- Home
-
Trip Reports
- Blackbirch 2024
- Local Fishing 2024
- Oneida Lake 2023
- French River 2023
- Florida - June 2023
- Local Fishing 2023
- Down the River 2022
- Idaho 2022
- Cregan's Crew 2022
- Trout Fishing 2021
- 5 Day Trout Tour
- 7 Fly Challenge
- Black Lake - November 2020
- Black Lake - June 2020
- Local Fishing 2020
- Melchett Lake - September 2019
- Local Fishing 2019
- Down the River 2019
- Fish 'n Feast 2019
- Cregan's Crew 2019
- Wild Trout - October 2018
- Black Lake - August 2018
- Down The River 2018
- Black Lake - June 2018
- Fish'n Feast III - April '18
- Local Fishing 2018
- Naples FL - January '18
- Black Lake - Oct 2017
- Local Fishing 2017
- Susquehanna River - July 2017
- Canada - June 2017
- Muddy Creek - April 2017
- Black Lake - June 2016
- Youth Fishing Day - 2015
- Black Lake - June 2015
- Black Lake & SLR - May 2015
- NSNSNWW 2014 - Black Lake, NY
- St. Lawrence River - July 2014
- Trout Fishing - 2014
- Quantz Lake: September 2014
- Night Fishing 2014
- St. Lawrence River - Labor Day 2013
- Happy Day Lodge: 2013
- Black Lake, New York: May 2013
- Happy Day Lodge: 2012 >
- Susquehanna River: July 2011
- Black Lake, New York: 2011
- Crotch Lake, Ontario: 2010
- Susquehanna River: July 2009
- Black Lake, New York: May 2008
- Black Lake, New York: May 2007
- Black Lake, New York: May 2006
- Black Lake, New York: May 2005
- Black Lake, New York: May 2004
- Black Lake, New York: September 2003
- World's End, PA: Fall 2003
- Lake Vermilion, Minnesota: May 2003
- Pine Creek, PA: Sept. 2001
- Pine Creek, PA: June 2001
- Dollywood
- Crazy Random Fishing
- Old School Canada
- Down the River
- Fish'n Feast
- Jeep Pictures
Blackbirch Lake - Gray Wood Outfitters
August 2024
A man can consider himself blessed if he has one lifelong fishing buddy who gets it, who understands the importance, no, the necessity of epic fishing adventures.
I have five.
Mike, Jesse, Matt, Wes, Mike, and myself spent over a year thinking about and planning this incredible fly-in fishing trip to Blackbirch Lake with Gray Wood Outfitters. Mike and I have flown in a number of times, but this would be a first for the rest of the group. It didn't disappoint!
The timeline of the trip went something like this:
I have five.
Mike, Jesse, Matt, Wes, Mike, and myself spent over a year thinking about and planning this incredible fly-in fishing trip to Blackbirch Lake with Gray Wood Outfitters. Mike and I have flown in a number of times, but this would be a first for the rest of the group. It didn't disappoint!
The timeline of the trip went something like this:
- Gather at Jordan's to sort gear - realize we're overweight by about 300 pounds
- Pull about 100 pounds of gear out of the bags and call it good
- Pack everything into the Snapper and the Sequoia, pray, load up, check passports, and roll out
- Buy gas, coffee, snacks, and random trinkets for 1,300 miles before having a surprisingly delicious meal at the Between the Bridges Inn restaurant
- Sleep quite comfortably
- Drink Esso coffee, come in heavy by about 175 pounds on the scales, throw some cash around to solve the weight issues (works every time)
- Take off, puke, land, haul gear in the rain, organize gear poorly in the cabin, find rods and reels, go fishing
- Wake up, drink coffee, fish, eat, relax, fish, eat, relax, sleep
- Repeat for seven full days
- Spend 24 hours in a state of partial consciousness and miraculously arrive at home with a strong desire to repeat the process as soon as humanly possible
If you know me, you know I consider the most important currency in life to be memories. Like money, memories must be earned. But unlike money, you can use them for the rest of your life, and they never run out. These trips are not vacations. They are not easy. They are not even all that relaxing. More than anything I'd say they are .... rewarding. If you put in the time, energy, work, money, and effort, you will be rewarded with amazing memories of an adventure shared with lifelong fishing buddies. Here are a few of my favorite memories from the trip.
- Stopping at Klotz lake to reminisce about how this all started
- The shrimp tails
- Greg and all his stuff
- Laying on the dock watching the Northern Lights listening to Loons and the exhaust notes of over-fed men
- Fried fish, fried onion rings, fried french fries ... almost every day!
- The honey holes of Lower Mistassin, the walleye cut between lakes, the bay by the cabin, the rocky shoal in mid-Mistassin, the main lake point in Blackbirch, and the many cabbage beds in the Portage lake
- Pike Creek & Illusione - a winning combination
- Swimming off the dock
- Wes and his glass of Ice Tea
- Clogged water filters
- A hot wood stove drying everything out
- Forest fire smoke from Alberta
- Catching 101 and 107 walleye with Mike on two consecutive mornings in just a few hours
- Watching Wes and Mike grind it out for days and days to finally end up with the biggest fish of the trip
- Watching Matt and Jesse crush it, everywhere, all the time
- The Pig Shad, Timber Doodle, Mepps #5, Doctor Spoon, Schnabel, Glide Bait, Musky Killer
- Horribly bad clasps on over-priced titanium leaders
- Pulled pork, tortellini, steak, lasagna, chili, chicken enchiladas
- Crushing it at the Portage lake on Friday morning before the plane arrived
- Sitting on the dock late at night just hanging out, watching the stars, swatting the bugs
- Finding a huge blueberry bush while taking a dump at the portage lake
- Eating burgers and poutine in White River. Twice!
- Driving down along Lake Superior in the pouring rain, in the middle of the night, while tired
- The Circle K, super easy border crossings, and Canadian Tire
- The Goose, Winnie the Pooh, and the Black Bears of Wawa, White River, and Hornepayne
- Nailing them to the wall
- Using two mattresses and sleeping like an absolute rock
It's worth talking for a minute about the lake and the cabin. Blackbirch is way the heck up North, 150 miles above Nakina, and is connected to Mistassin Lake via a short rocky channel. There is also a short portage trail that accesses a medium sized lake filled with fat chunky pike. The fishing was great in all three lakes, as was the scenery. We had the entire place to ourselves. The cabin was extremely comfortable and well stocked. The boats were great, although a few leak, and the 15HP motors were a very nice upgrade from the 9.9s most outfitters use. We were thrilled to have running hot and cold water, a hot shower, fast StarLink wifi, and a generator that ran everything. It was A++ top notch all the way around.
We talk a lot about pushing hard and doing whatever it takes to catch a trophy, and it's true we do that, but some of the best memories are made during the in-between times. I'm not sure what pulls me back so hard to Canada, the big fish, or these small special moments.
It's funny that I waited until the end to discuss the fishing itself, but in short it was fantastic. Even though the weather was cold and rainy at first and then crazy hot and calm for most of the week, we still caught tons and tons of pike and walleye. The fish would turn on and off, but everyone caught a bunch. Sometimes the action was unbelievable, and you could catch 50 in an hour. Other times you couldn't buy a bite. All in all I'd say the lake was a bit off due to the weather, but we worked hard and still crushed it.