Trips you remember

[mudpuppy]

Ya know, seems like those boring fishing trips where everything goes right get forgotten. But throw in those exciting trips where nothing goes right..... those are the ones you remember! And they're, in some unusual way, more fun and exciting.
Example, time off has been an extremely rare commodity lately, so Wednesday we got a chance to go to Lake Michigan so we loaded up last minute and ran for it. Get to the ramp and realize we'd forgotten to get ice so had to double back and get a bag, then launched.
We go out of pier heads and it's a bit rough but manageable. Slowly worked our way out to 100 FOW and drops in two downrigger lines. Less is more when it's rough so I decide to go with that for awhile. We're trolling downwind mostly because we have to and I realize the wind is switching to the north and picking up. I also realize my son isn't looking so good, a little green under the gills.
The lake goes from 2 footers to 3 footers with 4 foot swells mixed in from the north wind. Our original plan was to fish a little bit, cruise down to the next port and go in spend some time there at the shops in town and eat, then cruise/fish back to port. So we decided to cut the fishing short, run the short way to the other port and wait for things to settle down in the evening.
So we dock, walk around town and grab a bite. But the wind still hasn't let up. So we motor out to a little cove on the river and wait and watch the weather develop over the Lake.
Then clouds start gathering and a look at radar tells us "it ain't gonna let up".
Personally, I would have been perfectly content to spend the night on the river in our cuddy, but my wife didn't like that idea. Go figure!
So our 2 alternatives were to either pound our way back to port for 8 miles, which I've done before, no fun! Or go back to town and call a taxi so I could go back and get our vehicle and retrieve our boat. Five minutes later the taxi was sitting at the ramp. The driver was a super nice guy and was a taxi driver from New York so had some stories to tell. And he was a Yankees fan and they were playing the Tigers at that exact moment so we had an enjoyable 20 minute ride back to the truck.
Came back, picked up the boat and headed home. And you know what? We didn't catch a darn fish but still had a memorable trip with the family. And everybody agreed it had been a fun adventure.

[eriksat1]

I went to Lac Seul once in beginning of October, it was 60f when we got to the motel in Sioux Lookout in the morning it was 30f and snowing, on the way up to Chamberlain Narrows 30 miles by boat, we had to pull over on an island during a white out snow. We finally made it up there and there was snow on the ground and the water pipes in our cabin were frozen. We had to get water out of the lake for cooking and doing dishes. It never got above freezing for 3 days and we left. A trip I will never forget.

[SinOrSwim]

We tried a new outfitter for a fly-in years and years ago we met at one of the All Canada shows. Pretty much told us how everything was included, just bring your toothbrush.

So, we are supposed to fly out of Fort Frances. We drive all night to fly out by 0800. We stop at a place before we get to FF and the guys asks what we are doing. We tell him and he "sells" us some border crossing passes to speed up the process. LOL No such thing! We got taken. We get to the airport and it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!! One problem. The plane was "socked in" at the main base. We wait and wait and wait. Sleep on chairs a the FF airport. ALL DAY. Finally, they tell us they are not coming to get us.

So, we get a hotel, go out for drinks and dinner and go back to airport next day. They are still "socked in". I don't remember how long but they finally arrive and we fly in these two really small cramped airplanes. They ***** and moan about the weight etc. We fly to his main camp, land and go inside. Waiting for the other plane which had mechanical difficulties. We overhear the owner yelling at his wife over the radio about our group and what a pain in the arse we have been. ???? really????

The rest of the group finally gets there and they boat us to our outpost. Took FOREVER. It was supposed to be all inclusive and we had ordered plenty of beer. We get there and there is left over pancake batter, eggs, some vegetables and potatos. Like 3 cases of beer for 6 or 7 guys. We radio for more beer and they tell us they are out, been "socked in". We run out of beer, bait and the food sucked.

They bring us some bait and beer a day and half later. Like 1 and 1/2 cases of regular Coors. Not what we ordered. They tell us that is all they have.

Fishing was average at best and the service was horrible. He told us our expectations were out of line and we drank too much. LOL??? We were BUYING the beer. It wasn't free?????

We boat back out and try to discuss a discount for how crappy the trip was. He refuses and starts swearing at us. We refuse to pay. Another pilot lands and talks to us. It was the guy buying the outpost cabins. Turns out the owner had sold them and we were the last group which explains no food and no beer. Ddin't want to send anything out. I'm not sure about you, but I have an issue eating something left from anotehr group that is open????

