You all know the saying "When life gives you lemons..." Well we are living that cliche now...and making lemonade.
Finally a water update! We love our Wabaskang! Water temps were at high 60's in most areas, low 70's in our first lake. Water levels have come down from last year (numerous docks of our neighbors on the Wabby had serious damage over the winter due to extremely high levels). About 3-6 inches lower than average for this time of year- late June. A few rocks that were underwater last year are now poking out.
Fishing Conditions for mid/late June:
Windblown shorelines produced a lot of fish
Less than 5 hours we were pushing 40 fish and almost all were high quality; mixed bag of species
Fairly shallow 3-6 feet of water
Swimbait and Propala x wrap
No live bait used :)
And Fishing! We got into all the main species- found some sweet spots that were so much fun- With no boat pressure, literally none at all, we were able to have the lake to ourselves. We got into some pike at Mud Lake, and found a new secret spot where we just cranked fish after fish, almost every cast was a bite. First it was smallies, then walleye, then northern- it was insane.
We caught and released too many to count! It had been so long since we were out, the first time we forgot a net! You know how that goes- of course that's when we needed it, so numerous fish didn't get landed, but the thrill made it so much fun anyway.
This one is the classic "I caught the same fish twice"! Ryan got into a low 30" northern but as he was reeling it in, he got away. Ryan was having a pity party that he lost his $10 lure, and "Man, I can't believe that northern got it"- you've probably been there. But then five minutes later, he got another hit and was like, "It's another pike". This time, he was able to land it and as he goes to take lure out, he sees his original! He was such a happy camper that he got his lure back! And I was happy that I wouldn't have to listen to him gripe about a lost lure all day :)
We got a 38 incher northern to boat, but couldn't boat it without a net (rookie mistake I know)
Several northern in high 20s and mid 3os
Got into some real nice smallmouth finding some boulder areas near weed edges
Bridget caught some eater size walleye for our first fresh walleye dinner (which was a-mazing). And then they kept getting bigger: She landed a healthy 19.25" AND her
personal biggest to date a 21.5". Ryan couldn't figure out the camera on the 19" (I'm sure that's happened to some of you too), but did manage to get this one:
We are now officially out of quarantine. We arrived to camp after a 17 hour one day trip; the border took longer than normal, but the drive was absolutely beautiful. Black bear sighting on the 502, tons of turtles, and all the pines and water views, and rolling hills just engulfed us. Due to such limited travelling going on in Ontario right now, we saw very few cars once across the border. And sadly, the towns of International Falls and Fort Frances seemed like ghost towns (Pictured below is Border Bobs which is boarded up).
While not allowed to have contact with anyone for the past two weeks, Ryan and I took the opportunity to begin projects, at a pace very different than when guests would be here. We spent the first four days or so making our cabin just the way we want it. Got quite a few knick knacks to hang up and got some deep cleaning done.
Getting the water going, docks in, and mowing were some high priorities too. We got started on an endless summer job of powerwashing and staining. Going one cabin at a time but thank goodness we know a professional painter. Ryan used to jokingly call his company R.T. Painting International- well now it really is (fyi, he's fired me multiple times already but has been left with no choice but to re-hire me). The weather has been fantastic- mostly 70's during the day with 60's for sleeping. Supposed to be getting a little warmer this week.
Earl is coming- woohoo. He got a flight booked and will be here soon! We are able to hire him, but with such a shortened season Patsy will not be joining us this year- we'll miss you Patsy! We observed while on a little golf cart ride how he'd get the property looking in tip top shape as we noticed his absence almost immediately.
Some of the pictures I've been taking of our unique camp life going on right now. (The pressure is on me to produce the only fodder lol).
Our resident Eagle (We nicknamed him "Eagle Man", yes like the auto insurance) has really gotten comfortable with us and we enjoy seeing him daily.
The ducks (about a dozen) make their morning leisurely swim from one end of the shoreline to the other. We hear the loons and geese, and watch the tiny squirrels chase after one another right in front of our porch (we've nicknamed them Sam and Max).
We also discovered some tracks the first day at camp- wolf and moose!
Also found some bear scat but thought better of taking a pic of that. Saw a fox yesterday on the pipeline.
We have relaxed a handful of evenings on the dock watching the sunset and hearing the calm waves hitting the rocks on the shoreline. I will admit that I do not miss the stress of the states. I wish you all could be up here with us, escaping the chaos/nonsense stressball that 2020 has been. It took a few days to settle in to this new routine, but we are less anxious now and able to literally shut it off. With that being said, please be patient if calling/emailing us, as we are moving around camp and don't check as often as when we were at home.
Now that we can get out more, we hope to visit with our Canadian neighbors and of course make some visits to Dutchies, get some take out (poutine!) from Whiskey Jack, and we'll make a day trip to either Red Lake or Kenora. We'll just have to see what the day brings :)
We will continue with camp projects but will take time to enjoy these priceless moments up here as well. While we are so much more at ease up here than when we couldn't get to camp, we still feel it isn't quite complete because of the absence of guests. We miss the buzz of camp and filleting fish in the evening, and sharing these sunsets with you all. I remember Andrea telling us that Tall Pines isn't just about the beautiful property, its about the guests that make memories in the cabins and on the water. I couldn't agree more, and this is a true testament to that.
Important Reminders:
Use email and 888-413-3454 to reach us while up here in Canada; Ryan's personal cell/Voicemail is not working here in Canada.
Due to this season being postponsed thus far, we are filling up fast for next year! We are trying to give 2020 guests first dibs on their booking for 2021, and are just waiting on a few May/June/July guests to re-book before we open things up. Please be patient.
For all you die hards who can't get enough of Tall Pines...Sign up to receive announcements and be the first to know when new blogs go out by joining the Wix app for Tall Pines Camp Perrault Falls (Open blog from the website and click on "sign-up")
I will take some pics for a blog next month, and probably won't post again til we hear more about the border (new closure date expires July 21st). But I hope reading this was therapeutic in taking your mind to a happy peaceful place.
Now, gotta go enjoy that glass of lemonade.