Tour of The Parklands  2005

Text by Cal Boscow
Photos by Cal Boscow and Randy Bossuyt
Entertainment supplied by Mike Northrup

Sorry , but I couldn’t come up with a better title. Now, let me think, what lakes did we fish, what was the weather like, how many fish did we get? My memory is not what it used to be, but I keep a detailed journal of all my flyfishing trips. So lets hop in the Time Machine, and go back, back to October 12,2005………

Gass Lake, the Porcupine Mountains. Randy Bossuyt, Mike Northrup, Ernie Benson and Cal Boscow. The first stop on our 2005 Tour . The weather is beautiful, +16C, and the water is 41F. A slight wind, but a beautiful day . We are after big Brookies. Randy and Mike are on the water by 10:20 and I am 40 minutes behind them. They have no fish when I arrive, but there is surface activity, near the weeds. After 2 hours of flailing the lake, Mike finally lands a beautiful 19” Male in full fall colors. It hits a Black Beaver and  Tan .  The rest of us get nothing. About 1:30, a bait fisherman arrives with a boat on a trailer behind a quad, launches, paddles about 50 feet from shore, heaves out a big anchor, drops a jig with a night crawler over the side, and catches 3 nice fish in 45 minutes, then loads the boat and leaves. Talk about rubbing our noses in it!! We had worked that area for 2 hours without a hit. We all take that as a sign, and pack up and leave about 2:45. We are heading to fish Glad Lake for the evening. By the way, the bridge is back in at the end of the Steeprock Road. You can drive a car right to the parking area for Gass Lake.

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We are on the water at Glad Lake by 5:30 PM. The water temp is 45F and the air is still +15C. No wind, a beautiful autumn evening. We work the south end of the lake until about 7:30, then call it a day. Mike Northrup lands a couple of small bows, 10” and 12’, as well as a 19” Lake Trout. The fishing was slow for all except Mike. All his fish come on a Black Beaver and Tan, BBT from now on, and they were all taken near the surface, in deep water. We are at our cabin by 08:00. There is a red fox on the deck waiting for us. I think Randy brought him along to guard his gear.

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Making sure nobody bothers Randy’s tube

 

October 13,2005………….Black Beaver Lake.

Up early, at 6:00 AM. A hearty breakfast, and we are ready to walk the trail to Black Beaver by 7:30. There is a moose hunter just ahead of us, so we wait a bit ‘till he is gone, then we head to the lake. It’s about a 10 minute walk( I count the steps on the way out, 1200 steps) easy going. We are on the water by 08:15. Water temp is 41F and the air gets to +12C during the day. It is extremely foggy, and very calm. The wind eventually picks up later, but it is never an issue. Mike has a hit right at the launch are, but loses it after a 30 second fight. We never did see the fish. Ernie hooks into a big rainbow at 08:30, and after what   he says is the best fight so far this year, he lands a beautiful 23” Male Bow. It hits a Bead Head Tokaryk. Nice fish!!

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Ernie with a nice Black Beaver rainbow

Mike, Randy and I continue to the south end of the island, and work that area. Mike hooks a fish near the weeds, and lands a 23” Female, on a BBT. A nice fish to most people, but by Mike’s standards, it is puny. Randy and Mike decide to head east across the lake, and Ernie and I work the west and south shore. We meet Randy and Mike at a small island on the south end. By now the fog has gone, and a light breeze is blowing, and it is a beautiful day. A far cry for last years  SnowFest. We fish until about 2:30, then leave the lake. We feel we have covered most of the lake, and we want to try another lake today. The final tally for Black Beaver is Mike -4 fish, Ernie- 4 fish, Cal-3 fish, and Bowslayer- 0 fish. Every fish caught was Rainbow. The lake is bigger than I had thought it would be, and very shallow. The deepest I found was 12 feet. Of the 11 fish caught, 7 were caught on an Olive colored fly. Sorry, no throat samples. 

