News From the North Country

The warm weather everyone experienced recently, and yes that even included Northwestern Ontario, has spawned visions of spring and summer.  A recent change in the jet stream brought temperatures well above freezing into the greater Sandy Lake area yesterday. Maybe we will get lucky and experience an earlier ice out this season. Finger crossed! The area just weeks ago was bombarded with temperatures reaching well below 0 and as cold as -45 F without the wind chill.

The Winter Road Adventure

Mid February Dad, myself and a close friend ventured up the yearly ice highway.  The cold temperatures mentioned above accompanied us the entire voyage.  Six of the eight mornings we traveled dipped below a frigid-35 C (-31F), creating excellent ice conditions.  All in all, we managed to transport approximately 15000 pds of materials. Two boats, a new solar fridge and thousands of pounds of lumber were just some of the bulk we lugged.

The cold of the north. -40 C=-40 F

This years journey was fairly uneventful.  The extreme cold held the road together amazingly well and allowed quicker travel.  When I say "quick", I mean we were able to accomplish our 226 mile drive in under 10 hrs. The only drawback to favourable road conditions meant more traffic on the highway. Drivers encounter dozens of blind twists and turns throughout the journey and must exercise extreme caution driving the narrow road, especially during the day. Twice over the years I have had to abruptly bury my truck into the snowbank to make last minute room for a barreling fuel transport. This year no such drama unfolded even though we encountered several fuel transports, freighters and many locals taking advantage of the ability to drive to Red Lake vs flying.

Only one animal was spotted in our four trips.  A single otter trotted down the middle of the road one morning oblivious to his whereabouts and even failed to notice a half ton truck immediately behind him.  Where this otter was attempting to travel was beyond me due to the fact no open water existed for miles.  Several signs of other wildlife was present such as fresh moose and wolf tracks.   One evening, I attempted several times to capture the dancing northern lights, however neither my GO Pro or cell phone camera were able to capture the aurora borealis.

One unfortunate instance however, cost us.  The morning we scheduled to pick up the majority of our lumber Dad's Ram 2500 began acting unusual, revving up unpredictably.  After about 20 miles, the RPM's failed to drop below 6000 and Dad burned through an extreme amount of gas.  All the signs pointed too, you guessed it, a busted transmission.  The only positive to that situation, we weren't 100 miles in the middle of nowhere when it occurred.  We parked the truck at a friends in Vermillion Bay and after several phone calls, were able to track down a Chevy Silverado half ton for the drive.


March Madness Begins

Dad with a frosty mustache unloading freight 

Every year Big Hook gives their guests/friends/family an opportunity to test their NCAA basketball knowledge against other fisherman. Join our tourney pick'em, top three places win! Just click HERE to create a bracket. 1st place is a Cabelas gift card, 2nd place is a Big Hook shirt and 3rd is a Big Hook baseball cap.
Pool # 28122
Password: bighook


Good luck in your early season fishing adventures.  Spring is just around the corner.

-Nathan
www.bighookcamps.com

This semi took a corner too fast on the ice highway

 

Inattentive driving will cause you to fall off the already
slippery and steep road.  

Punxsutawney Phil

Yesterday, the worlds most famous groundhog poked a nose out from his slumber and witnessed a shadow.  And according to Punxsutawney, we are in for six more weeks of winter.  However, don't fret and let the little critter get you down. History shows Mr. Phil is about as reliable as our local weatherman with a meager 39% accuracy rate.

The airplane sees its shadow during this amazing sunset.

A cold long winter benefits Big Hook at least in one way; the winter road.  Basically, the more cold Mother Nature can unleash the better the road.  This winter has been no exception; plenty of frigid cold has settled in NW for some time creating excellent ice conditions.  Unfortunately, the last time I chatted with Sandy Lake Seaplane they informed me there was very little snow in the bush.  Limited amounts of snow means we will be in for one bumpy ride along the ice highway.

All of our goods have been purchased and await our pick up in Dryden, ON.  A new screened in porch for SW Lake, several new boats, and about 2 tons of lumber for new docks and countless other projects are just some of the items we plan on hauling this winter.  Also, an eight passenger van, that dad purchased last fall, will be making the voyage to Sandy Lake.

As usual, I'll try my best to document our expedition northbound.  With the help of a GO PRO camera I have a feeling I'll capture some great footage.  In years past, we have experienced exciting moments from vehicle brake downs to semi-trucks jack knifed across ice bridges to narrowly missing lethargic moose.

For those of you who are a little down from the cold weather,  I have posted a couple warm weather video's from this past summer.  The first video, is just a simple boat ride on glassy water. My brother and I enjoyed a warm relaxing ride down the west arm of Central Lake during an amazing sunset in August.  While the second, is a nice northern boated and released at SW Lake in mid July.  Now, just imagine yourself at Big Hook in true north amongst friends and family enjoying the outdoors.  See life is good.

