zski wrote on Jan 25
th, 2016 at 1:46pm:
yes, very nice fish. and i was thinking the same thing. the calm enjoyment with those fish on contrasts what we usually model as we let adrenaline get the best of us.
The excitement was pretty high when Kingfisher reeled up that pike on the 3rd day of the trip. We had good luck pulling up numbers of walleyes in that area and KF had even commented the action would likely attract a good pike . . . sure enough. Ranger, I think you were right regarding the bait (taildancer - brown).
The walleye came couple of days later. We came into Soho in the afternoon, set camp, fished w/o much luck. Next day fished Smudge early morning, picking up some bass and walleye. Fished the east half of Soho the afternoon until dark, finding some structure along the north shore, but still not find much action. Crossing the lake before dark to camp on south shore, the 12' flat dropped gradually into 50' toward the center of the lake, picked up a trout. Next morning at daybreak we hoped to find some walleyes up on that same flat. By 8 am, we gave up and paddled back for some breakfast. The walleye then came in the same manner as the trout. It was suspended in 40' of water in that main basin. A great surprise and I'd add, a gift as well.
My previous record was a 29.5" fish taken also fishing with KF on the lower Menominee River in NE Wisconsin. That fish is on my living room wall. This Soho walleye was a heavier fish.
I guess by day 6, the excitement gave way to contentment. On Soho, we began spending the mid-day hours shooting the breeze in camp and laying on the "beach". By contrast on our past trips together, no time was ever allocated to hanging out in camp.
The great action continued on Kasakakwog (all 4 species), spending a couple days there just down from the Cirrus portage, before heading back to Cirrus via Quetico Lake.
We both took a number of videos of the fishing. The video brings back a trip in ways the pictures cannot. We ran the cameras only occasionally when a fish was on. It was fortuitous that we happen to be filming when those 2 trophy fish were taken. I'm working on uploading some of which I'll post a link to before the POD's run out.
Very memorable trip. Loved the area.