Been kickin' this around for while. It is now official. I along with Miss Pam's brother and BIL and assorted nephews are going back to Canada. We all went in 2000 as a sort of once-in-a-lifetime thing. We decided later to go back and do it again in 2002 to correct some of the mistakes we made the first time and perfect the experience. This is the deal where we went up to a fishing lodge in North Eastern Ontario and they flew us out to one of their lakes in a float plane about 90 miles from the mail lodge on Confederation Lake (no other way to get in or out.) Very primitive. The name of the lake we were at is Kamengishkamo. about 10 square miles roughly in the shape of a human hand. You are completely on your own and totally at the mercy of mother nature and your own survival skills. You have a cabin but it is just a shell with some bunk beds moved in and a very crude kitchen with no running water. Also a wood burning stove in the middle of the cabin and that is ALL. And there is no one on the lake but you and your party.
They all continued to go every other year but by 2004 I was just not able to get all the good out of it because of the arthritis in my hands and shoulders and hips and knees and what all. To be really honest I was convinced that that was a thing I'd never ever get to do again. That is an experience that you need to be in pretty good physical shape to contend with all the things required to just live: haul water, pull rope-start outboard motors, chop firewood...not to mention draggin' those huge northern pike into the boat. LOL! It took me a couple of weeks to recover from the 2002 trip.
Now Miss Pam's brother is having some serious health issues of his own. They are all at the beginning stages but he doesn't have long before it will effect his life style. He and I have been talking since my surgery last May has left me in a much improved condition and he is looking at a serious decline in his in the near future. We have been thinking, why not have a kind of "close out" or "finale" trip to wrap it up and give it a good last chapter. The more we talked about it the better of an idea it seemed to be. We finally brought in the nephews and all and got a tentative plan set.
Skip is an excellent planner of this kind of thing. His organizational skills are the best. He is the one who got us doing all this and setting it all up in the first place. He has contacted Harold Lohn at Kabeelo Lodge and we are all set. They operate from the first week in June through the end of September. They have to shut down during the winter months because the lakes are all frozen over and there is no way to get in and the float planes can't land on ice. We always liked the first week because the fish haven't seen humans in months and they will bite literally ANYTHING you can get on a hook. We weren't able to get in until the 2nd week (June 8th - 15th) this time but it will be good.
We were always able to buy our Canadian fishing license at the lodge before we flew out to our lake but that is all changed now. You have to do all that .......yep.....ON LINE. Sigh..................
You also need more that just a license. They now require an "outdoors card" as well. You still need the license to fish or hunt or combination but now you also need the outdoors card. Near as I can figure it it is just a card giving you permission to be outdoors??? Anyway it's only 10 bux and only for a week. Still, seems kinda cheesy to me.
I logged onto the website and as I expected was totally unable to follow the vague and ambiguous instructions. So I called a number I found on the website. The person on the phone must have had a sore throat, and he for darn sure had a killer of an accent. When we got to the part where I found I out I needed a printer and mine wasn't working I decided to give it up.
I hate having to talk to some whispering foreigner while trying to figure out some obscure website instructions.....I REALLY hate it!
I spent a little time the next day getting my mind right and doing a few breathing execises and tried it again. Much better this time. I had my printer up and running and I was very lucky when sweet Judy answered the phone. A bright strong voice with a delightful English accent. She was great. I explained that I was deaf, computer illiterate and an old grump but she assured me that we'd be fine. She had the patience of a saint and a very pleasant sense of humor. I think I actually enjoyed the process.
I (we) completed a the form for the license and I printed out 2 copies and saved it to a pdf file just in case. Then we completed the application for the ever-lovin' outdoors card. She took my credit card number and bid me a good day. Very smooth and even pleasant. I was told that the outdoors card would arrive within 20 business days. The printed fishing license form is the actual license itself. The card arrived in only 9 calendar days.
So I have all my documents; passport, outdoors card, and fishing license in hand and I'm all set. I'll drive up to Skips in North Central Texas a couple of days early and we will drive up there in 2 Suburbans. The trip take about 26 tot 28 hour driving up I-35 crossing the border at International Falls and on up into northern Ontario. we only stop for changing drivers, eating/buying junk food, and gassing up. We should arrive back in Gainesville on the 18th and I'll be back home pro'lly on the 20th or maybe the 21st, Depending upon what condition I'm in.
Now that I have all my ducks lined up it seems very close and I'm having trouble trying not to get too excited just yet. Still have nearly 3 months to wait. A good thing is that I have a huge new Academy store to haunt while I'm markin' time.
