We Have a WINNER!

Yes dear reader the Dooms Day for all Blackflies has arrived – the dragon flies hatched on the 31st of May! There was much rejoicing!!! Except for the Evil One who maintains that the three that hatched on the day that she picked constituted The Hatch!!! She is such a Cheater Hair! If brother Bobby were in the pool he would be right there in the muck with the Evil One arguing about what constitutes “The Hatch” – but tut tut tut, this is once again my call and I will invoke the Popes Infallibility Clause here – that is to say that I have unilaterally decided that three hatches is not The Hatch and several thousand IS The Hatch! So Joan gets the fabulous prize! (I don’t remember what it is so I will have to review the earlier blog for it)

Both docks are set and we have gotten some much needed rain. It rained all night and was relatively wind free – so the wild fires should be beaten back pretty well.  Joan and I saw four bears at the dump – and big fat momma and her three sweet little yearling cubs. The runt was very rambunctious! We’ve also been seeing a pair of Bald Eagles over the lake on a consistent basis. The one eagle was being harried by a raven the other day and was flipping over to try and rake him with his talons when ever the raven dove at him – really cools stuff! The Evil One, alleges that she saw three moose when she was lat in-transit back from town too!

The lake temp dropped to 62F over night and the lake level went up an inch. We haven’t been out fishing for about a week so I can’t give you first hand insight but Bob Z. and Bruce have been fishing the Dam at Duncan as well as hitting the Montreal River, Slim and Fisher etc. They have been doing extremely well at the dam with minnows and catching lots of pike and bass as well.

Well I have many rainy day chores to take care of – my boat repair and some seamstress work (its really seamSTRESSFULL with the Evil One at the machine) to make sail covers to leave the mainsails on the Ouzel and Firth Lady as they lay at anchor. So off I go….

Hey let me know if anyone wants to see pictures.

A Beautiful Night..

And the first camp fire of the summer.

We sat around the fire at the beach last eve and had a few beers till about 2 in the Am. We had to settle for (Josh please note!) ice cold Alexander Kieth’s IPA. New Liskeard and Giselle were both out of 50! That’s what happens when you have people that know their beer in camp siphoning off the low 50 supply! It has been an extremely warm week! There were no northern lights to speak of and no bugs at all.

Its been easily in the 80′s F most of the days and there has been a very blustery south,south,westerly blowing. I brought the docks over from the weed bed bay and had waves emanating from sawmill bay of about 6 to 10 inches rolling over the docks in transit across the mouth of the bay!!! That’s with a fetch of only about a quarter of a mile! I shudder to think what the waves were at the north end of the south basin of Firth! Well there wasn’t any problem with black flies on the crossings! If they were after me on the lake they soon found themselves in Timmins! Joan handled the the chase boat on the way back each time to be sure that a gust didn’t push me off the dock into the drink. I did take my fishing pole with me so I could do some casting in the weed bed bay as I ferried the docks back. I caught two nice pike this year from the docks over in the weed bed – both were about 26 – 27 inches. They put a up a fine fight and I hauled their butts onto the dock and let the devils go. You all know what I was using. If you don’t, then you should post a question in the comments and everyone will laugh at you.

The black flies haven’t been all that bad here, what with the hot dry weather and blustery wind conditions. However, when the dusk calm sets in and the humidity rises in the eve they have been brutal the last few days – no dilly dallying just hone in on you and start biting as soon as they land in droves! LOL – But it still isn’t nearly as bad as rush hour anywhere! The small sneaky bastard culex – mosquitoes are now out so if its not windy in the late dusk they a looking to party hardy on your blood too. This brings us to the Dooms Day Dragonfly Hatch Pool – I have:

The Rev. B. – today (no such luck)

The Evil One – May 28

Joan – May 31

Jack – June 2

Sloucho – June 4

Aaron – June 6

Get your guesses in quickly because all the good dates are being snapped up and you’ll miss out on the fabulous prize! (I don’t remember what it is right now) but I can assure you that it is indeed fabulous!

