Cell phone now works at cabin

It just took a cell booster and a 50-foot antenna.

The weather is hot and dry with low humidity which makes the heat tolerable but increases the forest fire danger. No local fires so far.

One opening weekend posed a dilemma

 As the opening weekend for fishing season approaches, Brenda and I can't help but think back to all the ones we went through as owners -- and before that -- workers, at Bow Narrows Camp. It was always a thrilling, exhausting, but totally memorable time.

The timing of ice-out with the season opener was what set the stage. The opener is a moveable feast. It is the third Saturday in May. So, it can be as early as May 15 and as late as May 21. Early openers always meant we were flirting with being still iced-in when the guests arrived. 

Sometimes we needed to fly from the Chukuni River in town over the lake ice to the open narrows in front of camp. Even in those situations we could usually get the staff into camp a few days ahead of the guests to get things prepared but at least once we all went on the same day. Dad, Brenda and I were the staff at that time.

You can imagine the chaos: water is not yet running to the cabins, boats are not in the water, motors are still in the storage shed, etc. The first priority was to get everybody out fishing. The next was to connect propane tanks so they could use their kitchen stoves. By that point it was dark. We gave everybody plastic pails to get water from the lake. 

The next day we slowly started getting the water system going. The problem was the main underground water line was still frozen in many places. This meant jury-rigging over-the top lines that would suffice until the ground thawed,  something that might not happen for weeks. It took days but eventually everyone had running water.

We had immediately tried to schedule a supply flight but were told all the fly-in camps were in a pickle. The lakes were opening up day by day and as soon as they did, all the planes were booked to fly-in those guests who had been stuck in hotels. Our supply trip would just have to wait.

Days went by and we were almost totally out of gas for the outboards. And worse, lots of the guests were forced to leave most of their beer supply in their vehicles when they had flown in. There just had been no room. The situation was becoming critical.

Finally, about mid-week we got a call from the airlines that they could get one Cessna 185 into our place. It was the smallest of the aircraft and could carry about 900 pounds. What did we want them to bring? 

We held a general meeting of the guests. Gas or beer or some of both? After a lot of discussion about the merits, they agreed -- fill the plane with beer. They could fish off the dock.

And that is what happened.

Limitations to the blog while at cabin

 If we can get the cell system working at the cabin this summer, please note that while I can post text and photos, I cannot detect and approve comments. If you make any comments they will be answered and approved whenever I return to Nolalu. This is just a limitation of blogging by cell phone.

We hope to leave for Red Lake in a few days now.

Update to World's Greatest Pike Lure

 If you want to contact lure maker Dwayne Kotala, here is his e-mail address:

dwaynekotala@gmail.com

First flower of spring near death scene

 

I can't identify this flower. Can you? Please leave comment.

The last of the snow patches are melted and so Doc and I can get around on our trails again. Yesterday evening we found a spot where three deer died. Two of the death scenes were right beside each other and while birds had scavenged the carcasses and other predators had scattered hair and bones all around there were also intact rib cages. This indicates these animals starved to death and were not killed by wolves. Wolves actually eat all the bones except the femurs and the skulls. I could also see a third pile of deer hair about 20 yards away, likely another starvation victim.

The deep spring snows that we seem to be getting all the time now are to blame, I would think. April is now a month to dread. It brings several storms of snows that might each leave a foot of heavy slush. For animals that barely made it through the long winter, it's the final straw.

Just a few yards from the death scenes I found these tiny flowers, the first of the season here. They are about three inches high, are purplish in colour, have hairy stems and no obvious leaves. They are a mystery to me. I cannot find them in any of my books.

What a fitting example of nature: death and life born anew.

World's Greatest Northern Pike Lure

 

Kotala pike jerk bait

The World's Greatest Northern Pike Lure -- that's quite a claim on my part so let me first state my own qualifications. I have thousands of hours of guiding experience, a similar amount of fishing experience, 26 years of operating a remote fishing camp in Northwestern Ontario and a 56-year history at the same camp. I also come from a family of northern pike fishermen. 

Now about the lure: it is a handmade wooden lure made by my neighbour Dwayne Kotala. He makes them in various lengths. The one above is about seven inches long. I have also used nine-inch models and five-inchers. This floating lure has internal stainless steel weights to give it the right attitude in the water.

It can be fished using two techniques. The best, in my experience, is to cast it out, pull it forward a few feet either by fast reeling or by just pulling back on the rod. The lure will dive a few feet while making exaggerated wobbles. I then let the lure float back to the top. It makes smaller wobbles as it floats to the surface.

This action looks exactly like a mortally wounded fish. 

The other technique is to just reel it steadily back to the boat. It will wobble all the way and will run about six feet deep.

I have never seen another lure catch so many really big northern pike. In some places and times on Red Lake, it seems impossible to get it back to the boat without it being nailed by pike that range 36-46 inches in length. Small pike seem to leave it alone.

There is one problem with the lure, however. Fish always engulf the entire thing and it is very difficult to extract from their toothy maws. My solution is to replace the two small treble hooks with very large single siwash hooks that face forward. This doesn't hurt the lure's action.

You can reach Dwayne by email: dwaynekotala@gmail.com

 

I would imagine the Kotala lure would be equally deadly for musky but I can't be sure since there are so few in Red Lake. 

I recommend you use a baitcasting reel on a fairly stiff rod with this lure. Keep the reel filled with a 30-pound braided like FireLine or SpiderWire. 

Best places to fish it are entrances to narrows, backs of bays, below rapids where walleye congregate.

It is especially effective in the evening when there is calm water.

Red Lake ice-out was May 10

At least, according to the Bow Narrows blog.  I have not heard from anyone directly.

What a nice break this spring has been in Red Lake compared to last year.

Sharpen those hooks! Fishing season is just a week away!

There are still bits of snow here in Nolalu even though we've had four days with summer-like temperatures.

Windy.com layer may show ice status

 

Well, now! I believe I have found a satellite-based weather app that shows whether a lake is frozen.

It is Windy.com, my favourite. 

Here's what I did:

On the right-side menu, choose Waves (Depending on what you have previously selected you may need to choose More Layers first.)

Choose Sea Temperature.

Frozen lakes are blue. Light green are lakes free of ice or, more accurately, warmer than 0 C. There could still be ice pans floating around but it does show the lake is breaking up.

This seems accurate as far as I have been able to find out. For instance, Lake of the Woods is breaking up on its south end, just as shown in the light green.