It is high adventure. That time of year it never gets really dark. About 11:30 PM it will be about like what we call twilight. You can't see 'em but you can hear the mornful cry of the loons on the other side of the lake. You can still see fairly well. By about 3:30 or 4:00 AM the sun is up. They say you can some times see the aroura borialis (SP) but we never have.
It's like another planet. There is no grass only ground cover is a thin layer of a reddish colored fungus lookin' stuff right on top of the rocks. Trees grow from waters edge to waters edge all on top of these rocks. There's no soil. BIIIIG rocks, more like boulders. The water is a very dark but clear color because of the vegitation on the bottom. It has an unusual taste that took me a couple of days to get used to.
The game warden is supposed to fly over every lake every day but we've been there twice and haven't seen that happen yet. We have a full sheet of plywood cut into a giant E and painted red and if someone is hurt or sick and needs to evac then we are supposed to put that big red E on the boat dock in front of the cabin. But that don't offer a lot of hope when no one ever flies over. There is NO form of communication on any of the outlying lakes. If you get bit by the bear then you are just bit by the bear. It's raw I te'ya! It ain't no boy scout camp that's for sure.
We are in and outta there before the skeeters and no-see-ums get going. I wouldn't be able to take it when they are around. Bears are definitely there and dangerous. We take great care to never leave any food or food wrapping or packaging out side to attract them. There is a small island about a half a mile away from the cabin out in the middle of the lake where we clean our fish. We've been lucky so far.Here is a pic of our cabin. Notice the BEAR CLAW MARKS just under the windows. My bunk is the bottom bunk on that wall. The year after that they had to rebuild one corner of the cabin from damage to bears getting in over the winter.
I'm going to try real hard to not get bit by the bear. But if it should happen be comforted by the certain knowledge that the first couple of bite he takes of me are going to taste Really, really bad. Well lets just say it won't be like apple pie.
You can eat the Northern Pike but I don't think they are all that good. And they are a pain in the neck to clean because of their bone configuration. They have what is called a Y bone done their back. Their dorsal fin is way back toward the back end. You have to cut out "back strap" down to that and then fillet from the dorsal fin to the tail as you would any fish. The meat is a little on the funky side and we stopped eating it about halfway through the first trip.
Pickerel (Wall eye pike) are similar to crappie and very good and plentiful. Also if you can catch a lake trout that's good too. No need to fool with them nasty northerns.
Pics:
1. This is the remains of an old trappers shack probably from the '30s or '40s we found on the far end of the lake just at it's inlet.
2. The fish in this pic are Northern Pike. The little ones jump pretty good but these big lunkers hit hard and then give up and let you drag 'em in.
3. We scouted around and found the inlet to our lake. This is it.
4. This is the outlet.
5. This is about as dark as it gets that time of year (first week of June).
They all continued to go every other year but by 2004 I was just not able to get all the good out of it because of the arthritis in my hands and shoulders and hips and knees and what all. To be really honest I was convinced that that was a thing I'd never ever get to do again. That is an experience that you need to be in pretty good physical shape to contend with all the things required to just live: haul water, pull rope-start outboard motors, chop firewood...not to mention draggin' those huge northern pike into the boat. LOL! It took me a couple of weeks to recover from the 2002 trip.
Now Miss Pam's brother is having some serious health issues of his own. They are all at the beginning stages but he doesn't have long before it will effect his life style. He and I have been talking since my surgery last May has left me in a much improved condition and he is looking at a serious decline in his in the near future. We have been thinking, why not have a kind of "close out" or "finale" trip to wrap it up and give it a good last chapter. The more we talked about it the better of an idea it seemed to be. We finally brought in the nephews and all and got a tentative plan set.
Skip is an excellent planner of this kind of thing. His organizational skills are the best. He is the one who got us doing all this and setting it all up in the first place. He has contacted Harold Lohn at Kabeelo Lodge and we are all set. They operate from the first week in June through the end of September. They have to shut down during the winter months because the lakes are all frozen over and there is no way to get in and the float planes can't land on ice. We always liked the first week because the fish haven't seen humans in months and they will bite literally ANYTHING you can get on a hook. We weren't able to get in until the 2nd week (June 8th - 15th) this time but it will be good.
We were always able to buy our Canadian fishing license at the lodge before we flew out to our lake but that is all changed now. You have to do all that .......yep.....ON LINE. Sigh..................
You also need more that just a license. They now require an "outdoors card" as well. You still need the license to fish or hunt or combination but now you also need the outdoors card. Near as I can figure it it is just a card giving you permission to be outdoors??? Anyway it's only 10 bux and only for a week. Still, seems kinda cheesy to me.
I logged onto the website and as I expected was totally unable to follow the vague and ambiguous instructions. So I called a number I found on the website. The person on the phone must have had a sore throat, and he for darn sure had a killer of an accent. When we got to the part where I found I out I needed a printer and mine wasn't working I decided to give it up.
