In the muskrat night.

Well actually the whole day was great. I get up – another beautiful day, crystal clear (the two previous nights sported full sky auroras! Check the POES web link on the SC web site it has been pretty accurate!) Low 80’s no wind and lake temps around the mid 70’s. Mmmm, what could be better than to be in the northern boreal forest on a day such as this? The scent of balsam in the air, the glass-like surface of the lake and schools of bass striking the surface at the dock. I quickly completed my morning watering tasks, my list of high priority jobs and high-tailed it down to the docks wearing my swimming suit and with my fly rod. I tie on a “mickey fin” streamer and wade into the warm water to the east of the east dock. The water is warm the sun glorious – the bass don’t miss a beat as I stealthily move to within striking distance with blue heron-like grace (well maybe an elderly arthritic heron anyway). I strip out the line commit it to the loop in the air and choose my target. The streamer drops to the surface and the bass strikes before I pull in the slack. The streamer flies wildly overhead when I try to set the hook (first cast – no cursing yet). A bass is hooked on the third cast – it’s a monster! All of eight inches! But what a fight! Several bass later I decide it is time to get more work done, after a quick dip in the lake.

Work goes well for me in the heat of the day. I collect and take the garbage to the dump (no bears) and get a lot of other sundry jobs completed. We have supper and decide to go fishing at dusk. Janet wants to go out alone in her boat so she can stay out fishing during the mosquito crush from about 9:00 to 11:00. I take off in my cedar strip rocket for elephant rock with casting rod and fly rod in my arsenal. No hits at all on the mepps! Hmm, what is this nonsense? I pull out the trusty buggy whip and flog the water with my streamer. One small bass later I see a small area where the minnows have been disturbed. I cast to the area and nab a fish immediately. Not a very good fight – yeegads it’s a small walleye! First one ever for me on a fly! I adjust location and apply bug repellent. The mosquitoes swarm like hair on a dog – but the trusty muskol lives up to its reputation. Night falls gently with the waning violet of the sunset. I realize I forgot a flashlight and fumble with my swivel, clipping on a big iridescent yellow jitterbug. First cast – slam! – big bass! I drop the anchor on the top of the reef. Next cast slam! Two jumps and a head shake, the bug returns to the boat alone. I am getting one or two bites every cast! Several casts and fish later, a monster bass breaks off my bug! I run the terminal line through my lips – the line is chafed from the beating of catching several bass. There is a half moon, its dark, I have no flashlight and I have to tie on a swivel and clip on another jitterbug! Seemingly 30 hours later the task is complete. I have true empathy for the sight impaired! The string of bites and fish continues – no bass under 12 inches, average size of about sixteen inches! The routine is this – cast toward elephant rock until I get a cast retrieved without a bite – then cast to the south until I get a cast with no bites. After about a dozen nice bass I check my line above the jitterbug – Jeesh – it feels like somebody has been scuffing my line with sandpaper, and my ancient bug has lost one of the tines on its aft treble! Hmmmm – the buggy whip – why not? Thirty hours later I have a red popper “tied on” (I employ four half hitches as it is impossible to tie a conventional knot in the dark!) Three nice bass later the mosquitoes decide that their swarming time is over – the bass think likewise about their evening dining. I rocket home, moon above and below reflected in a perfect mirror of pure life. Is this heaven? No it’s Sportsmen’s Camp.

Of an old friend.

I refer to Sothman Lake up the Grassy. Sothman is a smallish lake with very clear water and long convoluted shoreline. It has a sublime large deep weed bed that was, until recently, occupied by a huge quantity of well built good sized Pike and a plethora of medium and large sized Perch. There is also a small population of walleye attempting a come back in the lake.

For many years Sothman was on a four-year closure and one-year open to fishing regime. Sothman was on a rotation with four other lakes that were being hurt by overfishing, generally with respect to the walleye populations. Sothman appeared to flourish under the closure routine. I took groups to the lake fishing several times over each open summer and the results were always about the same. I would catch and release between 7 and 13 pike (20” to 33” well built fish) within the first hour and most of the others in the party would catch a minimum of say 3 pike. Then we would put on the small hooks and bobbers to fish for a perch dinner and rest the pike. After having a ball catching enough of the little whirling dervishes for dinner we would then begin another round of pike fishing. The afternoon pike were usually the big ones! Someone in the party would generally hook into or boat at least one fish in the 38 to 40 inch range (generally me, he he he). Fun, Fun, Fun! Then we would take a swim at the landing and bid beautiful Sothman lake adieu – taking only a perch dinner and a couple Pike that died on the operating table. (This is how the Good Doctor John got his nickname, at Sothman – “the operation was a success but the patient died on the operating table!”) Given the above parameters it is safe to say that the fishing used to be great at Sothman.

