a canadian dream

[baitmaster]

now i know this is a long time after actually going over to canada but i just have never ever had the chance to share the experience of the trip with any one really so i hope you enjoy it and even some might feel that they would like to go so it might even end up being useful. also i will apologise for the lack of fish photos this was because of an accident where my hard drive had been erased by my son by accident and this is also why i would like to share it as i know there is a record some where of the trip.
back in 2002 i was sitting at home when the phone rang and it was my brother who lived over in canada we have not spoken for a while so the conversation was a long one anyway the subject got round to when was i going over and being just after christmas i said you know what i,ll come over in august if i could bring my best mate and my fishing gear so we could tackle some of the st lawrences fantastic carp and may be do one of my ambitions and catch a river thirty.so after the phone call .
i spoke to my mate the next evening who always has two week in august due to his firm shutting down .so now its all set plane tickets ordered and dollars sorted out for spending
soon we were flying over the atlantic ocean on a epic 7 hour flight which surprisingly went quick.
when we arrived in montreal we were met by my brother and after introducing my mate we headed of to where we were going to stay .
with my brother working and staying in ottawa which would have meant a 60mile drive to the st lawrence my brother kim decided to get us lodging at paul hunts motel who is one of the canadian fishing guides inccidently we were the only ones staying there and there was its own lake at the back with some big carp in it but they were not easy to catch we had been told but we could have a go as web were staying there
here is the lake out the back

soon we had settle in an i have to say we were left no doubt by the vastness of every thing over here it just huge even the frogs were big heres a big bull frog shame theres nothing to compare it to except it was as big as a guinea pig
http://www.seafishingonline.com/copp...nada%20024.jpg
first two days was spent just doing a bit of site seeing and just generally catching up and just going to our fishing spots and baiting with buckets after buckets of particles .also what was very noticeable was the cicarda,s and how much noise they made .
http://www.seafishingonline.com/copp...nada%20027.jpg
we brought over the basics and over here you can only fish one rod a licence over here costs $35 which is about £20 .
with there being a heat wave and tempetures of 35 on a daily bases and the humidex was about 44 in other words hot so we kept our session to either early morning or evening when it was at it coolest .
the tactic were very simple and we fished either maize or small boilies pineapple flavour we used a technique which they called pack baiting which is fished similar to our method , what you did you mixed up cous cous we flavoured ours with scopex flavour this was then packed over the bait and hook then cast out over the particles .
this was fished in front of an 2 1/2 oz inline lead with about a metre of amoured tubing this was because of the zebra mussels and would cut you off in an instant .
my first comment to my brother while standing on the banks of the mighty st lawrence how am i meant to find carp in a place this size and he answered don,t worry you will catch no problem .

thats not the far bank you can see its islands in the middle of the river some of these island have houses on them

http://www.seafishingonline.com/copp...nada%20020.jpg
the first session was slow and a couple of fish were landed by us and to have a canadian carp was enough especially from ther river .we also would drop rods into thge lake behind the motel while we were there in the hope of a couple on the beast that our rumoured to be in there .
any way the rest of the first week not much fish was done cause of the condition and what was done was hard going but the baiting was maintain on a daily bases for when we got a break in the weather .
i have one regret while being out there that i did not visit niagra falls which would have meant a journey of about 250 mile and a stop over but for some reason we did not do this and i now regret .
well the weather broke the sunday and we felt there would be some chances coming our way during the week again the first day or too was slow witha few doubles being bank this is unfortunately the only pic of my brother with a carp on our trip but he caught much bigger than this

with the carp being virtually never caught more than once due to the size of the place you can imagine how much of a battle every fight was and we struggled and lost a few good fish .
we decided to experience and over nighter canadian style which was like being back at the scout sitting around a camp fire only thing missing was the roasting of marsh mellows

the next day started of a bit slow but my mate latched into a good fish of about 25lb and gave a geat fight and we honestly thought it was not ever going to be landed they do fight hard very hard and when it was in what a stunner it was

