Big Trout Lake Trip - May 2007

by - Ray Peppler

This was our 20th year going into the park in early May. We all used the old style cameras, so there are no pictures. This was a special trip for us, as our mortality was coming into account. We're usually in the park for 9 days. I'm in my 20th year of tripping. Gary is in his 19th. Paul is in his 18th. Mike is in his 17th and Gary is in his 10th year. And, we had a newbie along. The reason for this being a special year was that I was coming off an operation in January to remove a section of my large intestine. And, one member of our crew missed last year's trip, as he had pancreatic cancer and the removal of 2/3rds of his large intestines. We were not sure of our strengths and whether we would be able to do the portages. We both felt OK, as we'd worked very hard to get back in shape. The trip was to be to Big Trout Lake via Opeongo Lake.

Day 1 - May 4

We left Kitchener at 4am for the ride to the park and we took a 9 am water taxi to the North Arm. We were unloaded at the portage to Happy Isle Lake by 10 am and then canoeing into Merchant Lake where we would be staying for the night. The portage in was fairly long but not that hard. We did it in a double carry, just to be safe. We're getting into our mid-fifties and didn't want to push ourselves with a single carry. The weather was good with about a 10-20 km head-wind on Merchant Lake. The good news was I caught a lake trout while trolling into our campsite on the left hand shore, close to the portage into Big Trout Lake.

Day 2 - May 5

We got up around 7 am, had breakfast done and left the campsite around 8.15 am. I was a little fuzzy in the morning, due to the happy hour[s] around the fire the night before. We did the portage, finishing it by 12 noon. As we were getting to the main part of Big Trout Lake, the wind came up very gusty from the northeast and made it difficult going north.

The first mistake of the trip came here. We stopped and agreed that we would go up the east shore of the lake and then cut down from the north end to the island site. One of our canoes decided that the wind was not too bad and went down the middle of the lake. Nothing happened but this canoe had the newbie in it and if anything had happened we would not have been able to get there for about fifteen minutes as we were hugging shore. If there are two ways to do things, always take the safest. Told our two people never to take a chance like that again. Overall it was a good day.

Day 3 - May 6

First day of fishing. We did not start too early, as we were tired from the two days of travel. We fished the north end of the lake and did well catching lake trout. The weather was good with the wind calming down. We made this a work day, collecting a lot of fire wood. We set up camp properly, as this site was where we stayed for six days.

Day 4 - May 7

We got up early and after we'd had our morning porridge and coffee with Baileys, we went fishing. Our canoe caught three specs, the biggest of which was 16 inches and one lake trout. The other canoes caught a few lake trout. The weather was good but we started to see some black flies on the island. The night fishing produced a few more lake trout, making it a very good day. But then, any day in the park is good.

Day 5 - May 8

Got up early to have breakfast and left site around 9.30 am for a day-trip. We took lunch with us and did the portage into Blue Lake. It was windy on this lake but as it is small, that wasn't a problem. We caught enough fish that we had a great shore lunch, and didn't get back to our site till early evening. We stopped at the end of the portage to collect firewood, as there wasn't much on the island.

We had a very nice night around the campsite with a couple of drinks and looked at the stars. As you get older, you find that the number of drinks that you have before going to bed adds up to the number of times you have to get up in the night. We played some cards in the evening and more black flies were out.

Day 6 - May 9

We decided that this was the morning we'd all go over to the rapids and see what specs we could catch there. We went with the same partners that we had going in. Here we had a second problem develop. One of our canoes went too far into the rapids. It stopped in an eddy to fish and the current caught them with both their paddles out of the water and they went over.

We got to them in lots of time so there was no trouble, except for the lost fishing gear. We got them back to camp and dried them out. Since it was a beautiful calm sunny day, we went back and tried to retrieve the fishing gear. We didn’t have any luck with this but I did get two nice specs for supper. We played cards in the afternoon. The black flies were starting to bite, but as long as you were wearing the right clothes it was OK.

Day 7 - May 10

When we left, one of our group was starting to swell up around the eyes from the black flies. By the time we got to the other end of the lake, he was swelled so badly he could hardly see. We had a quick lunch and headed back up the lake in case the swelling got any worse. We had our only bad rain going back up the lake. But, by the time we got to the campsite it had stopped. Around the campsite that night, we thought the swelling was finally going down.

Day 8 - May 11

We got a campsite on the island of Happy Isle Lake and four of us fished for an hour in the evening. Since the swelling had gone down a little so we were not as worried. I changed back to the larger lure and caught seven smaller lakers and one very large small mouth bass. We let every thing go as we'd had enough to eat and we do not take fish out of the park, only keeping just what we need to eat.

Day 9 - May 12

The water taxi had got the message and was there on time for our pickup. Another trip was over we had a great time, even though there was a little trouble. But, no one was hurt and only a little gear was lost. I hope a lesson was learned.