And of course, how was the fishing?

Matt with pike and walleye

Brenda and I were desperate to eat fresh fish when we got to the cabin in early July. There just isn't any substitute for fish caught fresh out of the lake. I had prepared for the season by purchasing a special rod to fish from the dock. A year ago I found that whenever I could make an extraordinary long cast from the dock with something like a Beetlespin, I caught a walleye; however, my 5'6" spinning rod and reel just wasn't the right rig. So this year I came prepared with a 7' Zebco Crappie rod fitted out with a tiny triggerspin reel. I figured that would let me toss a 1/8 ounce jig or Beetlespin the 100 feet needed to get into the walleye zone. On my first fishing attempt I caught about a 24-inch northern pike.

 I will let you in on a secret. Brenda and I and all of our family and even all of the staff that ever worked at Bow Narrows Camp prefer northern pike to walleye. That's not a misprint. We like pike -- jackfish in Red Lake parlance -- better than the highly coveted walleye or pickerel as they are called in the Thunder Bay area to all points east. That 24-inch fish was the perfect pike for us. I quickly filleted it, removing 100 per cent of the bones, and we were soon devouring golden brown fillets along with pan-fried potatoes and pork and beans -- a real shore lunch! Man, oh man, that was tasty!

 For the next week or so I kept us in fish simply by fishing for an hour or so off the dock in the evenings. The new rod worked perfectly and I could hook four or five walleye on each outing. Many of these were too big. We prescribe to the camp rule of letting all walleye 18 inches or longer go since these are spawning size. Anytime we needed fish I kept a couple 14-17 inchers. After a couple of weeks, Brenda gave me an ultimatum. "No more walleye! Let's go get some pike." So we journeyed out in the boat anytime we wanted fish after that. We were looking for pike, of course, and at first couldn't find any. All of our shallow, weedy bays seemed devoid of fish. My first clue was when large schools of perch followed in the lure. These little fish acted like there weren't any predators around. We changed tactics and went out into the big water. There they were!

 When our son Matt joined us in August we all went fishing in the big bays using our center-console Eastern boat. The very first fish Brenda hooked must have been 38-40 inches and it immediately sailed three feet out of the water like a tarpon. She fought it for 10 minutes or so before the fish changed directions and seemed to get the line into its mouth, cutting it like a knife. We caught walleye on all of our pike fishing trips, many of them too large to keep. Walleye have just exploded in Red Lake. They are everywhere and can be caught using just about any method.

 

 Over at the camp Brian spent many of his evenings following and studying walleye schools with his fishfinder. He was flabbergasted at how these schools seemed to defy the generally held belief that walleye don't suspend. Time after time he caught these fish that might be 20 feet off the bottom by trolling crankbaits. I'm sure he will elaborate how he did it on the camp blog this winter. 

On a sad note, almost none of the loons this year successfully raised chicks. Lee Austen pointed that out to us, blaming high water that came after these magnificent birds had built their nests. 

 "The loons are all in mourning," said Lee. "They are all silent."

 He was right. To my astonishment we went for weeks before hearing anything from the loons even though there were the usual pairs in all the usual spots, including right in front of our cabin. As time went on their spirits came back and eventually the lake started reverberating with the calls of the wild. We also eventually saw a couple of loon pairs with chicks, all out in the middle of the biggest bays. 

With the international border closed to American visitors, there were no American anglers on the lake. The only Americans allowed into the country were people like Brian and the Slaviches over at Black Bear who are owners of tourist camps. They had to go directly to their camps and quarantine for 14 days. They were allowed in so they could maintain their businesses. 

We sure missed seeing our friends who would normally be fishing at Bow Narrows. And we also missed our friends who own cottages on the lake. Lots of these people had never missed a year at camp or their cabin since the 1960s.

 There was a surprising amount of boat traffic on the lake,  however. Red Lake residents spent more time than usual fishing the lake and just touring around. I think many of these used their vacation time this summer figuring there won't be any destinations available next winter. Red Lake Marine reports their busiest summer ever!

 What will it take to open the border again? It's going to take the U.S. lowering its positivity rate. The rate in Canada is less than 1 per cent. We got there by shutting things down for many months, social distancing and wearing masks. Most things are open here again and masks are mandatory in public places. Nobody wants to go back to the way things were. A vaccine would do it too but that is not likely before next summer.