Our family makes an annual trip to Tomiko Lake Lodge, which is in the area of Crystal Falls / Sturgeon Falls, between North Bay and Sudbury. On this year’s trip I accepted an invitation to do some fishing with a couple friends who live up in the local area. Since I like fishing, like the outdoors, like boats, and like these two guys seemed like a pretty good idea. After checking in with Carolyn that it would be OK with her and the kids, the date was set for some late afternoon / evening fishing on some new water!
I didn’t know exactly where I’d be fishing, all I knew was that I’d be fishing with friends Jeff and Dennis. They had a family cottage on the West Arm of Lake Nipissing, so I assumed we’d be fishing that area (which would have been fine with me). We arrived at the cottage and began to take our gear down to the dock, at which point I noticed something different. Not only were we loading the boat with fishing gear, some snacks and bait, but we were also loading a motor, and gas can. Yup, we were heading on a portage to a back lake!
After loading our gear we headed out. We were heavily laden so we didn’t exactly fly across the water, which allowed me the opportunity to soak in the beauty of the area. Regular readers will know that I enjoy the scenery and the adventure as much as the actual fishing, and while this was going to be a short trip, it would be packed with all three. Eventually we nestled the boat in a back bay, where you could barely see a foot path unless you knew what you were looking for. We proceeded to empty the boat and started making the trek to transfer all of our gear (including motor and gas) to the waiting boat on the “other side”. This video below shows you some of the terrain we had to cross. A few trips later, we launched the 16 footer waiting for us, hooked up the motor and gas, loaded the gear, and off we went. Have a look at this short video of the portage trail.
Not 15 seconds into the ride, we heard some crashing in the nearby bush and then saw a moose that was likely about 3 years old. That was one big three year old! After initially being startled, this truly majestic animal was kind enough to walk into a small clearing, and stay still long enough for me to snap a picture. While I wouldn’t want to meet this animal on the road at night, I was all to happy to witness this beast in the wild. We continued our winding journey up a tight river, passing what I liked to believe was untouched scenery, lush and green. I was surprised as we began to slow down shortly after we began, thinking “we can’t be here yet”. I noticed Jeff getting to the front of the boat and moving the gear, when suddenly the river had been replaced by a large beaver dam completely blocking our way. “We’ll need to pull the boat over this one for sure….” as if there was any option! If you think carrying supplies through a trail is tough sledding, how about pulling a fully laden boat up over a beaver dam! Well the three of us put our backs into, encouraged by the fact that we knew it would be easier on the way home.
So went the next couple of kilometers, where we encountered about 5 more dams. Some we were able to take a run at, pull up the motor and slide over, others we had to haul the boat or break out the paddles to get clear. The video below shows us arriving at the larger dam, followed by our taking a less than successful run at another. We did make it over most of them by working up enough speed and lifting the motor at just the right time, but having three grown men and all of our gear, pushed by a 9.9 hp motor choked in weeds, sometimes we just didn’t have enough of a run.
It had been over an hour since we started from the dock, but all of that hard work paid off as we finally arrived at our destination, Island Lake. I find the names of lakes interesting, as this particular body of water has no actual island. As we began to get ourselves set up to start fishing, I witnessed something that I found really interesting to observe, and something that had an impact on me. Jeff and Dennis, are brothers, they are good guys, funny, approachable, well-liked, serious about work and play, all good things. But now that we were out on the water, I saw two men who had fished together since they were kids, and the fell into a pattern born from years of being on the water together. They intuitively knew what each other wanted, where to go, how to position the boat. They used terms like “let’s work the apex” that was language they both understood but had no meaning to me. I really enjoyed seeing the absolute comfort and confidence they had in fishing together, and I was so pleased to have shared in it. It made me think back to the 25 years I’ve been fishing with my father and brothers, and wondered if we do the same…
This was not their first time on this lake, and they had their favorite lures, presentations, speeds, and were quick to get on the board with a few nice pike, but it wasn’t too long until we all had some fish in the boat. To paint the fishing conditions, I should note that it was about 3 in the afternoon, over 30 degrees, no clouds, and no wind. Despite these less than ideal fishing conditions, we worked that lake hard for a few hours, landing Northern Pike, Small Mouth Bass, and a few Walleye. We had a great day of fishing, but as the sun began to dip, we knew that we had a long journey back, including a second visit to the beaver dams, and hauling our gear along the portage trail, including taking the second boat back out with us again. If you have not had the chance to portage to a back lake, please, do yourself a favour and make it happen. Being on a body of water that so few people have even seen, let alone fished, puts you in touch with nature and fishing in a very special way. Don’t forget, to say in touch simply sign up and have my most recent post sent right to you!