Most folks don't know the true pleasure of fishing.  It's not just catching the fish, it's the enjoyment of all that surrounds that endeavor.  The elements of nature including weather, birds, botany and wildlife all play a significant role in taking in an entirely fulfilling experience. Of course, if you can add an element of companionship with someone that enjoys this activity, well as George says, "It just don't get any better than this".

Fishing a river offered new challenges as our previous experiences in Canada had been on lakes.  The Montreal River is deep, being 40-65' in most places.  We did discover a few flats that came up to about 10-12' on some of the bends.  But most of our time was spent exploring several lakes that could be entered along the River.  One of the nicest in appearance was Spring Lake, which was reached by navigating up Spring Lake Creek. (see below)

Spring Lake abounded with great looking weed beds.  In fact we have never seen such an abundance of Wild Rice and Cabbage Weed.  Alas, we later learned that it seems many of it's fish escape the lake in the Summer and go into the river.  We caught some small Pike, but it was worth it just to see such a lovely lake.  And it was only about a 15 minutes boat ride from camp.  We had a 15 HP Yamaha, which was nicely tuned and performed outstandingly well, both as a troller and on full speed (21-23 MPH according to our GPS).

Unfortunately, we experienced some very unusual high winds (70-80 KPH) for about a 48 hour period, which kept us in camp and off the river.  Thus we lost those 2 days exploring some of the many fishing opportunities that were available to us.  It was during the last 2 days that we made our way down to Indian Bay Lake, a few more minutes past Spring Lake,  and we really got into the Pike.  While there are SM Bass, Walleye, Sturgeon and Rainbow Trout available to anglers at Twin Bears, we decided to concentrate on the Pike.  Rick had informed us that the Montreal River has been rated #6 best for Pike in Ontario.  Once we "broke the code" on where they hung out, we caught many.  The last day we spent about 3 hours fishing and caught and released 18, including the 2 below.  While the biggest was only 31", we know many bigger are around.  The 31" fish I caught had some nasty bite marks on his side where a much larger Pike attempted to make him lunch.   Since we were novices to the area, we look to increase our experience next year and tie into some of those bigger beasts.  A portable fish finder is a must, as we found fish at break lines 10-12' deep in front of weed beds.  While we brought our own, Rick does have a couple of boats that come with a fish finder.   We found various spoons and spinners worked well, including Daredevils (Fire Tiger), Williams Warblers (Silver/Gold Hammered) and even Mepps Spinners #5. 

The camp was well kept and our cabin was very nice, with spacious and well furnished kitchen.  They provided many extras including radios and microwave.  Electric heat was provided for in bedrooms and they even had a wood stove in kitchen for additional comfort.  It should be noted very little heat was required during our stay as it was unusually warm.  In fact most of our heavier clothing remained in suitcase.

Upon leaving we came to realize, this was where we wanted to come back to next year.  While many times in the past I enjoyed walking portage trails, this offered Dottie the comfort of NOT walking them.  We simply walked out of cabin, down a few steps and got into boat.  Minutes later, after a very scenic boat ride while disturbing a few beavers, we were fishing some excellent Pike waters. (It should be noted there are opportunities to do some portage trails now and Rick promises more as he develops them further.)  If weather was unkind, we had opportunity to drive into Elk Lake (12 miles) for a spot of breakfast or we could have chosen to run back into New Liskeard (29 miles) for more shopping opportunities if needed.  Twin Bears is for the avid angler and also  for the folks that don't want to spend 12 hours a day fishing.  It's truly relaxing.  We enjoyed the companionship of Max and his 2 canine cohorts (true owners of the camp) while sitting and enjoying the scenic river in the evenings.  Also popular with us were the bold and thieving Whiskey Jacks, who arrived to "steal" some doggy treats we laid before us on the table.

We can't say enough about how accommodating Rick and Janet were to make us feel right at home.  They are some very nice folks to know and truly run a professional and quality camp.  Rick spent a lot of time prior to buying the camp, working with outboard motors and is thoroughly knowledgeable about all aspects of of their upkeep.  The camp is nicely kept and very attractive.  Cabins are also great in all aspects.  We very much look forward to returning in 2008 and many years there after.  And next year we'll probably try some of the other lakes for the SM Bass and maybe some Walleye.

Should you want to go Canada and have a really great experience, go to Twin Bears Resort  and check out their excellent web site.  We'd be happy to have you call us for any additional information we might be able to share about our fine experience. (614-882-9464)   

Fishing is not only about going to Canada, which we try to do annually.   It's about catching and releasing really nice fighting Channel Catfish here at home.   Primarily we take the old Pontoon boat out early in the morning or late evenings for a chance to give exercise to these beauties that dwell in Hoover Reservoir in Columbus, OH. 

This year was a good year for us on Hoover, as lake levels kept rather constant without the large draw-down. Here's  examples of Fish Ohio Cats that was caught, kissed and released during the 2006 season.  To learn more of the techniques we use, see the link below for "Reservoir Fishing For Channel Catfish ".                                                 

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