I hate having to talk to some whispering foreigner while trying to figure out some obscure website instructions.....I REALLY hate it!
I spent a little time the next day getting my mind right and doing a few breathing execises and tried it again. Much better this time. I had my printer up and running and I was very lucky when sweet Judy answered the phone. A bright strong voice with a delightful English accent. She was great. I explained that I was deaf, computer illiterate and an old grump but she assured me that we'd be fine. She had the patience of a saint and a very pleasant sense of humor. I think I actually enjoyed the process.
I (we) completed a the form for the license and I printed out 2 copies and saved it to a pdf file just in case. Then we completed the application for the ever-lovin' outdoors card. She took my credit card number and bid me a good day. Very smooth and even pleasant. I was told that the outdoors card would arrive within 20 business days. The printed fishing license form is the actual license itself. The card arrived in only 9 calendar days.
So I have all my documents; passport, outdoors card, and fishing license in hand and I'm all set. I'll drive up to Skips in North Central Texas a couple of days early and we will drive up there in 2 Suburbans. The trip take about 26 tot 28 hour driving up I-35 crossing the border at International Falls and on up into northern Ontario. we only stop for changing drivers, eating/buying junk food, and gassing up. We should arrive back in Gainesville on the 18th and I'll be back home pro'lly on the 20th or maybe the 21st, Depending upon what condition I'm in.
Now that I have all my ducks lined up it seems very close and I'm having trouble trying not to get too excited just yet. Still have nearly 3 months to wait. A good thing is that I have a huge new Academy store to haunt while I'm markin' time.
It is high adventure. That time of year it never gets really dark. About 11:30 PM it will be about like what we call twilight. You can't see 'em but you can hear the mornful cry of the loons on the other side of the lake. You can still see fairly well. By about 3:30 or 4:00 AM the sun is up. They say you can some times see the aroura borialis (SP) but we never have.
It's like another planet. There is no grass only ground cover is a thin layer of a reddish colored fungus lookin' stuff right on top of the rocks. Trees grow from waters edge to waters edge all on top of these rocks. There's no soil. BIIIIG rocks, more like boulders. The water is a very dark but clear color because of the vegitation on the bottom. It has an unusual taste that took me a couple of days to get used to.
The game warden is supposed to fly over every lake every day but we've been there twice and haven't seen that happen yet. We have a full sheet of plywood cut into a giant E and painted red and if someone is hurt or sick and needs to evac then we are supposed to put that big red E on the boat dock in front of the cabin. But that don't offer a lot of hope when no one ever flies over. There is NO form of communication on any of the outlying lakes. If you get bit by the bear then you are just bit by the bear. It's raw I te'ya! It ain't no boy scout camp that's for sure.
We are in and outta there before the skeeters and no-see-ums get going. I wouldn't be able to take it when they are around. Bears are definitely there and dangerous. We take great care to never leave any food or food wrapping or packaging out side to attract them. There is a small island about a half a mile away from the cabin out in the middle of the lake where we clean our fish. We've been lucky so far.Here is a pic of our cabin. Notice the BEAR CLAW MARKS just under the windows. My bunk is the bottom bunk on that wall. The year after that they had to rebuild one corner of the cabin from damage to bears getting in over the winter.
I'm going to try real hard to not get bit by the bear. But if it should happen be comforted by the certain knowledge that the first couple of bite he takes of me are going to taste Really, really bad. Well lets just say it won't be like apple pie.
You can eat the Northern Pike but I don't think they are all that good. And they are a pain in the neck to clean because of their bone configuration. They have what is called a Y bone done their back. Their dorsal fin is way back toward the back end. You have to cut out "back strap" down to that and then fillet from the dorsal fin to the tail as you would any fish. The meat is a little on the funky side and we stopped eating it about halfway through the first trip.
Pickerel (Wall eye pike) are similar to crappie and very good and plentiful. Also if you can catch a lake trout that's good too. No need to fool with them nasty northerns.
Pics:
1. This is the remains of an old trappers shack probably from the '30s or '40s we found on the far end of the lake just at it's inlet.
2. The fish in this pic are Northern Pike. The little ones jump pretty good but these big lunkers hit hard and then give up and let you drag 'em in.
3. We scouted around and found the inlet to our lake. This is it.
4. This is the outlet.
5. This is about as dark as it gets that time of year (first week of June).
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I made a big mistake by writing all that and doin' the pics this late at night. Then I try to go in and lay down and go to sleep and my mind is all buzzing about Canada. The heck of it is I still have to wait for another 10 or 11 weeks. 
Gonna be a looong wait.
