Queen Elizabeth II Wildlands - Fishing/Solo Trip (2017)

I made it to the launch. It's about 7 o'clock. It's a lot darker than I expected. I'm already so happy that I made this decision to come here. I could have spent it in the city, but who wants to do that on a weekend? Let alone ever. Pretty much the same time last year I was here doing my solo trip. Different route though. I never try to do the same route twice. It's already getting pretty dark and there's a river coming up that if I commit to it, I think I have another hour or two of paddling. So I might have to camp on this island right up ahead. If I don't want to paddle too much in the dark tonight, I don't know if camping is allowed on this lake, but I'm kind of in a situation where I'm not too familiar with this area and I don't want to risk it because I'm just by myself out here. So I'll just do it. Good morning guys. It's about 5 30. I want to start my day off really early because I want to make a lot of distance and get to the lake at a decent time today. So I'm going to get ready now, get all packed up and head out on the river. So it's a little after seven and I got to the first portage and it looks like water levels are up quite a lot since last time I was here. There's a set of, I guess you'd call it a waterfall over here. And usually there's a rocky spine that they used to fish at. And once I caught a pretty nice pickerel, that entire spine is underwater now, but this is good for that creek that I have to deal with. Might not be as mucky as I expected. So once I get through Fish Hog, I'm going to be going up a creek with a bunch of portages. I believe there's seven to get into Red Boat Lake. Hopefully I'm there by a decent time so I could push forward to Clear Lake so I can get some good fishing in. So Digby Creek is very beaver influenced. There's a lot of leftovers and ponds as you go through Digby up to Red Boat Lake. So I think I'm just going to pack up all my stuff and just kind of put my head down and get these over with. I want to go this way, but I'm pretty sure that that dries up. So I have to find a route. I think my only option is to go back around that way and go around the shore and pop out on that east shore. So far the portages have been pretty great until I reach this five meter one. On a top-o it looks like five meters. You're in and out, but you're literally in. Curse you five meter portage. Come on. So I've made it to Red Boat. So it's about 10 o'clock in the morning. My goal is to be here by noon. So now the question is do I stay here and fish for most of the day or do I go forward to either Clear Lake or an adjacent lake that I'm not too sure of the name of. I don't know yet. I'm gonna have some food, set up my rods here and maybe cast my way to the portage and hopefully I know by then. I got to remember that whatever I do today and yesterday I'm gonna have to do all tomorrow. The goal is to catch some fish though. I'm going to be targeting largemouth and smallmouth bass with creature baits and flipping jigs. Things like this. Pitch at cover and rocks and points and stuff and just have some fun today. So the fishing wasn't that good on Red Boat Lake. So that means I'm going to Clear Lake. I'm going to take the 950 meter portage and have lunch on the other side and set up camp. That Coleman is a real bitch. Just destroys your neck. Alright so I just got to Clear Lake. Relatively clear portage. No pun intended. But I was expecting this lake to have no one on it and I already see what looks to be a cottage. Which I don't understand because there's no roads that get here. But on that portage I did see a plane. I did hear a plane take off from this lake. So maybe it's flying only. Who knows. So far eight portages to get to a lake that has a cottage on it. Well I'm gonna have a beer. I'm still kind of cold. Cheers to new adventures. Solo adventures too. Makes for a little tougher trip but at the same time very beneficial. Decent guy. I'll take you. Oh there he goes. A little chunker. So it's probably about two o'clock. Looks like a pretty decent campsite. Nice and open. So for our past big trip up in Wapakimi, I experimented and bought a bunch of smoked pork loin. Turned out to be awesome. So I did the same again for this trip. Keeps really well. I think it lasts about eight days out in Wapakimi. But overall a lot better than pepperettes or the greasy pepperoni sticks you can get at the store. You go to your local deli. I'm sure they sell something similar to this. Just get smoked meat. It's awesome. So I just came out briefly to take a couple casts. I got this nice one right here. Those guys that were fishing earlier hit this spot maybe about a half an hour ago. But they're throwing hard baits along the shore. So the plan tonight is to do a little bass fishing. I haven't, I haven't fished bass. Actually I've only fished bass once this year. And growing up that's all I fished. So I'm dedicating tonight to the bass. It looks calm over here. I'm going to start with the flipping jig. Also let me know if you like these kind of videos. I'm trying something new. I grew up fishing all the time. I love doing it just as much as I like camping and canoeing. So I thought I would share with you guys a more fishing featured video. So comment below. Let me know what you think. This is what I'm using right here. A Burke's bait. Check him on social media. He makes some good flipping jigs. Just saw some little bass down there. Too small for me though. Oh no. No. Can I escape this? There he is. A little smallie. There's more smallmouth in here than I expected. But after coming to the lake and seeing how clear it actually is, it makes sense. Look at that. He just demoed here. Can't even see the bottom. Oh there's the bottom. Bass love structure. But there's none on this one. Switch over to a top water bait. This guy's just going sideways. Oh that's not bad. I'll take him. Bite might be on boys and girls. Stay tuned. So you can see that the only place on the lake is accessed by float plane. Then there's some bros behind me at a hunt camp out fishing. You just can't find your own place down here. Beauty. Well I haven't had as much luck as I would have liked but it's a gorgeous night out despite the drunk guys and the aluminum boats over there. It's very nice. It's not as bad right now but they're yelling and screaming and I'm just being drunk guys. I don't blame them. Probably having a great time but it's killing the ambiance for me. This spot looks kind of good. This might be a good one. Slammed it. Oh not a bad one. I think this is the biggest of the night actually. Decent. That was a good fish. All right guys that's a wrap for today. It was a great day. Did a lot of fishing, did some portages, got to a new lake which is the biggest achievement I believe. There is at least one cottage on this lake and it's flying only. It is a great weekend so why wouldn't they be up here. Nice smallmouth this time of the morning. Gorgeous fish. So just looking at the map I think I'm gonna go through Little Coburn and Coburn Lake to get back. There's a small river again up here that could be a little creek that's dried up. I don't know. Mathematically speaking I'm dealing with 50 meters of less portage going this way and get to see two new lakes but that small blue line on the map between Little Coburn and Coburn Lake makes me a little nervous. So that portage leaving Clear Lake was right on that guy's property and I'm talking about the guys that were fishing in those aluminum boats last night and you can tell they're all just still sleeping. Probably a little hungover too. Swamp life. Just living the swamp life. It's concerning that I don't see an obvious path out of here. I guess it's a little paddle. I just came around a bend and it looks like Coburn Lake is right out there. So I'm having a bit of trouble here. It's like a bear or something. I cannot find the portage leaving Coburn Lake to Red Boat Lake. I know what's here. I saw the other side of it leaving Red Boat but I can't find the entrance. I think I found the portage. Looks portagesque at least. The map I had this portage was actually probably about 200 to 300 meters west. Not a big deal. Found it. Let's get back on schedule. So it's about 2 30 in the afternoon which is prime time for headwinds and I am making my way to the end of Head River into Head Lake. I'm expecting there's some heavy winds. I just don't know which way it's coming from. It seems like every turn of the river it's coming straight at my face. It definitely could be worse. I was expecting to hug the shoreline the entire way. I'm keeping at a good pace out here. I'm just gonna go right through. Break on through to the other side. Buy a canoe. We are living in a plastic red canoe. Plastic red canoe. Yeah. Plastic red canoe. We are living in a plastic red canoe. Plastic red canoe. The Coleman Turnu.