Jul 30 - the one that got away

Sure, another fishing story about the huge fish that got away ... well this one didn't quite get away. I went out this morning and actually caught my limit but was one short when I started filleting the fish ... you see the big two were hanging on the stringer off the dock ...

... and one got away right ? no, only parts of him were gone. Actually about 1/2 of him was gone. Since we don't have sharks, I have to think snapping turtle. Yikes. I guess that I won't hang fish off the dock any more ! This was the easiest prey that the turtle has ever had. It was a nice one too -- 1.75-2.0 pounds. Of course I couldn't weigh him once he was only half there.

It was entertaining this morning. The water was boiling around me -- well, not really but they were jumping. Who ? Why the fish and the loons. Eight loons were around me chasing fish and the fish must have been obliging too.

So everyone had breakfast this morning ... the loons ... the turtles ... the fish ...

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Whoops, the day is rushing by ... the next day that is. I just got back from Parry Sound picking up David, Kim and Meagan. It's 3pm.

After my tale of woe in the morning, with my biggest catch lost to sharks unknown, I went into town and picked up the 1x4's, gas, ice cream, mail and completed that trim work just before Arlene arrived. Well, that's not quite true -- I completed the work just before Arlene MIGHT HAVE arrived soon after lunch, but she didn't actually arrive until 6:30 pm. In the meantime, I admit it, I had a short snooze. I had a shower. I did a few other things.

I was the first to bed last night. Arlene and gang are still on PDT so at 10pm they were still going strong. I wasn't. We had pickerel for dinner, which everyone enjoyed. Even the kids all had second helpings. It's great to have kids around who like fish.

This morning I went fishing again, thinking quite rightly that the west coast crowd would still be tired. They were. I got two medium sized bass and seemed to miss a bunch, or at least the same wily one. At one point I lost 4 minnows in a row -- drop line, small tug, minnow gone. Over and over and over -- what gives ? very smart fish ? Perhaps, but then I caught one and it was probably that same one.

The day continued to rush by here and I left at 11:45 to meet David who expected to be in Parry Sound an hour later. He was late but so was I. Traffic was heavy going north and south. On the way back we stopped in Point au Baril for David to get a fishing license.

So that's it for now ... Arlene et al have gone into Port Loring, so it was relatively quiet when David et al got here. We'll have a lot of "et al's" here soon -- Philip just called and he and Olivia will be here for dinner.