Things are a bit slow with a lot of folks just coming back from trips, how about posting a few Fish Pictures here so we don't excite too much interest in the BWCA crowd....after all, Quetico is practicley fished out, right?

Some of last weeks action in Quetico.
note: ignore anything that looks like a plastic lure, these fish were all caught on a leech and little hook. Haha ha ha

Wow! Nice! That Pink Reef Rider is in 2or 3 of those photos! What's it's exact Name?

Yeah, the only fish left in Quetico are all stunted. Here we are last year comparing big fish of the trip...;-);-)

Dave

This little guy was the very last fish in Sturgeon Lake in 2008, doesnt he look lonely.

Yup. Pretty much fished out up there. This lake trout impaled himself on my hook just for the company. Sad state of affairs :(

Some how we managed to catch these little bit nicer fish even though there's some guy publishing all the hot fishing spots;-)

All these were c&r on one of the more heavily fished entry points.















Dave

Dave

Guts

Nice Jackfish! What kind of popper was that with the smallmouth?

Brent Lake - fished out :)

So! was that the last descent sized walleye in Brent?.....all that is left now is minnows?

quote fishguts: "Nice Jackfish! What kind of popper was that with the smallmouth?"

I'm glad you asked, FG!

My parents are woodworkers and my Mom actually made that lure and gave it to me for Christmas last year. I don't think she ever expected me to use it, let alone catch a fish with it, but she was pretty surprised and excited to see the pic and hear the story about catching that smallie.

Thanks Jackfish, What a great story! Thanks for sharing that.;-)

Just returned from 11 day Q solo. Goal was the "grand slam plus" with a couple trophies...the results:

42" pike, Little Mariam Bay on firetiger 19 foot deep husky jerk
32" lake trout, McIntyre on blue/chrome 30 foot deep tail dancer
23" walleye, Kahshahpiwi on firetiger 19 foot deep husky jerk
20" smallmouth, Craig on surface with 3/8 oz chartreuse spinnerbait
17" largemouth, Cecil on surface with 1/4 oz in chartreuse spinnerbait

Some pics:







This next photo below is a smallie caught "differently" than any others...I hooked this 18-incher on the surface with a spinnerbait. He immediately launched himself out of the water about 20 yards from the canoe. Then, instead of going deep like most big smallies, he thrashed on the surface coming directly at the canoe. He jumped a few feet from the canoe and hit the side of the canoe. Then he dove deep. About 30 seconds elapsed, and he again rocketed above the surface, landed in the middle of the canoe on the yoke pads and bounced off and landed right between my feet. Boated this thick smallie without a net...first time I've ever had a bass literally jump into the canoe...and no, I'm not making this up....laughed so hard I almost tipped my canoe!!

PineKnot... nice fish pics! Did you post a trip report? I'd like to hear (read) about your trip.

Thx, Jackfish. Hope to post trip report soon...will provide link and more pics...

PineKnot! Excellent pictures...can't wait to read your report, that certainly was a Grand Slam Plus Trip!

PK, outstanding fishing, especially solo, u the man. Could you detail your self timer set up, as it obviously works well, gorillapod, or something like that?

Hey, PineKnot... I think I saw you during your trip. Did you run into a group of 4 women at the portage between McNiece and Shan Walshe? You were coming into Shan Walshe, and we were about to portage to McNiece.

Fishguts. Thx for the pm re fishing spots for trout. Caught the above as well as several others on McIntyre near the message cache campsite.

Bux. I bought a simple Nikon S3000. I set the camera for a 10 second delay and used my hat to balance the camera in my rod holder on the bow thwart. I had a small tripod, but the rod holder worked well enough so I never had to use the tripod. The only pain was having to set the 10 sec delay for each shot.

Sterngirl. Yes, that was me. Were you the lady in the blue hat? Sorry about taking your planned campsite on McNeice. How did the island site on Shan work out? I'm guessing you woke up to the fog as I did on McNeice? That portage from McNeice to Kash was very interesting, especially almost having to crawl the canoe up the rock face. How was the rest of your trip?

Rich.

PineKnot,
Wonderful to here that spot on McIntyre is still hot, glad you found it! We have always caught fish there too. ;-)

Rich,

I was in a multicolored hat in the canoe with the black lab.

It was funny to see you. We hadn't seen anyone for days, and were just paddling that direction to see if it was the portage. As if on cue, you appeared and we laughed, saying "I guess that is the portage."

We did stay on the island site on Shan Walshe. It was small, but we were able to fit our one tent on a pretty level spot. The moose skull was interesting. It really was a beautiful site...very mossy and tucked in. We woke to the fog. It was beautiful. That ended up being one of our favorite sites, so no worries about having the site on McNiece.

It was a great first trip to the Quetico.

Glad to hear things worked out for your group and that you had a good first trip, sg. Over the past 10 years, I've typically taken my boys on one or two weeklong trips each summer and then I go in solo for another week or so. As I look back on my 11 day solo this year, what with the nice weather and minimal rains and mosquitos, modest winds (until the last day and a half), great campsites, and really good fishing, I think this was my favorite solo trip to date....now, it's only a 10 month wait till the next Quetico trip...