Wawa derby, trophy specs and monster pike.
Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 10:23 pm
It was a long wait but I finally headed out on my Wawa derby trip last week that included fishing for trophy specs, monster pike, and the derby of course.
After a week of problems with just about everything related to the trip on I finally started the 1200km trek to Wawa including stops in Chapleau and Hawk Junction.
On Tuesday the plan was to take the snowmobile into a nice little lake buried in the logging trails of Chapleau that had only two types of fish in it, white fish and big pike. Let’s just say I wasn’t prepared for the amount of snow down there. Three feet of powder was way too much for my short track machine, I couldn’t even walk through it was so deep. That outing was scraped so I headed into Wawa and had a hot coffee and some breakfast and drove down to Superior to see the sights and then out to my fishing guide Bobs house where I would be spending the next couple of days.
Seems that my short track machine would not make it into the trophy lake Bob had wanted to take me to so he brought me into another of his promising spec lakes with a max depth of over 100’ it was much deeper than the 30’ lakes I fished in back home.
About an hour after setting up I hook into 4 pounder but lost it at the hole
and then after moving lost another on the set line 
and then ended the day with this guy.
Thursday Bob and I headed about an hour into the bush for pike. Although Bob fishes for specs mainly he agreed to try and help me land the big pike I was after. Last summer Bob said he had caught over 17 pike in one afternoon on this lake. We set up in 20 fow and within a half hour I had a fish on the set line but lost the pike at the hole. About an hour later the flag goes off again, but it’s not a pike it’s a laker. Since I’m fishing the derby on sat. I quickly release it. When I tell Bob he’s surprised since he has never caught a laker here, he also tells me I should have kept it as he knows a lady whose husband passed away recently and she would have taken it. We move over to a large weed bay and set up. Right away I lose one at the hole jigging. Then 20 min. later I hook into a nice one jigging, and it’s another laker.
Sorry about the blood but he did have a hook in his mouth
I keep this one for the lady after feeling guilty about letting the other go and clean it first before dropping my lure down the hole again. About 15 min. later I see a red line under my spoon on the flasher so I move the spoon up and he follows it but no bite so I drop it back down and make him chase it and wham, fish on! The drag starts screaming and I can tell this one is big. Its gotta be a big pike, but no it’s a big laker. I finally get its head pointed up the 2 feet of ice and he practically swims out of the hole but sinks back in. I can see the lure just in the corner of his mouth so I quickly reach in and toss him on the ice.
New P.B. Laker
When we got back to the house I said to his wife
“What do you get when two trout fisherman go for pike?……………TROUT!â€
Well Sat. Is the first day of the derby and I figure Ill use the heavier pike gear on the trout since it worked so good the other day. Well not a bite couple lookers on the sonar and that’s it. I tried downsizing the lure but no takers I guess the 20lb fire line was spooking them.
On Sunday the last day of the derby I decide to down size to my lighter rod since the fish are being finicky. I arrive at the lake and every thing is going wrong from the auger freezing up to the replacement P.O.S. Ice45 failing again. I figure I should just go home. Well I stick it out and as lower my jig down the hole and then with a half hour to go before the end of the derby a laker nails it. The drag is going off just trying to reel it in and the fish is just sitting there, this laker is bigger then the one I caught the other day. I tighten the drag and start to gain some ground on it. Then it starts bull dogging and does a short run, stops and then takes off again like a freight train. I can see my line sideways in the hole and I jam my rod tip down the hole so it doesn’t cut the line, all the while the fish is stripping of line with the drag screaming. I can now see the end off my line on the reel and have no choice but tighten the drag more but it doesn’t even slow the fish so I tighten it more as there is maybe 10’ left on the reel and snap! 
First prize was new snowmobile the fish I caught Thursday would have one it and this was bigger
.
Looks like I’m going back next year.
Almost forgot this pic is for Luke. What it was only -30c that night!
After a week of problems with just about everything related to the trip on I finally started the 1200km trek to Wawa including stops in Chapleau and Hawk Junction.
On Tuesday the plan was to take the snowmobile into a nice little lake buried in the logging trails of Chapleau that had only two types of fish in it, white fish and big pike. Let’s just say I wasn’t prepared for the amount of snow down there. Three feet of powder was way too much for my short track machine, I couldn’t even walk through it was so deep. That outing was scraped so I headed into Wawa and had a hot coffee and some breakfast and drove down to Superior to see the sights and then out to my fishing guide Bobs house where I would be spending the next couple of days.
Seems that my short track machine would not make it into the trophy lake Bob had wanted to take me to so he brought me into another of his promising spec lakes with a max depth of over 100’ it was much deeper than the 30’ lakes I fished in back home.
About an hour after setting up I hook into 4 pounder but lost it at the hole
and then after moving lost another on the set line and then ended the day with this guy.Thursday Bob and I headed about an hour into the bush for pike. Although Bob fishes for specs mainly he agreed to try and help me land the big pike I was after. Last summer Bob said he had caught over 17 pike in one afternoon on this lake. We set up in 20 fow and within a half hour I had a fish on the set line but lost the pike at the hole. About an hour later the flag goes off again, but it’s not a pike it’s a laker. Since I’m fishing the derby on sat. I quickly release it. When I tell Bob he’s surprised since he has never caught a laker here, he also tells me I should have kept it as he knows a lady whose husband passed away recently and she would have taken it. We move over to a large weed bay and set up. Right away I lose one at the hole jigging. Then 20 min. later I hook into a nice one jigging, and it’s another laker.
Sorry about the blood but he did have a hook in his mouth
I keep this one for the lady after feeling guilty about letting the other go and clean it first before dropping my lure down the hole again. About 15 min. later I see a red line under my spoon on the flasher so I move the spoon up and he follows it but no bite so I drop it back down and make him chase it and wham, fish on! The drag starts screaming and I can tell this one is big. Its gotta be a big pike, but no it’s a big laker. I finally get its head pointed up the 2 feet of ice and he practically swims out of the hole but sinks back in. I can see the lure just in the corner of his mouth so I quickly reach in and toss him on the ice.
New P.B. Laker
When we got back to the house I said to his wife
“What do you get when two trout fisherman go for pike?……………TROUT!â€
Well Sat. Is the first day of the derby and I figure Ill use the heavier pike gear on the trout since it worked so good the other day. Well not a bite couple lookers on the sonar and that’s it. I tried downsizing the lure but no takers I guess the 20lb fire line was spooking them.
On Sunday the last day of the derby I decide to down size to my lighter rod since the fish are being finicky. I arrive at the lake and every thing is going wrong from the auger freezing up to the replacement P.O.S. Ice45 failing again. I figure I should just go home. Well I stick it out and as lower my jig down the hole and then with a half hour to go before the end of the derby a laker nails it. The drag is going off just trying to reel it in and the fish is just sitting there, this laker is bigger then the one I caught the other day. I tighten the drag and start to gain some ground on it. Then it starts bull dogging and does a short run, stops and then takes off again like a freight train. I can see my line sideways in the hole and I jam my rod tip down the hole so it doesn’t cut the line, all the while the fish is stripping of line with the drag screaming. I can now see the end off my line on the reel and have no choice but tighten the drag more but it doesn’t even slow the fish so I tighten it more as there is maybe 10’ left on the reel and snap!
First prize was new snowmobile the fish I caught Thursday would have one it and this was bigger
.Looks like I’m going back next year.
Almost forgot this pic is for Luke. What it was only -30c that night!
.