by Norm McCreight
It’s hard to talk about fishing without eventually getting to the subject of “the one that got away”. My personal favorite – or should I say worst– is a big walleye I lost on the Segise Flowage in Northwest Ontario. I’ll never forgive the “net man” (you know who you are) for smacking my trophy on the nose!
My girlfriend Rhonda’s is the lake trout she lost at Kasba Lake in the Northwest Territories, she claims she lost the fish because “the sun was in her eyes?” I’m still not sure about that one.
Normie, my oldest boy’s “one that got away” happen just this past summer musky fishing on Pipestone Lake just north of Emo, Ontario.
Pipestone Lake is famous for multi-species fishing: walleye, pike, bass, lake trout and of course the elusive musky. Fishing lore claims the musky is a fish of a thousand casts…but we only had five days, so Normie was counting on doing it in 500. My only advice was “good luck.”
When I got the call from All-Canada that I’d be heading to Pipestone Lodge my first reaction was to hit their web site and begin analyzing lake maps.
As soon as I set my eyes on Clearwater/Pipestone Lake I smiled…it is filled with islands, bays, nooks and crannies. I could see our toughest decision would be which species to fish! That’s why I love drive-in and boat-in lodges – you can bring as much tackle with you as you want.
Normie and I decided to concentrate on musky and smallmouth bass. It was August and in a deep water lake like the Clearwater Chain; walleye and lake trout would be deeper than we wanted to fish.
Pipestone Lodge is a full-service resort – owned and operated by Art and Jennifer Perchaliuk – that can only be accessed by boat and offers both American and Housekeeping plans. The eight cabins and main lodge sit on a manicured lawn connected by a lighted boardwalk. Everything was spotless and the food was great. So good that by mid-afternoon our minds began to wander about whether that night’s meal would beat the previous.
Pipestone Lodge
August is an excellent month for bass and musky. Bass are feeding heavy and musky aren’t as deep as northern pike. With all the finger bays and mature weed beds we should be able to catch a few of these tackle busters.
Art greeted Normie and me at Sportsman’s Landing, the jumping off spot on our adventure up to Pipestone Lodge. The boat ride in included a short hand-pulled portage to the upper lake and minutes later we could see the island lodge. Jenny, the other half of the Perchaliuk team, greeted us at the dock and got us settled in. Pipestone is a very friendly atmosphere and a truly home type setting awaits you.
We hit the water with our marked map and the push-of-a-button on my GPS. Our first quest was to catch some bass, it didn’t take us long to learn the bass weren’t as agressive we expected. I had spent most of the summer in northern Manitoba and didn’t realize the summer in Northwest Ontario had been so cold (and rainy). It was almost like we were fishing in late-June or early-July than mid-August.
The first spots we hit were points with a sharp drop off at 12 to 14 feet. The bass were sitting right on the edge. I had on a ¼ .oz jig head tipped with an oil coloured twister tail, while Normie had an oil coloured twister tail on a ¼ .oz Roadrunner. We caught smallmouth bass from 14 to 19 inches. Normie caught more bass than I did, but I caught the biggest. His Roadrunner was flashier then my bait and working it faster got the spinner working for him.
We moved to another spot Art marked on our map, it was a flat point with current. We put on a 3/8 ounce jig head with an oil coloured twister tail and caught some, but not nearly like the first spot. Mixing up our colours didn’t provide any better results. We left that spot only to return an hour or so latter. I said to Normie “you jig and I’m going to throw some cranks”, tying on a 10-foot deep diver. I like this bait because it’s made out of balsa wood and has a tendency to run head down when retrieved.
I started to catch some nice bass and Normie switched over and sure enough he caught the biggest bass of the day. The next day Normie was hot again and his bragging soon become unbearable…to the point where I found myself thinking “one day I’m going to cut that kid loose.” Probably wouldn’t make a difference though, I‘ve taught him way too much about fishing already.
