Sessi Made Me a Fisherman
Submitted by: Dave Leanio Jr.
This “letter” is meant to serve two purposes. First, as a note of
thanks to all the Johnson Adventurers for having me along as the first Wild Card
to make the trip. Second as a chronicle, of sorts, for future Wild Cards that
may be about to embark on the same trip. Hopefully they too will have similar
experiences and just as much fun as I.
Day One (Sunday): As we fly in above Lake Sessi I can’t help but look around me at the faces of the men with me on the plane. The goofy boyish grins of anticipation with the promise of a week-long slumber party in the Great White North. I wonder what all the hoopla is about. Doesn’t look like much around but a lot of trees and water. We get the gear off the plane and unload the rest of the provisions and as the plane takes off I get a strange sensation of being very alone all of a sudden.
The fishing starts in earnest after lunch and it seems like we’re off
to the races. My first partner is Bob and he’s fishing like a man possessed.
Cast after cast I try to keep up but almost immediately there are equipment
problems. It seems I am in need of some more practice with the brand new gear I
brought. Not to mention the fact that I have not been fishing since I was but a
wee young lad. However, after all equipment issues are put to rest, I manage to
haul in 3 fish during the course of the evening. “Not too bad for a
beginner” I thought to myself.
Day Two (Monday): We wake bright and early at about 6 am, eat breakfast, and then we’re off again. This time I am paired with my Dad, Dave Sr., for the day. This felt like a good day. After all, I went on the trip in part to be with Dad and have an adventure. The day started out pretty great. We tooled around the lake and explored the various inlets and coves. Neither of us caught much. In fact I only managed to catch 1 fish and that was off the dock right next to the boat. I believe that about half the group at one time or another caught the same fish. We did however get to see a Mother Caribou and her Calf crossing the lake about midday. I snapped about nine pictures but none of them were very good since we were too far from them. By the evening session I had just about had enough fishing and was pretty frustrated. While others seemed to be having a great day, with stories of large fish or simply large numbers of fish, I was sitting at a grand total of 1 for the day. And that 1 was the “whore of the dock” throwing itself on any spoon that happened it’s way. All was forgotten as I drank a couple beers to wash the day away.
I think it was at about 11:30 that night that all the excitement became
self-evident. It seems that the Northern Lights had decided to put on a show
that kept those of us that were awake still transfixed in amazement. I remember
looking up and finally feeling like the vacation had started at that moment for
me. It was as if all the worries of the work-a-day world were light years away.
I could have stared at the sky all night if it weren’t for the awful stinging
pain that was developing in my neck.
Day Three (Tuesday): A beautiful day by all
accounts. Rich and I headed out to J and J Lake in pursuit of large numbers of
fish. I was hopeful that this would be a turning point for me since James and
Jeromy had reported such a successful run the day before in that part of the
lake. Rich and I pulled into the first cove we found and started fishing the
reeds. I brought in 3 fish and Rich brought in 2. “Pretty good start” I
thought. Already I was up to the first days total and the day was still so
young. We worked our way around J and J and as I tossed a random cast out off a
point I hooked one. He was a good size I thought as I reeled him in. The nearer
he got to the boat the more excited I got. He was better than “good”, he was
a nice 31 incher. I felt really good at this point and could have stayed on J
and J all day. But Rich had other ideas.
Since Rich was driving I went wherever he was willing to drive to. We ended up in a large inlet on the northwest corner of the lake that was virtually unfished by any of our group. I was the first to catch something. It seems I had hooked myself another 31 incher. About 2 casts later Rich caught himself a giant Guppy, or what most people would call a very small Pike. I think the fact that I was ahead of him in the overall size of the fish that I brought in, may have bothered him a little. Nevertheless, I all of a sudden hit a cold spell and didn’t catch anymore there in that inlet. While Rich proceeded to catch 9 more fish of varying size and shape. So I decided that we should both get naming rights to this portion of the lake. Thus the aptly named “Ten Pike Lake”.
I spent the second half of the day
with Les. I have to say that fishing with Les is a whole lot different than
fishing with everybody else. Les is a very patient man and he kind of forced me
to slow down and take in the scenery a bit more than I had thus far. The rain
cut our afternoon short and we headed in for the evening.
Day Six (Friday): I have to admit to feeling a bit apprehensive about fishing with Jeromy. He is by far a better fisherman than me and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to keep up. However, as the morning progressed I found myself ahead of him 3 to 0. A gap that he managed to close fairly quickly as the morning went on. Soon he was ahead of me 5 to 4 as it should be.
The last part of the trip I spent with Darren up in Lake Erie Tew. Also fishing up there was James and My Dad. It wasn’t long before I caught my first fish. Although I have to confess that I didn’t know I had a fish until it was practically in the boat with me. I hit what I thought was a snag in the reeds but ended up being a 32-inch Pike. I don’t know who was more excited about that fish, Darren or me. As we were winding down our tour of Lake Erie Tew, it occurred to me that I had a total of 9 fish for the day so far. I decided to make it my personal goal to catch 10 for the first time on the trip. Darren was a great sport and piloted the boat while I feverishly fished the reed bed at the north end of the lake. Suddenly I got a bite and just as suddenly lost the fish. So I cast into the same spot the fish last hit and got a bite again. Which then was promptly spit. Time after time I hooked the same fish and time after time he spit the bait. Finally I gave up and we drifted away from the spot. We worked our way down the shoreline with no real success and since it was getting late I was almost resigned to call it a night and head back. Darren then suggested that we hit the reed bed one more time before we left. I agreed and we headed back to the reeds. Realizing that we were in basically the same position as we were earlier when I had given up on the last fish, I made it a point to fish there until I found him again. This fish was NOT going to get the better of me. So I fished. Standing there in the bow of the boat, casting almost 360 degrees around us, I searched for him. WAM! He grabbed the lure and spit it yet again. “This is ridiculous” I thought to myself. At least 2 more times the fish grabbed the lure and spit it. Was he toying with me? Could he be that smart? Finally I got him on the lure one last time and set the hook. He wasn’t getting away this time. He put up a pretty good fight and I thought, “This must be a hell of a fish”. But alas, the closer he got to the boat the smaller he became. All that work for what amounted to less than 20 inches of fish. But he was the most satisfying 20-inch fish I had caught all trip.