3 Days Solo Camping and Fishing in Thriving Ecosystem

[Music] the banks glow green with an explosion of ferns and grasses the gasbo crowd the rivers and the Eagles stand by for an easy meal the forest is a symphony of song birds and spring peepers while the brook trout loom in the strongest currents but black flies and low water levels ward off the Curious traveler looking to witness this incredible spark of life that marks the transition from Spring to [Music] Summer over the next 3 days I'm when TR best to camp and fish down a remot stretcher River here in Eastern Canada to really experience this magical Time of the Year this is so cool there's not only gaspo there's sucker there has to be hundreds as far as I know you can't catch gasbo when they're spawning they're just not interested but let me give it a go I don't think there's enough real estate but there maybe there's a brook trout or two in there the target fish on this trip is the brook tro this time of year they should be really tight into the Rapids actively going for bugs making the fly rod the ideal choice there's a brook tro [Music] all right I accidentally snagged the gas bro this is what they look like they look like little Tarpon like big goldfish these are not good eating I'm not going to eat this guy I'm going to put him back so he can spawn pretty cool look at that mouth you know what it requires a lot of effort to swim up these rivers and through these Rapids to spawn and because of that these fish have evolved to be very powerful swimmers you could see that they're shaped like a streamlined torpedo with a crescent-shaped tail which is a similar build to one of the fastest fish in the world the tuna that guy might be Eagle food they don't respond well to getting hooked in the head oh finally a little brook trout for dinner let's go two little guys for dinner perfect this is what I wanted just getting where I'm standing was an adventure on its own this morning I dropped my car off the takeout biked a couple hours the put in and then paddled another couple hours on the big lake to get to the headwaters of this river system it's getting late in the year as you can see the black flies are already out and there's not a lot of water so this might be the last brook trout fishing trip of the year so I'm really going to take it all in this is an awesome spot there's grass there's Turf here at the front this big tree fell and now it just works as a canopy it's like a little sheltered spot now it's qu to 7 and the fire regulations here today I'm allowed to have a fire after 7:00 but yeah this is home what a beautiful spot and the gasb oh my goodness gracious so just because there's not a fire band on it doesn't mean you can't burn down the forest because it's still super crispy out it's it would be super easy to have an accident and light this place up so I'm going to be extra cautious I have water nearby and make a very safe controlled fire for tonight I'm actually going to move that farther away for for mashed potatoes Brook TR gravy super simple came together real quick let's go okay that's a winner I didn't put any spice or anything on the brook troat but the salt coming through the gravy and then the mashed potatoes I think it's like a herb and garlic or butter that was an awesome meal super easy three ingredients one of them being fresh cot Brook troat the brook troat were cooked really well I was able to just peel off them meat simple easy tasty and super filling well I don't have to tell you guys you know I go to bed early is probably getting to 9:00 pretty soon I'll probably go to bed with the sun I haven't even touched this River yet I just got to the headwaters and if it's this wild it's going to be an awesome couple days seems like the brook Trad are going to be biting the peepers are out there's a lot of Wildlife and it just uh I'm super excited we'll see you guys tomorrow bright and early w [Music] [Music] m I got up with the sun this morning at about 5:30 and the forest is absolutely alive I have an app on my phone a bird app called Merlin and I ided eight different song birds it's the best soundtrack every once in a while an eagle flies by two really low I think I'm in this Turf this is really good gas proo hunting grounds I'm going to get on the water soon spend an entire day on the river I'm pumped it's going to be an awesome day I get the question a lot from you guys how do I keep my feet dry especially in those colder months well I'm wearing cocat dry pants these have feet built into them but to stop abrasion between the foot and my shoe I add a neoprene sock on the outside for the abrasion you can use a wool sock you could use anything that uh that might work for abrasion resistance then for Footwear I use my old hiking shoes that are about a size larger than what I would typically wear so I'm able to fit in all those extra layers I might get a little hot in these today so who knows maybe I'll take them off but in early season trips these are crucial I was walking the bank of this little riffle and a little bird started acting injured and that usually means it's a mom and it has egg around I looked around and I found its nest that was on the ground this time of year a lot of the birds are laying their eggs so I quickly got out of the situation and hopefully the mom's not too stressed out so you had to be extra cautious not to step on any eggs or disturb any moms [Applause] I'm under the impression that the trout are going to be in the strongest moving water possible for them the water's really warm and yesterday those trout were so tight in that current I think we need that to catch them come on look at that buddy I'm going to put this guy back cuz it's not dinner time yet but it's starting to get a little more water in the river and the first drop off he hit it pretty pretty quick so I think there's more out there oh this one's bigger let's go look at that fish that's a beautiful Brook troat I'm going to let this guy go but that's a beautiful fish that would be a beautiful fish for dinner I'm counting eight Eagles up above me right now two