hey all

was able to get away for a planned 5 night trip (turned into 4 nights) via stanton bay into pickerel lake.

just got back yesterday.

conditions are very dry up here. fire hazard is extreme. no ban was in effect when i entered..

water levels are quite low in this area.

entered and exited at stanton. road was in decent condition. some of the hills had recently been sanded and were in very poor shape. one other vehicle was there when i started. two were there when i exited.
a reminder that there is construction being done for the new hydro lines crossing this area so pls drive cautiously.
there also were hunters in there as well. so maybe paint your truck orange just in case.

fishing was not good. but to be fair, i am not a great fisherman. but it was slow even by my standards.
i did land a nice pike, one smallmouth, and one walleye.
had a really nice smally on a light rod that i fought for about 5 min only to lose right at the boat in about a foot of water. (insert sad face here)
hooked into, but lost, 4 or 5 more. blame the barbless hooks ?

circled emerald island for the first time. very nice area.
had great weather for a relaxing paddle that day.
if water was any lower though, i would have had to wade the canoe thru the gap between emerald and long island (not great with island names but these two i know)

spent a couple of nights in the narrows, one on pickerel, and one near stanton bay.

saw / heard no one until the night on pickerel when i noticed light / fire on the next island. so it almost felt like i had the park to myself.

saw a few beaver. two wouldnt stop slapping at 4am haha.
a couple of solo loons (weird.....almost all the loons i have seen this year have been alone). only heard one calling on one night.
lots of grouse out and about at the stanton lot.
saw a pair of swans near stanton along with a bull moose that was spooked by a float plane that just happened to fly overhead just as i was approaching the moose. never got to capture it in a pic. (insert second sad face here).
heard an owl for the first time in the park. was right across from my site in the narrows.
and heard the faint call of wolves one morning way off in the distance from my island site on pickerel. that was a first for me as well.
also heard the most bizarre bird call in the evening on two different sites. i am going to try and figure out what is was. sounded almost like a weird electronic beeping your phone might use for a ring tone lol
i seem to have heard quite a few uncommon bird calls this season. maybe it is time to learn more about this to give me something to do on solo trips.
saw 4 bald eagles although one was just outside kakabeka falls o i am not sure that counts

ended the trip early due to a negative change in weather / wind, along with the poor fishing. i also thought it would be nice to surprise the wife to be able to join her and her family for thanksgiving dinner. yes it is thanksgiving up here.

the weather was surprisingly nice and even hot at times. had to choose sites based on the high winds and it turned out i made some good choices.

on a sour note.....i got caught with my guard down making one open water crossing when the forecasted SE wind decided to do a 180. it was not too bad when i started but it quickly got out of control and was a bit sketchy for maybe a half hr. it was too late, and even more dangerous, to turn back.
note to self.....i need to slow down sometimes and be more open to a change in plans. i often am too focused on the goal and it can cloud my judgement. this can be a dangerous combination on the water. especially this time of year.

over all not a bad way to end this season. 33 days in the park this year. 27 of those in the back country. 17 or 18 of those were solo.

looking forward to maybe seeing some new lakes next year and hopefully improve my walleyes fishing tactics.

goals might include......a full week solo, fishing jesse lake, seeing chatterton falls, and maybe taking the wife to white otter castle (not in quetico) on a return trip to turtle river park.

I think the beeping sound you heard was an owl, had this on carp a few years back, went on for hours at night, hard to sleep that night. I think we used the merlin app to identify it, great app if you don't have it on your phone, they (Cornell University) mine the data for location and what birds your hearing, at least that was their plan a few years back.

I should look into that app. thx

I liked your little write up. I love pickerel

The owl in question is called a saw whet owl

A strange repetitive call indeed. Look that one up on YouTube and report back. Lots of birds migrating now.
Tom

Pickerel would have been my choice as well for this time of year for thr reasons you cited. Sounds like it was a peaceful, relaxing trip.

Jesse is a good destination lake, probably one of my favorites. I spent 5 days there this summer on a longer trip. Good fishing.

I was thinking a a screech owl but the saw whet owl fits the description better. Never heard of one before.

HighnDry: "Jesse is a good destination lake, probably one of my favorites. I spent 5 days there this summer on a longer trip. Good fishing."

Did u catch any LT?

No. Walleye tho. LT are in Dore and Pickerel as well as many other similar lakes.

so i had tried listening to multiple owl calls online, including the saw whet owl (which i had never heard of before) but that is not it.
the saw whet beeps with a consistent tone. the one i heard used multiple tones. i have not found one yet that matches it.
i thought it was odd hearing this not once but twice on two different sites. maybe he was following me?? lol

Argo: "I was thinking a a screech owl but the saw whet owl fits the description better. Never heard of one before. "

No screech owls up here. I hear saw whet owls frequently in spring and occasionally and see them too.