We continue on to West Blue Lake, fish it for 2 hours, and realize what a big mistake we are making, and leave. The access is difficult, the time of day is wrong, and we aren’t set up to fish deep. We head to Perch to finish off the day. We all love Perch Lake. It is always a good lake if the wind is blowing, and small enough that you can cover it thoroughly. We fish it for 2 hours, but Mike is the only guy to catch a fish, an 18” brown that takes a Moosemane Backswimmer. Back to the cabin for a gourmet meal .

 

October 14,2005……………..Twin Lakes

The plan for today was to fish Gull, Twin and West Goose, but we decide that time is tight. We scratch Gull of the list and head straight to Twin for Tigers. Randy is in full panic mode, having gone 2 full days without catching a fish. He puts the pedal to the metal, and takes off for Twin. He is first on the water. Mac Warner is also there, and had caught fish there the previous evening. He had caught them on a dry fly, right at the launch area. The wind is strong out of the NW, water temp is 42F and the air is +13C. It also 3 days to the full moon( F-3). Mike catches the first fish. I start with a BBT and a Chromie, and land 5 fish very quickly, all of them on the Chromie. Mike and I have our pontoon boats and electric motors, and decide to tour the entire lake. We have our best action in the SW corner, a big flat with a couple of deep channels that run near it. We just slowly troll the area near the weeds. We all stop for lunch at 12:30, then continue with the competition, First, Biggest and Most. Ernie and I are in a race for most. We call it a day around 2:00 PM. The wind is really howling now. The final tally for 3 hours of fishing is Cal-16 fish, Ernie-14 fish, and Randy and Mike with 10 each. 50 fish in 3 hours, with a lunch break thrown in. I caught 14 fish on the Chromie, a small chironomid pattern. I also land a 20 1/8 inch Tiger. It is a female. My first tiger over 20 inches.

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Just a little breeze

 

West Goose Lake……..Water 41F    Air +13 C    Strong NW wind

We check into the Route 83 Motel, and Randy and Mike head straight to the lake. Ernie says he wants a little nap, but when he finds out Randy and Mike are already on the water, he changes his mind. Randy has broken the goose egg the Mountains dealt him, and he is ready to catch every fish in the lake. He catches his first fish near the dock on the north side, at exactly 4PM. We find out later that Ernie beat him by 1 minute. Randy catches a couple more between the dock and the gray shed at the far end. All the fish so far are on a BBT. We decide that we really need to fish the windy side, so I volunteer to head over on my pontoon, and see what there is to catch.

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The Bowslayer found his smile again

I head over to the SE corner of the lake, and land a 22” Brown on my first cast. BBT. The cast landed right at the weed edge. I call Randy on the radio, and he heads right over. We work that are the rest of the day. The action is continuous, as long as we are casting right to the edge of the bulrushes. I head to the far end to let Ernie and Mike know what we are catching, take a quick shore break , then head right back. We stay until dark, and we all have good action. Throat samples show a variety of food items, but mostly minnows. By now Randy and I and Mike have 2 BBT’s on our line. The final tally for the day is 21 fish,   3 Browns and 18 Bows. 15 of those fish were caught on a BBT, 4 on a Green Giant, and 2 on an Egg Sucking Tokaryk. Randy catches 10 of the 21 fish. A slow hand twist retrieve worked the best. We call it a day at 7:15. We meet Bill Pollock at the dock, and chat for awhile. He’s in full Goose Hunting mode right now. We head back to the Hotel, clean up, and go for supper. It has been a great day on the water. Lots of fish, and great weather, and Randy is feeling a whole lot better about himself.

 

October 15,2005…….Patterson Lake   Water 42F  Air =15C  Calm, F-2 

We are up at 5:30, on the road at 6:00, and we stop at the Subway in Russell for Breakfast at 6:30. We arrive at Patterson at 7:45. It is 53 km from Roblin to Russell, and 70 km form Russell to Patterson Lake. We are the only ones there. The lake is like glass, too calm for our liking. Mike and Randy and I go to the left from the launch. Ernie is  Mr. Contrary, so  he goes right. I have a good hit from near a small island after about 10 minutes. Unfortunately, it spits the hook after about 5 seconds. There are fish rising all over the lake, and we are hopeful of a good day. Not to be. Things are slow. Ernie eventually catches the first fish of the day, a 21” Bow, off the sunken weed bed near the tip of the big island. Throat samples show backswimmers.  At 9:15, Mike catches a nice brown near the long point straight across from the launch. It hits a Green Giant.

