This week marks the 2nd full month here in Canada, the weather is warm and the wild flowers are blooming!
It is hard to believe that merely two months ago we were complaining about the
ice and cold and rejoicing to the fact that there were no bugs. Now we are
cursing the bugs and wishing for colder weather. We actually had a reprieve this
last week when the temps in the afternoon only reached the mid 50’s which meant
the nights were in the 40’s which in turn meant no bugs! People just don’t get
it when I say the bugs are bad, the only thing you can relate it to is when you
think the bugs are bad in your particular location. When the bugs were bad in
back home in Wisconsin, you would have 10 or so mosquitoes bugging you, up here
you will have well over a hundred bugging you and may have 10-15 on one arm!
Then you add in the black flies and no-see-ums and I can see how someone could
go seriously nuts without protection!
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This week Barb and I started tending to the bear stands as
bear season opens in a little over a month. We spent several days out in the
bush looking for bear sign, clearing existing hunt sites and cutting fallen
trees off logging roads that had not been used since last fall. Some people may
think we are nuts but those are actually very enjoyable days, getting out on
the 4 wheeler and just exploring. We did not see any bears this week but we saw
sign a plenty, in a future post I will take pictures of some of the sign so you
can get an idea of what we look for. The mother grouse and chicks are still plentiful
on the logging roads, I think they go there to eat the flies and bugs in the short
grass. Probably the coolest think I saw this week happened when I was out by
myself doing some bear scouting. I was driving the 4 wheeler down a logging road through an 3 year old
clear cut when something caught my eye as I drove by it. I stopped the wheeler
and walked back to find a sandhill crane chick hiding in a clump of grass. The
clump of grass was smaller than the crane but it thought it was well camouflaged
and just sat there while I took a few pictures.
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| Sandhill chick "hiding" in the grass |
Barb and I also went out on a search and rescue mission this
week. Well actually, it was only a two person search and rescue (Barb and I ).
There was a husband and wife couple in their 60’s in camp from Fort Worth
Texas. They had a really nice canoe set up and liked to fish remote lakes, well
one morning I woke up and saw that they were not there and had not come back the previous night so I told
the resort owner that Barb and I were going to drive to the lake that they were
fishing to see if we could find them. The lake is 20 kilometers up the road and
5 miles back on a logging road. We were about ½ down that logging road and
there they are walking towards the main road. We did not have pizza (see blog Rain,
Rain and Helicopter Rides) but we did offer them a bottle of water and a
couple of granola bars. They explained that when they were done fishing
the day before they had backed their truck close to the lake to load their canoe
and equipment and it sunk in the mud. They tried getting out for a couple of
hours but when it started getting dark they knew they were in for the night, so
they tucked themselves into their truck and spent a fitful night swatting
mosquitoes that somehow were managing to get in the truck. I had brought enough
gear for a major rescue mission but luckily only had to use a tow strap and we
were all on our way back to camp. I wanted to take a couple of pictures of them and their stuck truck but Barb did not think it was a good idea.....although they were in good spirits, I don't think they wanted their pictures taken.
Speaking of fishing, we got out a few times last week, one
day Chad and I went to Alexander Dam in the town of Nipigon for Brook Trout and
Lake Trout where we did not do very well. Another time Barb and I went out on
Pasha Lake for Lake Trout and got skunked……. Those trout are very finicky! Truth be told, we did not fish too seriously on Pasha, it was more of a relaxing afternoon on the lake. We
also got out to Onaman were we spanked the walleyes. When I got to one of our
favorite fishing areas there were
several pelicans about 10 feet from shore feeding, where the pelicans feed must
mean there are baitfish and baitfish mean walleyes are probably near. So we
drifted over that way, (the pelicans were none too pleased) and started
fishing. By the end of the day we must have caught 40-50 each in 4-12 feet of
water. The biggest was of course caught be Barb coming in at an impressive 29”.
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| Alexander Dam |
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| Daisy playing "Queen of the tackle box" |
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| Daisy keeping me company while I fish |
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| Barb in her bug suit on the way to Onaman |
This week our goal is to finally figure out these Lake Trout
and get one in the smoker…..stay tuned!