The Lake temperature was ~ 63F yesterday and the pike and bass and walleye were all biting very well. The walleye were yielding very well to the standard floating Rapala and the small male bass were hugging the shorelines shallows with the bigger females out in about 6 – 8 foot of water over the rocky shoals. The Pike were sunning in about 3 foot of water in the nascent weed beds.

Its cooler today and extremely blustery but still sunny and comfortable.We did get some much needed rain this AM too – so my garden that I just planted yesterday got a pretty good soaking. Well I must now be off.

But oh wait! I need to publish the Single Malt Scotch List for this year. Just in case anyone would be interested in bringing another type up to add to the collection or just to bring to the store for some comparison tasting. Its policy that any bottles of single malt that are contributed to the collection are never guzzled – they are only tasted and savored in “wee drams” in a taste comparison situation generally only when a new bottle is brought to the table – whether its just visiting or staying – no difference. We now have in residence 5 fine examples of the Scottish distillers arts:

Highland Park 18yo (my fav)

Speyburn 10yo

Glenlivet 12yo

Dalwhinnie 15yo

Ardberg 10yo

I forgot to bring my bottle of Edradour from home – But I will try and get Sled to stop in and retrieve it. The Evil One’s Brother, Bobby gave it to me several christmases back. (Gee! Bobby has been mentioned in the blog two times “inda” row! I hope Dr. John doesn’t get jealous) I am surprised that Alex Vesco’s (Scotch expert, connoisseur, raconteur and bon vivant) favorite – Macallan – “the Queen of Scotches” hasn’t made an appearance and whenever Rich Scaglione brings a bottle of oh so smoky  “Lap-Frog” here, he just drinks it all up!!!! Can you believe that shit? (I help him a little though) As I peruse my wish list here in the form of the small Scotch Thesaurus Rex – I have visions of obscure single malts making their way to my discerning palate.

Adios -

Something evil this way comes!!!

Woe is me! The fate of the world hangs in the balance and I let it it down – is it another sign that the Mayans were right? Yes dear reader – The Evil Janeeto from the Planet Janetron has caught the first bass of the year!!!! Small birds flushed from the trees, eagles took wing, wolves cringed and ran for cover, moose stampeded and red squirrels went silent! The catch was was followed by prodigious hooting and hollering and the patented “Hair” giggle gloating. The only other person that has that giggle-gloat down is Bother Bobby in Scranton.

It wasn’t very big but it was the first. We had to keep it or she would cry! But it was the first of several. I didn’t catch a bass, but between The Evil One and Joan a fine group of fish for supper was collected. I caught a few pike and there was a couple follow ups from two very large pike – 40+ inches of hungry toothy beasty.

So the fishing report is thus – the lake water temp is around 60F and on the rise. The Faulds are in camp this week and they had good fishing success as well with a lot of pike in evidence and several pickerel (they’re canadian so we must use the vernacular here). The black flies are out but still being docile – the high temperatures, wind and low humidity are keeping them pretty well at bay. The weed beds appear to in good shape and the fish are biting well. We went down and had a couple beers with the Faulds last evening and the aurora was glowing and dancing on the northern horizon. Joan has seen a couple dragonflies – but they were probably the large forest pond type. We certainly haven’t had the major hatch yet.

That brings me to the next order of business, this years dragonfly hatch pool. The summer’s greatest floating holiday! The Evil One has posited that they will hatch on May 28 and Joan has opted for May 31 – I am going with June the two’th. So get your guesses in asap so you don’t miss out on possibly winning the fabulous prize of – of – of – hmmmmmm lets see – I got it!! A Cold 50! In fact I think I’ll check on that prize right now – quality control is very serious business here at Sportsmen’s Camp! And besides its like fucking 3,500 degrees outside! (I’m not sure if that’s C or F) And sunny too – perfect. Well I have to get a lot of shit done so I can’t be farting around casting anymore pearls before swine, so I bid you auf wiedersehen! Off I go on another perfectly ordinary day in paradise……

Live From Sportsmen’s Camp…

Its Friday night!

