FishingPals 2013

The Trip

Thursday

As usual, we get a jump on our trip by travelling up to Gravenhurst on Thursday after work. Peter and Fred head up to have dinner at the Boston Pizza, while Eric, David, and Andrew load the gear in the rental van and wait for the gang at Ron's cottage. After dinner, the gang meets up at Ron's, but Ron is still working in the city. We head over to Marc's cottage only to find him sleeping. The party moves over to the Fay cottage. After a lengthy explanation of how to fix home ventilation with theoretical solutions to heating and cooling a two-storey home, the gang retires for the night. Like a ninja, Ron sneaks in sometime during the middle of the night, after completing all his work before his vacation.

Friday

The long trip to the camp via North Bay and Sudbury was uneventful. There was a delay as we approached Sudbury, but otherwise, we didn't have any problems. We had our hamburger lunch at some charity tent behind a gas station. I don't think we even knew what the charity was for. Hopefully we didn't contribute to some radical extremist cause. The guy flipping the burgers looked a little shady...

The appearance of additional cell towers along the highway looked promising --- IF you had a Telus or Northern Telephone cell phone. Rogers coverage sucks in this area of the province! We filled our gas tanks in Chelmsford, and headed into the woods. We met Richard and Dan on our way in to the camp. There was a lot of new logging going on around the camp. We almost didn't recognize the road into Sashihaw.

We saw that the camp had some new additions. Two solar panels were installed, but were not operational. Also, a couple of doors were installed in the living room area. After getting some of our gear unpacked, we started on our souvlaki dinner. A new barbecue was a welcome sight, but unfortunately, no barbecue brush. Dan and Richard provided some burgers and sausages. We're not eating light any more!

After dinner, we took a spin out on the lake to see if we could snag a couple. Dan and David were in the winning boat. They were able to land three walleye. Looks like Dan has some secret spots on the lake.

Saturday

Four canoes were loaded on the boat trailer for our day trip to Trotter Lake. Dan returned to the city, while Richard would hang around and show us the way into the lake. After a little running around, we found the road into Trotter. The trailer hitch was ripped off of Richard's vehicle but luckily, there was a trailer hitch on the other vehicle. It was a pretty small lake, but there was confirmation that trout had been captured here before. Unfortunately, the trout were not interested in what we were offering that day. We were skunked --- not even a bite. The beef jerky was good, and the beer went down nicely.

On the way back to the camp, we tested the hill climbing abilities of the Tracker. Looks like those machines were made for something other than riding in the muck. At camp, Richard brought out the shotguns and we tried our hand at hitting some clay pigeons. David was two for two... Not bad for a first timer!

The blueberries this year were unbelieveable. There were blueberry bushes scattered around the camp. David and Andrew gathered enough to last for the rest of the trip. Andrew stepped up this year to organize a dinner --- Frankie's Chicken served with Quinoa. It wasn't exactly as the recipe called for, but it was tasty nonetheless! Ladies, we have an eligible FishingPals bachelor who can cook (please see Contacts section for details on contacting this FishingPal)! After dinner, Richard pulled out his guitar and sang a few songs by the campfire. He might be the next Blake Shelton!

Sunday

We woke up to a lot of fog on the lake. The rising sun would soon burn it off. We had a slow morning and decided to make lunch consisting of poutine, Pike wontons, and some beer battered walleye. The deep fryer was dusted off and the pike fillets were cut up. Too bad there wasn't a meat grinder at the camp. Folding the wontons took a little while, but we were able to complete making a good size pile. Ron was the deep fryer chef and took care of getting all the food fried. Richard left back to civilization after lunch.

The older crowd took a leisurely ride in the pontoon boat, while David and Andrew headed out on their own for the afternoon. Dinner was handled by Peter --- Cowboy steaks with Texas rub, and baked potatoes. Evening fishing turned out to be successful. We ended up with 8 walleye and 1 pike.

Monday

Kasasway Lake was good for us last year, so we decided to give it a go again this year. We packed a lunch and secured the canoes. Using our previously plotted waypoints and a printout of a Google map, we were able to easily find our way back into Kasasway. The bugs were pretty bad at the landing, but we were ok once we were out on the lake. With Richard's departure, we were one short on the canoes. Peter volunteered to go solo.

The weather held out and we had a pretty good afternoon. There were a lot of little fish, and a few big ones. In the end, we brought back 9 bass. It was Spaghetti night at the camp. After dinner, the Euchre challenge from David and Andrew was accepted by the team of Fred and Eric. The old guys were narrowly beaten by the young upstarts. They also took on the older team of Ron and Marc. We would have to avenge the loss another day.

Tuesday

Early morning fishing on Sashihaw with Eric and Fred in one boat, while Andrew and David take the other. No luck. The morning fish turned out unsuccessful. Back at camp, we had beer battered fish and chili for lunch. The boys wanted to do some exploring so they took a stroll over to Kenogaming Lake. They ran into 'Joe' and had a conversation with him.

Rain and more rain, with a few breaks in between. Andrew and Fred remain at the camp. The seldom used VHS tape player was turned on and we watched '15 Minutes' with Robert De Niro. It was probably best suited as a 'made for TV' movie. The rain let up enough for us to clean out the boats and prepare for our departure. It was nine degrees in the evening!! What happened to global warming?

Ron's Broiled Parmesan-Lemon Tilapia was a hit. Ron was able to bring all the ingredients this year and redeem himself with a fish dinner that rivalled one found in a five-star restaurant. After dinner, the euchre throwdown was continued. When the dust settled, the team of Eric and Fred schooled the children on the finer points of the game.

Wednesday

The day started with a little breakfast, and then we started packing our gear. Since no one was coming to the camp, we had to shut it down, and lock it up. We got everything into the vehicles and cleaned up the cabins. The weather co-operated so after our group photo was taken, we were on our way back to the big city. We filled up with gas, and had lunch at the Hungry Bear in French River.

Once we were able to re-establish cellphone contact, we had received early reports that there was quite a bit of damage due to a storm going through the Gravenhurst area. A lot of downed trees at the Fay cottage put Pete's car in jeapordy. Luckily, no trees had fallen on his car, so Peter was able to get home without incident.

Gentlemen, we will see you next year...

The FishingPals would like to thank Richard and Dan for all of their help in getting our trip off in the right direction. Also, thanks as always, to Andre and Eddy for the use of the camp. It's greatly appreciated.

Don't forget to contact your nearest FishingPal to view the DVD today.