Going into the first narrows the week of September 20th, there was a stretch where one tree stood out above the rest. Where the rest of the surrounding trees had stalled out from changing into autumn color, this one showed a majestic golden hue:
It pulled at me, seemingly symbolic of so much around us. Sometimes, its okay to stand out from the rest of the pack, its okay to be different. And oftentimes-just like the solo tree-once you do your thing, others will follow, and soon there will be countless trees of golden leaves. It also reminds me of the famous quote from the classic The Outsiders, "Stay Gold Ponyboy, Stay Gold." Being up here on the Wabaskang brings a pureness, an innocence, and the return of staying true to yourself to all its inhabitants. Maybe you thought you had lost it, maybe it was buried deep under layers of the baggage of life, or maybe you discovered it for the first time. However it may happen, guests are able to self-reflect up here in a way they can't quite achieve at home-finding their Gold from within. We at Tall Pines embrace that.
Wrapping up the season, temps have still been incredibly mild, water temps just now getting into 50's. The water level approached '21 level lows, but all our anglers were able to get their trip in. Remember the May of last year pic where water came to top of platform? This year, guests got a glute workout walking the ramp!
Those that come up late September not only still have great fishing opportunities, but also have the perk of having camp/the lake almost to themselves.
Fishing...
Bender and Tim made it a 2 weeker this year and caught/released some gorgeous-big walleye and northern:
Longtime guest Tony caught some big- and some small- fish:
Tony brought his crew Dan, Ron, Al and newcomer Chris who was a natural:
Would you believe it if I said all these smallies were caught on the same day? hashtag wardrobe change (the middle was my biggest of season at 19.5")
Fall crappie fun:
I caught and reeled in this 39.5" northern, but we could tell it was stressed, so I let Ryan quickly handle it and we got it back in the water- team effort thrill!
Leaderboard Update:
And this one was suspect. While I left for a few days and Ryan was gonna be busy "working away", I come back to find him leading that week in 3 categories! Apparently he was accomplishing a different to-do list than the one I thought he was working on, and all I can say is thank goodness for Frank's cabin 5 and 6 guys:
We had several grouse hunters in this September and the grouse were plentiful. Jon and Mallah mix their trip up with fishing and hunting, and with many years experience, Mallah got her fix:
The longtime Tall Pines Leopold family was finally back up for some cast and blasting. Son Matt and grandkids flew all the way from Washington D.C. As Joe put it, "It gave us great joy watching the boys experience the thrill of Canadian fishing and Grouse hunting."
Fall is a time for stunning views of treelines, wildlife, and skies- whether it be from the shores of an island, a firepit, a boat, or from your cabin porch:
Earl and Patsy left a few weeks ago and had a lovely sendoff. For Earl's last pic of the week feature for this year, he picked this one as it encapsulates who's boss around here:
And in other news, with a little more time to focus on camp wants and needs, we've been busy in project mode from deep cleaning/shutting down all 11 cabins, to staining some areas, moving the docks, moving a new sectional into the Bear's Den, and are in the beginning stages of some revamping surprises, so stay tuned:
Thanks for a terrific season to everyone who came up over the last 19 weeks. There are no words for what this meant to us.
Stay Gold.
One more blog this year to come, and look for the holiday newsletter out sometime in December via email. :) Some of you are still tagging the old Facebook page. Are you following us on our new/active Facebook page? Click here!