Jun 23, 20093 min read

Full-Swing

When I started this blog, my good friend Linda R. from Iowa warned me about how difficult it can be to keep them updated. Boy, was she right! I went from daily entries because it was cold and nasty outside to trying to do a quality entry once a week. And, as I’ve said before, what’s interesting to one person is not necessarily interesting to another. I continue to receive positive feedback and will do my best to let folks know what’s happening up here in NW Ontario.

First, the good news. Fishing has been very, very good. The walleye seem to be on-track now after a bit of confusion about the weather. Our guests are finding lots of good fish. They’re also finding lots of smaller walleye (12-13″) which makes us happy ’cause those fish are going to grow up! I’ll take a complaint about too many small fish any time:) I tell folks to move out a bit deeper when they find the small ones, and they usually get onto some bigger fish that way. 2nd Lake continues to be a hotbed of activity.

Big northern and smallies were a hit last week with Eric’s guys in the Bear’s Den. They all found big smallies (I love oxymorons…jumbo shrimp) and took lots of photos they promised to send my way. Justin caught a 42″ northern…it was a horse. Erik, one of our guys in Cabin 7 last week, released a super nice northern as well as a 25.5″ walleye. Mike E., a buddy from home, released 24″ and 25″ walleyes too. Make sure you check out our website for photos of the recent Conservation Awards Program fish. We had some doozies last week. I know that Adam G. of the Bear’s Den this week released a 44″ northern just this morning! I can’t wait to see the picture.

More good news: the weather has been lovely. Yesterday (22nd) was quite overcast. Steve and I had to drive to Dryden but predicted an awesome day of fishing. We were right on! We returned to a bunch of happy campers. We’d been a bit sunny for several days and recommended that our guests low-light the walleyes–get out super early or later in the evening. Folks can jerk some perch or play with northerns and smallies midday. Temps have been hovering in the mid-70’s to low 80’s with the nights cooling off perfectly.

Here comes the bad news. Adam’s last day is this Saturday. He gave us notice last week. He’s taking a job with Rushing River Provincial Park which should fit well with his Eco-System Management degree. He’s done an excellent job for us and had become very independent in his routine. A mid-season departure is hard on us though: we don’t know whether to re-train someone or just finish out the season on our own. It takes so long to get someone to the independent level, and we really have only a couple of months left. We have an 18-year-old from Dryden coming up next week to meet us and talk about possibilities. I’ll keep you posted.

The only other bad news is that we had to order a new riding mower and a new ice machine all in the same week:( Eek. Yes, we are finally replacing the ice machine altogether. We thought it was fixed well enough this winter when we took it to Iowa, but it just can’t keep up when the weather’s hot. We just decided to bite the bullet.

Anna (Da Niece) has another week with us. She continues to be a good help–especially to me. Now that the weather’s nice, she’s really enjoying her time. We talk long power walks that she refers to as “death marches.” Our longest walk is 7.6 miles–her idea last Sunday. It took us about two hours but it was good. She was able to blare her trumpet to wake up this week’s guests in the Bear’s Den! Al, the dad, has a tradition of banging pots and pans to wake his adult kids. This year we gave him Anna. It was hilarious and greatly appreciated by Al.

I’ll close with some more of John and Marie’s photos–mostly scenery. I received a ton of photos last week from guests and will start on them next. It is so good for me to see the sights through my guest’s eyes. I think it helps me realize how fortunate I am.