this seemed to signal; the begining of our fishing proper as the rods was kept busy over the next to hours while the carp moved in and we are not talking of a couple when they move in its in the hundreds .
a few more good fish were landed with my brother finishing with a very good 28lb fish (sorry no pic )
the following morning we were out early and it was going to be my day with a string of good fish coming my way although my mate paul was having couple of twenties and so was my brother .
soon i was in again this fish was off up the st lawrence and i was having big trouble turning it my brother kim came over to give me guidance with this fish as i suspected he new i had hooked into some thing good and coach me from my side right up to the point when it went into the net .
he cried out YESSSS! well done bruv
we soon had the beast unhooked and weighed and lucker we had a disposible camera as the batteries died on the digi and at a weight of 32lb exactly i was over the moon as this was a drean to catch a st lawrence thirty

this was soon returned and a few more fish came our way and we finished for that day .i decided to take my brother and my mate out and my brother had just the place for us to go it was a place called hooters which was a very good resturant /bar and the hooters girls are gorgeous and have appeared in bond films and you,ll see why from the pic why we enjoyed it and did not want ot leave and i was getting in the spirit of the evening too and enjoying the girls company .

the next morning i was up really early still with those gorgeous girls on my mind (I think i,m in love LOL ) i made a coffee and picked up the stalking rod baited it with maize and walked to the lake behind i leant the rod against the rock while i just gazed across the lake drinking my coffee .
out of thge corner of my eye i spotted a bit of movement just below the surface under my feet i slowly looked down and sure enough it was a carp right tight to the edge and i could just make gihs profile out under the surface i knew it looked big and i gently reached for the rod and gently lowered the bait on his nose the carp seem to sink away and i thought danm missed a golden oppunity when mine line just tighten up and the now hooked carp was off i struggle with the fish for a couple of minutes and called for help as the window of our motel was just behind us soon my mate and brother stood next to me with a net .again my brother coach me from my side during playing it and he gather it in the net like a true gilly should .
the fish was quickly unhooked and then was weighed it was a very good fish and i was over the moon as ythe needle past the 35lb mark and stopped at 35lb 10 oz and then we took some good trophy shot of this fantastic common.

this was great not only have i had a holiday of a life time i,ve caught a river thirty and a lake thirty from canada , been over and saw my brother who i have not seen since he moved there six years ago and also taking and being able to share the experience with my best mate too .we ended up with 50 odd carp with to thirties and a few very good upper twenties and some good doubles too
regretably i wish i had a few more of the great pics we took of the place and of the other fish but at least i,ve be able to share what i did have with yourselfs and i think it only fitting to finish with us standing on the st lawrence the day we left .
i am going to get back to not only catch some more fish but to go to niagra


i hope you enjoyed it

tightlines
kevin

[Norfolkboy]

Looks like you had a fantastic time there, some cracking carp you had too (they're almost as good looking as the ladies )

Great write up and pics as usual!

[Fishing Forum Admin]

Well now thats what I call a holiday

great read mate

[pingu]

nice one kev
trip to remember there fishing and family great

[Charter Skipper]

Sounds like a holiday made in heaven to me...

[Omahayank]

A top vacation in my book!!

[biggun]

Another great read there Kev, ever thought of writing a book about your exploits?
Looked like you had a fantastic holiday and some good fishing

Good to see you couldn't keep your hands to yourself in Hooters!

[BaggieRich]

Good read there Kev. Shame about the loss of the pic's but hey, you'll never lose the feeling of landing those two thirtys.

Cheers,

Rich.

[Old Smoothound]

Top man....great eport and pictures.

Doubt if i'd have bothered to come back.
I would have needed to stick around and enjoy a bit more fishing and the waitresses

[fishypaul]

great read kev

hey ! what about the forum old farts trip to canada 2008,now that would be good