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CANADA 2015

We returned to Bay Wolf for our 3rd visit this September.  Having stayed the night before again in New Liskeard we arrived well rested.  It was good to see Al & Wendy again and of course Bella the beautiful Hungarian Kuvasz.  A soon as we passed Bella’s inspection we made our cabin ready for the week. We had met friends in Martin River, ON for lunch and were informed that a massive cold front had passed through a day before which caused the fishing to become difficult.  Never the less after donning winter jacket the first couple of days we enjoyed time on the lake.

Soon the weather changed radically to record warmth of 85+ degrees.  This didn’t help fishing at all but it got Dottie out on the lake.  We made a portage to nearby Nora Lake where as usual Dottie was the “master”.


Dottie with one of her Pike catches.

Dottie , in spite of wind blown hat, shows another catch.

On one of the days Wendy gave Al instructions that he “needed” to go fishing and bring home some supper. He, being ever so kind, invited me to accompany him to a drive-to lake which required taking a boat and motor in the back of his truck..  The lake was called Grassy Lake, perhaps because of an enormous area of wild rice.  It was a long (3 mile) lake going north-south.  On this particular day a good amount of wind from the south made it challenging for Al to control boat during passes at the many beaver lodges that were about the lake.  We must have fished 8-9 lodges at least.

While Al was able to take a nice Walleye home to Wendy, we succeeded in only catching a number of “hammer handle” Pike.  But it was a most enjoyable time to get to be with Al and learn of some of his and Wendy’s 25 years of experiences while owning Bay Wolf.

Al operating the boat on warm and windy day at Grassy Lake.

One of the amazing features of Grassy Lake were the enormous rock cliffs that were on the eastern edge.  In addition we were able to view Bald Eagles flying about.  Al informed us that on several occasions he has seen Golden Eagles on other lakes.

While we were intrigued by the photos of the large Pike, Walleye and Bass that were caught during the summer, we were aware that the rapid weather changes were working against us.  A group of 10 fellows from Toronto, who came again for their 4th trip at the same time that we have been there, were experiencing similar results but were still enjoying their time at Bay Wolf and will be returning next year.  (Al told us that 75% of their business is repeat clients.)  We’re at a point in our life that maybe is the last stage of enjoying fishing.  First stage is, “I want to catch a fish”.  Then comes, “I want to catch a lot of fish.”  Followed by, “I want to catch a big fish.”  Then finally, “I just enjoy being on a beautiful lake and taking in all the surrounding beauty of nature and the wildlife and if I catch a fish it’s frosting on the cake.”   We always get  frosting but a lot more cake when we are in Canada.  

Al & Wendy continue to offer the best of hospitality that anyone could possibly expect and do everything they can to make you sorry to leave and anxious to get back.  After a day back home we emailed our friends in Canada who we had met for lunch and shared our wishes that they might be able to join us next year.  We met them about 30 years ago down at Herridge Lodge in Temagami.  They immediately called up to Bay Wolf and made reservations to be there at same time we will be there next year.  Dottie and I are both looking forward to that week with them at Bay Wolf.  As we’ve said before, a vacation is divided into 3 parts.  There’s the anticipation; the experiencing and the remembering.  We’re still remembering but doing a bit of anticipating of the fun of next year.  The fish will be bigger and we’ll have friends with us to enjoy all of  it too.


On our final day of fishing Dottie decided to show her diversity of skills and had fun catching this nice Smallmouth Bass.

Dottie again demonstrating her diversity of skills as she eats lunch.  Due to lack of camp sites on  the lake we ducked out of wind and put in close to shore.  On Nora Lake we were able to tie-up and get out of boat only to be presented with a very “fresh” pile of bear scat.