Snow Day

Oh Canada!

After pretty much writing off the inland ice fishing season due to cold, snow, and slush, a opportunity presented itself...by going to northwest Ontario, we could take advantage of the late winter and fish into April (MN closes its trout season on March 31).  So, me, the Lt., the Col., and the Chief all headed north to the border on a beautiful day.  We made arrangements with the resort owner just prior to crossing into Canada, as he would not be at the facility and we had to let ourselves in.  The trip to the parking lot went fine, and we were in good spirits as we loaded the gear into the sleds and snowmachined down the steep portage to the first lake on the 6 mile trip.  Halfway down, I notice my sled was no longer behind me.  I walked back to pick it up and discovered the hitch had broke.  I rigged it up with rope and limped it to the lake.  The Chief had a tool kit with extra nuts and bolts and he was able to fix the hitch.  We thought, well, that is Hubs' Flub for the trip, we are now home free...Ha!  Never should have thought that.  We were watchful for slush the entire way in, but we only found deep snow on the ice.  We could see evidence of others finding slush previously, but it had all froze up for us. However, when we neared the island with the resort...well, I'll save that for Hubs' Flub.  Let's just say we didn't end up fishing that day.  We settled into the very basic, but comfortable cabin, getting the wood stove fired up and after some trials, got the propane range going as well. We had planned on making Kek Burgers (world's greatest sandwich) that night, but with no fish, I was glad we decided to throw in some hamburger at the last minute.  It was regular old burgers that night.  We had found the generator under a sheet of plywood, cleared out the snow and got it fired up for lights.  Some hiccups, but not a horrible first day.  

The next day dawn fairly crisply, but after getting out on the ice, the sun warmed quickly.  The ice was a layer of snow, then a layer of frozen slush that was just thick enough that we didn't break through it, then a layer of watery slush, and finally a thick layer of ice.  Our augers barely were long enough to get through the layers (about 40" total).  

I had the hot hand early, getting three quick trout, but then it slowed.  The Chief and Colonel struggled to find fish, but the Lt., in his usual crazy rebel way, fish a shallow, slushy channel and cleaned up on nice trout.  Late season trout can be found anywhere in the uniformly cold water.  The Captain and Rocket Man drove up that morning and joined us that afternoon.  They caught only 1 trout in their limited hours of fishing.  The sun felt nice, though, and we were confident we would find the fish the next day.  

It was sunny and beautiful the next morning.  We spread out and fished many new spots, with Captain having a good run early on nice trout.  I caught one right away and then didn't see any fish.  I moved around a lot on the absolutely gorgeous, nearly T-shirt weather day.  We all moved around a lot and everyone was getting a fish here and fish there, nothing fast.  Finally, I drilled hole right off the resort's island.  Of course, I immediately caught a dandy 30" trout.  Should have fished there all day.  That evening's adventures including the generator not running, but the smaller backup fired up and got the lights on.  

The next morning, we woke to strong winds and gray skies.  The wind was building to very strong gusts. There would be no fishing that day.  We estimated the strongest gust to be 45mph.  Getting a portable fish house up would have been impossible.  Soon, it started snowing - the forecast on the radio called for 3-5 inches of snow.  We all lazed about the cabin, getting naps in, and a card game or two was played.  We made the most of it.  It kept snowing, and before long, we realized that this was not going to be just 3-5 inches.  We hit the hay wondering if we would be able to dig ourselves out in the morning.  

We woke to a diminishing wind and no snow falling, but that was the only good news.  Everything was buried under an estimated 14" of windblown snow.  It took all morning to dig out the snowmachines and trailers.  Along the way, we heard on the radio that the road we needed to take was closed and snowplows had a lot of work to do before it would open.  We realized we would be there another night. After getting dug out, we did a little more fishing without much luck and the Captain and Rocket Man ran the route out on their snowmachines in an attempt to pack down a trail in the new snow.  Neither generator would start that night and we ate by candlelight.  With no communication, we hoped our wives and significant others would not be too worried about our not showing up.  

The next morning was sunny and after getting packed up, we slowly made our way back to the trucks.  The better snowmachines ran the trail ahead and packed it down for the rest of our vintage sleds.  I was running last in line when, once again, my machine suddenly sputtered and died.  Aargh, not again, they said it was fixed!  After a bit, the Chief came by and picked me up.  We got his portable battery and a set of jumper cables to run the fuel injector, but it wouldn't run.  Finally we realized that a wire was loose coming out of the fuse box.  We got it patched up and were surprised it still wouldn't run.  That is when I noticed one of us must have leaned on the kill switch.  As soon as that up, the machine fired right up and started charging the battery no problem.  We drove it on down the trail.  The last, steep trail up the hill to the trucks was tough in the deep snow.  I tried to keep my power up through the last hill, but my speed got away from me and buried the machine in the woods. Sigh.  My buddies help dig it out with the only damage being the destruction of my carefully crafted rack on the back.  At the trucks, we were relieved to find that the road had been plowed that morning, even if it was only the left lane.  Now the challenge was getting the trucks and trailers up the steep hill to the road from the parking area.  After getting the trucks loaded I led the charge up the hill and blasted out on to the road, where we finally loaded the snowmachines and were on our way home.  There were no other incidents and we made the calls to the ladies as we crossed the border.  They were relieved, but a little upset that we were arriving home 24 hours late.  

It was a good trip, but having communication with loved ones might be a good idea in winter.  Fishing wasn't as good as hoped, but the fun was, as always, at a high level.