Anywhoo, the new pilot explains if we refuse to pay they will put us on the list and we will be stopped at the border. Probably be arrested.

He proceeds to calm us down, we pay and the new owner flies us back to FF on his plane.

Worst trip ever but on a positive note, that is how we met the new outfitter we went with for upwards of 12 years. He was the best outfitter we have ever had. Surprised he took us with how much of a stink we caused from the other guy.

[hommer23]

In 1981 my mother and grand mother took my brother and I to Canada for the 2nd trip. My dad had to work and thought they could handel the trip. It started out booking a camping lot at Rice lake and loading the pop-up camper with a 15' boat on top of it. Now my mom had never pulled a trailer but dad tought her how in 1 lesson so off we went for a 12 hour or so drive. On the way across the UP my mom made a wrong turn and had to back out of a parking lot or at least try to, after unhooking the trailer we got out and back on the road. After putting the 15 hp on the boat we all headed out fishing now my mom is on the small side my grandma is rather large and short (275#, 4'6") and 2 teens in the boat, we headed to the spots we fished last year and caught alot of perch and did the same this time. When we got back to the dock my brother and I jumped out of the boat and was going to help grandma out but she did not want help. When she went to get out she steped on the side and the boat filled up very fast and she fell over the other side and my mom was sitting in the back of the boat up to her chin water holding onto the motor. Well after getting mom and grandma to shore we had to drag the boat in and bail it out, the motor would not start and our week long fishing trip turned into 4 hours of boat fishing and 5 days of shore fishing. My grandma loved to fish and that was the last time she was in a boat until 2002 when I rented a pontoon for her to go on one last fishing trip at that point she was 79 and now at 89 she has to listen to stories and look at pictures but she still remembers sinking the boat and says it was not her fault.

[walleyedmike]

When I was 8 years old, my parents took my brother and me on the first of what would become an annual fishing trip to Leech Lake. I hate to liken it to a religous experience, but in that one week timespan, the seed was planted that made me who I am today. I learned how to fish for walleye, perch and pike; I watched a moose swim past our 16' aluminum boat; I saw deer, bear, bald eagles, and many of the other creatures that inhabit the northwoods that I would have never had a chance to see at home in the Chicago suburbs.

However, what I really appreciated then, and still do now, is THE EXPERIENCE! I got to spend a week fishing with my Dad, usually just him and me, as Mom and my brother weren't big fishermen.

To this day, when I smell caburated 2-stroke exhaust from a motor that is being serviced in the shop, I can close my eyes and it takes me right back there, sitting in that 16' boat with Dad. I'll never forget the smell of bacon and my Dad's Winston at dawn, a chill in the air, and looking outside the cabin window at the mist and fog covering the lake. The chorus of Loons serenaded us while we ate breakfast, and the anticipation of the day's fishing taking hold of my 8 year old mind.

I'll never forget perch fishing in a bay, with a dozen beautiful perch hanging off the gunwhale on our shiny new stringer, and almost being capsized, not once but twice, when the biggest Musky that I've ever seen to this day decided that those perch looked tasty, especially on that shiny new stringer!

That's the trip I'll remember always, and my wife and I have done everything that we can to let my son experience those same memories. He now works with me at Cabela's (I'm in Boat Sales, he's in the fishing department, of course!) and usually fishes much more often tham I am able to. I hope I've done as good a job as my Dad did............

[fishincrazy]

When I was a kid my parents where school teachers.This ment summer time was vacation time.Between the ages of 6-7 to teen age years we would spend the entire month of July camping in the Allegany National forest.This ment fishining at the allegany resivoir smallmouth,and walleye glaore.In those days it was still legal to fish the spillway and my brother and I cut our fishing teeth here.I will always remember our first walleye from the wall.We would fish above the power plant that now is off limits due to 9/11 and homeland security.In those days the railing was lined with folks searching for old marble eye.We needed a bicycle basket and 50 ft of rope to get the fish up over the wall.This was a true adventure for us and we learned about multiple species of fresh water fish from drum and carp to trout and walleye.

The neatest experience was the night I was playing around with the flashlight and discovered glowing eye's in the water below the powerhouse discharge.I sent my brother down on the rocks and shined the eye's directing him where to cast the rapala brown trout pattern stick bait we had caught eve's on before.On the first cast he was into a fish a nice one.The first fish was 28" the biggest either of us had ever caught anywhere.We continued to fish this area for years until the government deemed us a threat to the hydro electric plant.

It is a shame that the threat of subersive activity has eliminated one of the best fishing spots of my life.

FC