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| This is the largest from 2010, just over 39 inches. I am hoping to beat that this year. |
I left today for a Pike trip to Canada. We are driving and bringing everything we need except the boats and lodging; instead of flying in and being limited to 40 lbs. per person, we can bring whatever we want as long as they will let us across the border with it!
Instead of a few buggy whips with shooting line and flies with hair extensions, I have 3 heavy rods for pike and one medium spinning outfit for walleye, stored in a massive Bazooka rod tote. I am bringing a 7’ Heavy Fenwick with an Abu Garcia Revo Winch as my main tool this week, loaded with Spiderwire braid, the other two rods, Fenwick 7’ MH with a Revo Premier and a Revo STX, also have braid and will provide a variety of lures to throw without having to cut and retie each time. The Spinning outfit for walleye is a Verdict 7’ M rod with a Soron reel spooled with the new 12 # Nanofil (4# diameter!) line. I am going to try it without a leader first, but if a leader is needed I have 8# Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon ready.
Last year my primary lures were a silver Red-eye spoon, a mullet-spin, which is a beefed-up saltwater beetle-spin on steroids with a swimbait body instead of a skirt, and a hollow-belly swimbait. These are the three I will start off with this year, but I also want to try popping a frog across the top for those hammering hits, just to see if it happens, and have brought a wide variety of lures to experiment with. The walleye will have to eat Powerbait Grubs or a Gulp! 3” leech, or a jerkbait.
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| Lunch at a park in Gillette, WY |
Today we left Denver at 6:40 am to meet another of our party in Ft. Collins at 8. There are 5 of us, in two vehicles, driving to Newmart Resort on Lake Mirond, Saskatchewan for 5 days of fishing for Northern Pike and Walleye; 1300 miles one way.
These trips are hardcore driving. During today’s 805 miles and 15 hours of travel we stopped in Douglas, WY for gas, Gillette WY for a picnic lunch, Miles City, MT for gas, Sidney, MT for dinner, and at 9:30 pm completed our day at the Sherwood Inn in Plentywood, MT, switching drivers along the way.
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| Entering MT at a location so remote they don't bother putting up a Welcome to Montana sign. |
I love to travel and revel in the discoveries along the way. Crossing Wyoming can be surreal, where the coal mines outnumber the trees and for 50 mile stretches a wide 5-track railroad parallels the highway, only dissected by a massive loading station filling thousands of railroad cars carrying coal across the nation. And in Eastern Montana, often tracing the Lewis and Clark Trail, the lush green and gently rolling hills are punctuated by the river breaks of the historic Powder, Yellowstone, and Missouri Rivers, all nearly out of their banks at this time. Once we put Cheyenne behind us, the wide expanse of open territory is only emphasized by how few other vehicles are encountered, passing by exotic named towns like Chugwater, Biddle, Broadus, and Medicine Lake.
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| The mighty Missouri River, in some places out of its banks. Medicine Lake, Montana. |
We still have another 500+ miles to travel in Canada and will cross the border at 6 am tomorrow, arriving at Lake Mirond around 5 pm, (the 100 km speed limit only equates to a little over 60 mph.) I doubt that there will be internet access at the lake and likely will have to update this journey after the trip.
Wish me luck as I am looking for my first 40-inch plus Northern. My largest last year was just over 39 inches.
Fish ON!
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