Have you ever and if not, why not?

[T-Billy]

No such thing as secluded waters in my neck of the woods, but if there were, that's where you'd find me. 

[river-rat]

 

I grew up fishing and hunting in the Atchafalaya Basin. When I was much younger my brother and I  used to drag a 14' johnboat to hidden lakes way back in the Basin but the days of dragging a boat a couple of miles or more to reach some of those old lakes are over.

 

 

[WRB]

Some of us have the pioneer spirit regardless where we live, it’s who we are.

Growing up in SoCal you would think it’s all dense populated cities but we have remote wilderness areas, nothing Alaska or Canada but if you are willing to make the effort it’s here.

I was fortunate that my mom wanted to live near her mother at Big Bear Lake during WW2 and my dad had a plane to commute with. We didn’t have power or water and had to get ice blocks for refrigeration and drinking water from grams well. What we had was open land to roam, no fences or private property back then. I grew up fishing and hunting with few restrictions, be home for dinner!

How you are raised has a lot to do with our pioneer spirit.

Today anyone could drive to Bishop CA, lunch a canoe, kayak or tin boat and float the Owen's River to Tinanaha reservoir about 75 miles and not see another sole.

Fishing for brown, Rainbow trout and Smallmouth bass. You see lots of mallards and geese plus deer and elk, no people.

You can get lost in the High Sierra’s.

I loved Ontario’s wilderness when my father in law his float plane he was truly a pioneer loved to explore new lakes, me I loved to fish them!

Tom

[Swamp Girl]

1 hour ago, T-Billy said:

No such thing as secluded waters in my neck of the woods, but if there were, that's where you'd find me. 

 

I believe this 100%. 

 

50 minutes ago, WRB said:

What we had was open land to roam, no fences or private property back then. I grew up fishing and hunting with few restrictions, be home for dinner!

 

Then what you had was paradise.

[CastingClinic]

I haven't fished anywhere as truly lonesome as you've described but if I wait for cloudy skies and cold winds then I've found myself more than once on reservoirs in the hundreds of acres that were all mine for the day.

 

My fishing buddy and I planned a trip to the Adirondacks back in May that was unfortunately cancelled due to storms and then life has gotten in the way and the trip has been on the back burner.  We were headed to a lake 45 min from the nearest town, 9 miles of dirt roads, two miles of portage, and two miles of paddling all to set camp on a tiny island island and fish the next two days.

 

Oh how I wish I could just pick up and go.

[Bankbeater]

Nothing like that around here, but when it rains I pretty much have the lake to myself.

[Swamp Girl]

Yay for rain!

 

[LrgmouthShad]

The best body of water I have fished is a place called Cranberry Pond in NY. It is a secluded pond that is only open for 1-2 days a week and features no boat launch. Kayaks are definitely the best deal there. It is full of lily pads when the water is warm. It is shaped like a bowl. To get to the pond, you need to drive on a winding gravel road. The woods are thick and gorgeous all around. In the fall it is stunning. I had some fantastic days on that pond. 

[softwateronly]

I really haven't except for one Canadian trip as a kid, and this thread is a light bulb moment for me to figure out a canoe trip.  Thanks @ol'crickety!!

 

scott

[Spankey]

9 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

You all know my style of fishing, which is to launch at some measly lake, too small for anyone to bother with a boat ramp, and with as little development as possible, and to fish, hopefully, without any other boat. When I was young, I drove down paved roads until they ended and then logging roads and then paddled and portaged to be away from even logging roads, which might see one vehicle every two weeks or even every two years. When that became too tough, I hired bush pilots to drop me onto lakes with no logging roads. Now I settle for the largely overlooked water near me. A little like Greta Garbo, "I want to be let alone."

 

For you youngins, here's the Great Garbo, who was stalked by paparazzi: 

 

 

 

So, my questions are these:

 

Have you ever fished a lonesome lake by yourself? If so, tell me a bit about it. No need to name it.

 

Did you like it?

 

If not, why not? The answer could be as simple as, "I can't launch my bass boat at such places." or "I missed fishing with my buddy/wife/son/daughter." or "I don't dance with dinky boats."

