Massassauga Provincial Park

We just got back from a few days of some back country, interior canoe camping in beautiful Massassauga Provincial Park southwest of Parry Sound. The area where we were is similar in topography to Algonquin and not quite the classic windswept Georgian Bay landscape so well known to many. Although, every now and then you get a taste of it as the photo below shows.
The weather held out and not a drop of rain fell.
The bugs were long gone.
Bass were caught.
Good food was eaten.
There was much swimming and canoeing.
Life couldn’t get better.

The portage point provided quite a contrast to how people travel into the back country.
Here is how one group travelled:

And here is how another group we met travelled!

To each his or her own, eh!
As we left, the weekenders arrived and there was quite the usual jam at the portage point. But everybody knew that the campsites were well spaced out and that within minutes, solitude would be their main companion, except for those whose campsites were on the narrow channels.

Bass Opener – Last Saturday of June

No photos today. Forgot the camera.

Bass opener on Saturday was spent on the lower Grand River with my spin fishing buddy L.

Smallmouth fishing is always a blast. Several big leaping smallies fought hard.

The surface flies didn’t work today but the olive cone head streamer was deadly as usual.

We both remarked on the clarity of the water that was crystal clear, the clearest it’s been for years.

It meant that we spent some fun times sight fishing, stalking the smallies in the shallow water trout style. The satisfaction of visually executing the hook set on the “soft take” is a thrill.

Sight fishing truly drives home the point how about how many fish we miss.

The clear water also allowed us to read the river bed for future trips we know will be dark and murky!

As usual, the canoeists were out in full force.

I hope to return with mine some day soon.