seemingly endless trout. The start of the day was early. We needed a high tide mark in order for us to get where we needed to start the trip. So, the eyes opened at... Coffee, 3 over easy eggs on toast, 1 banana, 1 muffin and KNOCK KNOCK (dog leaps out of bed and loses it)....Dad's here. In the door he comes. "Mornin' pops, Coffee?" "Jazsus son, you’re not ready yet? Let's go!"............ Out the door and in the boat. The first fish of the day was caught, and released at 7:13 in the morning. I wanted to take a picture of 3 fish throughout the day, the first, the biggest, and the last, but, as luck would have it, the first fish of the day was a 11 1/4" beauty that leapt from my hands seconds before the camera was ready. You’d think I'd invest in a net and a more efficient way to keep a camera handy by now! Anyway, with the loads of rain, we were in some different water conditions. Some of the "holes" you can count on weren’t producing much, or any fish, but it made for less walking of the canoe, so we didn’t mind. Here and there we were picking off some specks of various sizes but nothing smaller than 8". It was still early in the day, so we put on the barbless hooks to make sure we would do as little damage as possible to the smaller guys we came across. Well, around a bend or two at the bottom of a very small rapid where you would expect to catch some little guys, hit this healthy fella. A beautiful 13 3/4" speck. It wasn't close to the biggest we've caught around here (22.5") but worthy of a picture so far as it was the biggest of the day. Pops' hadn't seen too much action so far as he was busy at the helm of the boat, but not being one to get shown up for too long, he landed one of these. To explain the use of the shad colored Flat Rap; we had heard from other fisherman and women of the area that pike have been known to frequent these waters, so out of curiosity's sake we tied one on knowing that a pike in the north can't pass up a such a wiggling rap. So, let me tell ya, they work for specks! So, after seeing that go down, I thought I'd give it a toss................WACK......The rod bends and the line peels. Sure, the gear we're using isn't top quality, but this thing was a hard fighting 'Northern. The lies were true; there are pike in here........ Oh wait, no. I somehow managed to snag a monster (remember, I use the word monster because these are natural specks, not stocked) in a 40' cast. And as you all know, when you snag a fish by the tail, or anywhere rear of the center of the fish, physics is on their side! So, after catching 2 beauties on the Rap, we thought we'd try the little Cleo. A lure I hate. A lure that, when I was in Niagara fishing the River as a kid with DmcV I nearly wore out my rotator cuff casting, and getting nothing but disappointment. I've always kept one with my tackle because the old guard says they're great..... Well, it was........... And so on and so on. As the rain started and stopped, so did the trout. The fishing was incredible. The pool we were in wasn't overly big, so after about 10 minutes of casting and hauling nothing smaller than 10", they'd shut down from being spooked. We'd take that time to get more wood for the fire, eat lunch, have a beer and relish the fact that we live where we do, and we were able to experience a Brook Trout fisherman’s paradise. We kept and cleaned one person’s limit and ate a few small trout on a stick over the fire while we waited for some clothes to dry and the bite to start again...... At the end of the day, over 40 of these magnificent fish were caught and released. What a place. But, it couldn't go on forever. Like the tide we rode in on, we left just the same. Safe fishin' folks. Bucker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian_b Posted August 19, 2012 Report Share Posted August 19, 2012 Great post again Bucker...enjoyed reading it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cplummer Posted August 19, 2012 Report Share Posted August 19, 2012 Wow. This post has to be bar none the best report this year by far. Thank you for sharing this experience it made my day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveC Posted August 19, 2012 Report Share Posted August 19, 2012 That is truly awesome.......that last picture there is a magazine cover page picture for the North. Fire going, some specks sitting beside a can of beer.....what a life !!! You make me so jelous... Thanks for sharing this...awesome !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickyy33 Posted August 19, 2012 Report Share Posted August 19, 2012 Awsome post, Everytime I see a post by Bucker I get a lil excited, You got it made up there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spottedGARRR Posted August 20, 2012 Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 Keepin' that dream alive... thanks for report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snaggy Posted August 20, 2012 Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 Awesome report, those are some beauty specks, thatnks for the read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D McV Posted August 20, 2012 Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 Unreal! Stop making me jealous,I told u I can't make it up there right now.Lol . I fished a ton of water this past week around your other area of the country. From the Ottawa river in Renfrew (caught a baby gar with bare hands),golden lake, bonnacher river,crooked lake/creek,a few other lakes around Barry's bay ,managed to get 2 Walleye on the fly! and found a creek full of specks and smallies a little closer to home but nothing like that! I had a taste of what u had in 2 rivs and was in awe of the scenery / fishing/ species in the same bodies of water. Even got Suzanne ready to move up there ! Sorry not trying to hijack this great post...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucker Posted August 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 Unreal! Stop making me jealous,I told u I can't make it up there right now.Lol . I fished a ton of water this past week around your other area of the country. From the Ottawa river in Renfrew (caught a baby gar with bare hands),golden lake, bonnacher river,crooked lake/creek,a few other lakes around Barry's bay ,managed to get 2 Walleye on the fly! and found a creek full of specks and smallies a little closer to home but nothing like that! I had a taste of what u had in 2 rivs and was in awe of the scenery / fishing/ species in the same bodies of water. Even got Suzanne ready to move up there ! Sorry not trying to hijack this great post...... Sweet McV. Glad you liked it. That area has some incredible fishing, there's tons of stocked laker and speck lakes around there as well. Make the move north, you won't regret it. B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midas69er Posted August 20, 2012 Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 Nice catches boys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickyy33 Posted August 20, 2012 Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 Can't get over this story, Love it, the early morning, the tasty breakfast, fishing with dad, the fish!! I can see this in an issue of outdoor canada or In fisherman, should send it in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seanook Posted August 21, 2012 Report Share Posted August 21, 2012 Too good..."sigh". totaly jealous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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