Canada Fishing Trip 2011

Well we completed our 2011 fishing trip into Canada. As usual it was a blast, we ate great and caught a bunch of fish. The one thing we did notice this year was that we were not catching the numbers like we usually do up there. However, the weather was very nice this time and it was pretty nice for a change. It kind of felt like everything was a couple weeks later up there since it had been pretty warm for a while and the ice had been off for some time as well.





Even though we didn't catch the numbers we were used to the size of fish we caught were much bigger than normal. We caught a lot of Walleye 20" to 25" and that is really good size for that far north. Also, we caught some really big Northerns, although we did not get over that 40" mark that we have been striving for since we started going up there. How close did we come? Uncle Ron missed it by .5" his Northern was 39.5" This tied the Northern caught by my father in law the first year we went up there, in fact it was the first fish caught of everyone.





The day my uncle caught that Northern will go down as one of my best days fishing ever. It all started with him hooking into a really nice Northern in the morning 35-37" just before I was going to net the fish it did the northern barrel roll and snapped the line at the boat. We were discouraged and didn't expect to see another fish like that. So we started to troll around the area and about about an hour later I hooked a nice 31" Northern. We took pictures, measured him and let him go. I retied my line and through back out and set the hook on another nice 30" northern. Now I was getting excited. I let him go through back out and set the hook on another big pike 32" this time. We took pictures measured him and let him go. As you can imagine I was very excited because it is hard to catch a pike over 30" let alone 3 in a row within a half hour or so. So we kept fishing I caught a walleye and then in the exact same spot I just caught the 31" and 32" I hooked and caught a 35.5" Northern. 4 Northerns over 30 inches in 45 minutes. Best day fishing for me ever.





I had not even finished celebrating my catch and my uncle set the hook. After one heck of a fight we netted the biggest fish of the trip. His 39.5" Northern weighed 14 lbs. So 5 Northerns of that caliber in about an hour to an hour and a half is not to shabby.








Ron's 39.5" Northern








My 4th northern 35.5"s

My first one 31"s

Biggest Walleye of the trip 25.5" I caught him on the first day.

Some new faces and some new names.

Well I got a chance to compare my big shed to the shed the farmer ran over with his tractor. Despite my first assumption they are not the same deer. The shed that he ran over was from the wide 10 pointer that we had seen last January while house sitting. He is the same deer that was eating the landscaping and standing about 5' outside the window. I guestimate him to be 18-20" wide and a 3.5 year old deer. So that makes two 3.5(now 4.5) year olds that are hanging around and I feel pretty good about how I am set up for them. Really good in fact. The only unknown is who will stay and who will go.

Now the other problem is I gave this deer the name "flat tire" but I was thinking it was the same deer. Now that I know this big one is the same one that was looking in the house I think the name "peeping tom" is a good fit. So we have "Peeping Tom" who just vaulted to the top of my list and the other 10 pointer that I have a lot of history with who I am going to name "sanctuary"

Then there is a 6 pointer that I saw a lot last year who was 1.5 and now will be 2.5. The boys and I found his shed and I saw him a couple times. He was always near "sancuary" so I am going to name him "Sidekick" I think he will be a pretty decent deer, pobably an 8 point, this year, however, he will be getting the pass from me, unless he absolutley explodes this year.

I also got my camera out this past weekend and won't check it for a good couple weeks. So there should be some pretty decent growth goeing on by that time. I put it where I have a pretty good idea that either "peeping tom" or "sanctuary" is going through or both of them. I saw a couple of really good size tracks, really good.

So to say I am anxious is an understatement. I cant wait to see if my plans work. I am going to use my camera to pinpoint where these deer are bedding and once I can figure that out....game on.