After a quick 2-night trip to Daisy Lake last year, DW and I were ready to expand a little, and had planned an early spring trip to Little Trout Lake. Despite the ice being out, heavy snowfall had the Magnetawan Lake access road closed for our intended weekend. So, after a quick review of the map, and a little fibbing on my part about portage distance (along with the obvious yet still compelling lie of "I hear the fishing is real good") we re-scoped our trip to head out of Kiosk, and spend 2 nights on Waterclear, with the last night on Whitebirch.

We got an early start from Sundridge area, as I'd driven up from Ottawa the day prior. We stopped at Algonquin North to settle up our canoe rental, then headed in the road to Kiosk. (Writing this log in retrospect years after, I do miss never putting a boat on or off the vehicle . . . but I digress.) We picked up our permit, along with a shiny new lure in with our trout survey that we agreed would be awarded to top fisherman. Contest rules weren't defined, but by the end of each trip, you just know.

Kioshkokwi Lake was calm as we paddled down to the old railway bridge, and we debated how close the fit would be to get under with the high water. Since the current was pulling us through, paddling wasn't required, and we agreed if we got low we'd make it . . .

Slipping under the railway bridge on Kiosk

We cruised down the second leg on Kiosk, and prepared for the 685m portage to Little Mink. (at this point, our longest portage ever, yeah I know) I'm not sure why, but I really disliked this portage, I still did even after we'd completed the much longer uphill carry into Whitebirch, doing it again the next year my feelings hadn't changed, strange.

We sat that the Whitebirch landing, had lunch, and unpacked a rod each to troll our way down the lake. We perused the campsites from afar, as we'd be back in a couple nights, they all seemed decent and in the same area, so no further investigating was done. I don't recall much else about the paddle, other than no fish were caught, and we nearly ran on to some big boulders are we approached the narrows toward the south end of the lake.

The portage to Waterclear wasn't a problem, although it looked like the area had been hit hard by a wind burst at some point, and the size and appearance of some of the yellow birch made them seem ancient.

Birch on the way to Waterclear

We launched onto Waterclear, happy to have reached our destination after (for us at the time) a hard ½ day of effort. I recall being in the stern and mostly just steering while riding a nice tailwind down the lake. We'd set our sights on the site at the far end, to put us close to the Club L. portage should we feel like exploring, so we didn't give the first site a look.

After catching a nice speck from the bow, DW had to make a stop at the 2nd site to use the thunder box. All I remember as I stayed in the canoe was some serious cursing from the bush when he arrived to find a large tree fallen right across the top of the box . . . I seemed to find this more amusing than he did, but after settling our differences, we agreed this site was very low, and seemed prone to flooding, so we were back underway towards the final site. The takeout was tricky and all rock, but the site was good, had some erosion preventing 'steps' up to the main level, and had a great view back up the lake.

View back up Waterclear overlooking the rocky shoreline.

It also came complete with another fresh blow down, a tall red pine which we gradually cut and removed a fair portion of over our stay, rolling the logs off the edge of the site into the brush, and using what we needed for wood to fuel our campfires.

Naturally supplied firewood, note the first portion removed for site access

So far it seemed that every site in this area had a V-shape set of split log benches. I figured maybe this was the norm for the whole park! (Insert your own hindsight comment here!) Some big rocks in handy places made the campsite quite functional, yet still 'rough' around the edges.

Firepit area (same downed pine)

We spent the rest of the afternoon establishing camp, fishing from shore, and routinely checking the marshy bay adjacent as it looked to be an ideal moose spot, but none ever showed.

After a speckled dinner, we headed back out in the canoe, with the plan to cast our way down to check out the landing to Club Lake. En route, DW hooked into a very solid fish. He was clearly fighting a quality trout, but his dreams of a 4lb plus speckled vanished as I saw the telltale cream-coloured spots pass under the canoe. Despite the slight initial letdown, a fantastic laker that we agreed would be a solid '4' was carefully landed and quickly released.

Beautiful Waterclear Laker heading back

We landed at the takeout, and hiked across the short and likeable trail to Club Lake. What makes this likable, vs. the trail I hated? I can't explain it, although the couple of creek-crossing boardwalks were nice spots. Club Lake had a shallow landing, and the lake very much had a beaver pond appearance to it. Between a small bump on my spinner, the look of the lake, and what we thought we could see were remains of a small cleaned trout farther out in the water made us agree we'd plan to bring the canoe over first thing in the morning, it just looked 'fishy'.

I have a small pocket digital camera I bring, knowing that someday it will go for a one-way swim, so my attempt at capturing the sunset as we returned to Waterclear wasn't the greatest on this night, but we enjoyed the evening, and noted it was quickly cooling as we turned in.

Sunset over Waterclear

I'm not sure what time I first woke, but I was COLD. Even with a mat and good sleeping bag, I was chilled; it definitely dropped below freezing overnight. I don't recall the menu, but I'm sure breakfast included multiple helpings each of coffee and bacon to get warmed and ready.

