New Rapala lure - $7
19 hour, 1150 mile drive - $165
Cabin, boat, license, and tax - $1300
100+ Northern pike caught, with 38 fish over 30 inches - Priceless




Kim and I had our best trip ever on our northern adventures. Our hosts, Richard and Kaylene, at the Pine Cliff Lodge run a first class operation and provided the best facilities and most comfortable stay we have ever had. The cabin was comfortable and had all the modern conveniences that make a trip carefree; hot/cold running water, indoor toilet and shower, full size fridge, microwave, and drip coffee maker. We fished out of Lund 18ft Alaskan fishing boats with 40hp Johnson outboards. The boats were equipped with pedestal seating, livewell, downriggers, huge fish landing nets, and plenty of storage boxes.


Here are some the pictures from the camp, our fishing, the wildlife, and scenery around Sandy Beach Lake.

Our cabin and the view of camp and the lake from the screened porch of the cabin.

Each cabin in camp was secluded from each other with trees, which gave an intimate and private feeling.

The cabin was not very large, but was adequate enough for Kim and I.

This view shows the front of the cabin which faces the lake. You can also see the screened porch in this
shot as well. We really enjoyed sitting on the porch in the early morning and late evenings.

This shot shows the view from our dining table. One morning while we were eating breakfast, we had
the pleasure to see a bald eagle fly across the bay. We had more adventures with the bald eagles and
you will see more about them a bit further down.

This shot is from in front of our cabin looking down towards other parts of the camp. Richard works very
hard to keep things nice and cleared with nice lawns instead of the ugly bush undergrowth that is usually
everywhere. The small shack in the foreground is the fish cleaning shack.

This is a pike skeleton that Richard found washed up on the shore, it is hanging on the fish cleaning shack.

Just look at those teeth!

This is the view of the docks shot from the steps of our porch one morning. We had just a couple of hundred
feet to walk whenever we wanted to get in the boat and go fishing. Sweet!!!

This is the lake view from our porch. The trees in the center to left side of the photo are several islands
that are in the northern part of the lake. Directly south of these islands is the main lake which runs for
about seven miles, with a few more islands here and there.


The following several photos are taken from our porch in the late evening as the sun was going down
and the moon was rising. A few nights we were fortunate and had clear skies that provided the awesome
scenes below.



Check out that moonlight reflection on the lake!




Needless to say, this was very special for us and we got to spend three evenings
with clear skies just sitting on the porch getting mesmerized by this view. Also
I had a lot of fun shooting these long exposure photos on our little point and shoot
digital camera.


While we are on views of the sky, we might check out some of the other magnificent
views the sky provided for us. Most of the week we had gray and overcast days,
but the clouds provided some awesome scenery.






Ah, wonderful contemplations after a fantastic day of fishing.



We will now go from scenery to wildlife. We saw countless loons on the lake and were also very
fortunate to see bald eagles almost every day. On the last day of our trip, we had one bald eagle that
I think was more interested in watching us, than we were of him. This eagle followed us around the lake
and every time we stopped the boat, he would land in the top of a tree and just watch what we were
doing. Unfortunately, our little digital camera does not have a powerful zoom lens, but we were able to get
some decent shots nonetheless.














On other days we also got some shots of eagles flying off as we came around points and into some bays.



We were very awe inspired by the eagles and Kim and I have never experienced anything like the eagle
that followed us the last day of our trip. It is the most amazing wildlife experience that we have ever had
and was most likely the best part of our trip. And that is saying a lot, because the moonlight refection in
the lake and fishing was outstanding as well.



Speaking of the fishing, we might as well get into some of the many fish pictures. On most trips, we
consider doing well if we catch fish every day. However on this trip, with the exception of one evening,
we caught fish every hour that we were on the water fishing. And some hours, we had a twenty minute
boat ride from the north end of the lake down to Jackfish Bay.

While we did catch a few hammer handles and little snot rockets, the majority of our fish were between
twenty-four and thirty inches with thirty-eight fish over thirty inches. Of course with fishing this well, we
each had our favorite lures and the following pics show Kim's favorite lure, a Rapala Rattle Trap, and
how it appeared before she started fishing it and after a countless number of pike caught on it .

This is a lure that was similar to how her's appeared before she started fishing.


This is the lure after many, many pike caught:


Not only did the pike remove almost all of the painted on pattern, they also started removing the red
powder coat from the treble hooks. Needless to say, this lure is now retired into our ever expanding
Canadian lure hall of fame.

Kim also has the distinct honor of catching the smallest dink fish. Notice in the picture below, what lure
this fish is caught on and for reference she is also holding up another larger lure that we fished with during
the week.


Here are some pics of various fish that Kim caught and released.



Kim's first fish...

...and the release.












Richard and Kaylene also have done a great thing for shore lunch, they dedicated one of the small islands
for shore lunch. They placed a couple of picnic tables, built a fire pit, provide skillets, paper plates, utensils,
cooking oil, and garbage cans on the island. As Richard says, if you start a forest fire on the island, then
you will only burn down a very small portion of Ontario.

This island made shore lunches even more enjoyable than years past because of the ease and comfortably
of cooking and eating. Here are some pics of the shore lunch island, our cooking, and the views from the island.






Of course shore lunch just wouldn't be right with out the post eating nap!


Here are some of the lake views from shore lunch island.



Here are some cool rocks that were on the east side of the island.

Over the course of many, many years the rocks have been eroded away by the waves and they now
almost look like waves themselves.

Now that shore lunch is over, lets get back to the fishing. The following is a sequence of photos of a nice
fat Sandy Beach Lake northern pike being caught.




She almost jumped on command for us, nice photo!!




Sometimes they just do not cooperate and want to flop all over the place.



Now time for the release.



It is so cool to hold them like this and then with a flick of the tail, they splash water in your face and take off
to be caught again another day.


As this photo shows, most of our fish were caught in some relation to weedy cover.


Did someone order salad with this fish?

The following is an assortment of many other fish Roger caught.

















Neither Kim or I beat our personal best fish this trip, but our biggest fish was a very respectable 41 1/2 incher.




And she swam away to get bigger for us next year.