FLY  TO  FISH

Originally published in our FALL 2000 edition

Eleven trip veteran Dick Ciccoella (far left, standing) half apologized as he and his brother Bob stepped off the float plane from Lac La Croix. Bob echoed the sentiment with "John-boy, you did good!" (Sometimes retired Army Colonels can get away with referring to their outfitter of equal age as “boy”.) The two brothers, along with some of their career-military pals make an annual May fishing trip. They’ve been to spots on the BWCA side, and have ping-ponged back and forth between Sarah and Carp Lake over multiple Quetico Park trips. We’d been telling them they might like to try a fly-in … fishing was as good as it gets, and fewer people. They just wouldn’t let go of the sure-fire fishing they had experienced over the years. They are very partial towards spring lake trout and smallmouth bass fishing, and we had done the best we could for them as far as recommending lakes that had both.

We think it was a move as much to shut us up as it was out of curiosity, but they finally said "OK" We booked their permits as soon as they became available through the Park, and they were set.

Whenever we send repeat customers into a new area, we always keep our fingers crossed. Will they like it more than their other trips? Will the fishing hold out? Will they think it was a more difficult route? We feel this way about all of our customers, but it just carries more weight when we have talked someone out of their original idea. We had no reason to worry. The fishing was the best they’ve had; they even found a few walleyes.

This was much the same story we heard from every party that did a fly-in with us this year Oh, sure, there were a few trips that unfortunately caught a front passing through and had the fishing go flat. We had two first timers … nice guys, but they couldn’t seem to figure out the map … did so much extra unnecessary paddling they had little time for fishing. But all-in-all, McAree, Minn, Darky, Argo, Brent, and Conmee were outstanding places to fish this past summer.

Then there was the Woody Moss party. They wanted to maximize their fishing time, but also wanted to get into the best bass and walleye that we have. We could put them into some great bass lakes on the second day. We talked about the Maligne River where they could fish Tanner Lake, Tanner Rapids, and Twin Falls … all very good walleye spots. But that required traveling most every day of their trip. Scratch the walleyes!

They flew into Beaverhouse lake about 20 miles north of Lac La Croix. We told them about two lakes that would be especially good: Bent Pine and Rouge. It sounded great to them. They would paddle-in for two days, fish hard, and return to Beaverhouse for their flight out.

Like the Ciccoellas, they were totally amazed with the fishing. One of them lost a smallmouth that he swore was 8 pounds. (Hmmmmm???) When I told him the Minnesota record was 8 pounds, he mumbled "Yeah . . . I know!"

Want to take a shot at a big fish in 2003 ... try flying-in!