Quetico 2012:Beaverhouse, Q, Jean, Burntside
by Mad Birdman
Trip Type:
Paddling Canoe
Entry Date:
09/20/2012
Entry & Exit Point:
Quetico
Number of Days:
7
Group Size:
6
Discuss Trip:
View Discussion Thread (11 messages)
Part 6 of 8
Day 5: Wednesday, September 26th 
Back on Jean, we trolled the southern bay again in the sunshine and the TailDancer produced 5 more lakers in the 20-24” range. They were all caught in roughly 60’ of water, with my bait probably down about 25’ or so. They were still in the prespawn mode and hadn’t moved up like the ones on Burntside. The water temps warmed to 60 degrees that morning (3 degrees above Burntside).
The other boats caught some lakers too, and Brian had lost several at boatside, causing him to vow to bring a net on our next trip. It was a fun morning of trout fishing, and we decided to work our way through Jean, hitting the rocky reefs again to see if the ‘eyes were any more receptive. We did so, but again without luck. I realized that the trip was more than half over and I still had connected with a single ‘eye. In fact, our group of 6 fairly experienced fishermen had caught fewer than 5 total. Strange.
We fished our way along Quetico Lake, figuring that since we didn’t have a headwind and most of the day was behind us already, we should try to put as many miles behind us as we could. The long east/west stretch of Q Lake could turn into an uphill battle against a headwind, and we didn’t want to take our chances with losing any time. We moved up to a mid-lake campsite, (PCD #35F), after checking out a couple others that were just OK. A small marshy area just east of the site held some deciduous trees showed some reds and oranges as the sun set.
We were tired as we set camp and felt the night chill coming in. Mice were again all over the place at this site, making for some evening entertainment. We reviewed what we hoped to accomplish the last two full days of the trip, as we had a morning pickup on Saturday, and decided to move down towards Eden Island in the morning. It was another chilly night in the 20’s, but we were used to it by now and our gear was proving to be worthy of the task. Most of us had brought rubber boots on this trip to keep our feet dry, and we just had packed extra layers. The daytime temps were warming each day as well, so we figured that the worst weather was behind us.
As we awoke and struck camp, we couldn’t believe our luck with the weather. It was another bluebird day with a bit of wind, but nothing to complain about. The other two boats were a bit ahead of us as we approached the portage back to Jean, with a bit of color framing the landing.
Back on Jean, we trolled the southern bay again in the sunshine and the TailDancer produced 5 more lakers in the 20-24” range. They were all caught in roughly 60’ of water, with my bait probably down about 25’ or so. They were still in the prespawn mode and hadn’t moved up like the ones on Burntside. The water temps warmed to 60 degrees that morning (3 degrees above Burntside).
The other boats caught some lakers too, and Brian had lost several at boatside, causing him to vow to bring a net on our next trip. It was a fun morning of trout fishing, and we decided to work our way through Jean, hitting the rocky reefs again to see if the ‘eyes were any more receptive. We did so, but again without luck. I realized that the trip was more than half over and I still had connected with a single ‘eye. In fact, our group of 6 fairly experienced fishermen had caught fewer than 5 total. Strange.
We moved past our old Jean campsite, and stopped for a late lunch on Conk. It was calm and cloudless again: were we trading awesome weather and scenery for fishing? Conk was showing a few colors by now too.
We fished our way along Quetico Lake, figuring that since we didn’t have a headwind and most of the day was behind us already, we should try to put as many miles behind us as we could. The long east/west stretch of Q Lake could turn into an uphill battle against a headwind, and we didn’t want to take our chances with losing any time. We moved up to a mid-lake campsite, (PCD #35F), after checking out a couple others that were just OK. A small marshy area just east of the site held some deciduous trees showed some reds and oranges as the sun set.
We were tired as we set camp and felt the night chill coming in. Mice were again all over the place at this site, making for some evening entertainment. We reviewed what we hoped to accomplish the last two full days of the trip, as we had a morning pickup on Saturday, and decided to move down towards Eden Island in the morning. It was another chilly night in the 20’s, but we were used to it by now and our gear was proving to be worthy of the task. Most of us had brought rubber boots on this trip to keep our feet dry, and we just had packed extra layers. The daytime temps were warming each day as well, so we figured that the worst weather was behind us.
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