The Trip

The Trip

LOOKING FOR GOLD

The trip begins this year with a visit to a local pub to plan and discuss menus. We accomplished this at Jake's in Unionville with Ben, Eric and Fred present. Once the meal plan is established, Eric gets on the computer and puts the order in at www.grocerygateway.com . The groceries get delivered on the Thursday and we make our way north to cottage country on Friday. Eric and family drive up first, followed by Fred. Ron arrives shortly after but has a long journey since he left from work. Again, Ben arrives Saturday morning to meet up with the rest of the gang. We make our way north towards Sudbury.
We make a short stop in Parry Sound to gas up and get a little breakfast at MacDonald's. There must have been a bikers' convention going on judging by all of the motorcycles we saw. With a couple of detours on the highway for urine relief, we found our way towards Sudbury and the ever elusive town of Azilda. We find yet another way to get to Sudbury Aviation . One of these days, we'll follow a map there.

		Marg and Mel were there to greet us and fly us into Biscotasi Lake in no time. Basically a smooth ride in but we could have done without a couple of dips. It was evident that the cabin was recently built. It was a two-bedroom unit with three beds in each room. In the kitchen, a full sized propane range was supplied as well as a new dining table and chairs. Next time, we'll have to bring supplies to bake a cake. The fridge was in good order with cups of solid ice in the freezer. There was even a fold-out couch in the main room. The accommodations were the best to date.
		A new sauna was also built to go along with the cabin. It turned out to be a vital part of the trip. We took a sauna almost everyday. The original cabin at Biscotasi Lake was positioned behind everything. It appeared to be built in an older A-frame style with a second floor. It was used to store a couple of sea kayaks and a canoe.

	Fishing on Bisco Lake was pretty good. It was difficult to get a good read on the feeding habits of the fish since it was pretty inconsistent. We sometimes caught fish during the evenings, and other nights, we couldn't catch a thing. We had some luck still fishing but we also had some luck trolling. Minnows, worms, and artificial lures all seemed to work at one time or another. We could catch both pike and pickerel in the same location. Hot spots on one night might not produce a bite on another night. In the end, we were able to catch enough fish to have a few fish frys at night, as well as some fish sandwiches for lunch. But, as always, we were able to catch enough for Ben's Steamed Fish dinner on Tuesday night. Generally, with miles of waterway available to us, and numerous bays to explore, the fishing was considered good.
	Fishing regulations have changed and now we are limited to 4 fish in our possession for each sportfishing license and 2 fish if you have a conservation license. Also, the fish have to be under 16" in length or above 22". But you could only have one larger than 22".

We had a shooting competition with a pellet gun. Cans, plastic bottles, and cups were used as targets. Fred wins the competition by hitting 4 targets with 5 shots. We ran out of pellets fairly quickly. Apparently a small town was on the other end of the lake which was about a 40 minute boat ride. Ron and Andrew took a trip out there to see if they could find some more pellets for the pellet gun. No luck with the pellets but they did manage to find some ice cream, and some really expensive lures.

The sauna was a big hit once again. We managed to take a sauna almost daily. Dehydration was a factor. Maybe drinking beer while taking a sauna isn't the way to go. It was easy to get light-headed after a little while in there. This was definitely the trip to be clean.

The meal plan went well except for a few missing items. Next year, we will have to make it mandatory to bring everything on the shopping list. As always, Ben's Steamed Fish dinner was served again by bagging the requesite amount of fish in time. It would have been pretty disappointing if we had to resort to cereal and cookies for dinner.

We had the exact right amount of beer this year because we only had to take out a few cans. Eric tried to use a new beer consumption technique and now sees the genius that is Fred. The search continues for the elusive Golden Walleye, or the liquid gold of our favourite beverages. Hula Boy will continue digging deeper for treasure. We keep looking for gold....

Don't miss Hula Boy in his next adventure!!