Trophy Night on Indian Lake

Our son Jonathan and his wife Reseth are visiting us for a week at camp along with the three chilluns, Aaron, Titus and Evemarie.  The boys LOVE to catch fish, so Joanna and I took them out to our favorite spot about sundown, cast our jigheads to the bottom and waited for some nice Walleyes to come along.  We waited and waited and waited and waited.  Not even a bite.  It was about 8 o'clock and from my experience they really start to bite at dusk. 

It's always good to have some walleye chop on the water, but it was very calm and we would see Smallmouth bass swirling on top of the water every now and then  nearby us.  I couldn't take it any longer.  I took off my jighead and put on a top water lure to see if I could snag one of the smallmouth.  Sure enough , one took the bait.  I gave my rod to Titus to reel him in so he could feel the action since he was getting bored with no fish on his line.  Soon as we got the bass to the boat, he spit out the hook and away he went.

On my last cast of the artificial bait, I saw a very large walleye following it about six feet under the boat.  It wasn't long after that that Jonathan felt a tap, tap, tap on his line and his pole bent over double... a sure sign of a large fish.  What a beautiful 28 inch Walleye it was!!

He threw it back in for another day.  We were looking for some eating size walleyes, about 16 to 18 inches. 

Next thing I knew, my rod bent over double with a huge fish.  I then landed a 28 inch Walleye too.  What fun!

Titus and Aaron both caught a few smaller walleyes that we threw back.  And then Titus quietly announced that he felt a fish on his line.  He says it so calmly and quietly that you tend to doubt him.  But when his pole bent over from the weight of the fish, it was all hands on deck, grabbing the net and getting the camera ready for a picture.  He reeled with all his might while I held onto his pole to make sure it didn't go overboard.  It was the biggest fish he had ever caught... a 28 inch Walleye.  Soon after that he caught another 28 inch Walleye.  Maybe we were all catching the same one. 

But then Aaron who was nodding off to sleep waiting for something to happen on his line, felt a tap, tap on his line and his pole bent over with the weight of a big fish.  He landed the biggest fish of all, a 29 inch walleye. 

Later, I snagged a 28 inch Northern Pike.  All the fish got thrown back since they were all to big to keep and eat, but what an exhilarating, fun-filled night of fishing for us all.  It was the only time I can remember that Joanna didn't catch a thing.  She usually out fishes us all.  But she was very thankful the boys had such a super time.

Unique Experience

Joanna and I were driving back from Dryden Sunday afternoon after church and decided to turn onto a gravel side road off Hwy 17 to check out a blueberry patch and see if they were ripe enough to pick. We both were walking along the edge of the path filling our bellies with big, delightful, juicy, blueberries.

After we had our fill, we got back into the car and turned the corner to head back to the Hwy. Suddenly, I saw an animal running along the side of the road that looked like a large dog. It was actually a Timber Wolf. She stopped to look at us, so I stopped the car, rolled down the window and grabbed my phone to take some pictures.

She didn't seem to be the least bit afraid of us. And here we were picking berries without a care with him wandering around near us. We wondered if the people who had been logging in the area might have fed her because there was a trailer close by. It's possible she was a mama wolf with a den nearby. It was difficult to tell whether it was a male or female at first because of the poor lighting, until we could look more closely at the pictures and video.

When she started walking toward our car getting about 15 feet away, I decided I had better move along. I didn't want her lunging at me through an open window. It was a pretty amazing experience.

Ya'll Com Back Now, Ya Here?

My brother Rick from Georgia drove up to spend a couple of weeks with us. He just left this morning and we were sad to see him go. We had so much fun with him. He LOVES to fish and tries to make it up here once a year for sure. This year he had a friend from his church in Georgia fly into Thunder Bay where he picked him up and came to stay for a week in one of our cabins. Kelly is a great fisherman too and is pictured holding up the pike. They especially like to catch Smallmouth Bass since they put up such a good fight. We so enjoyed getting to know Kelly and showing him our neck of the woods. One day Rick, Kelly and I went to fish on Heathwalt Lake about 6 miles from our camp. Though it was tough fishing because of extremely strong wind, we were blessed to come around a point and see a Cow moose with her little one eating grass by the water's edge. I'll have to get Kelly's pictures of them to post here too. We also got to see a large linx on the way to the lake. It's a great experience to just be outside and relax in God's creation.