A Blind Fishing Adventure

[Tomcat]

A Blind Fishing Adventure

 

Many times this fishing season, groups of fellows will get together and travel to selected destinations to enjoy everything there is to enjoy about a few days of fishing together. On Sunday morning, 25 May, our group of four fishing enthusiasts departed Ottawa for just such a trip. However, our group was different than most in that two members of our group were blind fishers (Miles Hilton-Barber - see http://www.mileshilton-barber.com/ and Lawrence Euteneier – see http://www.blindfishingboat.com). Bill McCue and myself were the other fishermen.

 

Our destination was Lac Sasseginaga in North Western Quebec where we would be hosted to 3 three days of fishing by Art Southern and his wife Pat, owners of Bush Country Camp. The eight hour drive to Lac Sasseginaga went by quickly as both Miles and Lawrence took turns sharing their past experiences. And believe me, it’s a very humbling experience to hear what both these fellows have accomplished to date. There are more accomplishments to come, I’m sure. Both these guys are very inspiring! Here’s a picture of Miles and Lawrence with Art Southern at the landing at the south end of Lac Sasseginaga. We’re about to load our gear into Art’s boat and head up the lake for 20 minutes to Bush Country Camp.

 

The weather was challenging on both Monday and Tuesday with cold temperatures, overcast skies, winds and a mixture of rain and snow. Here’s a picture of Miles, bundled up quite well to cope with the weather, on our way back to camp Monday afternoon.

 

The walleye were scattered in depths from 5 to 20 feet. With the windy conditions, we drifted with Lindy rigs with crawlers (the walleye preferred crawlers over leeches). Regardless the unsavory weather, our hours on the water were rewarded with enough keeper walleye to afford two walleye meals during our short stay at Bush Country Camp. Here’s a picture of Miles and Lawrence in front of our cabin with some of the walleye we caught.

 

The minimum length limit on Sasseginaga is 14 inches while the maximum length limit is 23 inches (imposed by Art to address resource management). While we did release some walleye not meeting the minimum length limit, most walleye we caught measured 15 to 19 inches in length. While we did not catch any large walleye in our boats, several large walleye (over 27 inches) were caught by other groups while we were in camp.

 

Although Wednesday morning started out sunny with no wind, it was still quite cool at 0630 hours. Here’s a picture of Lawrence and Bill making their way past our boat.

 

Although the temperature warmed a little over the next couple of hours, we weren’t able to find any walleye. Over the next few hours, as we tried new locations for walleye, the wind velocity kept increasing and we eventually opted to get back to camp and have our second walleye meal. Bill treated us to his shore lunch menu special which included onion rings, bacon, fries and walleye all deep fried successively in the same cooking oil. Lunch was absolutely scrumptious!

 

Late in the afternoon, we decided to troll for lake trout for a few hours. While we marked many lakers near bottom in 70 to 90 feet of water, we couldn’t attract a strike. Around 1900 hours, we switched gears, anchored and vertically jigged for walleye. After two hours of jigging without success, we returned to our cabin for our last dinner in camp.

 

Fishing with Miles was no different than fishing with any sighted person other than those obvious times when Miles required my assistance (e.g. getting into and out of our boat, landing walleye, checking the condition of his crawler, providing the direction for his cast, etc). Indeed, Miles caught more walleye than I. His feel for the bite was quite frankly better than my own. During our time on the water I did my best to provide accurate descriptions of the scenery around us in order that Miles could imagine our surroundings. In return, Miles graciously shared some of his previous adventure experiences with me. I remained quiet most of the time in the hopes that Miles would tell another story. I wasn’t disappointed.

 

Our short three days of fishing was over too soon. Regardless, we all thoroughly enjoyed our time together. Miles and Lawrence had to be back in Ottawa early on Thursday evening (29 May) in order to prepare for an early departure Friday morning (0300 hours) for a few days of carp fishing on the St Lawrence River.

 

The Blind Fishing Adventure afforded me the opportunity to learn more about blind fishers as well as develop a deep respect for their ability to fish. Sharing a fishing boat with Miles for three days was an absolute pleasure as well as a learning experience. Sharing a cabin with Miles, Lawrence and Bill was great and I'll have many fond memories of our time together. I’d relish the opportunity to do it again.