Here it is  - our last full day at Manitou Weather Station.  And it is windy but not as bad as yesterday - wind gusts up to 35 mph (it's 13 with gusts to 25 now) - the lake looked like the beach with all of the waves.  We went out for a couple hours this morn - caught a few small mouths and pikes.  Back to cabin for lunch and Jerry is out fishing again.  We are having supper at the lodge tonight since by that time I will have the kitchen stuff packed up.  

It is hard to believe that it will be two weeks tomorrow that we arrived.  The first few days seemed never-ending (sunrise is around 5, sunset 9:30 but still light at 10:15) and now they are going by too fast.  I will admit that I was apprehensive - two weeks with no cell phone or tv but it hasn't been all that bad - I've managed to read 6 books.  And since we have the Internet, we kept up with the headlines and checked on family which gave us peace of mind.  So we weren't totally off the grid but close!

So tomorrow, we start the 1,100 mile journey home (as I'm typing this it is 105 in Conway and 78 here with 38% humidity - wonder if we can extend our stay?).  Thanks to all of you that have read and/or commented on the blog (btw - just found the caption key for the pictures!!).  I have enjoyed sharing our trip with you. Those of you that have not experienced a trip like this to Canada  -  you need to.  I am not going to say good-bye to MWS just "I'll see you next year".  Love to all

Self explanatory!

The waves from yesterday and it is looking like that now

Inukhuk at the lodge.  You see them along the shore and highways - trail markers

I haven't recorded the sound of the loon but here are a few youtube videos that you can watch.  Around 8:30 to 9 p.m. they really start up but you can hear the call off and on all day.  The shrill 4 to 5 note call is a warning by a male loon that you are in his territory.  The others you will recognize as the sound we all associate with the loon.  Hope you enjoy.  Also, the picture is from our dock looking down in about 4-5 feet of water.  Out on the lake you can see the bottom in 8-10 feet of water - really clear and cold.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb5HjRe_oNY&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpvTuMiJq1E&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=Hw1It3AlXmQ&NR=1

The day of the whoppers and I'm not talking Burger King!  It finally happened – we both caught big fish yesterday.  Started out a little cool, sunny and windy – have I said how much I dislike the wind?!  Anyway, we went to Olsen Bay - the one with the waterfall.  Jerry figured the bait fish would be pushed into the coves and bays (wind gust of 20 mph!).  And he was right.  We reeled in many 15 to 18" fish - some even made it easy for us and came off the spoon at the boat.  Jerry had one nice follow - the fish was huge.  Jerry did the mandatory figure 8 in the water but the giant turned tail and headed back to deeper water.  We moved back up to the top of the bay on the opposite side and started drifting - how could you not with gusts up to 20 mph!!  I got hung up in a grass bed, Jerry managed to get me out of there.  Then it happened and it wasn't a big hit.  In fact, I thought I had a smaller fish that had managed to pick up some grass but then we saw him.  He was not a happy fish as I got him to the boat - jumped and carried on like a madman (Dustin - I did rip some lip on this one!!).  We needed the net and did he hate the net - looked like a gator in a death roll and he made a mess.  Time was of the essence - we knew he was longer than 27.5 and needed to get back in the water.  He measured 31" - the largest fish I have ever caught.  Jerry managed to get him unhooked and time for pictures.  Since we were trying to get him back in the water, Jerry held the fish while I took a picture.  We went back to the top of the bay and started floating back into it.  Just a few fish, it was close to lunch time, so we headed back.

After lunch, Jerry decided to head back out to a bay across from the cabin.  It hadn't been more than an hour and he came motoring up.  When I got to the boat I noticed the live well divider was in the floor of the boat and I knew what that meant.  "Did you get a big one?"  He said - "Oh yes but I left the camera in the cabin."  So off I went, grabbed the camera and waited for him to pull out the fish.  It was a big fish for sure and it measured 31" too.  I don't know if we will catch one larger than that but we had a great day.  The first two pictures are Jerry holding his fish, the third is him letting it go (remember - we cannot keep fish between 27.5 and 36.5") and the last one is of Jerry holding my big fish.

