New Water

     Yes, lakes I'm familiar with have their charm. Something like visiting old friends. Mostly they're comfortable but every once in a while will throw in a new twist I didn't see coming. Maybe even an angle that changes my outlook on a place I've been to dozens of times. Truth is, even though I think I know what I'm doing, I really don't. Never the same river twice also seems to fit for lakes.
     Old friends aside, I have to admit I like new water. It's exciting standing on the shore and looking out on a world fresh with possibility. There have been a few times when that feeling struck me hard. Two in particular, East Pike Lake in the Boundary Waters in '66 and South Stocking in the Chippewa National Forest close to thirty years later. Those two moments filled me with a tingling, gut feeling. It's a feeling that still hangs on as I sit here at the keyboard. Both lakes live in my head as changing points. East Pike planted the seed and South Stocking provided the first fruit. Yes sir, it was a long time coming.
     That morning on South Stocking led to an exploration of what grew to be my home water and eventually to numerous, wilderness canoe trips with my son and a few others. None were great undertakings but a few led us more than three days off the beaten path in the Manitoba bush. Both my son Allan and I found a little bit of ourselves on each of our paddles over the horizon. Even the tough times were good times.
     Come this summer the two of us are off on another adventure, just Allan and I. And we'll be on new water where we'll wet a line to see what truth can be found beneath the waves. New water is always out there, somewhere, waiting for a man to come visit. It's also inside patiently biding its time, holding onto unrealized truth. In my life I've come to fish both ways, inward and out. Can't say which is better. And no, it's not a religious thing, at least not in an organized religion kind of way. Call it more of a oneness with a few big pike thrown in as a bonus.


   

New Day

     At the moment Draftee is finally cleaned up about as good as I can get it and Deadman Lake is sitting on the sidelines where it can mellow out for a month. Once both are done and published I can move on to the trips to the Boundary Waters and Canada. What I'll write from then on is a good question.
     For the moment there are three fishing trips, maybe four, ready to go for next summer and early fall. A while back I wrote an entry, at least I think I did, called Never Enough Time. Damnation that's true. Figured that'd be a thing of the past when I retired, guess it's not. At age seventy-one the window's still open but is getting harder to squeeze through. Suppose I'll keep climbing in the canoe till I can't.
     The lake Allan and I will fly to in late June is not all that big. Figure the little chain in Ontario at 5-600 acres but big enough to hold a few fish of size. Also small enough to get a grip on how to fish it. The main body, Night Hawk Lake, is close to the same size as the unnamed one I wrote up in Between Thought and the Treetops. Hadn't made that mental connection when I signed on the dotted line. So, once again it's a combination of good and bad; wish it was bigger but at the same time I'm glad it's not. Story of life in a nut shell.

Tackle Box

       Don't know if I have the guts but do like the idea of a pared down tackle box for the upcoming fly-in to Ontario:

       1 dozen, homemade, red and white spinners (big pike size only).
       1/2 dozen quarter ounce jigs.
       1/2 dozen eighth ounce jigs.
       1 sleeve of two inch twister tails.
       1 sleeve of three inch twister tails.
       Snap swivels.
       Back-up line.
       Jaw spreader and needle nose pliers.

       That should do it and outside of the needle nose and jaw spreader, will all fit in a small plastic box plus a one quart zip lock bag.

Summer 2018

       Looks like three trips are in the offing for this summer. The first's in late June will be a fly-in to northwest Ontario with my son Allan. The second, a Boundary Waters trip, should come about in late July with my grandson Jakob and my son-in-law Ryan. Finally, a fall Boundary Waters trip with my nephew Brian. Been nigh on two years since we shared a canoe. He's still iffy but has a taste for cold water fattened walleye and we both know where they live. More later.