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.
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