June 2020…

So we are into June…

…and everything appears normal. Gulls are nesting, the eagle is lurking, the goose babies are disappearing one by one and the camp looks good! Before we talk about some of the things that have been going on up here there are a few updates on travel. As you know the border remains closed till June 21, and as of now the Province has mandated non-essential businesses closed till June 30….that’s us. There is some talk about different regions of the Province opening up earlier, but we will have to wait and see on that. Thank you do all our understanding guests who have moved their reservations to 2021, or later in the season. We appreciate your support and your business and look forward to a more normal opener next year. For those still planning on this summer, hang in there, we are hoping for the best!

More tales from the lodge…

Today’s story is submitted by Nancy Moskal from Edgerton, Wisconsin. Both Nancy and Joe (“The Professor”) have been coming for many years and you will notice some of the pictures I’ve included might be classified as “baby photos”….ah, so cute! Here’s Nancy recollection of fishing one of her favorite lakes…

Summer Day on Clearwater Lake

If you’ve ever taken the journey up Clearwater Creek to Clearwater Lake you may have had a day like this one.  It’s mid-summer and I’m in our 17’ fishing boat along with 3 other adults and one teenage boy excited to be on this adventure together.  This time of year the creek is a bit low with submerged logs and rocks lining the creek bottom.  There are remnants of old beaver dams.  Charlie, the teen in our party, and I are at the bow of the boat scouting for obstacles.  The creek meanders through lowland marsh for miles and it’s slow going. I don’t particularly enjoy this route to Clearwater Lake and worry that our friends from Chicago might feel the same. Becky interrupts my trance when she points out water lilies in bloom and arrowhead flowers along the banks. An occasional Bald Eagle soars overhead riding the warm air currents.   

Over an hour later we finally reach beautiful Clearwater Lake and my spirits are lifted.  The hot sun glistens like diamonds on the water surface broken by a gentle breeze. This is one of my favorite wilderness lakes.  It’s shoreline has massive granite outcropping with rock faces displaying pictographs hundreds of years old. I imagine the indigenous people hunting and fishing here.  It makes me wonder what has changed over millennia on Clearwater Lake.  Rocky points smoothed by erosion jut out into the lake providing rest stops and shore lunch spots.  There’s a few islands and two waterfalls on the Eastern shore that spill into the deep trout holes.  Several bays have submerged large boulders and vegetation providing shelter for fish, small and large.  I’m excited to show our friends our little piece of paradise and fish for lake trout, whitefish, and pike.

My husband Joe and friend Matt secure one of Gord’s boats from the remote launch and head off to the trout holes.  I agree to guide Becky and her son Charlie in our fishing boat.  My plan is to go after Northern Pike.  I provide verbal instructions and casting demonstrations and they spend time practicing casting and retrieving large floating Rapalas.  When I feel they’re both ready they fish as we drift slowly and deeper into the quiet bay.  Becky makes a perfect cast into a pocket of weeds and suddenly a fish explodes from the depths and attacks her lure.  It’s a monster pike!  I’m excited for Becky and coach her on how to maintain control of the fish. But what should I do next?  I’m shaking. My husband always manages the large fish I catch so my skills at landing a big fish are untested. Becky reels in the fish to the side of the boat.  It’s too big and ferocious looking to lift so we have to manage it there.  The fish is pretty stunned by now so I quickly measure it, unhook it using the jaw spreader and long needle nose pliers, and release it. Becky is thrilled!  She’s caught the biggest fish of her life, a monster 38” Northern Pike! I’m happy for her, for the fish we released, and for this day on Clearwater Lake. Charlie is pouting as he’s only caught small pike.  Our party wraps up this day with a fantastic shore lunch provided by Gord.  Becky, Charlie, and I get to return to VBL in Gord’s wooden fishing boat.  He sure makes those twists and turns of Clearwater Creek fun and exciting! I have plans to return to Clearwater Lake this year via the portage trail, a much faster route.  Lake trout, whitefish and pike will be my quest.

Editors comment…

Back in the day doing the creek was the way we accessed Clearwater Lake. In most years it was only the spring when the water was high that this was possible. My best time ever to get up the creek was about 20 minutes. This was up “on plane” for most of the way. The old 20 Mercs were pretty tough motors, but I did enough damage over the years, including putting the whole boat up on shore, that I finally came to realize the beauty of the portage trail….a short 15 minute walk. The clincher for me was when the new Yamaha 4 strokes came along. Great motors but not designed for bouncing off logs and rocks. Since then we have upgraded the portage boats and trail to make this our sole access….be sure and give it a try some year if you like adventure! Thanks Nancy for the great story!

For the birders in the crowd…

It’s been a strange bird year with large flocks of terns hanging around as well as tundra swans and now this sighting on Gull Rock of a flock of 16 whimbrels. These are a rare sighting for our area, as these birds nest in the Arctic tundra.

Fishing….shore lunch….

Well, with an empty camp somebody has to do a bit of fishing so it might as well be us! We are struggling with finding the walleye and could use some help, but there is one spot that has produced in the evenings. I won’t give it away but let’s just say this was a secret spot of guest Kurt…the “Perch Master”. Susanne caught this musky last night there while we trolled around for walleye…

Enjoy a virtual fish fry….

Finally let me leave you with this….

Some may find this image disturbing and I might agree. It’s a result of being empty and the reason things need to return to normal.!!