“We’re you missing this?” asked our host rhetorically as he walked into camp carrying one of our rod and reel rigs. Jim Kehoe had a twinkle in his eye as he handed me the fishing rod, daring me to ask how it fell into his hands.
“Actually, it fell into a fellow guest’s hands,” the lodge owner answered when I inquired. “They arrived early this morning, and when they turned into the drive, they noticed this hanging in the middle of the lane, dangling off the ground from a tree limb.”
The evening before, I had placed the rod and reel in a vertical rod holder aboard the trailered Princecraft pontoon for the short tow back to camp from the lake we had been fishing and exploring all day. Turning off the highways at the entrance of The Outpost Lodge, I hadn’t noticed the dense canopy of cedar boughs over the gravel lane leading to the lodge and our cabin, one of which had snagged and snatched the rod right out of its rack as I towed the rig through in the twilight.
Fish Friendly?
That the jovial proprietor knew the rod was mine out of a full camp of guests says something about how many guests come to The Outpost Lodge for the fishing. In fact, we were one of the few parties of friends and family groups vacationing at the waterfront lodge and cabin complex who wet a line the week we were in camp, let alone practice BYOB by towing our own boat.
“Most of our guests don’t fish,” said Jim’s better half, Ann, when I enquired about activities in the area of the Ontario, Canada, destination. “They just come to get away from it all and sort of lose themselves for a few days in the Great North Woods. Most of our guests just like being in a remote setting on or around the water. We’re right on Lake Jobamageeshig (Jobam for short) and have a bunch of other lakes and rivers and streams around us, so if you enjoy woods and water, l think you’ll like it here.”
That sounded good enough to me to sign up for a mid-summer week with the family—and the requisite pontoon boat—in tow.
A Boating Upgrade
Having vacationed at several fishing camps and lodges in Ontario that are accessible only by air, rail, water or a combination of same, we were always limited to the oft-bare-bones boats made available to guests at remote locations. Usually simple cedar or aluminum skiffs powered by small, tiller-operated two-stroke outboards, we considered it a luxury to find seat backs on the bench seats aboard the boats we had to use—let alone creature comforts like lounge seats, boarding ladders and bimini tops, plus fishing features like livewells, rod holders and fish-finders.
Because the Outpost Lodge is a drive-in destination, meaning it’s accessible by road, guests have the option of trailering their own boat along for the week instead of renting one of the crafts the Outpost has available. I realized that rather than tow the family pontoon up from the ‘states and across the border, the road-accessible Outpost opened up the option for us to use and test a pontoon, preferably a boat built north of the border to standup to the conditions found across much of Canada. Trailer boaters there often face extended tows on secondary roads to reach remote waters, where they are greeted by unimproved launch ramps that often lead to water that can be flush with obstacles of granite, hemlock and cedar. In other words: heaven to anglers who want to get away from it all, but the opposite to boaters who aren’t prepared to deal with the conditions.
Princecraft Vectra
Quebec-based Princecraft agreed to exercise the Canada-built boat test option by making a 2014 Vectra 21 2S model available to us from their dealership in Sault Ste. Marie “the Soo”, Ontario, located right along our driving route from the Midwest due north into Northern Ontario and The Outpost Lodge. Powered by a Mercury 115hp ELPT FourStroke, having a powerful, fully appointed and rigged-to-fish pontoon boat model at our beck and call would be a luxury.
A month after confirming our plans, we hooked up the Princecraft’s trailer at The Soo’s Superior Marine and headed due east on Highway 17, better known as the Trans-Canada Highway. An hour later we arrived in Thessalon, where we caught highway 129 north. The Outpost is located just east of the primary north/south route, also known as the Chapleau Highway, that we followed across the dramatic Canadian Shield landscape for 28 miles before pulling off the pavement and onto the shaded lane leading to camp.
The property is centered on an ornate log lodge built in 1938 that includes a dining room, library and game room surrounding a grand, two-story great room with a huge stone fireplace dominating the wall overlooking the waterfront. The lodge is surrounded by a half dozen cottages scattered discreetly through the woods fringing a 50-foot high bluff overlooking a broad stretch of beach and the cool, spring-fed waters of 1,330-acre Lake Jobam.
Exploring Options
After checking in with Ann and Jim and settling in to our cabin, the next morning we decided that before launching and beaching the Princecraft for the balance of the week on our home Lake Jobam, we would explore a nearby lake that’s as famous for its scenery as its fishing for smallmouth bass and walleyes. We packed a picnic and towed the pontoon three miles south on the Chapleau Highway, following our host Jim to show us the way to Tunnel Lake and the gravel launch ramp at Hooverville Landing.
Thanks to the opaque waters of Tunnel Lake we could clearly see any of the rocky bogies that could shear our prop and devour our lower unit as we slowly motored out of the bay. By the time we reached the main lake we had powered up the big Mercury outboard and enjoyed our first-ever on-plane ride atop a Canadian Shield lake.
“Now THIS is more like it,” proclaimed my wife Maria as she leaned back on the broad bench seat, the boat covering more water in a few minutes than we would normally motor across in a morning aboard a typical fishing skiff. In addition to the fleet, comfortable ride, the 21-footer was rigged for angling, with a fish finder on the helm, and two fishing stations forward, with pedestal seats, storage lockers and rod racks—as well as a bimini top for welcome overhead protection from rain—if not the welcome warming rays of the sun.
Enjoying Jobam
After our day exploring Tunnel Lake and getting our rod back from our host the following morning, we launched the Princecraft on Lake Jobam, using a gravel ramp built atop the sand beach at the base of the bluff, directly below the lodge. In addition to the fishing, which was steady if not fast at Jobam that mid-summer week, we also pulled a towable behind the Vectra between fishing sessions.
Early each afternoon over the course of our boating days at Jobam, we tied off to an island or beached the twin pontoons in the sand of a remote bay and built a fire ashore to enjoy a North Country fishing trip tradition: shore lunch. If we had caught fish to fry we enjoyed fresh walleye or perch; otherwise we cooked hot dogs or burgers, picking blueberries from the bushes around the picnic spot to add to dessert and relaxed under the deep blue Canadian skies.
Off The Water
When we weren’t boating on Jobam, we explored the surrounding Canadian Shield countryside, fishing small streams for trout, hiking to nearby waterfalls and one day floated the nearby Mississagi River, a popular trip with Outpost guests. Ann and Jim can arrange for boats and provide the drop-off and pick-up services for the half-day canoe or kayak paddle, over the course which I caught the biggest brook trout of my life and my son Ethan and my wife kept busy battling fat smallmouth bass and pan-sized brookies, the latter destined for dinner. Speaking of which, local residents and lodge guests alike converge on the Outpost’s dining room each evening for home cooked meals prepared by Jim that have made the place as famous for its food as for its setting. And placed where it is tucked in a gorgeous, yet accessible, corner of Ontario’s Great North Woods, that’s saying something.