Well – there is no longer a closure rotation on Sothman or the other small lakes in the grassy region. But there is a slot limit on walleye so no walleye between 16 and 20 inches may be legally kept. As soon as the slot limit went into effect the closure rotation was suspended. After all, the only fishery of any concern to the ministry is the all-important walleye or its elusive Canadian brother the pickerel. I love the slot limit and it’s doing great things for the walleye fishery, but walleye weren’t the only fish in Sothman. Now people are camping on Sothman and stripping the lake of every active pike they can get. I had a group of fishermen go to Sothman this spring. They did poorly and I went back yesterday with similar results. Almost no pike were caught, but a reasonable group of perch. Each time there were campers on the lake and I am thinking they are the same ones. I am not implying that the campers are doing anything illegal but I am saying that it is certainly unsportsmanlike and nonconservationist! I would like the closure rotation reinstituted. I won’t go back to the Sothman Lake again for at least 4 years.

Now for the hard part – If anyone would like to voice their concerns about the demise of Sothman Lake:

Email – Subject: Sothman Lake concerns, Marty Blake, Gowgama Area Supervisor at carole.talbot@mnr.gov.ca

Or write to:

Marty Blake
Gowgama MNR Area Supervisor
5 Low Avenue
Gowgama, Ontario P0M 1W0

Thanks to all who help out.

The lake temperature is 72F and the day is crystalline clear, temperature in the low 70’s and a slight breeze. Beautiful. There was a major aurora last night – fabulous, it took over about a half of the entire sky. I walked around camp easily with no moon out seeing very well with the light from the aurora!

Drunken Posting.

Ok, OK, This is a real drinken posting. I just got from the fire and I won’t do any spell – check! Promise!

This posting is to emIND ALL YOU PEOPLE, AS JENIT SAY S “THATH HAVE TO GO TO WORK TOMORROW” That Hey we still are having fun!” We went down to the fire and wtached the space stachun go over and had a few beer – we discussed metaphysics and epistomolgy and watched the northern lights. That’s asbout the whole of iot so much for now – this charle kuralte, on the raod Gowgandsa = smalll town Can.

Pennies from heaven.

Enough with the spare change already! Maybe if it were dollars (Canadian) it wouldn’t be so bad. My plans for completion of the two new cabins have been devastated by the last two days of steady rain and drizzle! So today I will bite the bullet and get prunereal. (The state of wrinkledness from excessive moisture, Terry) Dweezil bit the bullet also, going out with Rudy and Kirby this morning – she returned “soaked” a few minutes ago. There really isn’t all that much to do on the new cabins its just that its outside. I painted the wood on #10’s screen door yesterday in the shop and the paint still isn’t dry! I’ve also wanted to get my boat in the water, but NOOOOO! Another outgrowth of the rain is that it is a fait accompli that the beaver dam(n) will have to be torn out. One good thing is that it has been a long slow rain so that the soil is taking on as much water as it can possibly hold. This should lower the chances for forest fires later in the year, insure a good growth year for the trees and blue berries, as well as insure good recharge to the lakes during the later summer dry periods. Ah, such is life, good and bad with everything (except of course the Evil Janeeto from the Planet Janetron and maybe the Evil Jen).

The lake temperature is back down to 68F and the wind is still from the north with ambient air temps at ~ 65F. There was another massive hatch of giant green drake nymphs last night. There are also some slate drakes mixed in this time. A major portion of the hatch has been washed onto the beach by the north wind, so I’ll probably have to remove their carcasses as soon as practical. The wind also minimized the amount of the hatch being consumed by the lake denizens. Thus portending good fishing as soon as the weather breaks.

And the livin’ is easy.

