Trip Report - Good Fishing and Great Skiing Location - Top Secret
By:  Chad Yurich   (2003/03/14)

Chad Yurich here with another skiing adventure report. I had such a good time skiing and fishing last weekend that I thought I should share it with other outdoor enthusiasts.

Up in Gods country (Sault Ste. Marie area) there is still enough snow to sink in well past your waist if the crust gets soft so three other hardened fishing vets and the acolyte (me) decided to do a three day winter camping/fishing trip. Speckled Trout was our game and we saw some lakes that needed some exploring.

Our first day in was a good ski solid ski made difficult by +4 temperature. With big packs in tow, a couple of the party members with smaller skis (width) were punching through the crust and loosing thier tempers simultaneously. Luckily I borrowed Ngaire's which I learned on this trip are a pair of waxless wonders, and I stayed up fine and skiied up and down all the hills effortlessly.

We nailed a few nice fish the first day while we set up base camp. One of the ingenious Finns I was staying with had a portable wood stove of his own design set up in his four man tent. To my complete lack of suprise, a woodstove in the tent, in the winter, is fantastic.

After a good sleep including a Northern Lights show we awoke to gorgeous morning of -10 and sun. We gulped down our breakfast (in our wood heated tent - sorry I just loved that stove) and skiied off in pursuit of some fresh lakes. The skiing was fantastic it was bullet fast and again the Karhu's were solid. The -10 crust was pretty tough on some party members klister but I had no problems climbing or descending what the bush could throw at me.

Our second day of fishing produced some nice specks (biggest I had ever caught!) and some good old glad to be alive feelings.

Our original plan for the third day was to try to catch a few more fish in the morning and ski out by noon but when we awoke to 0 degree temperatures, 15 cm of fresh powder, tree bending wind and snowflakes the size of super corn flakes we decided to hit the road (Lucky we did - the highway was closed later on in the day). Skiing was slow (picture nightmare classic wax day) but yet a again the Karhu's worked great and I skiied out with no problems. I also learned that Karhu Orions float when you are trying to take them off in three and a half feet of water and they slip out of your wet hands into the deep water of the river crossing that held your weight on the way in.

To sum up after a great feed of specs I am already checking the weather forcast for the next weekend it looks like some good crust might be forming.

Thanks for reading.