Grab a cold beverage of choice, raise it high in the air, and say in true Bud Light commercial fashion: HERE WE GO! The 2011 NW Ontario fishing season is (with the walleye opener today) officially underway. Sorry for the delay in getting this posted it was supposed to be posted on Saturday but with the poor weather we had to delay the award ceremony (read below).Cloudy skies, intermittent sprinkles, and easterly winds around 12 mph did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of guests who have long awaited this week. The fish did not disappoint with good catches being reported from throughout camp on all species ( except perch for which no one fished). Lake trout, walleye, pike and smallmouth were all caught despite the dramatic change in weather from the sunny skies, light winds and 75 degree temps from last week to today’s emerging front. It wasn’t fast and furious, but with some hunting and pecking most everyone was able to catch plenty to eat. Water temperature is around 58 degrees.
Joining us this year, for his record 50th consecutive year is Don Strafford who wasted little time in getting in some early lake trout fishing and with good success. It is always great to have a kid (Don will turn 81 in a couple of months) in camp. Just like a kid, he and Pete were out right until 10:00 pm (it gets dark about 9:45PM) on Thursday night laker fishing and had me pacing the floor watching for them. I guess if the passion for the sport runs deep in your veins there is simply no denying it.
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| Don Strafford (L) and Pete Greendyke with some early season Lake Trout |
To celebrate Don’s 50th year in camp, we presented him the following plaque: (sorry for the rough photo)
This may not be the only 50th year award we present as we have a couple of others knocking on the door…..but until we celebrate the next one, we just want to say one more time “Thank you Don” from all of us, it is always a pleasure to have you in camp.
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| L-R Pete Greendyke, Steve Strafford, Don Strafford and me |
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| Don Strafford with his 50 year recognition award |
We will try to keep the blog updates coming fairly regularly as you look forward to your upcoming trips to Wabaskang. Until then…take care and see you soon.
