A Midsummer Night...Is this a Dream?

Well, not much has changed since the last blog. We have had numerous readers tell us to keep posting pics of camp life, so we'll give it a try. We do feel a world away, not only in distance, but just daily life. Without watching the news/t.v. and with staying busy around camp, we've tried to tune out all the negative out there.

and, well...fish.

We've gone out on some exploratory adventures, trying some new areas for fishing spots and checking out little islands. At a more leisurely pace not having to get back to camp by a certain time, the days slip by slowly.

Water temps have crept up and are now in upper 70's in most spots we visited. The fish we caught were in 8-10 feet of water. We still managed to only use artificial bait, though we bet they'd be hitting pretty hard on minnows and crawlers right now as well.

One day we focused primarily on the Second Lake. Our goal was to go for a fat northern pike. In the late morning we landed a 36" northern and I was ecstatic.

Little did I know that in the early evening that same day I would catch a 38" northern!

That day was epic not only in the sizes of those guys, but also numbers. We lost count after 50 fish- we had 24 walleye, a handful of smallies, and countless northern.

We had our first fish fry with some Shore lunch beer batter with our keepers from that day, and fresh onions and mushrooms fried up. Wow, that's all I can say on the taste:

On Canada Day, we saw this sight on an island in North Bay. I put a short video of it on the Facebook page:

The other day we went out for a full 12hour excursion- this was a treat for us, as we would never be able to do this typically on a July day while camp is open. We focused fishing Aerobus Bay, North Bay, and Keynote. After reaching my northern goal the week before, my new goal was to beat my previous 21.5" walleye- I was shooting for a 23"....

Well, within about 15 minutes of casting, this happened:

I reeled in this 27 1/2" beautiful walleye! I had got some smaller snakes caught in weeds earlier, and so at first I thought that may have been what was happening as it felt like a heavy log that wasn't fighting. I was worried it'd snap my line as the pressure increased. As I kept the line tight and slowly got it up, Ryan caught the first glimpse of it underwater and was like, "Oh my God that's the biggest walleye I've ever seen!" He was dramatic and excited, and I didn't want it to get away, so we smoothly worked together as I reeled it to the boat and he netted it. I had to take a 5 minute breather after that release just to take in what happened. Ryan was a little jealous I think, but super proud and happy for me. I was there when he caught his 27" last year, and he was with me when I caught my personal best.

We've actually started seeing a few more boats out, but most are pleasure boats, and we don't see much fishing going on. Still, we feel like we have the Wabby to ourselves. We found a new shore lunch spot (we'll tell you where it is when you visit) and had such a relaxing afternoon on our own little island:

You may be wondering if we are getting any work done lol. Well the short answer is yes, but that's not nearly as fun to document. We've been powerwashing and staining like crazy, blessed with some calm mornings to do spraying. It almost doesn't feel like work when your backdrop of staining is that view. Ryan snapped this pic of me (decking my very own R.T. Painting workshirt) staining the lower cabins:

After one particular incident where he "fired" me, I took the pleasure of relaxing in one of our new hammocks:

Our only trip to the dump so far, we had a friend who just wouldn't leave and we had to come back later to actually get out of truck. Love the juxtaposition of this one:

And we have also taken time to get out and mingle. Our first dinner after quarantine we visited Whiskey Jack. They built a beautiful new patio for outdoor dining and it was a great visit with the locals.

Our 4th of July was spent with Canadians. No fireworks, but we had a great, and late, night with some friends at a camp in Ear Falls. A delicious venison steak meal, and I made a red/white/blue dessert from one of my Mom's recipes:

We heard it's been very hot in the states. One guest thinking of Tall Pines while trying to stay cool:

We also made a day trip to Red Lake where we golfed and had a blast with two other couples. Red Lake Golf Club was very nice (the most northern golf course in all of Ontario apparently), and we enjoyed the moment, realizing we'll probably never get that opportunity again. Ryan golfed much better than me, but in my defense, they didn't have women's rentals:

And, we hosted a small get together at our place getting the bean bags out, starting a fire, and cranking the music out. We would have loved to have the entire town over, but we were limited to 10 due to gathering restrictions. Here, this may be the start to the Real Housewives of Perrault Falls:

Yes, it is a tough time for all of us camp owners that rely on our American guests. But, we're a tight little group who support each other and we're all just trying to make the best out of a bad situation. A common theme among camp owners is that our clientele are so supportive. Here's just one example, of the Red Hat Gang (that would have been coming up in August):

So, we're having some fun, working hard, and now Earl joins us. So, my next blog I'll try and show some of the projects we'll get underway. Just a note that the 807# is no longer in use. We've removed it from the website, but if you have older contact info, just wanted you to be aware. Please use email and 888-413-3454 to contact us, and we'll get back to you within 24hours.

We miss you all and hope the second half of 2020 is better for all of us than the first half has been.