Nature Moment: Again, winter wildlife sightings are not frequent, but one day we did enjoy the sight of an otter making its way across the frozen lake - run, run, sliiiiide, run, run, sliiiide, on its belly the full width of the lake.  We also were visited by the constant ravens and at least a few bald eagles were in the area, getting ready to nest despite the lingering winter.   

Quote of the Trip: "Hey fellas! Look at me!" (see video above).

Hubs' Flub: Sigh.  Me and snowmachines.  On Day 1, I was in the lead going to the cabin for the first time, as I had spoken to the owner about the approach.  Nearly to the island, I noticed some real disturbances in the snow where it appeared that the previous visitors had gotten stuck in slush near the flag pole.  I had been told to go around to the east side of the island nearer to the cabin to avoid the slush.  Poking along, I suddenly realized that there was even more slush in that area.  I should have gunned it towards shore where there appeared to be slushy trail.  Instead, I bailed and tried to turn out of the slush back towards the main lake.  Big mistake.  With my heavy sled behind me, I soon bogged down and got stuck in the slush.  It was 12"-18" deep, way over my boots.  I unhooked the trailer and got the box out of my rack to lighten the load, but the machine stayed stuck.  The other fellas finally came over and, with icy cold feet, we pushed and pulled the sled out of the mess and the Lt. finally took the reigns and rode the machine bucking bronco style to dry snow.  We were a sodden group, and we quickly got the gear to the cabin and got the wood stove going to start drying boots.  There was no fishing that day, thanks to me.  We were lucky it was a 25 degree sunny, calm day.  A nasty cold day?  That snowmachine might still be up there.  

Winter Catch-Up

Front Door Lake Trout

I am sorry for the huge delay in my blog entries.  Work is swamping me right now. Following the fun fishing of the January trip, it became extremely cold and snowed a ton.  Most lakes were covered in slush (watery layer of snow on top of ice) that made travel, even by snowmachine, impossible.  I did a day trip to a small stream trout lake one day and set up in the deep, messy slush and actually caught some nice rainbows and splake. I went winter camping once in February with my neighbor, but only fished about 8 hours or so in three days due to the weather.  We caught a few lake trout, but nothing special.  It was minus 15 F and windy the first night and it was -29 F the second night in the tent.  Burned a lot of wood.  

The continued snow and cold forced us to cancel another big Canadian trip at the beginning of March.  The good news was that Lake Superior froze up pretty good by then, and so I was able to fish just minutes from my front door four times.  And caught zero fish.   Buddies around me got some trout, eelpout, and herring, but nada for me.  Finally, later in the month, I went with my neighbor to a Lake Superior spot in Wisconsin and did well, getting some nice trout in the 30" range.  

So, all winter I only went camping once, way down from normal.  We did one more trip at the end of March into April, but that one warrants its own blog entry.  

Back in the Saddle (or Whatever a Snowmobile Seat is Called)

20 Inches of Amazingly Clear Canadian Ice

I must apologize to my faithful readers about the long delay in posting my adventures.  December turned out to be a non-fishing month.  Ice fishing started out with great clear ice, but three short day trips resulted in no fish.  I then wandered up to the Gunflint Trail for a day and found a few nice walleyes and jumbo perch.  Just after that, It started snowing.  And didn't stop for three days.  One of the biggest storms in our history dumped 30 inches of snow on the relatively thin ice.  Snow weighs down the ice, water comes up the cracks, snow insulates, keeping the water from freezing on top of the ice.  Slush.  Lots of sticky, cold, watery glue.  Ice fishing ground to a halt.  I didn't make it out fishing again until January...but that trip made up for the poor December.

January 10, 2014

Early morning.  Cold and cloudy, but way warmer than previous seven days in Duluth that never made it out of negative temperatures.  The forecast said we timed our trip perfectly, we were about to hit a warm spell.  I had been wondering when the other foot would fall regarding our luck, but my ominous feeling had been dispelled when I hit a deer the night before.  With my WIFE'S CAR.  I never drive that thing and the one time I do...  Anyway, my fear of issues were alleviated.  

I picked up the Colonel and we met the Captain and the Chief where we hitched up the snowmachine trailers.  Everything went smoothly and we began on our way northwest.    The drive was uneventful, and we went right through Canadian customs, so we made great time, it was 9am.  Then, tragedy.  The Canadian beer store didn't open until 10am!  The humanity!  We did an inventory and determined that, yes, we would wait for the store to open.  It was then that a couple of people got picky and wanted to look for a different brand of beer at a different store.  Long story short, we ended up getting an unintentional tour of Ontario.  We finally started our way north again, but not until I took this entertaining video I've titled "Canadian Bacon."  

We finally got pointed northwest again and cruised up a typical Canadian roadway - ice covered, lots of logging trucks, hills, curves. It started with a sign the signified a downhill at an 8% grade.  The sign immediately after it said "Sharp Curve."  Nice.  We made it safely to the next turn and now headed east on a icy gravel road.  It was a bit slower, but we soon found ourselves at a little parking lot.  It took some time to organize our gear in the sleds behind our four snowmachines, but soon we were on our via a new mode.  The first part of the snowmobile route was on a summertime road, plenty of width and the hills and curves were not extreme.  After a major delay (see Hubs' Flub at the end of this post), we soon turned off the wide road and headed off on a rougher trail with lots of small but steep hills and sharp curves.  The snowmachine ride was about 25 miles, and with the delay, it was nearly dark when we arrived at the well kept, isolated lodge on a bay of a very large lake.  We met the owner and she directed us to our cabin.  It was very nice with electric lights, a very efficient wood stove, and several bunks.  The siding and windows were newer and the wood heat reached all the rooms.  The running water was shut off for the winter, but lake water had been brought up for our use after boiling.  We unpacked the gear, had a toast to good luck, and settled in for the night with the Colonel's awesome smoked ribs.  