We made it back to camp without major mishap. I am slowly bring the camp back on line. I haven’t been out fishing yet but I think that will happen in the next few days. The power and water is on and I’ve repaired a couple of roofs damaged by the wind in the last couple weeks. The weather is for the most part warm and the season has begun early. The black flies are out and very friendly. My next big job is to get the docks setup. The large spruce near the drive directly to the south west of the west horseshoe pit also came down so I have been burning tree limbs and clearing the area. The lower part of the tree trunk took on some internal rot in the past few years and weakened the tree making it vulnerable to the last wind storm. The rot was evidenced by the large “scrambled egg” like fungus that appeared near its roots the last few years. It snapped off about 7 feet up. I piled some of the branches around the standing trunk – so I think we’ll have and interesting fire there some night. The broad-leaf trees are still not leafed out and over all water levels don’t seem too far off of normal. However if there is a drier spring and summer the water levels could get low. I don’t have any water temps yet but will report them as soon as I get them. Janet has suggested that I toss the thermometer out with my fishing rod – but if I take the fishing pole down to the lake I’ll probably have a mepps on it! This weekend is the opening of walleye season so I’ll have an idea of how the fish are biting soon. There is still a hell of a lot to do here. I did get my bonsai collection back up today while I was running around so that little bit of eye candy is good for me too. The two new roses on the east and west sides of the sign out front made it through the winter and the long shot – Chinese tree peony also made it though the winter! That’s about all I have to report – I’ll be back to blogging regularly so stay tuned.

Here We Go Again!

And I can’t wait!!!

Yes dear reader the time has come once again for our translation to – the north – home – not heaven, just Sportsmen’s Camp.

Trout season weekend at the Flying Wuubbbuyu with the guys was fun even though the weather sucked. I missed Sloucho but hopefully he will be in attendance next year. I caught a shit load of fish on the Thursday that I went up to camp but after that it was rough sledding with the nights in mid 20′s causing a precipitous drop in water temps. I did get into a stream I had not seen before and plan on completing the job next year. So it was great fun even with the shitty weather and sparse fishing. I bid all my friends at Iron Mountain adieu on Friday and traveled north to the Allegheny National Forest. The Evil Janeeto (of the Planet Janetron) and I spent Cinco de Mayo with Pat and Carol and had a great margarita party. The Evil One approximated the Margarita recipe of the infamous “Tree Bar” on Duval street in Key West and they were absolutely delicious! We had great food and then a camp fire along a babbling brook in the back yard. I also got to hit a new native brook trout stream as well as an old friend – both with great success.

But that is all behind me now – the focus has been directed at getting the yard in shape, securing my fish collection, packing and getting ready to get the fuck outta here. Needless to say we are all chafing at the bit to get back. The ice is obviously off the lake and preliminary reports are that the camp weathered the winter in fine fettle. Of course you all will be waiting on baited tender hooks for the first of many blogs emanating for fabulous Sportsmen’s Camp. This will likely be my last blog from Starbase Bryson and I have much to do so… Auf Wiedersehen – for now!

Trout Season is Here.

Yes much to report here. Getting ready to head north, fishing, working, cutting grass, cutting up tree limbs, pruning, playing pool, going to my sister’s retirement party etc. First of all we did a good Friday fish fry (actually it was an excellent Friday) Sportsmen’s Night Out at a local VFD and set up a small booth and passed out some brochures. The fish was good and they also had beer too – all for 12$!!! We’ve gotten the starter and the fuel injection pump for the Perkins diesel rebuilt and I am starting to accumulate things that are going north. Joan has retired and has decided to inflict herself on us up north all summer and I am looking forward to all the help and she has volunteered to snake all the plugged septic lines!! Its gotta be better than working every day!! Seriously though, as I need to build two new boats this spring an extra set of hands will be very very appreciated especially when setting side panels. Joan did have the temerity to schedule her retirement party for the first day of trout season – but I did get out that morn-er noon for about an hour. The stream is lower than I’ve ever seen it for this time of year but the stupid stocked trout were still willing – I caught 3 before Joan’s party at at Sprague brewery in Venango. (Great place great beer)

Here’s a shot of the Sunday catch. Well I have much to do so I bid you all adieu.

