Just got back from our yearly family fishing trip to Mijocama outfitter to kick off the summer. A growing number of family members joined, we were up to 9 of us in my chalet, as well as another dozen friends in 2 other chalets. Pike and largemouth bass were to be our target species for the next few days.
Unfortunately for myself, I'm dealing with some sort of shoulder injury that prevents me from doing much casting, so I had to content myself on guiding everyone else, using a mix of trolling and controlled drifting. Here's what happened...
Day 1.
Zev and I got up bright and early to make the 3 hour drive up to Mijocama. Heavy rain over the past few days had the previous guests leaving our chalet early, which meant that we were able to check in earlier than planned. After driving up, unloading, and eating breakfast, I headed over to the main camp to get our boat. Lucky for me, I noticed a brand new motor on on of the boats, so I was spoiled enough to get one that started up within 1-2 cranks using my left arm.
Zev and I started off by trolling jerkbaits, and it didn't take too long for him to hook our our first pike of the trip.
He proceeded to land a few more, some of which we kept for future shore lunches during our stay at Mijocama.
By the time we got back to our chalet, everyone else was arriving. Next up on my boat, were Levi and Lindsey. As casting wasn't very productive, we trolled for pike as well. Both of them landed some nice pike, and Lindsey's first fish ended up being the biggest of the trip at just over 5 lbs.
After a late lunch, I ended up taking out Ezzy, who managed his first couple pike as well.
I ended up catching a pike on a topwater lure just before dark, didn't bother with a picture. That was it for day 1.
Day 2.
I had very little time to fish, as I was driving back to Montreal after lunch to attend my daughter's graduation later that evening. Got out solo bright and early, and with the calm mirrorlike surface, I opted to cast a PopR. Only took a few casts, and I got my first bass of the trip.
After a while, I decided to tie on a spinner and cast a weedbed on the other side of the lake. Sure enough, I landed back to back pike on a few casts.
Early morning success was nice, and before leaving I asked my boys to snap some pics of their catches while I was gone, as Eli and Avi were running their own boats. Eli, Audrey, Avi, and Ezzy, all had a pretty good rest of the day catching mainly pike, as well as some nice bass.
Seems like they did just fine without me there.
Day 3.
I made the drive in from Montreal bright an early, getting the water by 6:30 am. Landed another bass on the PopR, as well as some small pike. Kids slept in a bit, so I was solo until after breakfast. Being that his older brothers trash talk him about only being able to catch fish when I guide him, Zev asked me to teach him how to run the boat, and effectively toll for pike. I was more than happy to oblige, and Zev was the perfect student, adapting to my instructions rather quickly, for someone who'd never driven a boat before.
I showed Zev how to effectively troll sunken branches and weedlines visually, being that we were fishing in clear water without any electronics. I showed him how to avoid shoals off point based on water color changes, and how to orient himself using shoreline markers. Hoping he remembers most of it for next time...
I took a while for the pike to start biting, but when they finally did, Zev landed them one after the other.
Eventually, I also showed Zev how to drift fish large areas, using the wind and intermittent motor power to place us in casting position. He landed 2 pike back to back.
After heading to shore for a late lunch, I took Levi and Lindsey out again, and we landed a few more pike while trolling late afternoon/evening.
Most of our group was leaving for home mid morning, so they were busy packing and tidying the chalet. We were down to 3 of us fishing for the rest of the trip, and wasted no time getting out for the morning bite. Eli and Audrey tied on some a couple topwater lures, and sure enough, we got a few missed hits, followed by Eli landing a tiny pike. On his next cast using a One Knocker Zara Spook, Eli landed his first bass of the trip, a nice largemouth in the 3 lbs range. I was very glad to see this size bass landed, after most of the bass in Giles lakes seem to have died off a few years ago.
After the topwater bite died down and the wind picked up, I took them drift casting for pike on another part of the lake. Audrey tied on a #5 Mepps spinner, and she and Eli landed a few pike on our first few drifts.
Afternoon/evening bite was a bit tougher, but more pike were landed, mainly by Audrey.
The day ended off with Eli hooking a nice pike that ended up cutting off his One Knocker spook. He was pretty bummed by it, so I lent him one of my Zara spooks for the rest of the trip.
Day 5.
Our last day fishing Mijocama on our yearly family fishing trip. We headed out extra early to cast topwater lures again. Eli started off casting the frog patterned Zara spook I lent him. Our first spot paid off with a small pike.
For our next spot, I took them to another calm bay where I had spotted a couple bass in the shallows the previous day. Eli's first cast at the spot resulted in a smashing topwater explosion, and I knew that he had hooked into a nice fish. After a couple good runs, I netted the big largemouth bass that hit Eli's lure.
A respectable bass weighing just under 3 1/2 lbs, haven't seen one that size caught at Mijocama in over 5 years. As well, Eli got redemption for the lost pike & lure the previous evening, as this bass was likely just as big as the pike he lost.
I then pointed to a big boulder where I had seen the bass swimming on the previous day, Eli casted to it. Within seconds, he had another nice bass making summersaults at the end of his line. Landed it as well, another solid 3 pounder.
Landed another 7 pike on our last day, brining the total for the trip to a record 66 pike landed. They seem to be growing longer every year, but they a mostly a lot thinner as well. As opposed to the small perch and baby bass I normally find in their stomachs when cleaning them, these we mostly empty, except for a few that were stuffed with crayfish.
More impressive, is the comeback the largemouth bass have made after nearly being wiped out a few years ago. Hoping they will be able to grow even bigger, given the shift in predator/prey relationship over the past few years.
Weather was perfect, warm sunny days, not too hot, with cool nights that made for perfect sleeping conditions. with less biting insects than usual.
As always, I'd like to thank al the family members and friends that joined us for our yearly trip to Mijocama, as well as my friend Jocelyn (the owner) for providing us with a brand new motor boat, and upgraded appliances / full time power in our chalet. I highly recommend Mijocama outfitter as a perfect family fishing vacation spot only 3 hours from Montreal, you can view previous blog posts detailing many trips to Mijocama by clikcing:
https://freshwaterphil.com/mijocama-outfitter.cfm
I'll leave you with some more images shared by some of the aspiring photographers in our group. Already looking forward to my 25th Mijocama anniversary trip booked for next summer.
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