January 11, 2014

It was warm (for January in Canada) and cloudy when woke.  We are not the ball of fire, get up with the sun type of anglers and lake trout's friendly "banker's hours" fits our style.  So we were the last group out of camp (there were two other parties) and we cruised out of the bay on our snowmachines to the main part of the lake.  We chose a spot pretty far down the lake and I set up my fish house on the edge of a steep drop off.  The Captain chose a sloping point and the Chief and the Colonel chose the top of a reef.  I set up my tip up, got the fish house heater going and settled in, setting my breakfast burrito onto the heater to warm up.  It was nearly 10am.  I didn't get to eat the burrito until 1pm.  I had a lake trout feeding frenzy.  I steadily jigged up laker after laker.  If I wasn't fighting one, I was seeing one eyeing my bait on the fish finder.  All the fish we nice fat, healthy specimens.  I ended up catching 12 and losing 4 at the hole.  Each one was a hard fighter and none came up the hole quickly.  The smallest ones were about 22 inches and the biggest was 27 inches.  Not huge, but a great average size.  The frenzy slowed at 1pm, and I didn't get anything between 2pm and sunset just after 4pm.  It was a blast.  The other guys were not seeing the same action, but after moving to new spots more similar to mine, they did get a few fish.  The Captain was a little ways farther away and he reported fast action in the afternoon.  So, it was a pretty good day all around.  It had remained gray and windy and in fact one wind burst actually lifted the Colonel's fish house off the ice and he had to chase it down as it tumbled down the lake.  We got it back into shape and it was still serviceable, but its days are numbered.  Can anyone find us a quality fish house that is lightweight, handles wind, you can stand up in it, and it easily transported by someone that usually walks, not snowmobiles, to fishing holes? We got back to camp and chatted about our days.  Unfortunately the celebration was cut short.  The lodge owner came up to our cabin with a note for the Colonel to call home immediately (the lodge had a satellite connection).  I am sure it was a long walk for him from our cabin to the office.  I went and checked on him after a bit and learned that there was a medical emergency on his wife's side of the family on the west coast.  They talked over their options and in the end they found homes for their kids to go to, she was able to fly out west, and he decided to keep fishing.  We enjoyed our favorite lake trout curry and rice that night.

January 12, 2014

It was another gray, but warm (25 degrees!) day as we decided to head to a point closer to camp.  I set up in a bay on a reef that was very similar to the hot spot the day before, and the other three fellows spread out on the point.  I immediately caught a decent trout.  Here we go again, I thought...but that was the last action I had at that spot.  The others were catching fish, not hyper fast, but steady action, on the point.  I moved to a steep bay mouth.  Nothing.  I finally tossed my pride and moved in on the point near the others.  I started on the point about 2pm...right when the fish quit biting the day before.  It was not a repeat.  Between 2pm and 4pm I managed to get 7 trout, including another nice 27 incher that literally bit when I was reeling up to quit fishing.  Another great day.  The others had steadily caught fish all day, so it was good all around.  It was a sauna, a shower, and lake trout jambalaya that night.  One of the fun parts of the first two days of fishing was the ice.  I have never been on such clear ice that was that thick.  Once we cleared off the fluffy snow, it was 20 inches of pure glass, hardly a bubble.  We could watch our jigs below the ice and we could see the fish come up from the bottom.  I tried to make a hard hitting documentary film describing the ice, but the fellas and their walkie-talkies got in the way...

January 13, 2014

Yet another cloudy day greeted us as we cruised to another bay of the lake in the morning.  We set up back in the bay aways and the ice wasn't clear in this spot.  I caught a few fish, lost a few fish.  I caught my first non-trout, a largish (10lbs?) northern pike.  I spotted it on the fish finder hanging out just under my feet only a few feet from the ice, even though I was in 33 feet of water.  I reeled up to it, and it hit with only a few feet of line between my rod and the lure.  We call those "Vexilar Fish" - fish that you would not have caught if you didn't have the sonar unit.  Others had more luck than I did, with the Colonel having the most action and the Captain wrangling the biggest trout of the trip, a 30 incher.  The temperature dropped throughout the day and headed back below zero that night as we enjoyed a pasta dish.

January 14, 2014

We got up relatively early on the first sunny day of the trip.  It was crisp outside as we packed up, but the sun felt great.  We coordinated our ride out with the lodge owner, as she didn't want to be making the ride by herself for safety's sake.  It took a little longer than normal (see Hubs' Flub) but before too long we were at the truck, loading up, and heading back to the USA.  Everything went smoothly and I was greeted at home as a conquering hero - like always.  

It was a great trip with really good fishing.  The ride in is long, so we decided that to do this trip right, we really needed to add another day to it.  Otherwise, it doesn't justify the long drive.  Wouldn't you agree, Honey?

Nature Moment: There really wasn't a notable wildlife sighting on this trip.  The realities of the Canadian forest in the heart of winter is that you really only will ever see a few active animals.  Ravens are the most common and they love to use multiple loud calls.  Right above your head when you are in your fish house trying to nap.  The snow reveals that other critters are in the area, but the fox, otters, wolves, moose, and lynx are rarely actually seen.  