 

If you haven't fished a lonesome lake, do you wanna?

 

Lastly, if you have the desire, would it be some deep, never-to-be-developed swamp, some glittering northern lake, or something else?

 

 

You take a very lovely picture. 

[Scott F]

One of the best things about the northern part of our country are the thousands of lakes and miles of streams and rivers. Bass are a low priority up north and underfished. I’ve spent days on huge lakes in the middle of vacation lands without seeing another bass fisherman. I’ve also fished several lakes empty of other anglers that were easily accessible by car and a short walk. I’ve also spent many weeks on remote Canadian lakes and rivers accessible only by float plane chasing pike, walleye, trout and grayling. I’ve read here on these forums about the enormous amount of fishing pressure a lot of you are forced to deal with and it makes me feel better about the thousands of miles I’ve put on my truck to take advantage of the opportunities available “up north “. 

[fishhugger]

i live in california. no such thing as a lonesome lake..........  just wishful thinkin'..............  man, i wish it were different. but i'm older now, so it's definitely harder for me to get out to some lonesome lake, plus my new (to me) car ---- no spare tire!  wow........  many cars nowadays do not have spares, even mid sized ones.  crazy, i say.

here's marlena to go along with greta.....  

and she's in uniform......

[Swamp Girl]

2 hours ago, softwateronly said:

I really haven't except for one Canadian trip as a kid, and this thread is a light bulb moment for me to figure out a canoe trip.  Thanks @ol'crickety!!

 

scott

 

 

I'm happy to give you topographic maps of smallmouth lakes I LOVE in Ontario. I'm too old and they're too far for me to fish them again, but I'd love if you did. 

 

1 hour ago, fishhugger said:

i live in california. no such thing as a lonesome lake..........  just wishful thinkin'..............  man, i wish it were different. but i'm older now, so it's definitely harder for me to get out to some lonesome lake, plus my new (to me) car ---- no spare tire!  wow........  many cars nowadays do not have spares, even mid sized ones.  crazy, i say.

here's marlena to go along with greta.....  

and she's in uniform......

 

Since we're posting pics of black and white beauties, here's Hedy Lamarr, who was all that a bag of chips the size of the Superdome. Read her incredible story if you don't know it:

 

[ironbjorn]

My favorite fishing is wading small, knee high rivers out in the middle of absolutely nowhere. I don't like people.

[Swamp Girl]

2 minutes ago, ironbjorn said:

My favorite fishing is wading small, knee high rivers out in the middle of absolutely nowhere. I don't like people.

 

I love to wade fish too. It's my favorite way to fish. I had an evening fishing the north shore of Lake Michigan for smallmouth that, if I could, I would relive a thousand times. I had waded up to my shouder blades so that when the smallmouth jumped, they were higher than my head.

[Catt]

[Swamp Girl]

1 minute ago, Catt said:

 

^That's^ it. That's the place. 

[Backroad Angler]

I grew up in a military family, we moved around a lot, base to base. My dads last duty station was here in Texas, and a creek ran through the town we were at. I got a late start to fishing, about 17 years old when I picked it up. I learned to fish at that creek and it was in a middle of nowhere, made me fall in love with nature and fishing at the same time, peaceful and quiet.

[Catt]

7 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

^That's^ it. That's the place. 

 

Toro Creek is the flood control for Toledo Bend. Not many largemouth but its full of Kentucky Spots.

 

 

[fishhugger]

2 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

 

 

I'm happy to give you topographic maps of smallmouth lakes I LOVE in Ontario. I'm too old and they're too far for me to fish them again, but I'd love if you did. 

 

 

Since we're posting pics of black and white beauties, here's Hedy Lamarr, who was all that a bag of chips the size of the Superdome. Read her incredible story if you don't know it:

 

i actually don't no that much about hedy lamarr the actress...  but, yes, her backstory... she was a genius. i know she designed some sort of frequency hopping signal....  i forget exactly why, but think it had to do with world war 2?  but then i think the same theory is used in today's cell phones, when they're changing frequencies (or something) so they're more efficient....  

