Another Schabell Family Fishing Trip is in the books.   Six full days fishing the North Channel of Lake Huron out of Spanish, Ontario, where we have gone regularly since 1992, again did not disappoint.  We caught quality fish from the time we pulled up on our first spot on Saturday, May 31st until we called it a trip late Friday, June 5th.  My brother Mark who calculates these things, recorded that our group put 559 quality Northern Pike and Smallmouth Bass in our boats.  While this is down from 642 a year ago, we will credit Spring being a week or two late, and the Black Flies still being around preventing us from fishing after dinner, which is our norm.   All fish, with the exception of any walleye (pickerel) we catch are thrown back.  Andy caught the largest Pike at 27 inches, which pales in comparison to the 40 inch class Northerns that we used to put in the boat.  For some reason we have not seen a propensity of trophy sized class Pike in the past 10 years.  There were a couple of Muskies caught by Jeff Schwegnmann – 30 Inch and 45 Inch, but Mark’s Musky streak came to an end, primarily because we did not fish the Spanish River seriously this trip.  The Smallmouth Bass quality was excellent again this year.  Due to the late spring, we didn’t catch many small ones which become more prevelant when the water warms up.  The Smalliess were out-of-season and were immediately released to make some trophy-class bass for the future.  We had many smallies in the 20-21 inch class, and Lincoln, who caught 40 fish on two outings, also caught a rare Largemouth Bass.  Lincoln, and his dad Eric, had come out of Manitoba, where they caught many trophy Northern Pike, and Lincoln harvested a big Black Bear.   

For me, I turned 79 years old on Wednesday, June 3rd, and we celebrated with steaks.  This was the third trip that I have made since injuring my left knee back in December of 2023.  This was a really tough trip for me in negotiating the steps, ramps, and boat dock.  I was really a burden to my brother, Mark, who drew the short straw and ended up being my valet, and I can tell that it has taken a toll on me.  This probably signaled the end of my Canadian Fishing trips.  The good news is that my replacements are here, and I am confident that there will always be Schabells carrying on this tradition that we started back in 1992.