Has slipped away.

We have cracked the hunter’s moose bones of summer and sucked the last vestiges of sweet fun marrow dry. *sigh* But time marches on. I will be translating to Starbase Bryson immanently.

The last few days have been beautiful, sunny clear and warm.  We’ve gotten a lot of things done but we’ve also got some fishing in. A couple days ago we went out and caught several fish on the deeper shoals and had a great time, drinking a few beers and enjoying the sun. Its interesting that from mid summer on when the lake temps are in the upper 60’s low 70’s leeches are the optimal bait but once the temps get down to low 60’s upper 50’s they seem to switch over to minnows completely. Hmmmm there is a theory here but I am not drunk enough to figure it out!

The scrub maples are also showing up much brighter this year than they have for years.

As we were docking the boat we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of one of the Wild Dogs of Firth lake! When I got back I fired the sauna and then jumped into the 60F (and I do mean “F”)  lake to remove the remaining rocks from the dock pilings. The beer helped but I am fortunate that my limbs go numb pretty quickly. The only thing is that my head would freeze whenever I submerged! Goaded on by the cold I got it done pretty quickly then retired to the sauna for a short while. After warming and a hot shower we had our last fresh Firth Lake bass supper of the season. Just me Janet and the kids and a mess of small beer battered fillets and fries. I don’t want to go home! But alas it has turned cold today and I must go. Janet will hold the fort and promises to give the final bear hunt wrap up report soon. Janet has also “gone hog wild” posting videos on youtube so check them out, nothing too exciting just what we’ve experienced the last few days.

I awake to the soft gaugh gaugh gaugh of the ravens with just the faintest tang of wood smoke in the air to see a crystalline blue sky that only the north can produce. Bart whines as he puppy yawns and begins his furious tail wiggling good morning kisses. I stumble to my feet pick him up and take him outside. Another beginning to one of those perfect last days of summer. If I ponder on it I almost weep that its the end of summer but then I think of all the cool things I have to do today – rip out and build a new ramp for the shop, run a snake down to remove any blockages in our septic line, change the plugs – wires – rotors and distributor caps on the vehicles, try to remove the alternator from the truck….. then I remember that our friends Brian and Art should be in residence today. Uh OH! guess those plans are scrapped! “Attention liver control room this is the bridge we’re gonna need warp nine for 5 days! Aye Cap’n we’re on-it like a Scotsman on a new ewe (ewww!)” Jessh! I better write a blog before I take Bart to the beach to bail my boat of last nights nightly rain. But what the hell will I write that anyone will want to read? Hmmmm – they’re not here they’ll read anything and like it sooo…… I plug in the random word generator and punch up the gain on the sentimenality control. Come on Bart lets go to the beach.

The bear hunt is still going great guns, so to speak.  In each of the first three weeks of the hunt there was only one bear hunter that did not get a bear.  So far in the fourth week three hunters have gotten a bear and it is only Monday.  The biggest this week was a 175 pound female.   Here is a picture of Kirk’s 200 pound bear from last week.

The new trebuchet lives! It throws smooth as silk no wobble, no shake, no vibration – sweet. But the first few throws were not without drama – we have a new “sky-light” on the porch on number 9, and one backwards “worm burner”. Janet has posted the videos on Youtube. Check them out. 

The new sky-light is perfectly positioned to allow optimum viewing of northern lights. Speaking of aurora we had a very good show of lights that night too. Four of us sat down at the fire area under blankets braving the brisk north wind watching the light ebb, flow and dance across the sky. It was a delightful natural fireworks display. We then went home and drank beer and played Oh Shit till the wee hours of the morn. The previous day it was hot sunny and with little wind  – a perfect pike fishing day – Me, Paul, and Charlie trekked to Spider. It was a pretty good day of fishing. I didn’t bother to count the pike I caught but it was definitely double digits. I also caught a nice 36″ one. The cool thing about this fish was his location – I caught him in the small inlet to Herron in about 3′ of water in dense weed cover! I was pulling the little cleo on the surface to clear a patch of weed and he plowed it like a spring field! He then fought like a champ too. After I returned him to the lake I put on my blue zara spook and caught 3 or 4 off the surface. It was great fun! But the fish du jour goes to Charlie. The final troll of the day he was waylaid by a leviathan! It surprisingly only measured out to 36″ but was an Arnold SchwarzzenPIKE. A real beast!

It fought like it too! Here is Charlie with the beastie. Speaking of beasts the 39″ pike that I caught on Metikemedo probably weighed about the same as this 36 incher! Janet has also posted a video of me fighting it and some of the pike’s aerial work. Its a drizzly cool day today so I think Charlie, Paul and me are going to do some recon work and pick up a bunch of projectile rocks for the trebuchet.

Summer is finally here and the fur is flying. It was close to 90 degrees the past two days and there have been 3 bears killed. For those of you that need to know how the hunt is going, here are the statistics.

Week one: five hunters, four bear killed

Week two: seven hunters, six bear killed

Week three: seven hunters, four bear killed and counting.

There have been three bears over 200 pounds and six bears between 140 and 200 pounds. Most of the bears that have been killed are boars. Bob is happy, so we’re all happy. Harvey is still in camp and awaiting the first Trebuchet launch. Life is good here at Sportsmen’s Camp.

This is Bob Zollinger’s grandson Tyler with his bear. 152 pounds. Way to go Bubba!

Stay tuned for the final bear report late next week.

Progress is being made on the trebuchet. The weight box has been assembled and attached. The trebuchet has also been powered up to the tune of about three quarter of a ton of rock.

So here it is standing in the morning sun relaxing and waiting for the trigger mechanism to be attached, the cocking strong-point to be put in place, the base hold downs to be tied in and some additional rock bases to be placed. It looks pretty good a true moving work of art – ominous, powerful and beautiful – ready fling heaps of granite.

Another of the most beautiful things in the entire world is my ancient cedar-strip boat – the Piscarius. It has now gone mobile!

Paul and Charlie made some adjustments to the small trailer so that she sits ready for lift off to assault any nearby water body with speed, grace and elegance. Another piece moving art!

On that note, her maiden voyage off of Firth was down the Montreal River. It was a gorgeous day and the fish were extremely cooperative.

Bart received walleye tasting lessons from his daddy.

I caught another “Pike of Note” from my favorite weed-bed on Metikemedo. The beast was 39″ and was well built and man handled me on my pike rod and calcutta! Janet took a video of it fighting and jumping and says she’ll post it on Utube. I’ll pass on the link if it comes to pass.

We caught several nice perch and the entire Montreal Crew had a wonderful time and an excellent walleye dinner to cap off the day.

Geesh is it already September? – SHIT!