[GreenPig]

Oh yeah. From 16 to 22 years of age, I had access to 11 community ponds across 3 counties that I could only fish at night. I spent many hundreds of hours fishing those ponds in my 1232 jon with a paddle and never saw another soul in the scary darkness. 

[Swamp Girl]

6 hours ago, GreenPig said:

Oh yeah. From 16 to 22 years of age, I had access to 11 community ponds across 3 counties that I could only fish at night. I spent many hundreds of hours fishing those ponds in my 1232 jon with a paddle and never saw another soul in the scary darkness. 

 

The salad days...er, nights.

 

Thanks for the photos, @Catt!

 

@fishhugger: Bits from Wikipedia:

 

"Although Lamarr had no formal training and was primarily self-taught, she invested her spare time, including on set between takes, in designing and drafting inventions,^[40] which included an improved traffic stoplight and a tablet that would dissolve in water to create a flavored carbonated drink.^[30]

 

 

During the late 1930s, Lamarr attended arms deals with her then-husband, arms dealer Fritz Mandl, "possibly to improve his chances of making a sale".^[41] From the meetings, she learned that navies needed "a way to guide a torpedo as it raced through the water." Radio control had been proposed. However, an enemy might be able to jam such a torpedo's guidance system and set it off course.^[42]

When later discussing this with a new friend, composer and pianist George Antheil, her idea to prevent jamming by frequency hopping met Antheil's previous work in music. In that earlier work, Antheil attempted synchronizing note-hopping in the avant-garde piece written as a score for the film Ballet Mécanique (1923–24) that involved multiple synchronized player pianos. Antheil's idea in the piece was to synchronize the start time of identical player pianos with identical player piano rolls, so the pianos would be playing in time with one another. Together, they realized that radio frequencies could be changed similarly, using the same kind of mechanism, but miniaturized.^[4][41]"

 

It formed the basis for today’s WiFi, GPS, and Bluetooth communication systems.

 

 

[Pat Brown]

This is a great question and it really encapsulates my appreciation of the places that I fish seasonally and how they change. 

 

I would say that during the spring and Summer I share the bodies of water I fish with the greater Triad area and all of its visitors on a regular basis.  I find myself having to be cunning and plan my trips around and within the insanity in order to have any sort of success.  This requires me to be very adaptable and very precise about everything. 

 

During the fall and winter I experience a beautiful solitude on the bodies of water that I fish that rejuvenates me and fills me with a deep love for this sport and for nature every year. 

 

The winter is my absolute favorite time of year to fish.  I am alone on the water everyday with the fish.  It's just me vs. them every day - a lightning fast chess game - often times with very few pieces removed.  Every once in awhile you come up a winner and usually it's a BIG WIN when it's cold outside.

 

My favorite part about the winter though is watching everything become still. Not just the solitude away from people but watching nature become still. It reminds me how important it is to become still -  to let our minds become still, to let our bodies become still - not asleep - very much awake - just unmoving.  It's a part of life that we have a hard time embracing in this day and age that is natural and it is an important part of processing our existence 

 

The solitude of winter is a Good Teacher every year and I'm very grateful for that.

[12poundbass]

Back in my mid to late teens my good friend and I would go fish a small lake across the road from his grandparents house. It was owned by two land owners and rarely fished. We’d have to hike a quarter mile off the road then pull a row boat another couple hundred feet to the lake. We’d fish this lake 2-3 times a week. Having spent my younger years walleye fishing in northern Michigan, I really cut my teeth bass fishing that lake. I’d give anything to go fish that lake one or two more times. 
 

I now have a 175 tin boat and that’s by design. I can still get it into less popular lakes around here when I’m looking for solitude. One lake you have to back down a narrow two track a couple hundred feet to launch which there aren’t many people willing to do that with all the other lakes around with typical launches. The other lake I frequent is another two track is probably close to a mile long and requires four wheel drive when loading the boat. 
 

A Canada trip to a secluded lake is on my bucket list for sure.

[herder]