Canada -- #3

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This is actually a sunrise......

Here is a map of the area....... Lake of the Woods. 65,000 miles of shoreline, 14,582 islands, 90 miles long, 55 miles wide. You will need to double click this map for a larger view. Then check on the right side, route 71 goes north and about half way up you can see Sioux Narrows. We got the houseboat there, motored out to an island near the blue "S" on the end of Lake of the Woods name on the map. That was about 20-25 miles, which gives an idea of how big that lake actually is. Our second mooring site was near the large island just to the right of the "W" in Woods. Navigating through the area we were in can be a chore. There are so many islands and bays, etc, and so many places where the water is quite shallow over mostly rock. These houseboats sometimes run aground on rocks and it can be a chore to get them off again!! Anyway, here is another map, or try this one!

We had not been on land more than 10 minutes and Mycal had a smallmouth bass in hand! These kids wasted no time in attacking life on Lake of the Woods.

Another few minutes and Kyle also had a bass. The smallmouth fishing was spectacular, and you could find them almost anywhere, and they really put up a good fight.

Late afternoon of the first day out on the lake, and Carlo latches onto a good fish. Turns out to be a 25.5" walleye! That stood as the largest walleye of the trip. Everyone caught lots of walleyes, we ate quite a of them, and everyone brought home the allotted amount.

I know this one probably belonged in the 'food post', but I could not resist. This is what fishing is all about for me, those fantastic shore lunches.......

Ivan is also a tireless fisherman. He has a gift for finding and being able to catch whatever is out there. He claims that he just works at it more and is lucky. He does spend a lot of time on the water, but the luck part is questionable.

Another possible 'food post' item, but this pot of fillets makes me hungry and I had to throw it in.

Ken landed a nice walleye (not quite as big as Carlo's--heh, heh....). Ken also seemed to have the ability to find those walleyes consistently.

Ivan and Greg did most of the fish cleaning, although others did do some cleaning. I did none. I'm so slow that I actually impede the whole process........ one day we caught and kept a bunch of northers so we would have enough so people could bring back the allowed amounts.

One day down in Blueberry Inlet, just south of Beacon Island, I was fishing with Lee and Pat K. We were all casting large lures for Musky, had some follows and eventually I hooked into this 38" northern. This proved to be the second largest northern, as Pat K. had landed a 39 incher the evening before..... Man, what strength these fish have. At first they pretty much do whatever they want, then they are manageable, and finally they come to the boat. We put these large fish back, after handling them as gently as we could.

One day Mycal caught a really small perch. Lee insisted that he keep it, which he did. So Ivan cleaned it up and fillet it, complete with the little patches of skin left on for identification. You leave skin on them if you are going to take them back across the border so they can tell how many of what you have. Nice big fillets, hey!!

Oh, all right.... one more look at that northern!

Come back for the next installment, The Kayaks......

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