Excitement to get to Club Lake quickly took over, and we were off. Even with a canoe to portage this time, I still liked the quick trail over. Launching the boat, we soon realized our assessment was correct, Club Lake, at least this half, was very shallow. We did have a portable fish-finder along, and never found 20ft of water at any-point. The areas adjacent to the marshy shores would clearly be weed choked by summer, but for now the old stalks were broken off, and there was room to cast over the tops.

We caught specks randomly from the shallows as we traversed the lake counter-clockwise, keeping a couple along the way for a shore lunch. We eventually made our way around to the dam at the outlet to Mink Lake and got out at the portage to explore the old lumber building and have a stretch.

The old building on Club L.

We decided to head through the river portion, and at least see if the other half of Club Lake was any deeper. In short, it isn't! We had fish and chips on the shoreline site on the NE side of the lake, again furnished with great benches. It worked out to be a great lunch stop.

We worked our way back to camp. I think we had an early dinner, to get a full evening of fishing in on Waterclear, after the success from the day before. We intended to focus on the rocky narrows mid-lake, but trolled a line as we went. We marked a fish on the finder about 20ft down over 60ft, so with false bravado I let out some more line, as if calling my shot. Well it worked. My spoon was absolutely crushed, and I was clearly into a fish much larger than the laker from the night before as the canoe rapidly swung around on the calm surface. Unsure if we'd ever land it, I asked DW to tell me what he thought as he peered over the gunnel to try and catch a glimpse of the fish now marauding around with the canoe in tow, "I think we need a bigger net" was the response I got . . .

Laker taking a breather, this was far from over...

Winding back up, hooked just inside the corner of the mouth

And starting yet another charge back toward the depths

DW managed the great sequence of action shots above. I was unaware he took them, as I had my hands full. Eventually the fish tired enough for me to draw it close but I had no clue how this was going to work. Before I knew exactly how he did it, DW was laughing from the back after executing a very skilled landing manoeuvre from a canoe in icy cold water. The hook was quickly popped and I slid back as he handed me the fish for a picture. Easily the biggest laker I'd caught ever, never mind from a canoe.

Moments don't get much better than this . . .

We sat a couple minutes after the fish was long gone back to the depths, just enjoying the moment. We wouldn't get another bite all night, but it didn't matter, even the sunset was perfect tonight . . .

 

I can't find any notes on how cold it got, but I recall wrapping a tarp over the tent for a little more protection from the cold. Likely didn't help, but why not? Today was moving day, up to Whitebirch, but we agreed not before a side-trip back down to Club Lake. Specks were good to us again, and a couple we're kept for dinner, the rest returned to grow a little. A strange sight, at least to me, was a hole that opened up through the clouds, as if a sudden downdraft from above opened up this small spot over head.

Hole in the clouds over Club L

Back to camp, we loaded up and trolled back up Waterclear Lake, wondering just how big the lakers could get in there! None bit, so we completed the carry to Whitebirch Lake, and found the lake empty. So, we set up on the southernmost campsite on the point. It was big, open, with lots of space under the red pines. We setup camp, did some fishing, but no catching on this lake. We called off a campfire, as rain greeted us for the first time on this trip. It lasted sometime into the night.

Point camp on Whitebirch

The rain was gone, but a breeze was building, on the northern end of the lake. We had no idea just how much. We packed up camp, made out way back down the long portage to Little Mink Lake, and quickly paddled across it.

While carrying the hated portage to Kiosk, we met a couple heading to Cauchon. They strongly advised us that the winds were whipping up large waves on Kiosk, and from the time they started until they reached the bridge, it got bad in a hurry. Uh oh. As we talked with them for a minute we formulated a plan to paddle to the bridge, and take out on the shoreline, then carry the distance back to the parking lot. Not cool, but safe.

It was a hard and windy enough paddle reaching the bridge, one peak underneath as we squeezed by was all we needed to confirm we had a long hike ahead. There is one point not far from the bridge where the rail bed is exposed to the lake, and I recall the wind catching the canoe overhead so hard it spun me around and almost took the canoe and I both out in one shot. We certainly weren't single carrying, so took awhile, but we made it back to the lot safely, where a couple guys with a good sized aluminum boat and 20hp motor were deciding to not even bother launching . . . Kioshkokwi is not to be messed with in these conditions . . .

Winds on Kioshkokwi, the photo just can't do it justice . . .

In retrospect, aside from the long carry back to the car that at the time seemed terrible, this ranks as one of, if not my favourite trip still to this day. We had complete solitude so close to the access, great weather, and some very good fortune fishing. We do devote a lot of time and effort to fishing as it's our primary motive for tripping. But that doesn't always guarantee results to match the effort. I guess though, the effort does increase your chance of being in the right place at just the right time.