douG

Nice lookin' craft there, Brian. Congratulations to you and BettyAnn.

Open the battery compartment and solder two wires to the spots where the battery bank goes inside the fishfinder. I'd make one wire black and the other red, or just tie a knot in the wire that goes to the positive battery bank output. Connect the wires to your battery using alligator clips or such. Maybe that's what Gerritt had in mind - if you can't figger it out, instructions won't help. Post some pictures of the inside of your battery compartment on your sonar, and we will be able to sort it out for you.

Well done, JoAnne. Congrats on your fishing success, that was some nice shootin'.

Thanks, Gurdeep. Your pictures, more than some others, made me miss you wacky crazy folks all the more. Those were great shots that surely captured the moments at hand. Congrats on that freshwater gator too, you must have filled yer drawers on that one.

Wow, Roy. It sounds like you know EVERYTHING. Thanks for sharing.

That 2Rs is a fart smucker, I never thought of that. Arbor knot, long tag, overwrapped by successive line turns. Sounds easy and obvious, prolly why it never occurred to me. Thanks, Chris and Garry.

Thanks very much.

Wow, is all. Congratulations. That was a good read.

I think the lake is not much more than a shallow bowl. That's why I will be whipping the shoreline to a froth in a week. What might I catch? If you have an idear, sharing is good. Thanks, douG

Congratulations to you, Rob - nice composition and the timing was perfect.

I was thinking the same thing, Rattletrap. Red Green lives.

The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery. I'm just sayin'.

The King of Pop is dead, Long Live the King. Harrison Ford, too? Nope

I wish I could - this will be the first Lakair g2g I've missed since the inaugural one. Have fun, and y'all come back safe.

Wonderful incidental catch. Congratulations!

Well done, Cliff. I am sure she will give you many hours of pleasure, and lots of great stories.

I've got four daiwa reels to 10 years old, never a problem, never serviced. Still strong and smooth.

Best Fishes, Camillj.

Wow, that's crazy. Looking forward to the rest of your report.

That's one for the memory bank, not soon to be forgotten. Congratulations. The smile says it all.

Congratulations on your first on the fly. Very nice fish.

Yep, keep it on the down low.

Brian and I left Etobicoke just before 7 am on Saturday, 30 May, headed for Wawa. We would meet up with my Dad and his buddy Warren there. The drive through the Sault was delightful with very light traffic and clear skies. Two hours driving and two hours snoozing turned out to be a great routine. We arrived at The Lakeview Hotel in Wawa around 5 pm, and checked in to quite a luxurious room, all for about $45 each. The bar downstairs had attractions like $4.95 for 20 oz Keith’s. In attendance were the MNR Tech for the area, and the MNR Biologist for the same area. I now have a list of drive to’s, private cottages without the flight cost, stocking lists and the whole doo whaa, etc. I expect that the round I bought for the locals will pay off in spades on our next trip. We unloaded at the base, about 25 minutes from the hotel; around 9 am on Sunday, waiting for our scheduled depart at 10:30. Paperwork was quickly cleared, and we weighed our gear. We were exactly 100 lbs over, earning the $60 overweight charge neatly. 5 guys and 400 lbs certainly load that Beaver – the overweight came later that day. It wasn’t until about 1 pm on Sunday that we started out on the lake, fishing weapons in hand. The 20 year old Johnson 9 started on the second pull with no choke and the first brookie was caught 2 minutes later. It got better from there. Everything we threw at these most beautiful fish worked, from black marabou wet flies (on spinning gear!), small minnowbaits, jigs and grubs, small tubes, beadhead nymphs, spinners up to #5, and spoons in a variety of sizes. I even dragged a big ¾ oz Kamlooper in blue nickel that also worked. Brian’s favourite was a #5 Aglia in what we called Scrambled Egg pattern, and I grew to love that EGB spoon, never caught anything before on an EGB. We trolled shoreline almost exclusively. After a hookup, we’d repeat the troll line and hookup again, shortening it until we found the center of the school, where we’d anchor and cast, and deal with the double headers that resulted. Warren is a meat hunter, and hates to injure the fish in any way if he is not going to harvest them, so he had quite the problem. Eventually he changed to single hooks for all his tackle, and pinched the barbs. We ate very well, with Tbones on the first night, venison chops on the third night, and delicious northern brook trout on the other two nights. More than a couple also made the supreme sacrifice for lunch. On Tuesday evening, I watched as an infestation of brook trout painted circles on the lake as the sun slowly set. The cabin was deluxe, with two bedrooms, each with four beds, gas fridge, stove and lights, and a small generator for additional lights. They look so peaceful when they’re sleeping. We preferred the hiss of my Coleman propane lantern to the hum of that Honda when the cribbage board, backgammon and McCallen’s 15 Oak came out to play. A small airtight woodstove could drive you out of the cabin in about 10 minutes from the heat, so we were warm, dry and comfy overnight as the temps dipped to the low single digits. Matti even provided a boardwalk from the cottage deck to the dock, so the cottage stayed quite clean as a result. h Brian actually went for a swim, punishing his nooblies unduly, in my opinion. I think he looks like Shrek in this shot. I failed to bring my shaving kit, and so was lacking the foam earplugs that I thought I had packed. Since we had to leave Wawa before the drugstore opened, I made do with some plastic baits during the evening snorefests. Unfortunately, there were no snapshots of watermelon twistertails installed for the slumber. The facilities, dubbed the Parliament Building, were furnished with lots of baby wipes and at least three kinds of tp, fine, medium and coarse. It all depended on the surface finish you wanted. The view out the open door was fabulous. I was told that the view from the dock towards the Parliament at the same time was less appealing. We flew with these same folks last year to a different lake, and the fishing sucked. About twenty specks were caught over that trip, and I caught one. That was all. This trip, we tallied over 200 brook trout in 3 ½ days for four people, it was incredible, and the prettiest fish I’ve ever seen. Even though they swarmed for an hour or so one afternoon, there was only one black fly bite for all of us the entire trip. HawkAir out of Hawk Junction is a great operation, especially with that big turbo Otter that we flew out with. I recommend Matti and Courtney Mantari, HawkAir, and the fine service they provide. Thanks for following along, hope you enjoyed the pictures.

I've herd of women too.

I was once in a restaurant in Minneapolis that had 'Pike Pickerel' on the menu. They were walleye, and tasty too.