My name is John and I live in northern California so I don't get to canoe country as often as most of you but my dog and I did get there in June for 30 days of paddling and chasing top water smallmouth. It was going to be a solo trip and I then decided to take my dog which meant I needed to drive 2000 miles each way at which point I decided I may as well stay for the whole month. We mostly travelled up and down Sturgeon and branched off from there as far as Kawnipi and Batchewuang. We came out one night for a food resupply and to let a nasty wind die down. When you are in for that long you have some time on your hands so I took a lot of photos and video on a GoPro I had borrowed. When I got home I put it together into a five minute video. It has some good photos and top water bass on the fly rod. Check it out. The link to Wilderness Smallmouth on Vimeo is below. I hope you like it. I also pasted in a picture of Olive and me at Antoine Lake.



Wilderness Smallmouth

Awesome video! You are making me excited!

Hey John - welcome to the board! Nice to see another member from CA.
Excellent video; really impressed with your editing. Looks like you had some good top-water action. We were up in that area during your trip, so I know you probably got a bit of rain. Hope that won't discourage you from being a return visitor to Quetico - it truly is a special place for a lot of us.
AdamX

BTW: Olive is beautiful and apparently VERY well behaved. Was half-expecting to see her "help" you land the bass, but she looked like she's seen a fish or two before... ;-)

John. Very nice video for sure. Opening with Can't You See by Marshall Tucker was the bomb.

Your dog looked well behaved throughout the video. Also the tape around your left thumb meant you must have lipped quite a few topwater smallies during your 30 day trip.

In a few years when I retire I will definitely follow your lead and head up to Quetico for 3 or 4 weeks at a time. Can't come too soon.

Thanks for posting.

That was a lot of fun to watch! Thanks for sharing and welcome to the board.

You had me at the first note of Marshall Tucker.

Very cool video and an epic trip. I will be spending time on Sturgeon in a few weeks.

Thanks for sharing your journey. Very cool you brought your dog with.

K

That was great, John. Thanks for sharing!

Wonderful!!

Welcome to the forums! Nice video, thanks for sharing!

Do you ever have any issues with your line getting tangled when you have fish on and have all of that line floating out on the lake?

Thanks to everyone for the comments. This is a really good board.

The second half of June did seem pretty rainy. After a while you learn to take what the weather gives you and not stress about lost fishing time or your travel schedule but there were two straight days in late June (24th and 25th) of laying in the tent all day listening to the rain fall and the forecast on CBC in hopes of a break. Those were kind of tough. If you were there then you probably enjoyed the same.

That was Olive's first canoe trip and it turns out she is a pretty good canoeing dog. We got her at a rescue shelter. Either we got pretty lucky or my wife did a really good job of picking a dog. Olive slept through a lot of good bass fishing especially the evening sessions but she does not sleep through opportunities to chase squirrels or rabbits.

I do love finger injuries that come from handling too many fish. It is a good trip when several of your fingers are taped up.

Both songs in there are Marshall Tucker Band. The second one is called Long Hard Ride which is a good theme for a 30 day trip.

Good question on the line getting tangled. I was always expecting bass to swim though the line and make a big mess but it never happened. Generally tangled fly line is one of the biggest frustrations of the solo canoe fishing day. Maybe second only to swirling winds spinning your canoe around while you are trying to cast to a honey hole you know is holding a bruiser. The safest place for your line is in the water or in the air. If it is in the boat it tangles on anything it can - wrapping the line around the end of your paddle, getting it caught under your foot, wrapping it around your shoelaces, falling in a pile and knotting up, etc.

Thanks again and I can't wait to get back up there.

VERY NICE ! thanks for sharing :)

BTW....that picture with you and the dog is a classic!

Very nice video...Thanks for sharing!

I'm quite envious, as I didn't get up north until later in the summer this year and (mostly) missed the good topwater fishing. At least someone taught those fish a lesson. ;)

Very nice video...Thanks for sharing!

I'm quite envious, as I didn't get up north until later in the summer this year and (mostly) missed the good topwater fishing. At least someone taught those fish a lesson. ;)

Great video, thank you! Because of you, I now have permission to get a GoPro for our Quetico trip in 2 weeks!

Wow. Great video. Really has me wanting to go back...

Hey John - I just realized you were the one that Moose at Morris camp was outfitting. Saw your car with CA plates there and got to talking. Moose said after he dropped us off, he was going out to re-supply you. Hope things worked out well - I've been going to Morris Camp for 40 years.
AdamX

Adam -

That was me at Morris Camp. I like Moose and feel like he is somehow looking out for me while I am out paddling. Small world. Were you the one that rented the solo canoe? I was thinking about taking the solo boat and he told me a client from SD wanted to use it so I took a tandem which worked out for me given I had the dog.

Yep, that was us. Moose is a great guy who is still sharp as a tack. I think he's turning 81 later this year. I'll be going up there around Labor Day and will let him know we connected on the board.
AdamX

Excellent video thank you . Cant wait to get back there myself. 30 days! Very envious.

Fantastic video, made me miss canoe country all the more. Thanks!

Awesome video thanks for sharing !

Nice! I like your choice of flies.

John,
I was excited to see your post today. I met you and Olive on Keats I believe. I was solo and we traveled to Montgomery Lake. (i tried to give you space, but we were headed the same direction) Glad to hear you had a good trip, and I will be watching the video shortly.

Don -

Good to hear from you. I saw your post and thought that might be you but was not sure. Thanks for leading me to a pictograph. That was the first one I have seen.