 

Praying for all along Florida panhandle especially St. George Island.  Just saw there is a mandatory evacuation of the island.  They had closed the bridge from the mainland earlier but have opened it up before next onslaught of wind/rain so people can head north.  Hope all are safe and Debby does not destroy this beautiful place.

We had a great time fishing yesterday morn.  Went into a little bay and I stopped counting at 10 pike.  They were about 15-20" range but so much fun.  Made it back in time to join everyone at the lodge for a fish fry with the muskie "hunters".  They took a break from the tourney for lunch so we got to listen to the stories about "the one that got away".  Met a couple of guys that went to Cornell and get together up here every other year. Jerry went back out for several hours and got into the pike again.  We watched the sunset and called it a day.  Woke up this morn to temp of 56 and 57% humidity.  I know it is sweltering down there.  He has almost convinced me to live in northern MN June, July and August and I will probably agree after a couple days home.  Hope everyone has a great day and manage to stay cool.  1st pic - they did mine for gold up here so who knows what is at the end of that rainbow.  2nd pic - storm at sunset to the east of us yesterday.

Double Double Day!!!  The morning was beautiful - the bluebird sky and fluffy white clouds with a slight chance of rain.  So off we went, in hunt for lunch.  Jerry took me to a bay northwest of camp.  Fished for a little while - no action.  We were close to the waterfall from one lake into Manitou so we tied up the boat and started looking around.  There were rocks you could jump to get kinda close but with my balance issue I chose to hang around the boat (yoga really does help with balance and I'm really missing it).  Jerry managed to get almost to the falls but he said he would have to wade to get to the top.  We shoved off and went just about 100 feet down from the falls and started fishing with spoons.  We both had a couple of follows and then WHAM - we both had fish and both were pike.  Boated them and off we went again.  We each boated another.  Another cast - AGAIN - we both had fish.  Now we are talking some fun.  Fished a little longer and we were catching some small ones.  Had a few follows and  a few that took the lure at the boat with maybe 2 feet of line out.   We moved across the water and I caught a small mouth. I cast again and got hung up on submerged log.  About the time I was telling Jerry, he said WHOA - he had on a good size fish.  He got it up to the boat and it was a really big pike - at least to my standards it was big!  He had to land it with the net and without me since I was still "stuck".  I did manage to get the scales out so we could quickly weigh it before returning it to the water.  There is a slot limit up here - between 27.5" and 35.5" you have to throw back. We knew he was definitely over 27.5".  Most of the fish we are keeping are between 20" and 24".  We heard rumbling but it wasn't from an approaching storm - it was our tummies.  Jerry cleaned fish while I fixed country taters and onions with fresh cucs and maters on the side along with fresh fried pike.  As Rachel Ray would say - YUMMO.  So we are ahead on the fish - enough for two meals just in case the fish turn off which, up here, they do routinely.

The camp is having a muskie tournament today.  7:30 this morn there was a BANG and off they went.  Some of the lures they use to "hunt" muskie are between 1 and 2 feet - that's right.  Don't think I want to see anything that hits a lure that big.  Most of the time all they do is follow up to boat.  

Listened to the Hogs game last night. So close but they had a great run.   Jerry has gone to get the boat so I better finish up.  Got a few pics for ya. #1 - Jerry and the 7 lb. 4 oz. pike caught on their favorite lure - Len Thompson #2 gold spoon.  #2 - if you look in the middle of the pic there is a dot and that is a bald eagle - we got just a little too close for comfort.  #3 & #4 - small mouth Jer caught fly fishing late yesterday afternoon.  #5 - crescent moon after sunset.  The time of the pic is 9:52!!   Love to all.

