My two week fishing adventure to the North Channel of Lake Huron, for the 22nd time, began on Friday the 24th of May, when former Mustang, Ryan Anderson ’05, drove up from Charleston, South Carolina to hook up with me here in Alexandria and make the trek to Saulte Ste Marie, Michigan. Following dinner and a good night’s sleep we picked up our provisions, crossed over to Canada, and arrived at the Blue Heron Resort at about 3pm on Saturday. Two hours later we were on the water, with both of us catching a fish on our first cast – a major superstitious No-No. However, the Fishing Gods smiled on us nonetheless and fifteen minutes later, I had boated a 33 inch Muskie.
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I/we were blessed with two weeks, where, while the weather was not always ideal, we were able to get out and fish every day and night session, despite getting rained on a few times in Week Two. Ryan and I had ideal weather, and even fished a full day, which the weatherman had predicted to be a wash-out for days prior.
We caught Northern Pike, Walleye, Muskies, and Smallmouth Bass. Unfortunately, the Canadians micro-manage their fishing regulations and we were unable to keep enough walleye for a fish dinner on Week One. Smallmouth are strictly catch and release, since they are still out of season, until June 22nd this year. All of our smallies are caught, admired, sometimes photographed, and released unharmed. I’m proud to say that in the six days that Ryan and I fished, to our knowledge, we didn’t kill a single fish.
While still being far from 100% in my recovery from severing the Patellar Tendon of my left knee back on December 11th, I had some reservations about making the trip, knowing that I would struggle to negotiate the incline to and from the boat dock, the dock itself, and getting into and out of the boat, and then changing positions while in it. Fortunately, Ryan and my brother Mark are big strong guys, who managed to get me to where I needed to go. I did experience some lower back pain, and dropped back to fishing every other day on Week Two. The show went on without me.
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While the picture of my right thumb is somewhat gross, it is a sure sign of how good the fishing was throughout Week One.
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While they may have caught larger fish than we did, I assure you that no fisherman in Kentucky, Tennessee, or anywhere in the south caught more or had better overall fishing days than we did.
Ryan, who is the daddy to Sully, his one-year old son, left on Friday morning for the two day trek back to South Carolina, where he arrived home on Saturday at 4pm. This was a trip that the two of us had talked about making for the past few years, and I am incredibly happy that we were able to pull it off. I turned 77 years old over the two week span, and don’t know how many of these “adventures” I have remaining in me.
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In the picture at right, Lincoln, our Brossart State Tourney rep, teamed up with Ryan Shelton on his bass boat for some high speed positioning for some after dinner angling.
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Brothers Jackson and Lincoln Schabell display a pair of trophy sized smallies.
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No fishing trip to the Blue Heron is complete without a side trip to Lucky’s Snack Bar for Canadian Poutine.
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Randy Hader (Left) and Ryan Shelton (Right) display two dandies. Randy’s is a rare Canadian Largemouth, which are rarely caught this far north. Ryan displays what might be the big smallie of the trip, without a mark on it.
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Over the two week period we caught hundreds of quality fish. The fishing actually seems to get better each year, dating back to 1995 when I spent six weeks up there, and the biggest smallie that we encountered was 18 inches. We do not fish on purpose for walleye. When we did, trying to catch a few for dinner, and for Ryan to take home, we caught a few, but they were either in the slot (16″-22″) or exceeded 18 inches, which you are prohibited to keep up in the river. The best way to describe our fishing, is “Sport Fishing” catching whatever jumps on our hooks, and throwing back everything that we catch. Most of the fishermen we encounter, and share our camp with, are walleye fishermen, sitting in boats all day drifting with jigs and worms for pickerel, the Canadian name for walleyes. We not-so-respectfully refer to them as “Dew Worm Dippers.”
We are indeed blessed to be able to do this. As I said earlier, I don’t know how many of these trips I have remaining, but I will always feel good about starting something that I know will be carried on by the others in our group, long after I am gone. As I fish my favorite spots, I take solace in the fact that, unless the Great Lakes go dry, they will still be there for others in our group to continue to fish for the rest of their lives, and their kids, and their kids kids lives. .I can only hope that you who enjoy fishing, get this opportunity before going over the rainbow to visit Dorothy and Toto.