Hubs' Flub: Well, as you may have figured out from the hints in the trip narrative, this one was interesting.  As we were cruising on the snowmachines on the first day, going to the lodge, I headed over a hill and my machine just died.  No warning, just going and then quiet.  It was mile 18 of the 25 mile ride.  Not good.  I futzed around with it a bit but it would not start.  I could tell the fuel pump sounded weak and it appeared it was not getting fuel to the engine.  I racked my brain and said, "yup, it won't go."  Despite my auto repair family history, this is usually the diagnosis I give every breakdown.  We moved the machine to the side of the trail, rearranged the gear sleds, reorganized ourselves, doubled up on one machine, and continued on to the lodge.  We discussed it, I grumbled, and decided to forget about it until we could do something about it.  Worst case scenario, we would pull it off the trail, put a tarp over it, and come back for it in the summer.  By the next morning I had decided that the issue was the engine not recharging the battery and the fuel pump had exhausted the stored charge in the battery.  To tell you the truth, the recharging system may have never worked since I bought it...I may have never ran the machine enough to draw down the charge before I recharged the battery at home.  I chatted with the lodge owner and determined she had a portable generator and a battery charger.  Simple, I thought, we use the generator to charge the battery, and we drive it on out to the truck.  So on the day we left, that is what we did.  Less than an hour of charging got us all the way out.  Whew.  Could have been worse.

Quote of the Trip: "24 incher"....."25 incher"....."22 incher"....."27 incher"...."23 incher"... We usually make a radio call to the other guys whenever we catch a trout and we report its approximate length.  During that crazy first day feeding frenzy I pretty much took over the airwaves and made an announcement every 10 minutes as I released yet another trout.  Pretty damn fun.

Take A Kid Fishing...Or Fish Like a Kid

October in the Northland

I had a couple great fishing trips at the end of October.  This is because I love shore fishing.  It is so hassle-free.  No boats, boat motors, boat trailers, etc.  Just a backpack with your gear and lunch and a rod with a bobber on it.  Of course, being willing to get off the beaten path and knowing when to fish and what to fish with helps increase the fun.

This time of year I try to fish designated stream trout lakes.  These are typically small bodies of water that do not have naturally viable fisheries.  The DNR poisons out the native fish (usually just tiny perch or suckers) and stocks them with hatchery raised rainbow, brook, and brown trout as well as splake (a cross between a lake trout and a a brook trout).  Often, because these lakes are small, trails have been created around them by shore anglers.  The fish are usually tight to shore in October, so no canoe or boat is necessary.  Just a note - the season for lake trout and stream trout in streams closes on September 30.  Only stream trout in designated lakes are open in October.

The second to last weekend in October my sister and her family came up for a visit.  Her 10 year old son has really gotten into fishing and he had asked me to take him.  At least I think he is 10.  I should really start to pay attention when people are talking to me.  Either way, when they arrived on Friday night, the forecast for Saturday was not good - snow, rain, cold, and wind.  My nephew and his dad discussed it and we decided to try anyway.  So on Saturday morning at daybreak the three of us were headed north looking for trout.  We took a few back roads and found some snow on the ground in spots, but when we arrived at our destination lake, the sun was hinting at coming out and there was no wind, so the cold didn't feel too bad.  We grabbed our gear and our secret trout baits and hit the trail to the first shore fishing spot.  It didn't take long for me to lose a nice fish after it leaped to shake the hook - that was a good sign.  Soon we were all getting bites steadily.  We caught a bunch of rainbows and splake and several of them were keepers (around 13" or larger).  

We decided to move on to the next shore fishing spot after a bit.  It was a decent hike through the brushy forest.  The fishing was slow at first and we began to wonder if we should have moved.  No sooner had the thought crossed our minds when the bobbers started going down and the fish started fighting. The young nephew did most of the damage and he caught several more keepers, including a couple over 16".  It was a steady mix of splake and rainbows.  After a while, the weather finally turned.  The wind picked up, the clouds thickened and it start to spit a little snow and rain.  We took the cue and packed our gear for the hike back with our catch.  

On the drive home, we ran into sun, rain, snow, and wind-all mixed up - kind of a goofy day.  Back in Duluth we filleted the fish (I had gutted and gilled them at the lake) and like conquering heroes, before long we had a fish feast cooked up for the whole gang.  It was a fun day.

On the next weekend in October, I had a meeting up north on Friday.   So I packed the camping and fishing gear and headed to my favorite stream trout lakes after the meeting.  I set up my winter camping tent and wood stove in a pull off away from any lakes because the wind was blowing quite strong.  It was good to get the canvas tent up and some wood stacked near the stove.  I had just a sliver of daylight left after setting up camp and the winds had calmed a bit so I cruised over to a nearby designated trout lake.  I immediately caught a couple splake, but they were on the small side.  Right when it was getting too dark to see my bobber it went down again - and this fish was not on the small side.  After a good battle on my ultra-light rod and reel, I landed a dandy 20" splake.  A great way to end the day.  The tent warmed quickly with the wood heat and I relaxed after a supper of sausage and rice.  I listened to a book on the ipod and hit the hay fairly late.  It started raining a freezing rain as I was falling asleep.  

I woke to a strong breeze and a light dusting of snow.  I took my time eating breakfast and packing my gear.  I headed to a nearby lake and started making my way through the woods to its far shore.  I picked a spot on a mid-lake point to fish and had missed a few bites when my buddy the Captain showed up behind me.  He had left Duluth that morning (we had planned to meet at this spot).  Of course, he stepped in and quickly caught a nice rainbow trout, but only one.  After a while we went further down the shore to another spot. The move paid off as I caught two nice eater rainbows.  We gave it a good while, but that spot slowed down as well, so we made our way back to the shore near the road, where we caught some small splake and one more keeper rainbow.  We finally headed back to the tent and wood stove after dark.  The fire quickly allowed us to shed our heavier clothes and we enjoyed sausage and mashed potatoes.  We caught up after supper as we hadn't fished together for a while.  It was another nice evening.  