Long as I remember the rain been comin' down Clouds of mystery pourin' confusion on the ground. Good men through the ages tryin' to find the sun. And I wonder still I wonder who'll stop the rain. John Foggerty must have been up here when he wrote the words to this song.  It rained all yesterday morning.  Had lunch and it cleared up a little - that means the cloud bank wasn't very low!!  Jerry went fishing for about 4 hours but nothing in the boat - those fish are pretty smart about throwing the lures.  I stayed in, cleaned up a little and finished two books.  One was "My Life with Elvis" written by a woman who was his secretary for 13 years.  She quit a couple of years before he died.  It was interesting to see his life from her perspective.  And the other is "Yellow Brick Roads to Gold Rock". This is the story of gold mining in this area from the late 1800's thru mid 1940's.  They did find gold up here and for a while the mines were really producing but it wasn't a huge amount and the mines eventually closed up but some of the characters stayed.  One of the old homes is still standing and Jerry went by  there on Tuesday.  Kris marked it on the map so we can go back up there but I don't know if I want to.  It's the home of Bill and Alice Watson - there is a lot about them in the book and she had a very hard life (due to Bill's lie) so I don't know if I want to go there but who knows.   

So today I'm quoting Bob Seger - Against the wind, We were runnin' against the wind, We were young and strong, we were runnin' Against the wind.  Yeah buddy.  When these fronts move thru and clear up, it gets windy.  Today the wind is going to be 15 with gusts up to 25.  Guess I will do some laundry while he rocks and rolls in the boat.  All those waves really mess up my equilibrium and when we get on shore, I feel like I'm still out there - hence, the reason I do not do fair rides! Hope everyone is doing well.  Looks like TX got some rain yesterday and earlier the radar showed some moving into NW AR.  WPS (for those non-Hog fans that is WooPigSooie).  We play in the College World Series tonight at 8.  We play the winner of the Kent/South Carolina game.  Their game was cancelled last night due to rain so they are playing this morn and then have to play again tonight.  If we win, we are in the finals.  If we don't, we have to play another game tomorrow.  

Pix 1 - Jerry's first Manitou Small mouth.  #2 - Gail's very first small mouth. #3 Jerry's first Manitou pike.  #4 - bluebird skies and fluffy white clouds.  #5 - not bluebird skies and fluffy white clouds.  #6 - hail from the storm in #5  #7 - Jerry holding Gail's first ever pike.  Pike had really swallowed the lure so we had to get it back into water pretty quick.   Hope everyone has an awesome day.  LY

Lightning and thunder and hail, oh my!!  Well, I get to mark a couple other "firsts" off my list with yesterdays adventures.  Weather likes to fool ya up here.  Chris marked our map, we left the dock, beautiful bluebird skies with fluffy white clouds.  We motored about 10 minutes, found a bay that was supposed to be good for small mouth and pike.  Heard a rumble.  Turned around and there were some darker clouds a good piece away.  Kept on fishing.  Rumbled again but this time it sounded closer.  Yeppers, the darker clouds were now getting closer and getting darker.  On with my rain pants.  Kept on fishing.  Started sprinkling, then got harder.  Since it was close to lunch time we headed in.  Ate, rain passed and off we go again with beautiful bluebird skies and fluffy white clouds.  We were out for about 30 minutes - what was that, rumbling again?!?!  Turned around - oh wow - purple-black-gray clouds that stretched almost across the entire horizon.  On with the entire rain suit - Jer said it was going to pass.  I disagreed with him but he said - "look, there is no rain in the part that is going to pass over us.  We will be in the middle of those two big storms." 10 minutes later, I looked around and I could see the rain coming across the lake.  "Naw, it will be just a sprinkle he said."  Ok, I had my rain suit on so I was ready.   Here it came - started out as a sprinkle, then got harder and harder to the point he put his rain suit on.  I've seen enough of those colored skies to know it could get ugly and it could get ugly real quick.  So I asked him - "what are we going to do if it starts hailing".  He told me to put the floatation cushion over my head.  About 5 minutes passed and CRRRAACCKK - big bolt of lightning.  I looked up at him and said  -  "Jerry, don't you ever do this to me again."   The words had no more left my mouth and it started hailing - pea size but none the less, it was hailing.  That lasted about 5 minutes, light rain and then it was over.  The air was so fresh smelling - pine and fir scent. (Lynn and mom, reminded me of our trip to Muir Woods).  Bluebird skies and fluffy white clouds again.  I caught a pike on a small mouth lure and a small mouth on a pike spoon!  Jerry - nothing, hehehe.  Then the wind started picking up.  Still, bluebird sky with fluffy white clouds.  We moved around a bit - nothing was biting what we were throwing.  Little bit more wind.  Then a little bit more.  The boat was really rocking.  It was hurricane force winds and swells of 10 to 15 feet.  Okay, okay - it was 17mph with gust up to 29 and the swells were about 2 feet but in that boat!!!  We had had enough so we headed in.  What a joy ride - it was like being at the amusement park.  Docked the boat at the cabin, got everything in and Jerry took it over to main dock to charge.  He had no more returned and it started raining again.  Gheez, did I come all this way to enjoy the rain we weren't getting in AR?  Anyway, I had thawed out some ground beef just in case - you always have to have a backup plan, right?  So, I got to mark off my list -  catching a pike and being in a boat in a hailstorm.  Oh, and I have decided that I will wear my rain suit the remainder of the trip - I'll be prepared if it rains and if it doesn't, maybe I'll sweat off some weight!

