The Trip
The Plan
As with previous years, our trip was planned over a business lunch. Eric, Ben, Peter and Fred discuss the specifics, and all the loose ends are tied. Fred and Eric would get the groceries on Wednesday night, for a Thursday night departure to Gravenhurst. Fred and Peter will meet up with Eric and David. Ron and Andrew to follow, and Ben arriving Friday morning. Grocery shopping was accomplished during a brief storm, which knocked out the power in the grocery store. Thankfully, the power was restored right away, or else there would have been two full carts with no way of checking out… Turkey was already purchased and all we needed was the hardware kit. Notable absence this year was last year’s sophomore sensation --- George…
Thursday
The drive up to Gravenhurst was non-eventful. The usual amount of Thursday night traffic up to cottage country was to be expected. Fred and Peter dine at Boston Pizza again, while recruiting more loyal fans of the FishingPals legion. After dinner, the night began with a round of Black & Tans, and our usual banter of work, sports, and pet peeves. Ron and Andrew showed up for a night cap.
Friday
Ben showed up Friday morning right on time. We were going to go up in Eric's van, and Ben's luxury boat. Driving through Sudbury posed no problem this year. I think we have Sudbury figured out by now. As we have done in previous years, we were going to have lunch in Chelmsford. We chose to eat at the Subway on the highway, and by sheer coincidence, Ron's daughter, Julia, showed up while we were there. It really is a small world! We eventually arrived at an unsupervised Sashihaw camp. Andre had left a note saying that he would show up later in the afternoon.
We were in the middle of the finals of the Stanley Cup, and planned to watch the remaining games with Ben's satellite dish and receiver. However, we noticed that Andre had left a satellite dish and receiver for the camp. We wasted no time in setting up the dish, and confirmed that we could get the CBC. But we used Ben's receiver as Andre's receiver did not seem to be authorized for programs. Andre showed up in time for a dinner of burgers and sausage. Vancouver ended up winning 1-0. We had to deal with puck-like mosquitoes landing on the screen. Vancouver moves ahead in the series 3 games to 2.
Saturday
The day started off with a light drizzle --- definitely raincoat weather. We fished in Sashihaw, while Andre was arranging to have truckloads of gravel being delivered at the camp. After an unsuccessful day on the lake, we returned to the camp to prepare our deep-fried turkey dinner. The turkey turned out great. Note: need someone to show Ron what the 'bag of bits' looks like... Second note: Forget about ‘hitting temperature’ with the hot oil. 1 hour and 20 minutes is close enough… Eddie and Yvette showed up at the camp, and joined us for a little turkey. After dinner, Ron and Andrew had a discussion about Lady Gaga, while the rest of the boys went off-roading to scout out our Sunday expedition. We planned to fish at Kasasway Lake, but when we arrived, we saw that two pickups were parked in a position that would prevent us from hauling our boats into the landing. We had to find a different lake...
Sunday
We woke up bright and early on Sunday and packed a lunch. We would try our luck on Kaneki Lake. With three boats, the crew headed out and the weather began to co-operate. Andre and Andrew ended up with the walleyes. The rest of the boys were skunked. We had a nice lunch on the lake and headed back to camp to have a little spaghetti dinner. Andre had to head back to town, but was able to hand off the torch to Eddie, while Yvette caught a ride back with Andre.
Monday
Fishing was not very successful on Monday --- at least for some of us. Eric had a tall fish tale about catching a rainbow on Elbow Lake. It was quite a frenzied story --- much too long to do it justice in this summary. Eric, Peter and Ron experienced a fishing adventure that they could tell their grandkids about. You’ll have to listen to the account on the DVD! We had some nice Cajun pike fingers for snacks, before we had our steak and poutine dinner. Ed had to go back to town for a meeting. We settled in to watch game six of the finals. It was a 5-2 Boston win. The series is tied three games each, setting up game 7.
Tuesday
Peter, David and Ron head over to Elbow to take a shot at catching another rainbow, while Fred, Eric, Ben and Andrew stay in Sashihaw. The Sashihaw boys reel in three walleye, while the Elbow team gets skunked. Although Peter says he caught one, but he missed it. Doesn’t that mean you didn’t catch one?? Close only counts with hand grenades buddy! Ed returned and spent the morning repairing the pontoon boat. Ben’s Steamed Walleye dinner was up to its usual standard of excellence. Also, we had a little trout as well as plenty of broccoli and rice. Hula Boy discovered the benefits of a rice cooker.
Wednesday
Our grand adventure comes to an end. We pack up and clean up around the camp. What will we leave behind this year? Ed took our group photo and we said our ‘goodbyes’. Next, we’re off to Chelmsford for gas. We saw plenty of rabbits on the way out. Hmmm, hossenfeffer next year? We had lunch at the Hungry Bear in French River, and then the party split up. Eric, Fred and David head down to the Evil Empire, while Ron, Peter, Ben and Andrew head back to Gravenhurst. It was another successful year for the crew, and we can begin thinking about new things in store for us next year.
* David's raincoat and track pants are on the way to Toronto on the next trip down.
* Boston wins the Stanley Cup in a 4-0 game. Riots break out in Vancouver.
* Peter drops from first to second place in the hockey pool by one point (and $183). Ouch.
Once again, the FishingPals would like to thank Andre and Eddie for use of the camp and for all of their efforts to make our fishing vacation more enjoyable. We look forward to more adventures in the future.
Catch the action on this year’s DVD!
