I'm finally "back" to blogging again

There have been precious few blogs in the last month or so and the main reason has been my health. My back went critical on me way back near the beginning of August and it has taken all of my strength and time to do the least things required of me at camp.
Brenda and our terrific staff: Ben, Jenn and Steph, incredibly picked up the slack. About the only thing I could do was drive the camp boat, Lickety Split, and ask our great guests to load and unload it. In town I was aided by helpers at Red Lake Marine and Sobeys Supermarket.
Finally, after about a month, my back began improving. Then, out of the blue, my knee went totally ballistic. I couldn't even get around with crutches. It seems I have a knee condition known as pseudogout which mysteriously creates crystals in the knee joint. Not much is known about it other than it can be brought on my dehydration. I very likely was dehydrated. Since sneezing in the morning often sent my spine into spasms, I had been taking antihistimines which literally dry you out. I also have not been a big water drinker, tending to instead drink coffee and sugar-free but caffeinated pops. These also are dehydrating.
Once I learned what might be causing the pseudogout I starting drinking large glasses of water and began feeling better within hours.
Three days later my knee is still swollen and stiff but the acute joint pain is gone. I was able to walk more or less normally today.
Needless to say, I will be drinking lots of water from this point.

More big fish for young fisherman

It's all Nathan Manni can do to hoist this chunky 25-inch walleye for the camera. It was one of many walleyes in the 20s that this angler boated that day.
He had an excellent guide -- his father, Scott, seen at the stern of the boat.

Young anglers are landing the big ones

Brett Styve, 12, hefts a chunky 25-inch walleye that he caught and released while fishing at Bow Narrows Camp a couple of weeks back.
Brett was one of many younger anglers we have had this summer at camp and they have all proved excellent fishermen.
I believe it was the third trip for Brett who comes with his dad, Paul. The pair landed a bunch of big walleyes and Paul got a giant northern pike as well.
These two are also excellent conservationists. All their big fish were released to grow and reproduce.

How hungry are the pike? This hungry!

Bow Narrows angler Ken Lehmann has had some pretty incredible things happen during the years he has fished Red Lake but last week was the first time a pike bit his lure in half!
It happened right at the boat. Ken said the pike took the other half with it and swam away.

Fish don't seem to mind smoke from forest fire

My great nephew, Hunter Baughman, holds a nice 36-inch pike that he caught and released on Friday. Notice the forest fire smoke in the background.
Depending on the wind direction, the smoke can be very heavy or the skies can be absolutely clear.
We're expecting a little rain tomorrow and that will help dampen the fire. It's about 25,000 acres now and is about 15 miles northwest of camp. The fire is mostly around Murdock Lake which is Woodland Caribou Wilderness Park.
Ministry of Natural Resources fire fighters have only been protecting cabins on lakes in that vicinity and have not been fighting the fire itself since the fire started from lightning, a natural method of ignition, and fire is a natural element of the Boreal Forest.
We are in no immediate danger here at Bow Narrows Camp. Mostly the smoke and ash are a nuisance. However, everyone will be happy when we finally get a rain and the air clears.
Northern pike and walleye fishing were excellent last week. One boat caught 65 northern pike in one day and another got 75 walleye.
Fishing is always slower on Saturday and Sunday as new fishermen figure out how and where to fish.

I catch a sauger; smoke and ash fall one day

I don't get out to fish much but when I do, it seems like I catch the most unusual things. Here is a nice sauger I got just down the shoreline from camp. On another outing, just last week, I caught a lake trout in only 20 feet of water.
A few days ago the sky above camp became inky dark from the smoke of forest fire to the northwest. There was even a lot of ash falling from the sky.
We could see the smoke cloud originating northwest of Pipestone Bay. A check with the Ministry of Natural Resources showed the fire is a Murdock Lake, about 10 miles from Pipestone and in Woodland Caribou Wilderness Park.
The blaze is not being fought by the MNR since it is in the wilderness park.
The forest is very dry and I wouldn't be surprised if restrictions are placed on shore lunch fires soon. We already had one such restricted fire zone, about two weeks ago, but then it was lifted after a couple of rainy days.
Camp is not in any danger.

Label your luggage and belongings! Fishing is great!

When our camp boat, the Lickety Split takes you to and from camp, you will be traveling with many other guests. Everyone's luggage and belongings will be placed in one large hold, mixed together. How will you be able to differentiate your things from others?
On any given trip we will be carrying three or four night breathing machines, all in black carrying bags.
We will have many identical tackle boxes, duffel bags and plastic totes. Guess how many people have things in plastic shopping bags, bring rubber boots, etc. How about loose fishing rods? Boy do these all look alike.
It isn't unusual for many people to bring the same model of fish finder.
Is it any wonder that time and again people head home with the wrong belongings.
Here's what you need to do: Get a roll of tape and a Magic Marker and mark every one of your things with your name. The more bizarre the color of tape the better.
Mark your things at home but bring the tape and marker to mark things you purchase along the way, such as tackle, bags of snacks, cases of pop, etc.
On a different topic, people are wondering how the fishing is?
It's FANTASTIC!
Walleyes are biting great, on all the usual baits such as worms and leeches, fished on Little Joe-type spinners and jigs. All colors work at various times.
Northern pike are biting great, on all the usual lures such as spoons and spinners.
For more on what to bring, look back at some of the previous 300+ blogs. There is a ream of material there.
The weather is beautiful; the fish are biting. Get up here and get at it!