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J-Rup with a nice Patterson Brown

I decide that the North side is the place, so I head across, and work all the little spots where I have had success before. I troll, cast, and get nothing. There aren’t even any rises right now. I spend 1 ½ hours over there, and don’t even get a hit. I finally head back to the tip of the big island, meet up with Mike, and we decide to go around the island. It is very shallow in places there, but there have been some big fish caught in that area. We work the entire island, and get nothing. My battery is getting a little low, so I head back to the launch for lunch and a new battery. We meet Earl Allen and John at the launch. Randy and Mike and Ernie all show up, and we compare notes. Ernie has caught 2, and Mike and Randy 1 each. Earl and John have trolled the entire lake 3 or 4 times, and have landed 3 fish. “ Tough Times at Patterson High”

 

My son Jarrod arrives at about 12:45. He has driven out from Winnipeg and will fish the rest of the weekend with us. Everyone else is back out on the water, and we get out about 20 minutes later. We start down the right side, cross to the island, and eventually cross to the long point, an work down the west side. Things are slow. We start casting right tight to the weeds, and Jarrod hooks and lands a 20.5 “ Bow, on an Orange Conehead  Tokaryk.

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Randy, Jarrod and I work that area for the rest of the day. I eventually catch a 22 “ Brown, and have another couple of fish on, but that is it. Randy catches a small one on the way back to the launch. We fish until dark, pack up, grab a Pizza in Russell on the way home, and get to our Hotel about 9 PM. Ernie headed back to The Pas at 4PM, as has to work tomorrow evening. Total fish for the day was 8 Bows and 2 Browns. Randy caught 4, Mike and Ernie 2 each. BBT and Midnight Fire were the best flies today.  We had all expected a better day at Patterson, but the weather was too nice, and there have been a lot of flies and lures chucked at the fish over the last month. At least those are the excuses I am comfortable with. By the time we left, there were 4 other Flyfishers and a couple of baitfishers in a boat.

 

October 16…………..West Goose Lake   Air +5C  Water 41F Light wind  F-1

It is the last day of this years Tour. We have a quick breakfast at the Chicken Delight in Roblin, and are on the water by 8:15. We decide to fish until noon.  Jarrod catches the first fish of the day, a 13” bow. Randy catches up to us, and we fish the North side of the lake. I catch 5 fish all together, the biggest being a 22.5inch Brown. Jarrod gets a couple more, and loses a big one because I have the net. Oops!! Mike catches only 3 fish, and as he puts it, “ they were all puny, and wearing blouses”. He may be the “ King of the Mountain”, but he isn’t much on the prairies. That’s Randy’s domain. The final tally for the morning is 15 fish, 11 bows and 4 browns. The “ Midnight Fire was the best fly this morning. The browns this morning were all big, and 2 of them were over 22”.

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L to R  Randy, Cal, Mike

 

It’s hard to believe, but another “ Tour “ is over. The weather was great this year, never real cold, and the wind was a big plus for us. It may be uncomfortable at times, but the windy side of the lake was far and away the best side to fish this year. The best overall fly was no contest, the Black Beaver and Tan( BBT), size 8-12.  

Randy keeps a detailed spreadsheet of the fish we catch. Here are some numbers and observations to think about:
 

• 112 fish were caught on 9 lakes over 4 ½ days
• 22 of the fish caught were master angler length, or better,
• If we take the Twin Lake fish out of the equation, we averaged 1 Master for every 3 fish caught.
• West Goose was an amazing lake this year. It continued to produce right up until it froze over.
• Black Beaver was a pleasant surprise, as I had never fished it before.
• Twin Lake is just plain old fun. If there was ever a lake to take a first time flyfisher to, this is it.

That about wraps it up. I’ve tried to squeeze a lot of information into a few pages. If anyone has any questions about the trip, feel free to contact me.  cboscow@mts.net 

Only 10 more months till the next “ Tour”!!