A "time capsule" discovered in walls of Cabin #7

We have completed our renovations to Cabin #7 which included insulating the walls and ceiling and new interior.
When we took off the paneling on one of the walls we discovered a bear footprint on the inside of the exterior plywood. The hind print seemed to have been made in paint. I guess the bear stepped on some of our wet "Bow Narrows brown" paint and then on the plywood before the cabin was erected in 1967.
Our second week of the season is drawing to a close.
The first four days were tough fishing due to the cold, rainy, windy weather. Northern pike in particular were harder than usual to catch.
We did get some nice catches of walleye every day.
Finally, the weather "smartened-up" on Wednesday and the pike fishing is returning to normal.
There is a pattern to our weather so far this spring: a couple of warm-even-hot-days, followed by a day with no wind whatsoever, followed by a brutally cold day sometimes with snow, followed by a couple of cool rainy days and then returning to warm again.
Our guests this week saw cow moose, some of them with calves, several bears and even a large wolf. There are still Canada geese migrating north.
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Did early spring affect the fishing?

It looks pretty normal to me.
Our anglers are mostly fishing for northern pike and there have been a lot of big ones taken this first week of the season including a 45-incher by Tammy Wilhelm and 37-incher by Dave Myers, on the same day and in the same boat.
There have been some good walleyes taken too.
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Did early spring affect the fishing?

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Northern pike are biting on Red Lake

Ben and I took a break from our cabin remodeling duties a couple days ago and tried our luck fishing for northern pike. It was a calm, warm evening and we decided to try topwater lures in a marshy area.
We caught several slot-size pike such as this 30-plus-incher Ben is holding. We were looking to get a few eaters for lunch the next day but most of the fish were too large to keep.
So we tried again last night but it was cold and windy and we couldn't even get a strike. However, we were delighted to see we weren't the only ones in the marsh that day. This curious moose watched us for quite awhile before moving out of sight.
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Pike are spawning, everything else seems finished

Ben and I paid a trip to the falls yesterday to retrieve my trail camera. I had left it there for several days, hoping to get a photo of a bear fishing for spawning fish. All I got was a couple of pix of the rapids when it seemed something, probably a bear, bumped the tree the camera was attached to. I also got this artsy photo of Ben as I took the camera down.
Ben rolled over some rocks in the fast water and collected the debris in a rubber net. He found fish eggs that are either walleye or sucker and several dead smelt which also were loaded with eggs.
Other people have seen suckers spawning in creeks around Red Lake. They are usually the last fish to spawn in the spring.
However this year, with our topsy-turvy ice-out coming six weeks earlier than normal, it seems the usual order of fish species spawning has been turned upside down.
It now looks like the walleye spawned weeks ago and perhaps, most of the suckers and the smelt.
Northern pike, usually the first fish to spawn, are doing it right now. We've seen them in their spawning areas thrashing around.
The pike are more-or-less right on time, at least as far as the calendar goes. Perhaps they are most sensitive to the photo period. Walleye, smelt and suckers must go by the time of ice-out and not the length of daylight.
In other news, we've had a cancellation for June 9-16 for a cabin for four. If you've been wanting to come in June but couldn't get a reservation, here's your chance. I updated the Availability listing today.
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Here's another unique eatery in Vermilion Bay

The Comfort Table Bakery is across the highway from Busters BBQ and toward the Northside Motel in Vermilion Bay.
It features gourmet coffee and delicious, unusual items such as carzones along with more common cinnamon buns and the like.
It is open at 7 a.m. for breakfast.
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Big "thumbs-up" for Vermilion Bay's Busters BBQ♦

We stayed in Vermilion Bay on the way up to camp with the staff and had supper at Busters Barbecue.
We all had rave reviews for this restaurant and its award-winning blueberry barbecue sauce.
The restaurant is next door to Famous Bobby's tackle shop, on the west side of Vermilion Bay, right on Highway 17.
Incidentally, many people have wondered if the gas station-restaurant has been rebuilt on the corner of the Red Lake Road and Highway 17. It has not. This popular stop for anybody coming up the Red Lake Road burned down a couple of years ago.
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Early spring scenes along Highway 105

Brenda and I made a quick trip down to Thunder Bay and back to pick up our staff: Ben, Jenn and Steph.
I snapped these pics on Highway 105 -- the Red Lake Road -- on the way.
The moose was drinking the salty water that accumulates along the roadside. Note the extreme light colour of moose at this time of year. They always look very scruffy now, mostly because they are shedding their nearly-black winter coats. Also, many times, they have large bald spots caused by the irritation from moose ticks.
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