Poohbah 2013 -1 billion Moquitoes, 400 fish, 2 happy fishermen
by walllee
Today the real adventure began!!! I felt much better than I thought I would, considering my rum punch intake last night. The day was partly cloudy and it felt like it will be another warm day. We both hoped the wind would not be a problem for us today. We had all our gear down to the dock at 6 am, and Zup’s arrived at 6:15 to load us up. We then headed to the lodge for a hearty breakfast. We ate quickly as we were pretty excited to start our trip. We waved good bye to Kathy and Mark as we headed to Twin Falls. Our first stop was at the ranger station to pick up our permit. I could not get over how beautiful this lake was. It was nice to see such a huge lake without cabins around every bend. The First Nation people have done a great job managing this fabulous resource. We arrived at the ranger station at 8am and found the facility was not open yet. At 8:15 we spotted a car pulling up the gravel lane. We were glad to see it was the staff for the facility. We were the only trippers present this morning, so we quickly finalize our permit and were on our way! Twenty minutes go by before we got our first glimpse of Twin Falls.
The falls were really rolling today with the high water level of the Maligne. We could barely hear each other as we unloaded our gear and carried it up the step granite bank. It was about a 30 rod portage from the base of the falls to a safe loading. I quickly carried the canoe across as Jody began to bring the first pack. We were going to have to triple portage all the portages this trip, which is no big deal as all the portages were short and easy by Quetico standards. As we surveyed the river we still felt uneasy as how to approach the first 50 yards of the river. The current was fast and furious and a mistake could end this trip in a hurry. We shoved off and headed for the spot that I think would offer the safest chance of traversing the first set of rapids. As we approached my spot, I soon found out I may not have picked the correct place. The current caught the canoe and began to spin us around. Not a word was spoken between Jody and I. By experience and instinct we did what we needed to do to avoid disaster and positioned the canoe along the right bank out of danger. We took a minute to regroup before we continued on. The river was easy paddling considering we were going against the current and were carrying a very heavy load. The river seemed wider then I remember it some 20 years earlier, but it was still as pretty as I recalled. The sun peaked through the clouds as we approached our first portage around Tanner Rapids.
These rapids were just as beautiful as Twin Falls although not as grand in size. We landed our canoe on the right bank below the rapids and we stretched our legs, and grabbed a drink before we began the short 15 rod portage to the top of the rapids. After the gear was loaded back up in the canoe we took a few minutes to snap pictures at this scenic location. As we began our crossing of Tanner Lake we were met with a headwind that made the paddle across this body of water a minor pain in the ass! A short time after exiting Tanner we arrived at the entrance to Poohbah Creek. Poohbah Creek started as a fairly narrow, windy, lily pad lined waterway. The creek meandered through some very large bog areas before you arrived at the first portage. The portage was short, a little muddy and overgrown, but easy. After another 10 minutes, we arrived at the second portage. It was longer and muddy in spots, pretty rocky, but again easy in our eyes. We took a short break, had some water and a power bar before we shoved off again. The creek was getting much narrower so it slowed our progress a tad as we watched for logs and rocks. As we approached the next set of shallow rapids, we had a hard time finding the portage. Mark informed us it was on the left side of the creek so we landed the canoe on the bank and I exited to try to find the trail. I spent 5 minutes searching for any signs of the trail when Jody hollered he may have found something.
As I met up with him, he pointed to a small dark clearing 30 yards upstream on the opposite bank. We investigated the spot to indeed find the trail. We decided to line the canoe up the shallow rapids as far as we could and then were forced to carry the gear another 10 yards before we had to load it again to cross a short 30 foot wide by 5 foot deep pool. We made three trips across the short trail and in no time we were on our way. The next portage appeared in less than 10 minutes. We exited on the left bank, and I searched for the seldom used trail. Thank goodness I quickly find what resembled the trail and followed it for a short time to make sure we are still on track. I confirmed it was the trail we wanted, and again, we made quick time on the 50 rod portage. This was to be our last portage as we were now actually on Poohbah Lake, although we were on a very long and narrow arm at the north end of the lake. Some people still call it a part of Poohbah Creek, who is correct? I don’t know! It had taken us 6 hours to reach this point! Pretty good time considering the triple portage thing. I figured we still had about a half hour before we reached the huge main basin of Poohbah. As we rounded a bend we spotted a nice bull moose 50 yards ahead of us. He was up to his shoulders in the cool water as we quietly edge closer.
We were sure he was seeking reprieve from the hoards of mosquitoes that seem to like this area of the Northwoods. He let us get 25 yards away before he noticed us and slid off into the thick dark woods. Jody and I continued on and discussed where we wanted to set up camp tonight. We had our goal on reaching the south west area of the lake as we had heard good fishing reports from this part of the lake. We both agreed to venture on to this area even though there were campsites much closer. As we reached the main lake and headed southwest, we were greeted by a nasty headwind that was producing 2 foot whitecaps. We both decided that if we headed straight into the waves we would not have much trouble as my Souris River handled these conditions perfectly. Jody and I dug in and made the crossing without incident. We picked a campsite on a larger island north of the Conmee portage. It was a great east facing site with plenty of room for our two tents, 12x12 screen house, and my hammock, which I must have!!! We quickly unloaded our gear and started setting up camp. The two tents were first, then the screen house. I had to say this was the first time I had taken a screen house and it was worth its weight in gold. The mosquitoes were as bad as I have ever experienced in all my years of tripping. It was sure nice sitting in there with no pesky critters buzzing around!! We assembled our Helinox chairs, and spent the rest of the evening relaxing and hashing over the day’s events. We prepared a great dinner that consisted of wild mushroom stroganoff, corn off the cob, and pop tarts for dessert. A good cigar and some brandy finished off the night. We hit the tents at 11pm for a well deserved night’s sleep.
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