This morning we checked the score from the Hogs/Gamecocks game last night - WOOOOOPIG.  It was 2 to 1 but we had more runs than they did at the end of the game.  We play again on Thursday at 8.  We were up a little early since Jerry went on guided fish trip this morn.  He was about to leave when a seaplane arrived.  There is a group here that flew to a remote lake for 3 days.  I'm sorry but this is remote enough for me.  We do have running water - can't drink it unless you boil for one minute or have a pump filter like we do.  So, while he is fishing, I'm going to "pump" some water.  And the facilities.  They are inside but they are composting toilets - no flushing.  Lots better than a porta-potty.  We add a cup of peat moss each evening as we are going to bed.  I can't wait to hear about his fish stories and hopefully cook some fish for lunch.  More to come later. 

Part 2 - Father's Day dawned clear and beautiful.  Jerry got the coffee going - we are using a percolator - not the electric kind - we are talking stove top kind. I thought back to mornings at Grandmother Ruby's.  He did very well.  We decided to talk a little ride around the lake and just as we got in the boat JoAnn and Cara (the other sister) came up and wanted to know if we would like to look at the Point cabin.  Off we hiked thru the woods to the cabin.  It is a little larger and has internet and a tv - can only watch videos but that's okay.  We decided this would be great so back to Brigadoon to pack up and move.  The girls came over in one of their boats so it was much easier.  Got everything up to cabin, they had even loaded the cold stuff into frig.  I must say, at first, my Southern ears were having a problem understanding them but it is improving eh!!  So we finally get out on the water.  JoAnn had told us of a bay with  a grass bed so that was our first stop - no luck.  Jerry spotted a rocky point so off we went - no luck.  We changed lures, moved back over the point - success.  He reeled in a beautiful small mouth - pics to follow.  Then I got one - my first ever!  We each got a smaller one then it happened.  Jerry hooked a pike - my first time to see one of those.  Unfortunately for the fish, it had inhaled the lure - treble hooks and all.  Jerry worked getting them out, put the fish back in the water but it didn't make it - into the live well.  Saw a bald eagle light in a tree, it watched us for a while then took off again.  We had a pair of loons in the bay so got to hear them call as well as an owl, woodpecker and I saw Theodore, Simon and Alvin's Canadian cuz - a wild chipmunk!  Light rain started up so I donned my rain pants, Jerry caught another bronze back and we called it an evening.  Jerry cleaned up the fish, I cooked some rice, sliced up tomato and fried up the fish - first time eating pike - good eatin'.  Bedtime around 11 and was serenaded to sleep by that haunting call of the loon.  Storms rolled thru early morn - lots of rain and thunder but managed to go back to sleep. 