On Sunday the Captain quickly took down his tent and hit the road to another lake.  I took a little longer to get the big tent and wood stove loaded in my truck, but I was at the same lake before too long.  He had gone around to a far point, but I chose to fish near the road. I immediately caught a keeper splake and then tied into a larger one.  It was 20" and was decked out in fall spawning colors - it thought it was a brook trout, not a splake.  Slightly hooked lower jaw, orange belly, white tipped fins.  The prettiest fish I have caught in a while.  The fish kept biting and I quickly finished out my limit.  I caught a few more rainbows for fun and then joined the Captain at another spot near a trail.  He had also done well shorefishing - three really nice rainbows, including a 20" fish that put up a huge battle.  We fished together for a while but the wind had switched and our nice morning was turning into a damp, cool afternoon and the fishing slowed, so I hit the road to Duluth.  It was a very good little trip.

So, the last two weekends of the open water season actually turned out to be the best fishing of the entire year for me.  Persistence pays off.

Nature Moment: Fall weather can be unpredictable.  I remember a lot of October days when it would switch from sun to rain to snow to sun to clouds and all over again in one hour cycles.  On the way home with my brother-in-law and nephew, we saw one of the weirdest weather events I have ever seen.  As we cruised down the highway before Two Harbors, we spotted a snowplow.  There was no snow to speak of, so that was odd.  Just then we came around a curve to find a little bit of snow on the road, and then it quickly became quite a bit of snow - around four inches of heavy wet stuff.  Just as quickly, we drove out of the fallen snow and were soon on a dry highway.  I bet the band of heavy snow was only 1 to 2 miles wide.  The entire rest of the trip was dry, just that one tiny band of deeper snow was it.  I found it quite odd.

Hubs' Flub: Man, did I lose a lot of fish on these last two trips.  Some of it was because I wasn't paying attention to my bobber when I was assisting others, but most it was because- well, I just wasn't paying attention to my bobber.  Multiple times I heard a splashing out on the lake and looked up to discover my bobber down and a trout trying to drag my rod and reel into the lake.  Usually by the time I got a hold of the rod, the fish had already spit the hook.  Oh well, I still caught plenty of fish.

Quote of the Trip: My sister told me that when my nephew went to bed on the day we fished she asked if he had a good day, and he replied, "No, it was an awesome day."  

You're damn right it was, pal.  

A New Adventure - The True North Shore

Lake Superior's Canadian Islands

I had a pretty good adventure last weekend.  The Chief and The Colonel joined me in a truck pulling an 18 foot deep v Starcraft runabout on Highway 61 headed northeast early on Thursday morning.  We picked up a few things in Grand Marais and went across the border into Canada with no customs issues.  After a few more stops we arrived on Lake Superior's true north shore...Nipigon Bay.  This area of the big lake is studded with large and small islands, bays, reefs, and inlets.  It offers quite a bit of protection for smaller boats.  Still it is Lake Superior and we would need to be cautious and paying attention.  

We had made a connection with local resident over the phone and so we stopped into he and his wife's nice residence on a bay.  He was nice enough to point out a protected campsite well away from town as well as some fishing advice.  They were both very pleasant and we chatted quite a while.  After a bit, we headed over to the public access and loaded the boat.  We had lot of stuff.  Three people, three packs of tents, sleeping gear, and clothes, three coolers of food and refreshments, and lots of gasoline.  It piled up quickly, but the Starcraft fit it all in.  

The outboard fired right up, we backed out of the harbor, and headed out onto Nipigon Bay.  It was a little rough and the old 85hp Evinrude was working hard to move the heavy load, we had just hit cruising speed when the motor suddenly throttled down.  The Colonel, the boat's owner, said he hadn't moved the throttle, he had just lost power.  The motor sputtered a bit and died completely.  It failed to restart.  We were about a mile from the landing.  We all monkeyed with the engine...it seemed to be a gas problem.  A local fellow in a fishing boat thoughtfully came to our aid.  He waited until we got the 9.9hp kicker motor started and saw that we would make it back to the dock.  We thought maybe there was some water in the gas tank (it is a boat after all), so the Chief went to check if he had a bottle of isopropyl alcohol in his truck.  He didn't, but he did come back with the fellow we had chatted with earlier, and he had something even better, a full can of Sea Foam.  It is a concoction that apparently has powers that will address water in a gas tank, as long as it isn't too much.   We dumped the whole bottle in.  We tried restarting the motor, and we could keep it going as long as I kept squeezing the fuel bulb.  After a bit it started running on its own and we headed out again, thankful for the sea foam.  Unfortunately, the motor died again, just about the same spot it did last time-but this time it restarted right away.  We moved on-it seemed as though it was working through the bad gas.  It sputtered a few more times, but was getting better the further we went.  So we pressed on to the desired campsite.  It was a nice one on a protected channel with deep water nearby that looked good for trout.  It was near the big open area of Lake Superior, but not exposed to it.  After the delays, we didn't have time to get out fishing, but I did throw out a salted cisco from shore hoping for a passing fish.  We toasted our first day and enjoyed a pleasant, crisp evening.  The Colonel whipped up some of his own traditional German potato sausage (a ring of pork, sauerkraut, potatoes, and special spices) and some sauteed brussel sprouts.  It was fantastic.  He sure is handy in the kitchen.  We chatted well into the night before turning in.  

