St. Marys River revisited...

Tom Whalen and I hired guide John Guiliani to show us the ropes (or I should say rocks) fishing the St. Marys rapids on the Canadian side of the river. I should count this another river in my quest even though I fished the St. Marys in June. The rapids is nothing like the outflow below the power plant and the approach to catching the Atlantic salmon entirely different. Each time I cross the bridge into Canada I wonder about the fishing below. From the bridge the river looks almost too shallow to fish, but there is always one or two fisherman down there casting away. We parked in a public lot in front of the old post office building at the Canadian locks, crossed the catwalk and headed down a well warn path to the access point just downstream from the bridge. The river here is divided by a cement wall running the length of the rapids. We crossed the swift but shallow water to the wall wading just above a series of 3 large boulders. Once on the wall we walked up to the dam which regulates Lake Superior flow into the river and the lower great lakes. I casted crank baits while Tom floated spawn. When this failed to produce, John walked us down the wall to the first hole where we both floated spawn down through the swift current. We had a strong east wind so John advised against fly fishing, opting to use a spinning rod rigged with a hard rubber "bottom bouncer" and 4' of leader to fresh spawn bags. The rubber ball weight is preferred to the classic dangling lead because the bolder bottomed river is notorious for hang-ups. We each managed to momentarily hook up with a fighting Atlantic but not long enough to enjoy the effort. Tom landed a small rainbow. The Atlantic's were occasionally jumping all around us but the east wind had made them finicky. The holes can be fished from above or below, but John advises not to get seduced into walking too far out into the rapids. We fished 3 holes and although we didn't land a big Atlantic in fall colors like we had hoped, the experience was well worth the effort. We left thinking we could do this on our own and will certainly do so the next time we pass this way. The pink salmon run should be in full force when we come up in September to fish the Garden River. John says a good day can produce dozens of Pink Salmon on the fly rod. Discounting guide talk by half that still sounds like a fun day.

According to John a good fall trip would be to fish the St. Marys in the morning for pinks and then drive up to the Chippewa River to fish King Salmon in the afternoon.

Weather: Sunny, cool, strong east wind
Access: Canadian SOO locks

#42 Pancake River, Ontario

The Pancake was a big disappointment. The Ontario Blue-Ribbon Fly Fishing Guide calls it a "fly angling gem, offering steelhead in the spring, coho and pink salmon in fall, in a gin-clear, manageable and wadeable stream." We passed the river on our way north near its flow into Lake Superior's Pancake Bay. It looked slow and muddy. Not at all like the book's description. We assumed that conditions would improve upstream. Wrong. Apparently the river had experienced a blow out, perhaps from its Pancake Lake headwaters. After traveling a half mile back into the bush a washout prevented further travel. The flood had been so severe that a 10 foot culvert pipe had been washed fifty yards down the river bed along with a good section of the road. We fished briefly and Tom managed to catch a small brookie and that was it. We didn't have time to walk upriver to explore the better reaches. The closed road (two track)heads due north out of the Pancake Bay Provincial Park, working its way back to Route 17 following the Pancake River a good share of the way. A shortcut as the crow flies. We should try this on our way back from White River next trip.

#41 Montreal River, Ontario

Dam Site Lodge, Montreal River circa 1955 with Dad and big brother Mike showing off the day's catch.

Montreal River at Lake Superior 2007.

#40 Michipicoten River, Ontario

On the way back from White River we took a turn at Wawa and headed to Hawk Junction on the east end of Hawk Lake to check out the offerings at several fly-out services. At Hawk Air we met Mark who worked for the service but was an avid fly fisher. He suggested fishing the Michipocoten below the dam. He told us to head south down 17 from Wawa turning left on a road across from a yellow gas station just before the bridge which tracks the river up to the dam. He said the ideal time to fish was during low flow early in the morning when the river was easier to wade and very "fishable". We took his advise but unfortunately the gates were open and the river fast and deep. It reminded me of the swift current of the Aeshwig River on the Winisk system in northern Ontario. Tom had packed some sandwiches from leftovers at Shekak Lake, so we sat down at water's edge to finish them off and consider our next move. We decided to take out our spinning rods and try casting spinners. We had no luck, but clearly this would be a good bet at low flow with the fish concentrated in pools. There was an island downstream that Mark had referred to that looked good but wasn't even an option at high discharge. He mentioned that you had to be ready to skedaddle when the dam operators opened the gates because the flow increased very quickly. We spent an hour or so plying what few runs we could reach and then packed up and headed down to the Montreal.

Shekak Lake, Ontario

#39 Boardman River, Michigan

Aengus fishes the Web...

Check out Josi Etter's http://www.sketchandrelease.com/. Just send her a photo and some measurements and she will paint an original water color of your trophy, complete with fly, net, or whatever tickles your fancy.

The best trout photography in the wild I've ever seen can be viewed at http://www.fisheyeguyphotography.com/. Be sure to click on gallery one and page through the natives. Awesome photos.