The lake is everybody's way to cool off

Brian Spillar and son, Keenan, snapped this great photo of a large cow moose wading in the shallows during a hot spell we had last week.
They reported the moose was unperturbed by their presence just as long as they didn't approach too closely.
So far we have only had three hot days with temps in the 90s. The rest of the summer has been 75-80 F with little rain. In fact, the lake level is lower than we've seen it in the last decade.
The forest fires are pretty much history. You can even have shore lunch fires again.

Trouble getting connected to write blog

Once again, I'm finding it difficult to connect to the Internet to write this blog. It's taken weeks of attempts just to make this connection today.
We can get e-mails, check the weather forecast, even see websites. But connecting to the blog program is a different matter. Our radio-telephone connection seems to be too slow for that.
I suspect there is something new to the program that makes it especially cumbersome. I've grown weary of the high-tech world. I'm a writer, not a computer expert.
But I'll continue trying.
So, back to the present. The weather, the fishing and everything else has just been beautiful this summer. We've had a total of three hot days, last week, otherwise the temperature has been 70-80 F every day.
There are lots of forest fires in Northwestern Ontario but none anywhere close to camp.
We had a couple of rains last week and that reduced the fire danger somewhat; however, shore lunch fires are still not permitted by the Ministry of Natural Resources.

Finally, seven more ruffed grouse join the world

It seemed to take them forever but the seven eggs under our faithful mother grouse joined the world today!

This is one dedicated mother grouse

This hen ruffed grouse is sitting on her nest at the base of a large quaking aspen tree, right alongside a trail where we pass with the golf cart. She refuses to be scared away from her seven eggs.

Those hokey duck lures might just work!

Look what Ben Godin, our outside worker and fish cleaner, found in the stomach of a northern pike -- a duckling!
It's hard to identify downy ducklings but our best guess is that this is a goldeneye.
It was in the stomach of a 26-inch pike.

Lots of trouble understanding fish limits

We've had a rash of problems with new guests understanding Ontario's fish limit regulations.
Daily limits and possession limits are exactly equal. This means you can have one day's limit in your possession which means in the freezer, in your cabin fridge, in the lodge fridge and in your boat.
If you have the conservation licence that comes free with our fishing packages, then the limit is two walleye and two northern pike. If you buy the full-size licence, the limit is four walleye and four pike.
No matter which licence you get, you are only allowed to have in your possession one walleye over 18 inches. You cannot have any northern pike in the slot-size of 27.5-35.5 inches and you can only have one larger than the slot size.
The problems always arise from people who want to make sure they have "THE LIMIT" to take home. So they quickly sock away their entire allowable catch in the freezer. Then they bring in more fish to eat at camp.
This makes them over-limit on their possession. All the fish they are allowed to have are already in the freezer. They cannot keep any more unless they want to first take some out of the freezer and eat them.
We've also had people who want to replace some of the fish in the freezer with bigger ones. For example, they saved a 22-inch walleye and then later caught a 24-inch walleye. When they do this they are, again, over-limit, now both for numbers of fish and also fish over 18 inches.
Incidentally, if you are a conservationist, you would never keep ANY walleyes over 18 inches. Ditto for big northern pike.
You would only use your legal right to keep that big walleye or pike over 35.5 inches in the instances where you accidentally killed the fish. Big fish are poor eating choices and are the major reproducers. Walleyes under 18 inches and pike under the slot size are the ones you want to keep.
We have had people who knew they were maxed out on their limits bring in fish anyway, saying it was for "the camp limit." There is no such thing! Fish for yourself. Believe it or not, everyone is capable of providing his own fish.
The sensible thing to do if you want to take fish home, is to eat fish at camp early in the week and save fish to take home near the end of the week.
Lots of people choose to eat fish fresh at camp and take no fish home with them. Some just save suitable fish the last day. If they don't take home "THE LIMIT" so what? They just wanted some fish for a fish fry for the family. A couple of 22-26 inch northern pike and a walleye or two will do the trick.

The pike are big and chunky

We have had some great pike caught and released this summer. Here angler Greg Tanko shows the camera one of the hefty pike he caught while fishing at Bow Narrows.
It has been a glorious summer so far. The weather has been wonderfully warm and dry and the fishing has been excellent.
We have had a lot of comments from guests wondering how Sam is doing after the surgery to remove the hook from his stomach. He is absolutely fine! The thing that hurt Sam the most was his being confined to the lodge for the first couple of weeks. Sam really enjoys meeting our guests when the Lickety Split comes into the dock and it demoralized him to have to watch from the window.