Its raining today and I have a long list of little jobs that will seemingly take days and I have to get the garbage. So what do I do – Hey its time to write a blog! I am just hoping that the steady rain will let up somewhat.

Janet and I went fishing 2 days ago right after a massive hatch of giant green drake nymphs. The hatch casings were all over the lake surface with a density of about one casing per 8 square inches! Suffice to say the fishing was slow but still not bad. Over a period of about 1.5 hr.s Janet and I caught about a dozen bass, ranging from 4” to 18” and I caught a really nice walleye on the rubble field north of Gull rock. I got several small bumps on my mepps during the drift. I told Janet that they felt like walleye bumps and as soon as I said it – I set the hook on a good sized nibble bugger (walleye)! All my fish were caught on – all together now – No.3 silver blade mepps! Who’d a thunk it!

Yesterday the Jachymeks went over to Serpentine and had a fantastic day of fishing. It was a hot clear breezy day. The water is still high on the lake. They caught far more Pike than usual and had problems getting smaller eating sized bass! Most of the bass were over 15”! They also said that they lost some really nice pike (30”+) in the usual “big pike” location.

Sweatshirt update: The sweatshirt logo has been finalized and they are now being stitched. They are high quality hoodless pullovers and Janet tells me they will be selling for $40 (Canadian – not Dutch guilders). They will probably be picked up in the next 2 weeks.

The lake level was at an optimum when I left at the end of June. I was hoping that the later summer dry season would take over and I wouldn’t have to rip out the beaver dam(n) this year. When I got back the lake was up about 2.5” from when I left and today’s rain will bring it up another half to full inch. So it looks like I’ll be making my annual trek to remove the dam(n). The beavers built it about 300 yd.s downstream this year, so it will be a hike too! C’est la vie!

It’s about 65F today and the lake temp is back down to 69F. The wind is screaming out of the north and 1.5-ft waves are crashing on the beach. It’s a beautiful sight! Is this heaven? No it’s Sportsmen’s Camp.

Of the boreal forest.

A new land speed record to camp has just been set. I made the camp run yesterday in 9 hours 45 min.s! That’s 651 miles with an average speed of 66.8 mph! And, get this, it was in the venerable ford truck (200K odometer)!

The weather is here wish you were beautiful! Its 80+F sunny, breezy, and mild humidity – well two outta three ain’t bad. The lake temp is a good solid 70 degrees. Great swimming temp!

Some of my time in the southland was spent productively with several days of swimming and water-skiing on Shenango reservoir in Jim and Linda Palmer’s boat – the rest was wasted with work. I know I told them, but I’d like to say it publicly – going out in the boat with Jim and Linda is the most fun that anyone can have with their swimming suit on! Our old digital camera developed a problem and it has now been replaced – so you can expect some more photos appearing on the blog. For instance I just got a shot of Dweezil with a chipmunk that she havested – killed to you nonhunters. I am also back at the helm here so you can expect regular installments of bombastic prose!

Well hello, I really must be going – work beckons (or is that a 50?).

Jan here at the helm. Jack is “working” in Pennsylvania.

We have finally had two days of summer, in a row, no less. Therefore, good things have been happening.

I cut grass throughout the entire camp yesterday WITHOUT A BUG JACKET for the first time this year.

Last night I went fishing and caught a couple BASS ON A SURFACE LURE for the first time this year.

Today, I went SWIMMING for the first time this year.

The last two days have been in the upper 70’s/low 80’s. The water temperature has reached 69. (I usually wait to go swimming until the water is at least 70 degrees, but I couldn’t wait one more day.) The few people that are in camp are catching walleye over rocks in the evening on rapalas and spinners. Also, I caught a few bass in the shallows over rock the past couple nights. We had a big hatch of “mayflies” this week and the fish were playing hard to get earlier in the week, but that seems to have ended today.

We are seeing the “fox-lings” all over camp now. Day and night they can be spotted just about anywhere around camp. Kirby saw one today and was no match for its speed, luckily. (OOPS, there’s another first I forgot about: Kirby chasing a fox) They are almost as big as Mama Vixen, but they seem very content to stay in their “resort” home under the shop.

Last but not least, there is a bat flying around the store. Check that, he just flew by me into the house. Oh well, looks like I need to get the minnow net or badminton racket and chase it outside. Over and Out.