The next morning we didn't exactly wake up at the crack of dawn and a stiff south wind was building.  South winds are the worst for this area on the north shore of the world's largest lake.  I threw out my shorefishing rig as we ate breakfast and I soon heard my little bell ring on the pole.  I hustled down to the shore and saw the line was screaming off of the reel.  Before I even grabbed the rod I heard the fish leap out of the water and splash loudly...this was going to be a big salmon or steelhead.  But, it was not to be...the fish threw the hook when it leaped.  Shucks.  Still, it was a good sign for fishing, right?

Not exactly.  The wind forced us to troll only in the two adjacent bays.  They looked like good lake trout water, but it was not fast action.  The Chief had a heavy fish on right away, but it also got away.  He then caught a very small lake trout.  That was it for action until the very end of the afternoon.  As we headed back on our final trolling run back to camp, my favorite orange spoon, fished deep on a downrigger, triggered a strike.  Soon a nice (4-5lb) lake trout was flopping in the net and a supper was secured just in time.  As we headed back to camp, we spotted the fella from town in his 14 foot boat.  He was much braver than I...I would not have been out in that small boat in that high of seas...but he has a lot more experience.  He had been out fishing and stopped by to check on us.  We had a cold beer on shore and traded stories.  His stories of moose and deer hunting on the islands were particularly interesting.  He went on his way before the winds worsened.  

We enjoyed the fish in one of our favorite dishes, coconut thai rice.  It is super easy to make...sauteed onions and bell peppers, coconut milk, green curry paste, with lake trout chunks and fresh basil.  We put a lot more coconut milk in than most recipes call for so the trout can cook up nicely in the sauce.  Once again, it was fantastic.  We got to bed a bit earlier.  The forecast called for even stronger south winds the next day.

The forecast did not disappoint.  It was very windy on Saturday.  Twenty-five knots straight off the biggest part of Lake Superior.  We could see huge rolling breakers on each end of our channel.  Fishing would be restricted to our bay.  We tried shorefishing for quite a while with no luck.  We headed out in the boat and even the bay was pretty rough.  We got bounced around and we had no bites.  Once again we headed back to camp and connected with a fish just as we were about to pull up the lines.  The Chief caught a 5-6lb lake trout.  Supper was secured again.  He cleaned the fish and we took a break on camp for a while before we headed out fishing again.  From camp the bay looked like it had calmed a bit.  It had not.  We bounced around again and only made one pass before turning towards camp.  Just before the site, the Colonel connected again with a 2-3lb laker.  We let it swim free.  

Supper was supposed to be canned beef and noodles, but the Colonel called an audible and made a dish with sauteed mushrooms and onions in a parmesan sauce over braised lake trout.  It was...you know by now...fantastic.  The forecast called for calmer winds the next day, but strong winds on Monday, the day we were supposed to leave.  

We woke and listened to the forecast again...it just confirmed the one from the night before.  So, in the interest in safety, we decided to pack up camp and move to a campsite close to the landing.  We loaded back up, got the boat going (it was now working perfectly), and hit the bigger channel back towards town.  The rollers had calmed overnight and were very manageable.  We checked out the site on the map that was closest to town, but it wasn't even visible from the lake.  We had a chat with our friends from town-they were out for a picnic on their bigger boat-and we headed to the next closest site.  It was a neat one on a sand bar that offered two protected harbors for the boat.  We dumped off the gear and rigged the rods for trolling.  Our first spot just off a mid-channel reef produced no fish, as did a really neat deep shoreline that had beautifully eroded cliffs.  We reeled up and headed into an isolated bay near town and immediately had a hit that didn't hook up.  Soon after that, an eating sized lake trout was in the boat.  We made another pass and I hooked up with a nice sized coho salmon that we also invited to supper.  I must say that was one of the most satisfying fish I had caught in a while.  I had been fishing a shallow running stickbait off a planer board and had no action on it.  I decided to get a little deeper, so I put on my favorite orange spoon and, for the first time ever, I put on a snap weight...a trolling system a friend had recommended.  No joshing, I hooked that salmon 30 seconds after putting the new rig out.  That felt good.  Unfortunately that was the only shallow fish we hooked that day.  We did get three more smallish lake trout-two of them on my orange spoon.  So it wasn't too bad of a fishing afternoon.  

We enjoyed a nice campfire on the beach and the Chief freestyle (no breading) fried the trout and salmon and I made up a special batch of gnocchi in a creamy sundried tomato and pesto sauce.  Very good.  The salmon was right up there with the best fish I have ever eaten.  The Chief can clean and cook fish with the best of them.  It was a beautiful night.  

On Monday we quickly packed up after having some salmon salad the Colonel whipped up from some leftover fish with pickles and mayonnaise on crackers.  It was a great breakfast.  We loaded up and chugged into the landing without incident.  The wind was building and we were glad to be off the water.  We chatted with our new friends one more time.  One interesting item was discussed...on the beach at our last campsite the sand was littered with literally thousands of white oval plastic pellets the size of a lady bug.  They were everywhere.  We could not figure out where they came from.  When talking with the locals, we learned that a train derailment had happened several years ago and an entire boxcar of the pellets had been dumped in Lake Superior just up the bay.  Apparently the pellets are used in oil fracking operations in some way.  Now there is a boat permanently kept in the little town and its crew sucks the beached pellets in a vacuum sorter all summer long.  It looked to us that they had a long ways to go.  

