Oct 24 - not much new to report

Let's see ... I went fishing first thing and caught a good sized pike and a bass -- that makes another meal in the fridge.

I had been out there for quite a while fishing with small minnows with no success (crappie bite on small minnows) so I switched to the large minnows in the pail. Bam -- hooked a pike, brought it up to the boat and he dived beneath the boat and shook the hook before I could get him in the net. 15 minutes later I hooked another pike, or the same one, and this time got him into the boat and then onto the stringer.

I fished for a while more in my "usual spot" and then decided to move to the other side of the shelf, so I let myself drift and then dropped the anchor. Before I started drifting I checked the stringer, which was a good thing -- the pike had almost bitten through the stringer (it's not metal) -- there was only one strand left ! I moved him/her into the live bait well. Once in the new location I dropped the minnow -- bam -- I hooked a good sized bass and this time it didn't jump and shake the hook.

It's interesting fishing with these large minnows. They are strong enough to depress the end of the rod almost 6 inches so you cannot take your eye off the rod. You're pretty well guaranteed that anything taking the bait, however, will be a keeper.

After my fishing expedition it was lunch time. Then of course I had to clean the fish. After that "fun" chore I moved the Muskoka chairs up to the barn and did some other yard tidy-up including putting tarps over two exposed woodpiles. The dogs played and played outside, chasing each other. It was warm and mostly sunny -- a great day to be outside. Having said that, of course one of my chores was to finish attaching the baseboard -- an inside chore -- but that did not take long.

With it being warm and pleasant I decided to go out early for my evening fishing. Buoyed by my success of the morning I planned to fish with large minnows until close to dusk and then switch to small minnows for crappie. Well, I guess that I'm getting overconfident. Fishing is not that scientific. It was a frustrating night. There was a wind and it kept changing directions. The anchor would not hold well without a significant amount of rope out to improve the angle of attack so the boat swung back and forth in an arc. The best fishing is right at the edge of this weed bed in about 10-11 feet of water -- well, the arc either kept me in 13-15 feet of water or in 7 feet of water. I changed positions a few times but couldn't get it right. In 13 feet of water there are no fish. In 7 feet of water your line is constantly picking up weeds. What I needed was two anchors. What I really needed was a night off !

After I got back Jason, Lorraine & Gavin came over and had a drink. Once our dinner was almost ready -- Sandy made spinach risotto -- they headed home. With the risotto we had the crappie caught the day before and it was delicious. Even Stef liked it !! Lauren went back for seconds !! I'm getting better at doing these things on the griddle. The spinach risotto was excellent.

Today -- it is supposed to rain so I probably will not get out fishing. Tomorrow promises more of the same. I have to get into Mass one of these days either in Parry Sound, Britt or Sudbury but I have not decided which. Parry Sound and Sudbury have Saturday afternoon Masses. Britt is Sunday morning, I think -- I'll call and check. There is a power outage scheduled for tomorrow morning so it would actually be better to go today, all things being equal. Of course they are not equal since Britt is 1/2 hour away and Parry Sound is 1 hour away ...

Tomorrow Jason will finish closing up and head back to Brantford. Another spring/summer/fall cottage season is over for them.

That's it.