Back From Lac Seul Outposts

When you hit a Rock at 34 mph!

It has taken me over a week to recover from last weeks Lac Seul experience but with everything coming to a head this Friday, it's just been crazy.  So the recap of what was a pretty exciting week at Lac Seul Outpost starting last Tuesday.  After meeting in Sioux Lookout on Monday night, the plan was to stay overnight at the Best Western then head into Chamberlain Narrows on Tuesday morning, fish the afternoon, Wednesday, and Thursday before heading back home on Friday.  Our first order of business on Monday night was to find a place to eat.  Monday was Victoria Day in Canada and is similar to Memorial Day in the United States except almost everything is closed, especially places to eat.  We finally found a Chinese place, New Kowloon open and for the most part it was pretty good as they served beer.  After a decent meal we headed back to the hotel only to get up by 6:00 with the goal to be at the landing in Deception Bay by 7:00, to beat the rush.  We had met a guy at the hotel that had a Range like mine, and was also going in the morning but had planned on following the camp boats.  Stating we knew the way in, he decided to follow us as I took the lead.  Well about a mile up from the Bear Narrows Red Buoy Corner, I was off a little to the left however the green buoy was still on my left as in this part of the lake one should stay to the left of the Red Buoys and the right of the Green Buoys.  Well even though off course a little I still had plenty of room between me and that green buoy.  All of a sudden a loud crashing sound, my outboard hit the bottom with vengeance as the motor suddenly stopped.  Obviously the green buoy was to far on the reef to be trusted.  The force of impact left 2 rather large holes in the front of the lower unit, quickly draining out the gear grease, therefore triggering a sensor that prevents the motor from starting when the crankcase was low.  As you see the prop didn't turn out too bad as most of the damage was to the housing.  Anyway the guy that decided to follow up must have damn near had a heart attack as this wasn't pretty.  RJ said that if I'd been over by less than 10 feet I would have been OK.  We were only 5 miles from camp so RJ decided to pull me in to less than a hero's welcome.  Well we were in camp and had 2.5 days to fish, we decided that the kicker motor would have to do as the fish were going in the Narrows and one didn't have to go very far.  We come to learn that the guy following us did the exact same thing at the same spot 2 years earlier.

26 inch walleye on

As far as fishing, it was pretty good close to the camp Admittedly it looked pretty funny with a 20.5 foot Ranger being pushed by a 9.8 hp Kicker motor but it performed very well.  Having a remote control steering on the kicker, it was interesting trying to get somewhere  as it was easy to overcompensate as we zig zagged up Chamberlain Narrows.   Later we found that if one just pointed the kicker straight, dropped the big motor into the water then steer with the big motor, it would work pretty good, at least we went straight!  There were a lot of fish in the channel and for 2 in the boat we ended up with 160 fish for the 2 1/2 days, not bad.   Also the big females were starting to make their way back to the big lake so we did catch quite a few over the 22 inch mark.  We ate good both Tuesday night and Wednesday as fresh walleye and northern pike were on the menu.  It was one of the softest bites that I have ever experience.  The fish just came in and either inhaled the minnow or took it's merry old time, often holding the minnow up to 30 seconds.  This took a lot of patience and understanding of how the fish were reacting, Yet we did miss only a few as the bite was good if you had the patience   Also a few weeks ago I mentioned the new long shank Fireball Jigs from Northland Tackle worked very good. they are perfectly set up for minnow fishing on Lac Seul  as most of my fish on Sunday morning were dead minnows and the long shank jig.     We did try plastics for some success yet I because of the weather, we stayed under the Bimini Top most of the time making it difficult to cast.  Also I was excited to try the new Genesis Live software upgrades that I installed but that never happened either.  The real excitement happened on Friday on our way out!

Bruce had arranged for my boat to be towed out by the barge, a large boat with twin 150's on the back.  The schedule was to be at the dock at 5:00 AM and we'd get hooked up and pulled back to Deception Bay Landing (35 miles).  Tying a long ( about 80 feet) rope to my boat, I was requested to trim up my motors and away we went.  Having my GPS on, we quickly got to 30 mph when my boat started to swing back and forth wildly.  I was attaching my life vest when the first swing threw me on the floor.  Desperately grabbing the steering wheel I struggled to stay in the boat.  The boat continued to sway violently until it was perpendicular to the tow boat, just ready to be jerked in the opposite direction and during that process the tow rope ( a 1 inch twisted rope) broke.  It was the best thing to happen as the extreme swaying stopped.  Quickly fastening my lifevest, the barge came back and checked on my condition, he said he was going back to camp to get another rope.  After getting reset, I put the main motor down to act as a keel, and we took off.  This time the tow rope was quite a bit shorter and the boat ran right up the first wake, although tracking better it also wanted to sway as well I was getting pretty wet from the prop spray.  Stopping we added about 20 feet more of rope and things settled down nicely.  It did take about 5 miles for me to settle down but the rest of the trip was thankfully uneventful.  Finally making it back to the landing we headed south and was able to drop the boat off at Frankies before 6:00.  I made the claim earlier this week and we'll see how it shakes out.  So far I am 2 for 2 this year with the motor, on opener the power steering goes out and the very next trip I take out the lower unit!  Oh well, just remember the Serenity Prayer, God grant me to accept the things I can not change, change the things I can and the Wisdom to know the difference.  So all in all it was a successful trip!