We hit the road and headed back down the lakeshore to Thunder Bay, made it through US customs quickly and cruised into Duluth early evening.  It was a good trip, learned a few lessons, fishing wasn't fast, but we couldn't have expected to learn all the spots and tricks the first time, especially when the wind prevented us from exploring too much.  

Nature Moment: We didn't see too much wildlife on this trips.  The islands are forested differently than other areas at this latitude because Lake Superior keeps temps low and its winds, spray, and fog affect growth.  So the forests are mostly scrubby spruce and spindly birch.  The trees are quite small.  The islands have deer and moose and the biggest ones may have a resident wolf pack or two.  There weren't even many chipmunks, squirrels, or songbirds around.  There were lots of eagles, vultures, and osprey.  The nature moment, though, was hearing and seeing peregrine falcons.  These birds of prey are more scarce and have neat attributes-the fasted living thing on the planet when they dive bomb prey at more than 200 miles per hour.  We saw then right where the guide books would say to look-big flat faced cliffs.  They nest on open cliff shelves.  When we watched them, one seemed to be driving another one away from the area...maybe a youngster that was reluctant to leave mom's care and head south?  If I were to go to Hawk Ridge in Duluth, maybe I would see it flying by later this month.  

Hubs' Flub: I am generally the guy on our trips that does the planning, including reviewing the local regulations to ensure that we are compliant.  We like going to Ontario too much to lose that privilege due to ignorance.  So I found it odd when the local guy that checked on us when the motor died said his first words to us: "You got enough f**king poles?"  I had checked the regulations and it said we could each use two lines in Lake Superior in Ontario, so the eight poles the three of us had didn't seem out of line...2 poles per person plus some spares on a five day trip seemed about right.  We didn't answer his question, we just moved on to the engine discussion.  

When we went back to the dock to work on the engine, the local guy we knew brought us the sea foam and when we were about to take off again, he said, "You know you can only use 1 pole per person in this section of Lake Superior right?"

I was surprised.  I had checked the regulations, but he explained that the area around the islands was an exception.  I rechecked them and found the exception language in the booklet-he was right.  That explained the comment from the other fellow about so many poles.  Whew...although we didn't see any authorities, we were glad the guy let us know the rules.  And, truth be told, we had all we could handle with only three rods.  There were so many reefs and holes in the area that we were constantly raising and lowering lines and down rigging balls...it was more active than fishing around Duluth.  In fact, I did snag up my dipsy diver on a surprise reef.  I lost the a heavy duty clip, the dipsy, the snubber, the flourocarbon leader, the heavy duty swivels, and a seven dollar stick bait.  Totaled up it probably was more than $40 worth of stuff.  Ouch.  

Quote of the Trip: "Be careful on Nipigon Bay...it can get really rough."  

That was an unsolicited quote from a concerned fellow in the parking lot of the liquor store in Thunder Bay.  He gave it to us after he had just explained he never fished Lake Superior, just inland lakes.  It seemed a little odd, but we were glad for the hospitality.  

Another thing that was quoted multiple times was the Chief's affectionate imitation of the old Inuit man in the movie Never Cry Wolf.  The man responds to one of the lead character's crazy notions by saying "Good Idea." in a unique accent.  So, whenever someone made a decision to change lures or suggested a new spot, we always responded with "Good Idea" using the accent.  Unfortunately, by the end of the trip it had morphed into a new response: "Bad Idea."  

Superior Success, Kind Of

Salmonids

Close followers of my fishing adventures know that I personally have had very poor luck fishing Lake Superior, which is only a couple blocks from my home in Duluth.  Shorecasting, drifting flies and worms in tributaries, helping out on a buddy's charter boat, ice fishing, and spending a few hours on other friends' boats all had me netting plenty of fish for others, but never connecting on any fish myself.  Finally this spring I caught my first Lake Superior fish, a nice walleye, but those are considered a lowly bottom feeder by this trout snob.  No, I only count salmonids on my tally sheet.  Finally, I caught one small coho salmon on The Colonel's boat in August...a salmonid, but I barely even felt it wiggle bringing it in.  

Still, in mid-September I was excited to give it a try on a new buddy's boat. The Brewer hadn't had the boat, a small, but worthy craft, on the big lake yet and he was pretty excited to try it as well.  We arrived at the nearest public access just before sunrise, the first craft to be launched that day.  The boat went into the water, the truck went back up to be parked in the lot, and we stepped in to take off.  No go.  Dead battery.  The navigation light switched had been bumped on and the battery was drained.  Hmmm.  Tried to use a jumper from the truck.  No go.  Finally tried the emergency pull starter.  No go at first, but a re-rigging of it brought the 40 horse to life.  We headed out onto a dead calm Lake Superior.  I dropped down a dipsy-diver (we didn't have any downriggers) with a favorite orange spoon and had a strike before we even had the other lines in the water.  I reeled in a very nice coho salmon and The Brewer netted it perfectly.  Success!  Maybe today was finally my day.

We didn't have any more action in that area, so after a bit we headed out to deeper water.  The Brewer had a strike on his dipsy and stick bait, so we turned around slowly and headed back through that spot.  I saw my dipsy line tug and soon I had a nice lake trout to the boat.  The Brewer went for it with the net and somehow the fish went right through it!  The net had come apart and needed to be repaired.  We wrestled the trout on board by hand.  It wasn't huge, but The Brewer was going to feed his family well that night.  