The weather took a turn several days into our trip with overcast skies and rain on and off for the next two days. It didn’t bother us as we had good rain suits and a lot of patience. The fishing did slow down a bit, but really didn’t affect our results; we just had to work a little harder. With two days left – and having given the local bass population a good workout – we decide to pursue the elusive musky
Even though we had begun to master the balance of catching bass in between cold fronts, with only two days left we wanted to catch at least one musky. Besides, I didn’t drag all my Musky tackle 450 kilometers just to bring it back home.
Normie and I sat down and talked to Art about Musky fishing, he said “ Musky fishing has been a challenge all summer with all the cold fronts we’ve experienced, you’ll just need to experiment and mix up your strategy a bit.” Art suggested we talk to a group of musky fishermen in camp so we did. They agree with Art’s assertion that the weather and the Musky’s disposition were working against us…not to mention the clock, and their only advice “cast, cast, cast.”
We followed everyone’s suggestion and threw Suicks, Bulldogs, Smithwicks, Rapalas, Bucktails, large spinners and Storm soft baits. I threw lures that I don’t even know what they were called.
Then, on the last day, the sun FINALLY broke out…now I understand why early man worshiped the sun – Normie and I practically dropped to our knees and worshipped it ourselves before heading out that morning.
With only one day to catch a musky, we needed to cover as much area as possible…it was time to troll. We started by trolling bays beginning in deep water then working shallower, followed by trolling nearby exposed reefs then moving on to small islands. An hour or so before lunch we decided to troll the outside of a corner bay. Feeling hungry I made a wide turn over 50 to 60 feet of water giving me time to grab a sandwich.
As the boat straightened out – and my lure following behind – I felt a big hit and shoved the rest of my sandwich in my mouth. Standing up in the back of the boat, I set the hook (with ham and mustard dropping on my shirt) and all I could think of was “be a big musky not a hammer-handle pike.”
Trying to get Normie’s attention – with a half a sandwich in my mouth – I started pounding my foot on the boat bottom like Stomping Tom (if you know who Stomping Tom Connors is you’re a true Canadian).
Finally…Normie turned around and I motioned for him to get control of the boat so I could fight the fish. It wasn’t a big musky but I could tell at first glance, it WAS a musky. We caught the fish 10 feet down in 62 feet of water, give me a break. We measured her in the water at 37 inches and estimated it to be 15 to 17 pounds.
I’m a firm believer in Catch and Release for musky which means the fish stays in the water and I don’t even take pictures unless it’s a personal best. These actions will insure trophy fishing opportunities for everyone. It felt great just the same…the monkey was now off my back!
We spent the next two hours trolling this suspended pattern and I caught two more musky – not as big as the first – but they both fought hard. Normie on the other hand caught nothing and I found myself doing the bragging…paybacks a bitch isn’t it?
Late that afternoon I had a change of heart and I found myself really wanting Normie to get a musky too. With an hour to go, Normie was trolling a large, black musky bucktail with a florescent orange spinner.
Looking backward I was stunned to see a wake clearly forming directly behind his lure. Standing up to get a better look, I hollered to Normie “look at that fish wake behind your lure!” Suddenly the musky’s gills flared open and the huge fish uncoiled coming right out of the water with the black bucktail locked in its jaw. I’m a very good judge of big fish, especially big northern, and I got a good look at the musky and it had to be 50 inches plus!
Everything went into slow motion as I looked back and saw Normie – now on his feet with his bait-casting rod almost against his face – as he struggled to get a good set. Knowing he was in good shape, I spun back around in time to see the big fish coming straight at the boat, two-thirds out of the water, shaking its head like a mad-man.
Then, just as quickly as it started…it was over. Normie’s fish-of-a-lifetime threw that bucktail, indignantly, directly at us and swam off into the depths of Pipestone Lake.
All I could do was drop my head and utter AUGH! Out of the corner of my eye I could see Normie and he looked like someone had just “sucker punched” him.
We spent a little time analyzing what had just happened, but we both knew we did everything possible. The ride back to camp was pretty quite, and we never said a word about it over dinner. But later than night over a cocktail, Normie began to tell his “one that got away” story. Normie had already caught some trophies, so to my way of thinking…he had finally become a complete angler!