These are a few of…

My Favorite Things.

Janet was spending saturday at one of her friends down in Pittsburgh having some vodka tonics and watching the Pens game – so what was I to do? As any methodical person I listed some of my favorite things so that I could incorporate them into my prospective days activities.

1 – Baxter and Bart

2 – fish/fishing

3 – cigars

4 – beer

5 – single malt scotch

6 – seafood

7 – sailing

I could go on and on but that was all I needed to list. My first choice for my days activities was to blast out onto Firth in the Piscarious with Baxter and Bart a few cold 50′s on ice to stalk the 22″ small mouth bass with some french hardware and my new graphite flyrod. But alas the lake is frozen and the Piscarious is not an ice breaker/snow machine. Got to next plan.

This was to be known as the Other Plan – Baxter and Bart and I would jump into my VW panzer head to Pittsburgh with first stop at The Smoker Friendly shop in Cranberry. They have been saving the loose tobacco that many cigar makers pack their cigars in for me. They didn’t have any saved this time but I bought a couple nice cigars from their well stocked humidor. Moving right along to Pittsburgh – next stop Penn Brewery. The boys got out for a little walk then onto the bier-hall – and a nice big draft of the vunderbar, Kaiser Pils! MMMMMMM good! Truly the breakfast of champions! Then across the Allegheny river to the strip district. I parked and walked to Wholeys fish market. Step one get 6 lightly breaded fried fresh oysters. Next step walk around and look over all the fish whilst eating said oysters.. Every type of whole fish for sale and many types swimming in tanks! Bluegills, largemouth bass, tilapia, brown trout, brook trout, rainbow trout, carp … really cool stuff. I got some Amish block butter and American cheese, on the cheap, after I had downed my oysters. Next stop Sam Bok market – where I purchased a gallon of god awful good Kim Chi! Then off to the Macaroni company for sharp ass good provolone cheese – 1 pound 7$ and several tastes of other cheeses before I got what I went there for. He He! The Stilton was great and the sharp Asiago tempted me – well maybe next run. It was beginning to spit snow but I was still on my fun mission. Back to the car and the boys sleeping – we next crossed the Monongahela to the south side and Bloom cigars on 12th street off of Carson, near Jacks Bars no less. I picked up a couple cigars (excellent price for hand rolled natural wrapper 50 ring gauge!!! Best stocked humidor in Pa and truly nice people) and nice fat bag of loose tobacco for 6$!!!!! With my looted booty in hand I jumped back into the Panzer and assessed the sit. The snow was coming down like crazy! And the boys were oh so lazy. My next stop was to be the Hofbrau Haus in south side – but after assessing the weather/time/ etc I opted for the skip and headed for my final stop – Elmer’s Aquarium in Monroeville. So off we went snow or no snow – damn the torpedos full speed ahead. We got to Elmer’s in fine fettle in no time. I spent about a half hour looking over the vast array of tropical exotic fish there and as ever was impressed. But I was also impressed with the prices – you pay for the great multiplicity of fish species here – fish that were available in small shops and say Petsmart for 3$ were running at 6 to 8$ here!!!!! But as I said there were uncountable numbers of fish that were not to be had anywhere else nearby. Discretion being the better part of valor – I opted for no purchases. I stole away before I made any rash decisions and started home in the heavy snow. On passing a Petsmart I was sucked into the parking lot! I purchased a couple of great little iridescent shark (catfish) and then proceeded for home. What a great day! Driving home in the blowing snow with Bart sleeping warmly on my lap and Baxter riding shotgun. Life is sweet!