Good luck on the water/ice everyone!

-Nathan
www.bighookcamps.com

Happy New Year

Happy new year to everyone from Big Hook Camps.  We wish the best to everyone as 2015 has just begun.  January is a great month to finalize your fishing vacation plans for the spring/summer/fall. We have embarked on the 2015 sport show tour.  Last weekend the Pheasant Run All Canada show was a success and we now turn our sights to Green Bay. Stop by and pay us a visit at the Radisson Convention Center  at the Oneida casino Jan 15th-18th. I have a funny feeling the show may be a tad slow on Sunday, especially during a certain NFL matchup.

Bonus points if you can name that body of water.  Hint: it is one
of our outposts.

The Winter Road Looms

Dad and I have been following the weather closely in the north country.  Our winter road travels will begin soon after the shows.  As of right now our journey north will begin on February 9th. NW Ontario has had bitter cold for the past month or so and the winter road should be open for business shortly.  As usual, we will be transporting 13000-15000 pounds of materials.  A new screened porch for SW Lake, several new 16x8' floating docks, and 2 new boats are just some of the items we will be hauling.

Black eyed Susans are a common flower at Central in August

Nature Shots

The winter can be a deary time for most fisherman.  For me I enjoy several outings of ice fishing, however I truly enjoy the open water.  As a remedy to the cold, I would like to post some great nature shots we received this winter from a gentleman named Dan Probst. Mr. Probst traveled with Dan Gapen Sr this past August and was a member of the film crew. Enjoy the pictures and we hope to see you at the next sport show.

Ferns do not grow very tall at this latitude.

The northern boreal forest looks rather mysterious when
the right camera filter is applied

Cranberries are plentiful and rather small.
They are edible but extremely tart

It is amazing how many wild flowers exist so far north.  

Nothing beats fresh raspberries.  My favorite in cereal. 

The forest floor exhibits hundreds of types of fungus. 

Shadow "the wonder dog" strikes fear into the heart
of squirrels as she races up the trees after them. 

I just love seeing the sunrise and the stars in the same shot. 

Fall Fun

Fall is in fact my favourite time of year.  The temperatures are mild, Mother Natures colors are amazing, and fishing continues to be exciting.  In the fall, most people hang up their fishing poles for rifles and focus on hunting.  Since closing the camp, I was able to venture on several fishing excursions in the Dryden area this fall.  My primary objective was to seek out species that are not accessible at Big Hook Camps i.e. anything other than walleye or pike.

Chunky 41" Eagle Lake musky

I had the pleasure of fishing with several different people in my search for trophy trout, musky and smallmouth.  My wife Heidi and her father Martin drove up from Wisconsin were excited to see some of the Eagle Lake area.  Unfortunately, during their stay the weather had other plans and brought 5 days of bitter cool weather.  Nonetheless, it didn't stop us from hitting the water.  Attached right is plenty of proof of fish and the many many layers of clothes we had to wear.

Personal best 48" musky.  

The first species I searched out was Lake Trout. We quickly managed to locate plenty of trout before the season closed on the Sept 30th.  The prized trout was actually boated while fishing with my neighbor Eric for musky.  A hefty 13 pounder smashed his bait on a figure 8 boatside.  It was shocking to see such a large fish in that shallow of water.  However, we found most fish were much shallower than anticipated, roughly around 20-30 ft of water.

13 pd laker caught on a figure 8 boatside

After boating and releasing trout for two days we switched our focus to smallmouth and once again were promptly rewarded for our efforts.  The smallmouth were absolutely thick on 20 ft rock piles.  A simple 3/8 oz black or white tube jig boated just about every fish.  I can't even recall how many fish we boated over 18", I do remember the biggest was around 19.5".

Boated many 18+" smallies 

Heidi and Martin didn't exactly share the same enthusiasm for musky fishing as I.  So, I waited till they departed back to Wisconsin to focus my efforts on the fish of 10,000 casts.  I was ecstatic when my neighbor Eric invited me along to hunt the elusive muskellunge.  We managed to put several fish in the boat over a couple days.  I set a personal best with a 48" musky while fishing alone and without a net. Fortunately, I had the GOPRO with me but didn't get any decent shots. The hot lures for big fish were suspending jerk baits.

Around the Big Hook Region

There has been a mix of warm and cool weather up towards Big Hook.  Chatted with the boys at Sandy Lake and the float planes are coming out of the water in the next day or two.  Our next visit to Sandy Lake will be on the winter road. Dad and I have plenty of items purchased for the trek north.  A "new" shuttle van has been found for the drive from the runway to float base.  Now all we need is those lakes to freeze over.

Eric with a tanky 45.5" musky 

For those of you who haven't quite yet put their fishing gear away, get out there and enjoy the fall.  It looks like there is going to be several weeks left of great fishable weather.

Good luck on the water everyone,
Nathan
www.bighookcamps.com

Martin with football like smally.