Morning dawned cloudy but not much wind.  Jerry is up at the lodge checking on the boat and probably getting some pointers from Chris on where to fish today.  Jerry's back and it looks like he will go out with Chris on guided trip tomorrow afternoon.  Temps are in high 60's/low 70's today and tomorrow but Wed. looks like high in 50's.  Looking at 10 day forecast, this should be end of high rain chances - it drops back down to 10-20% each day.

I know these last two posts have been long but I did want to get caught-up.  I hope everyone is doing well.  Love to all

Part 1 - I want to bring everyone up-to-date on our trip.  First day was uneventful other than a rest stop we made north of Ames Iowa - we were switching drivers at state-run  rest stop.  Walked into ladies side and saw a man's head above the stall walls.  I stepped back out, looked at the sign - sure enough it was the ladies.  Looked over at the mens - sign up saying WET FLOOR - it did not say closed!  Decided I could wait a little longer so I left.    Spent that night in Mason City.  

Since we knew our second day would not be as long as the first one, we were in no rush to leave early.  We made it 2 exits up the road and on the northwestern horizon was a fishing mecca - CABELA'S.  I told Jerry we might as well make the most of it since this is the closest we have ever come to one.  We spent about an hour, had lunch and off we went again.  Close to Minneapolis a male pheasant flew over the front of the truck - first time seeing one of those.  The northern states take the opportunity during summer to repair roads.  Now I'm not talking about patching - they actually have dug up one side of the freeway.  I think they have crews working 24/7 to complete before cold weather returns.  Second night in Grand Rapids MN - birthplace of Judy Garland and it was Judy Garland weekend.  Our hotel was next door to house and museum. 

Up and at 'em Saturday morn.  Shopped at W*Mart, iced down the cold stuff and hit the road.  Stopped in International Falls for lunch and crossed the border.  Canadian agent was very nice  - asked some questions, told us to remember to sign our passports and off we went.  We did not have to get in line to have vehicles searched!  Skies started looking really purple-gray to the southwest so we knew we were in a time race.  Made it to 502, turned north and got hit by leading edge of storm - lots of rain but the wind was really howling but did see a magpie.  We found Cedar Narrows Road and headed to the Essox Landing.  This is a loggers road so it was gravel and by this time muddy.  It was a light rain by the time we got to the landing so on with the rain suits and started unloading the truck.  Thank goodness the boat has a lot of underdeck storage.  Put the boat in the water - wouldn't start.  We have had a little problem with the Yamaha four-stroke starting when it is cold.  Jerry fiddled with it and finally it ran without sputtering out.  So off we go in search of the camp.

I was the navigator and did very well until about the last two miles.  I'm telling ya - after a while all of the shore lines look the same, rocky with lots of fir trees.  Instead of having Jerry go right around Manitou Island, I had him go left so we were coming to camp backwards from the map.  I think Jerry could see a little panic in my eyes and hear it in my voice so we stopped, got out the binoculars and he figured out where we were.  We went just a little further and I could see the radio tower for the camp - YAY!  As we pulled to the dock, Chris and JoAnn (brother/sister) came out to greet us.  Their first question - were you out on the lake during the storm?  They said it got so windy that it knocked off deck chairs and picked up water off the lake.  Walked into the lodge to a warm fire - I was freezing after 1.5 hour boat ride in the rain.  We had wild rice, carrots, ribs and apple crisp for supper.  Then it was off to our cabin and unpacking the boat.  Since we knew there was a chance of changing cabins I did not set up the kitchen or really unpack anything.  Heard the call of the loon - okay, I get to mark that off my list.  Still light at 10 but I was ready to get some sleep.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

So here it is, the eve of our departure.  We are triple checking our lists and will load the truck up this evening.  Jerry covered the boat earlier so it is ready to be connected to the truck and in the early a.m., we are off on our adventure.  I'm a little apprehensive - one, I've not been on one of the Hester family Canadian fishing trips before and two, I'm really not good traveling more than 8 hours in a vehicle - tomorrow's leg will be 11 to 12 hours!  I will try to post regularly but probably not every day at first and I will try to post pictures.  Please keep us in your prayers for a safe journey.