Scarborough Fly & Bait Casting Association
23 Willowhurst Crescent, Scarborough  Ontario M1R 3R7
Phone & Fax - 416/755-5663
E Mail -
coachman@pathcom.com
Web Site -
www.pathcom.com/~coachman

 

 

 

 

THE REEL THING,  June 1, 2007-05-30

Hi y’all……..Boy that was a heck of a long, but beautiful, spring up in these parts and did our gals and guys ever reap the rewards from the great fishing as a result of the steady weather and cold water. There were great reports from Rui Medeiros and Ivan Renton. Here are their results for your enjoyment.

           La Reserve Beauchene

May ‘ 07

Some friends and I wanted a fishing trip this season and I was asked to investigate some suitable locations. With-in 5 hours drive, good fishing, American plan lodge, good boats and services. Pete Bowman, Fish’n Canada crewmember, was asked to consult. You have probably watched their fishing programs. They know lots of good spots. 

Pete recommended 4 locations as being good fishing locations. One was Beauchene. At the same time a friend loaned me a copy of Outdoor Canada. There was an interesting article on the Despair Fly by Gord Deval. On the very next page was an article on La Reserve Beauchene. The author was raving about the fishing and listing the reasons for the good fishing. The management control the fishing and maintain the stock with trout from the reserve. Yes, brook trout. Large brook trout in large numbers. Bass are fully protected by enforcing catch and release.

Then I noticed other magazine articles on the reserve, how and where the reserve was formed, the management, the operation and finally website. My friends wanted walleye fishing and opted for another location. So I booked for 5 days in May. Reports from a reliable guide indicated black flies are absent until the 24 May. Well they beat me there by 3 days.

However the fishing was good and I caught 2 pound trout on woolly buggers, black and olive colours. They fought like tigers and earned their release. 5 weight 9-foot rod, floating fly line. More and bigger trout were available in 10 to 15 feet but I was getting what I wanted. Several cold days kept the mouche (black flies) away. Two separate fishing writers were there gathering information. This is an all wheels up location.

           Ivan

           Rui also sent along a written report of his fabulous opening day of trout fishing, but I somehow or another manages to lose or delete it, however I think I can remember basically what he said. He began his day, fishing for steelheads on Bronte’s Sixteen Mile Creek and caught more than twenty prime steelies, but soon got bored and headed for the upper reaches of the Credit River where he took a few small specks and a gorgeous four pound brown.

           Rick and Alex Matusiak, his son, headed for their annual opening-day secret spot up in the Blue Mountains and caught their usual number of fine 12” to 14” brookies, but before leaving for home, Alex left his dad on the bank to explore waters further up-stream. As his old man dozed awaiting his return, Alex was cautiously playing the trout of his life, a twenty-inch beautifull male speckled trout, decorated in glorious colours. You can see this fish in a picture on the club’s website. Rick almost fell head-first into the icy creek when his son with a grin a yard long showed up, gently towing the leviathon down-stream to show it off to his dad and get if photographed for posterity before being released.

Paul Kennedy and I, on our tenth consecutive opening day outing together, also had a great day, hooking fifteen or so giant steelies up to fourteen pounds in the upper Ganaraska River and managing to land about half of them with the others using the logs and cover to escape under and break off. Paul stated matter of factly that it was the greatest day of fishing (I think he meant catching) that he had ever experienced.

          Ray Cockburn and I followed that up a few days later on a different stretch of the Ganny and both took nice fish, I, a fifteen-inch brown and he, another lovely steelie pushing ten pounds. The Ganny continued to produce great trout when Paul and I, joined this time by Outdoor Canada editor, Pat Walsh, hit it again and caught a few browns and Pat, another big fresh-run silver steelie. George Monroe, hearing all these early reports of the fabulous May fishing up here drove up from Rochester, N.Y. and once again the Ganny provided us with a splendid day of fishin’.

           In the middle of the month we had a fine fishing and camping trip to Jurgen Brech’s formerly secret lake when he broke down and invited the club to partake in the pleasures of the location on the far north-easterly edges of Algonquin Park. Nine of us took him up on the offer and no one regretted it at all, despite the numbing cold temperatures of the weekend. Almost an inch of ice formed on all water surfaces in camp at night when the temperature dipped well below freezing.

           It made for interesting casting until the sun rose and warmed things slightly with fly lines and monofilament being hung up on the ice in the rod guides. There were a dozen or so nice brook trout caught with Tas and Paul catching the biggest, seventeen-inchers and Jurgen close behind, but Rui starred on this one catching a half a dozen nice specs. All in all, the trip has to rank as one of the best club trips we’ve had in the recent past. To round up the month, Sheila, Paul Kennedy, Jim Lloyd and I finally got around to having a go at our wonderful Limit Lake in Haliburton last Sunday.

           Unfortunately, it poured all day long,  thoroughly soaking our clothes, despite all wearing raingear, but not dampening our spirits. There were a number of little guys raised, but for the first time in quite awhile, the Old Guy, won the fishing bet for the biggest taking five bucks from everybody for a wonderful 22” rainbow. Half of this has already been devoured after grilling it on the b.b.q. Jim figured that in fish bets with me over the past couple of years he is still in the good more than a hundred bucks.

           Sheila and I took our 24’ house trailer down to Lexington Kentucky a couple of weeks ago for the Bluegrass Championships and as always in those parts had a wonderful trip staying in the campgrounds adjacent to the Kentucky Horse Park, the largest in the world. Sheila did better than her old man though, taking a couple of firsts in 3/8th and 5/8th bait accuracy while the best I could do was tie Zack Willson for 3rd in salmon fly distance. It was good to see Bill Burke and Dave Roberts do as well as they did, monopolizing the distance plug games, as they worked awfully hard to put on another fine tournament.

           Our club’s biggest event of the year, coming up next weekend is our 25th consecutive Scarborough Open Casting Championships at Milliken Park. We are expecting a record turnout for this one including folks from below the border, as far away as Chicago. I trust they’ll appreciate our beautiful Milliken Park as much as we do and I hope that we will be able to put on a show comparable to that which we experienced last week in Kentucky. In our tournament it is expected that Harvey Beck, Toronto, a perennial winner in our tourney and John (Zero) Seroczynski, Chicago, will again fight it out for the All Round Championship here in Scarborough.

           One of the most cherished trophies up for grabs will again be the Best Sport award, last year won by Maria Voltsinis for her tireless work on the club’s tourney in ’06. We are hoping that Maria, Paul K and George will be accompanying Sheila and me to one or both of the next two tournaments here in the east, the Ohio State and the Michigan State, both being held in Dundee, Michigan at the lovely Cabelas Lake set-up. This will be a fine workout for the National coming up afterwards in Cincinnati.

           Cheers for now, folks and, oh yes, I should tell you because most of you already know about my condition, I begin treatments for my cancer on June 14th.

Regards, 

Gord                                                                                                        

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