Halley-Canada Day 4 (3rd Day Fishing)

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

I got up this morning without Dad or TR having to holler at me. I guess the Wiser was kind-er last night. Part of the experience of Halley’s Camp – Kettle Falls is the accommodations. We stayed in Cabin 6 – a three bedroom, three bath cabin with a small living room. Obviously, we each had our room and bathroom (an unspoken thankfulness from each of us I’m sure). More about the accommodations later….

Breakfast was my-kind again. Nothing starts a day better than 2 eggs, bacon, hash browns, and toast…unless it’s having pre-breakfast coffee on the lodge’s east deck as the sun comes up each morning…or maybe it’s headed out in the Camp’s Luna aluminin fishing boat with a 60hp Mercury whining a “it’s going to be a good morning” tune as we scoot over smooth-as-glass water to one of Mac’s “old faithful” fishing spots at 8 in the morning.

We headed to Popular Bay/Popular Lake this morning. Mac the Guide hadn’t fished it all summer, so he said.

Dad started the day where he left off…the first stop, he caught a 25″ Walleye. TR and I looked at each other and thought to ourselves “here we go again…did we bring enough memory sticks to take all the pictures of Dad catching fish?”

Mac was cruising between known fishing spots when all of a sudden he would chuckle, make a 180° turn, and throw out his spot marker. “Let’s give this spot a 10 minute try boys”. And we gladly obliged his guide investigations, twice.

The day was overcast and windy. Temperatures were cool. The lake/river got choppy early in the day – so much so that for a smoother ride, Mac moved TR to the back of the boat for ride across the open water from Popular Bay to shore lunch. We bounced our way across the lake pretty well.

We headed back to Eagle Point for shore lunch (same place as our Day 1 Fishing shore lunch).

Have I mentioned how Mac filleted fish? He’s done it a time or two – it’s 4 cuts per fish and no gutting. First he cuts behind the gill to the spine, both sides (2 cuts). Then  starting from the tail, he slides his knife along the spine to the cut behind the gill, both sides (2 cuts). Mac than throws the filets into the fishing net and tosses what’s left of the fish into the shallow water. Those damn gulls then entertain us as they fight over the fish remnants. Finally, Mac takes those wonderful looking filets that are in the fishing net and reaches out into the water as far as the handle will let him and still keep his feet dry, and gives the filets about 5 dunks…washed and cleaned as they’re gonna get, the fish are now ready for the pan.

Fisherman 3 (that would be Dad, TR, and me…but we we’re not a singing trio yet BTW) started the fire, Mac did the cooking. Shore lunch gave us the usual beans (warmed in the can), potatoes and onions, and this time, Cajun-style Walleye. All I’ve got to say is Mac was as good a cook as he was a fishing guide. Started to sprinkle (rain) while we ate.

Explored some of the flora on the shore lunch island while Mac was prepping lunch. Found wild blueberry and “don’t eat em” berries (aka Poison Berry and Goose Berry). All sorts of lichen and moss; spuce and pine; maple; many other plants I would need to study before figuring out what we got here.

At lunch, we headed up the “black waters” of the Sturgeon River. This was a beautiful river; narrow in places, cliffy, dark water, and bald eagles perched in trees on both sides of the river.

Several bald eagles were flying back and forth across the river. Apparently the eagles in this area of the lake (Sturgeon River) are more “trained” to swoop down and grab a floating fish you’ve thrown from the boat. No luck this day – maybe it was because of the weather they were in more of a watchful mood.

Rain was coming. Mac and I got rain-geared up while Dad and TR fished, then we switched roles. I pulled out my gallon-sized baggies and put my Canon camera in one, cutting an opening for the lens and securing the plastic tightly around it with a rubber band. My Fujifilm camera (I call it my snapshooter) didn’t get in the bag in time because of a couple pictures I took,  and it got wet. I put the Fuji in the baggy after the pictures and humidity in the bag quickly fogged it up on the inside. I then left open the ziplock and faced it away from the rain/wind to protect the camera from further wet-ness…my diaper for the camera so to speak. Needless to say, I fretted about it well into the evening. All is well however with the snapshooter, and I got the pictures I wanted despite the rain.

At 2:20pm, rain and lightning ran us off the lake. After the 4th flash in 5 minutes (Mac only saw the last one – I saw all four of ‘em), we pulled in bait and headed back to Camp.

A 26 1/2″ Walleye has landed between lightning strikes 3 and 4 – guess by who? Mac could not believe the fatness of this fish when it was landed, and told Dad it was 2-3 pounds heavier than a typical fish this size. Mac said had he not been so plump, he would be at least a 27″ Trophy fish. Sooooooooo, Mac the Guide tells Dad the Trophy Fisherman ”let’s do paper, rock, scissors – if Dad wins, he gets another Trophy Fish certificate…if Mac wins, Dad has caught a big, fat 26 1/2″ non-Trophy Walleye.” Dad won the rock, paper, scissors (when was the last time you played that game Dad?). I don’t know, and I don’t want to know what Dad used to beat Mac – I was too busy wondering (sulking?) why my really fat 26″ Walleye the day before didn’t get the same game of chance with Mac the Guide-less to win one of those damn hats Dad and TR were gloating with each night (see I told you to remember this fish in an earlier post) . I’m not gonna get any sympathy with this, am I?

The fish in the Sturgeon River are a darker, more vivid color with beautiful markings. Mac said it was because the water is protected better from siltation and from the main body of water on the English River. The dark color of the water – because of no siltation – gives it the “black water” description amongst the guides.

We got back to Camp through the rain. It showered intermittently the rest of the afternoon and evening. We took the time to take a few pictures around the camp. Mac used the afternoon to cook popcorn for his black bear baits (he had a group of bear hunters coming in after our stay, so he been baiting spots every evening after fishing with us).

Dinner was a feast: spaghetti and meat sauce – and let me say this about the meat sausce…it was brought to our table (of 3) in a mixing bowl filled to the brim. It would have feed 8-10 people. The meat sauce chili was wonderful, and I did find a few spaghetti noodles every now and then. Dinner rolls, salad, and pie complimented the setting.

Back to the cabin for a few shots of Wiser before bed.