How's this for the first fish?

Bret Crabb came up to camp a few weeks ago with his father, John, as a graduation present and this 43-inch northern pike was the first fish he caught!
Fishing was fairly slow when Bret and John were here due to the abnormally cold water. Now, however, everything is going full bore. Our anglers are catching lots of fish and lots of big fish as well, both in walleye and northern pike.

Holy cow, have we been busy!

No, I haven't died!
The total lack of blogs is only due to my exhaustion.
We've been doing so much I've already forgotten half of it. I've just been whipped at the end of the day and have tumbled into bed for a few hours sleep. There just has not been any time for me to write anything.
After a slow start, fishing is now fantastic. The last two weeks in particular have been spectacular for walleye and the weather has been beautiful.

A tiny bird in the hand

This ruby-throated hummingbird was stuck in the porch of one of the cabins last week.
Our outside worker, Ben Godin, removed the bird to the outside where it lay resting in his hand for awhile, then buzzed away.

Nothing beats a shore lunch

John and Matt Andrews were the first anglers to have a shore lunch this year at Bow Narrows Camp.
In the top photo John shows a nice pike that he caught and released while in the bottom photo Matt prepares a fish for the wood fire in the background.
We provide shore lunch boxes with all the ingredients, pots and pans, etc. You just supply the fish. Since our fish cleaner can remove every bone from you pike or walleye, many people bring in fish the night before, get them cleaned and take the boneless fillets out with them for the shore lunch.
The usual staples are fried fish, pork and beans, potatoes and onions and cookies for dessert.
We will point out on your map good shore lunch spots. There is usually a ring of rocks to build a fire. We provide a steel rack to place on the rocks and make a cooking surface.

How to convert treble lures to single hooks

Angler Steve Kacvinsky, who fished here last week, donated to camp these two lures which show how to convert crank baits that have multiple treble hooks to ones with only two single hooks.
The lure at the top is a five-inch Rapala. Steve removed the three tiny treble hooks and replaced them with 1/0 Siwash hooks.
The lure at the bottom is a six-inch Bomber. Steve used 2/0 Siwash hooks for this slightly larger lure.
Many of us have refrained from using crank baits like the ones above because of their multiple treble hooks that are difficult to remove from fish and get wrapped up hopelessly in the landing net.
Steve says he has used the two Siwash hook-lure-system for decades at his charter fishing business on Lake Superior.
They hook fish just as readily as the trebles and are a snap to remove.
Siwash hooks are special hooks made just for lures. They are deeper than bait hooks and have an open eye that can be crimped down on the loops or split rings of lures.

Sam's home; thanks for all the support

Brenda and Sam came home yesterday and Sam is doing well.
He must stay inside for a couple of weeks, except for walks on a leash and is supposed to remain quiet. This is a tall order for the camp greeter.
If Sam could talk, I think he would say, "I don't know what all the fuss was about. I've eaten worse things than that hook before!"
That is probably true. The problem this time was this thing wouldn't work it's way out the other end!
The good news in the whole episode is that the hook and ciscoe were recognized as missing immediately and we got Sam to the vet before the hook became ensnared in his entrails. It was just sitting in his stomach. The vet cut open his abdomen and moved his stomach outside his body cavity before making a small incision. He said he cut off each hook from the treble inside the stomach and removed each piece, thus not needing to make a larger hole to remove the whole works at once.
Sam's stomach is pretty tender but already we've seen improvement. He certainly hasn't lost his appetite but is on a restricted diet for a couple of weeks.
It's important for everybody to know that what happened here was just an accident.
We don't blame anybody for it and are just glad Sam is going to be OK.
I still wish bait fishermen would use circle hooks, however. I've written many times about them here on the blog. They absolutely catch fish, and always right in the corner of the mouth.
But, and here's where many people goof up, you must NOT set the hook when using a circle hook. Instead, after letting the fish take the bait for a few seconds, just quickly reel in. It's this slow, steady pressure that pulls the hook out of the fish's throat and hangs it right in the corner of the mouth.
Circle hooks are the type used by ocean commercial fishermen on long-liners. In this instance the fish hook themselves as they swim away with the baits in their mouths. If circle hooks didn't work, commercial fishermen would not choose them.
We should also use this opportunity to realize live bait is a temptation to all sorts of critters. We need to secure it out of reach and out of sight when we are finished with it.
I don't know how many times I've seen boats at the dock with rods that still have minnows or other bait dangling from jigs and hooks. Besides dogs, these can be gobbled by sea gulls, ravens, eagles, mink and other animals.
We should treat bait the same way we treat ammunition. Except when we are using it, don't leave it laying around.