four six eight it's incredible I just tried to sneak up on an eagle but they're so quick I'm always just a tad too late to get a shot of them every time I come around the corner they're there and they just take off notice there's a lot of these pine trees that their entire root system has come up and pine trees are soft woods and softwoods typically have a really shallow root system cuz they're better at surviving in crappier soil conditions so for example in Nova Scotia we have a lot of bedrock and not a deep soil profile so in a lot of these areas you only see soft woods but when a big storm comes through it can pick up and pull these trees down with their roots awesome for oh biggest fish of the Year biggest fish of the year right [Applause] here oh I'm going to put this guy back that's a beauty oh that was a fat one hopefully I was holding it all right man I need to get a net it just makes it so much easier I was skipping the bugger on the surface and he came up and I set the hook and I lost him put it back came back up hit it again fat boy let's [Music] go after that excitement it's time for some lunch smoke me [Applause] sandwiches hate to disturb all these gas bro working so hard so far I've just been dragging the boat I don't know how much I've actually paddled I knew it was going to be shallow it's going to take a couple years off my boat right behind me there's a deep pocket of moving water and I would bet my money there's going to be a fish there let's see not the size I meant let me try again okay beautiful full fish let's go he wants to squirm I'm not going to let him squirm nice fish that is another beautiful one this is definitely the Crux for the gasbo [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] woohooo oh the water's picking up just made it to Camp looks like it's a bit of a spot that gets flooded but there's an old fire pit here and don't have to worry about flooding for this trip about an hour ago it started to rain started to drizzle a bit the forecast called for sun all week it's also a little colder it's a bit of a pressure change the bite has died as well so I'm hoping I can get one for dinner but I don't know off I didn't bring a tarp with me didn't think it was going to rain but I'm underneath this pine tree and it's pretty dry it's either this or the tents the gaspro stopped moving the troat stopped biting and the sky has no texture so I think this is going to be the rest of the night for me I'm going to have some dinner here or in the tent if this gets too wet going to keep it really simple I was banking on trout tonight so as a replacement I have a cup of dehydrated beef I'm going go ahead put that beef in there and also a bunch of potatoes but this isn't just any ground beef this is leftover shephard's pie ground beef so there's some spices in there as well I think it's going to actually be all right uh-oh I should have done this right off the bat I'm going to sacrifice my cheese from tomorrow for tonight accidentally kicked a bunch of stuff into it not bad not what I was envisioning for tonight but a hearty stew on a rainy night not bad pivot I brought one dessert on this trip and tonight's the Night a squished butter tart I feel like I snuck into this hidden time you know it's after the May flies it's before the summer it's the time where everything reproduces you know this doesn't last long and I feel privileged to be out here seeing it for myself it's such a beautiful time the cycle with the Eagles and the gas bro and you need low waters for the gas bro to go up the rivers and that's when the Eagles come in and they need the low water so they can get the gas bro I don't even know what to say this place is just booming with life and it's uh it's special time to be out [Music] I want to show you guys a quick tip about boiling water on a fire I like to cut logs that are long enough that I can fit a pot on when I start the fire I get a good base so there's enough fuel in there to keep burning then I put large logs across like a grill that works for stability for the pot and also for more fuel that'll last long I was in the tent last night at about 8:30 stretched for about 10 15 minutes it was a lot of work yesterday didn't do much paddling but still traveled far so I did a lot of dragging walking portaging fishing but I knew this I knew coming in here that it was going to be shallow and you know what the gaspo need this to go up the river so it's all part of the natural cycle today we have more action going down river the water volume good pick up there's more tributaries coming in hopefully I can run a few sets just getting ready to leave wanted to see what the bottom of the canoe is looking like honestly not looking too bad there's a few scuff marks but you saw what I did on this trip and then the last trip I did with Matt I was just dragging this thing through the bog so man a Ski's it I've been using a ski for a long time their boats are as durable as they get I did add some skid plates to this I used a fiberglass cloth and two-part resin I got this idea off my friend Tristan I've taken these skid plates on about seven or eight trips so far [Music] [Music] [Music] okay let's go woo well that pretty much wraps up this trip what an incredible time to be out in the woods you know it felt like I was witnessing a perfect ecosystem the rivers are boiling with gasp and suckers and you have Eagles picking them off in the shallows you got the song birds singing songs you got the hungry brook trout it is just booming with life out here and I feel incredibly grateful to be out here experiencing it all in a couple weeks Rachel and I are heading out on an 18-day Backcountry canoe trip we're going to be starting in Northern Ontario and ending in Manitoba we're going to be traveling on a pretty iconic River it's a root of one to do for at least 10 years and I'm incredibly stoked for it so if you haven't already make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the big reveal of this trip as well as our next post guys thank you so much for watching it's been a blast I'll see you next time