MEMQUISIT LODGE WEST ARM..TRIP FOR MY DAD

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almontefisher
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MEMQUISIT LODGE WEST ARM..TRIP FOR MY DAD

Post by almontefisher »

http://www.memquisitlodge.net/index.html

This place is a slice of heaven inside a slice of heaven that was done for one thing really...my dad, but let me start at the beginning.

Friday Oct 17th - 5:30am

Wake up to a cold dark morning and notice that I didnt make the coffee to auto brew for me....@#!$ is this the kind of day I will have. If so I'm going back to bed.

6:30am - text the guys to see if they are all up and ready
6:40am - get a text from two of the three guys saying they are ready any time
6:57am - text guy three again
6:59am - still nothing....@#!$ again!!
7:15am - one last text before I go finish off packing the Jeep and picking the boat up
7:25am - guy three finally texts and will need a few more minutes....of course..lol
7:30am - finish packing up the Jeep and drive to point B to get boat from storage
7:45am - all hooked up and ready to go..did I mention it is a cold dark day.
8:00am - driving into Almonte to pick up first guy and then go get guy 2 & 3 who live beside each other
8:15am - waiting for guy three
8:20am - waiting still
8:25am - guy three makes it finally and we are ready to go.
8:45am - still in Almonte and we already need to stop for our first food, coffee and pee break...@!#$ REALLY GUYS!!
9:00am - I think we are off...are we off?? Yes we are.

The drive up there was very scenic and amazing to drive with. We encountered no moose, deer,bear or any other wildlife for that matter so drive up was all scenic trees in full fall colours. Mountains sprawling as far as the eye can see. Seemingly growing out of nowhere. 5 .5hrs later we make it to our destination. Welcome to the Lodge we will be living at for the next few days. We check in and get to meet the owner Frank who is an amazing guy that will go out of his way to make your stay is a good one. He even gave us a map his guides use for taking people out and so from there our trip was officially planned to the T. We walk into the cottage and this is what greeted us when the door swung open!

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Well if we can copy that then we would call this trip a huge success.

So we finish unpacking all of our stuff, clothes, sleeping bags, booze, food, booze and wait is that more booze!! Why yes it is. Apparently we all thought we needed to bring some type of drink up with us and final total was 50 beer, a 60 of Canadian Club, 40oz of Spiced Rum, 26er of Spiced rum, 26er of fireball and some specialty beer for our evening poker games.

Went out onto the porch and looked at this amazing view.

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Just a fantastic place tucked away in a quite bay all to ourselves. Not one other camper was here as they usually close down a week ago but they stayed open for us and a group of duck hunters coming in Sunday afternoon. We also noted that there seemed to be something wierd docked at one of the docks...One of the local OPP boats stays here all season so there were many a good laugh about getting some interesting pictures of us and the boat but thank god better minds decided not to create a PR situation up north. So we load our gear into my boat and off we go into the cold windy rainy weather of Northern Ontario and Lake Nipissing.

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Did I mention it was cold. A blistery day of 4oC and winds at 20km/hr were forcasted. Well lets just say we stayed close to the cottage for the first fish as it was almost 5pm when we got up there and dark was fast approaching. We pull up to spot number one which is about 1 minute from the launch and we start our casting. First fish into the trip and one buddy gets the first pike...a whopping 20 inches..lol. Well at least the boat isnt skunked for the weekend. troll along the same shoreline and I get into the first decent fish of the day and it too is a pike but it's 37" and I was not able to get a picture as it was raining very hard and didnt want my Iphone to get to wet. Fished for about 2 hours and we finished off with three pike and nothing else.

Saturday Oct 18th:

We got up at 7am which was surprising because a tally of our beverages shows we are down to 30 beer, half a 60 of CC and down to one bottle of Spiced ( the 60 is left) and half the bottle of fireball. To everyones surprise none of us are feeling ill. So a quick power breakfast of bagels and cream cheese and off we go. We fished the whole day from almost 8am to 5pm and we got 5 fish total. a few pike and this one guy who stomped on my spinner and said hello.

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Only bass of the weekend for the entire boat which was a sad thing to happen. The only other excitement for the day was of course the one that got away. I was trolling a 10" double cowgirl in gold across some humps and shelves when all of a sudden in 8ft of water with my lure at 4ft the line peels out....ZINNNGGGGGGGGGG goes the drag for a brief moment in time and I grab the rod out of the holder and set the hook...into nothing. Not sure if it was bottom or a fish but it was nice to get the blood going and excite us to keep at it through all the crappy weather.

Fished a solid day and for us it was a dissapointment. We were looking for the large pike, bass and musky but only came away with a nice bass and some dink pike. We went back to the lodge disheartened and feeling a little down with the days events so what better way of getting rid of the blues but with a lot of drinks.
Rest of night is foggy or didnt happen..take your pic!!

Sunday Oct 19th

Woke up at 7am and unfortunalty we all were a bit more rough than the morning before. Quick tally of drinks and it shows we are down to 12 beer and 1/8 of a bottle of CC and half of the spiced rum. Ouch!!

After a not so power breaky of bagels bacon and OJ we head out for the last trip of the weekend and as usual we were given a nice 1oC morning with clouds and rain. Well we fished as hard as we could and these little guys were all that wanted to come out and play.

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And so with that a new chapter was written in my book of fishing and even though we did not fair out as well as we hoped it will for sure be a yearly trip for us and a great time away.

Just as a side note my father fished this end of the lake every year for over 30 years catching huge pike, bass and walleye by the boat load and when he passed away I made it a promise to him that I would get out and fish the same stretch of the lake as him and I do feel he was there with us the whole time. This may sound wierd but I did leave a bit of him up there when I sprinkled a few of his ashes into the lake. This has been a ritual for me ever since he passed away that if I get to a lake he has fished I sprinkle a bit of him into the water so he can enjoy the lake once again. Cheers dad and next year we will make some more memories for us!!
Fishing isn't a matter of life and death....
It's much more important.

ORWL
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BigC
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Re: MEMQUISIT LODGE WEST ARM..TRIP FOR MY DAD

Post by BigC »

Great report not always the outcome but the experience that stays with you.

Your buddies look like they're about to bite the heads off those pike, lol.
Last edited by BigC on Tue Oct 21, 2014 1:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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ShawnD
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Re: MEMQUISIT LODGE WEST ARM..TRIP FOR MY DAD

Post by ShawnD »

Nice report! I love the time laps. hehehe :lol: :lol:
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SalvelinusFontinalis
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Re: MEMQUISIT LODGE WEST ARM..TRIP FOR MY DAD

Post by SalvelinusFontinalis »

Great report, I find fall is always a tough time to fish in. I was hoping to see some pictures of you and your buddies having a drunken joyride in the OPP boat you mentioned! I guess you saved those pictures for yourselves eh? haha.

I'm sure your Dad's spirit was there with you on this trip and will be with you on the trips to come. He'll live on through you. There's absolutely nothing strange about bringing a bit of your Dads ashes up to the lakes you both loved an enjoyed together during his lifetime. It's admirable that you kept your promise.

=Tom=
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smitty55
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Re: MEMQUISIT LODGE WEST ARM..TRIP FOR MY DAD

Post by smitty55 »

Very well done story Peter. Way to go.
Shame about the fishing but sounds like you had a riot. Next year hit pickerel season too.

Cheers
Smitty

Straight shooter
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