We felt we had pinpointed a good spot, so we went to turn and troll through it again.  Suddenly an absolutely piercing noise came from his boat console.  I mean hurt your ears screaming.  It was some type of alarm.  We didn't dare shut the motor off for fear of not getting it started again (remember the dead battery) and after poking around a bit, we just boated back to the landing and gave up.  We didn't want to risk any major damage to the motor.  We think maybe the dead battery made the alarm system funky.  Either way, our day was done.  Just when I had finally found some Superior fish!  Foiled again.  

It was still a good trip for me with the two fish and I had a nice time chatting with the The Brewer on a beautiful Lake Superior morning.  Still living the good life in a cool city on a great lake.  

Nice and Easy

Chief Many-Little-Bottles mans the downrigger

It was an un-laborious Labor Day weekend for the Chief and I as we did a unique little Boundary Waters Canoe Area trip.  We ditched the canoes and fished and camped on one of the few lakes in the BWCA that allows motorboats.  

We each took care of some odds and ends on Friday morning and met up at the Chief's house around noon.  We soon headed north towing his 16 foot Lund with a 25 horsepower motor.  The forest service allows motors on our lake of choice, but only up to 25 horsepower.  Before too long, we arrived at a lake's boat landing just outside the BWCA.  We loaded our camping and fishing gear into the boat and headed north, away from the crowds.  After a bit we turned into a bay to the "truck portage" landing.  The forest service has an agreement with an operator to bring boats across a road-like portage into the BWCA lake.  The operator used to have an old truck, but now just uses an ATV with boat trailer.  He has set hours and we waited a little bit, chatting with other adventurers that were also waiting.  Before long, we were on the trailer and over the portage and then were zipping down the large BWCA lake, searching for a good campsite.  Some of the best ones were taken, but we found a pretty good site on an island and called it home.  We set up the tents and tarps and had a snack before heading out fishing during the usually productive evening hours.  Unfortunately we caught only one bass and no walleyes, our targeted species.  We gave it a real shot, staying well after sunset, but no luck.  We headed back to camp, but had a bit of trouble locating it in the dark. We did eventually find our site and were soon eating a supper of steaks and sauteed mushrooms and onions.  We stayed up well into the night solving the world's problems one at a time.  

After a warm, but comfortable, night, we leisurely ate breakfast and got our gear together.  We headed out on a nice sunny day, this time targeting my favorite fish, lake trout.  The Chief put on a unique purple spoon on his downrigger rod while I tried a more traditional gold spoon.  Nearly immediately, Chief had a strike.  He fought a larger fish for a few minutes, but the line soon went slack.  Crap!  He reeled in his line to discover that he didn't have the spoon anymore, the line had broken.  Hmm...a big pike with its line shearing teeth?  Or was it a trout and just a bad spot in the line?  Either way, we took it in stride and hoped it meant the fish were biting.  Chief put on another purple spoon and we continued on our deep water (90 feet on average) attack.  After no action, I switched from a spoon to a gold spinner with a salted sucker minnow.  The move paid off in short order and I caught a smallish lake trout-not the size we were seeking but a good sign.  As we moved into another fishy looking deep hole, the Chief's line released from the downrigger indicating a bite and soon we had a really nice trout (about 7lbs) in the net and on the stringer.  Before long, Chief had another bite and he caught and released a twin of his previous trout.  Clouds were building however, and thunder began to rumble.  The weather was about to change in a big way.  We buzzed back to camp and cleaned the trout for supper.  We settled into our chairs underneath the tarp when storm announced its arrival with a huge lightning strike, very close by - the second closest lightning strike I have experienced in my life (sometime I will tell you about the closest one).  That woke us up a bit.  The storm was a good one, lots of lightning, a major downpour of rain, and gusty winds.  Before long, things settled down and we were able to enjoy Chief's famous fried lake trout and mashed potatoes.  Temperatures were dropping that night and another fairly big storm rolled through as we were heading to bed.  

A rainy night produced a drippy, gray morning with a stiff north wind and cool temps-a complete 180 from the day before.  That usually spells poor fishing and this was no exception.  We gave it a good shot in the waves and rain, but had no bites.  Before long we scrapped it and just hung out under the tarp.  Rain kept up through much of the day.  We still had fun BSing.  I whipped up a fish-less sausage jambalaya type dish that hit the spot for supper and we hit the hay fairly early.  It was just one of those BWCA rainy days that occur once in a while.

On Monday morning the sun began poking back out as we packed up camp and loaded the boat.  It became a beautiful sunny day as we fished our way to the truck portage, but the fish were still off their feed - no bites.  After the ATV and boat rides we soon had the gear loaded in the truck and headed for Duluth.  I came home and caught a neighborhood Labor Day picnic just in time for some great food. 

It was good, relaxing trip that was easygoing...I'll try that area again someday. 

Nature Moment: After the storm had passed on Saturday, we became aware of a flock of large birds circling over our campsite.  Turkey vultures.  Soon there were a bunch of them circling right over us - 13 to be exact.  Did they see the lightning strike and assume we were dead?  It was a bit ominous.

Hubs' Flub:  I mentioned our trouble finding our site in the dark on the first evening.  We should have left a lantern turned on or something...  We bopped back and forth, even mistaking another occupied site for our own, which may have been awkward for site's occupants.  What made it worse is that we both had headlamps along...with dead batteries.  Not our best wilderness moment.  The site was actually much closer to the tip of the island than we had thought.  Next time we'll be more careful.  

Quote of the Trip: Chief - "Hey, there are people in our campsite!"