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Eaton Nilsson had accompanied me on the first trip to Canada this year. We received an emergency satellite phone message that his father had been in a serious auto accident and it was in doubt as to whether or not he would survive. Eaton and I made a quick trip back to Boulder and due to his father's life threatening condition it was not prudent for Eaton to return to Canada with me. Leigh Pearson joined me on short notice on my return to Canada. We drove separate cars since Leigh would be returning in 2 weeks.
Naturally, we had to stop at the Churchill River for a few photos; here is Leigh in front of the Devils Hole. There were people floating in life vest down the river from upstream where the rapids start.
Leigh's got a small Northern Pike. Having fun fishing is most often not about the size of the fish caught, rather is more often influenced by the weather, ambience and company
Leigh holds some walleyes destined for the dinner table. Note the bone hanging from the "A" frame. The furthest two are moose, while the closest is a wolf discovered by Don and Dewayne in 1991.
Leigh at the head waters of the Campbell River
Leigh with a nice walleye at the “Honey-Hole.
A sample patch of cabin floor that had its broken screws removed, holes countersunk, screws re-set, screw holes and cracks filled with caulk and then sanded and varnished with polyurethane. We liked what we saw and Don decided to finish the rest of the floor that way this summer.
The rear door frame required repair. Even though the front door was left unlocked, vandals over the winter saw fit to force entry into the rear door and shatter the door frame. How lazy can you get??
The kitchen floor showed the most improvement by this upgrade. It was hard to believe that under all that scuffed and dirty floor there lurked a beautiful surface. The 4x4s laying across the countertops were used to climb onto to get into the refrigerator and sink while the floor varnish was still wet.
The plank across the back hall was used to get from the bedroom to the bath while the floor varnish was drying
Dick Berreth and I spent three days “rooting”. We would spend a couple hours pulling up Black Spruce roots from the damp forest floor, carefully following the roots both directions until they either got too big (pencil size) or too small (lead size). We kept these roots moist and when we had a full bucket, we would return to the back deck of the cabin where we spent many hours peeling the bark off the roots; then splitting the roots into equal halves. These roots were used by early Indians to sew up their birch bark canoes and Dick had progressed on his birch bark canoe work to the point where he needed roots to continue
This is Dick’s canoe, in progress back in his South Dakota shop. Note the wrappings around the gunwales. Eventually the bark will get sewed together using the same Black Spruce roots. The seam is then water proofed by applying a mixture of black spruce gum and bear grease. Dick sent me a quart of bear grease for Christmas last year!!
These roots are ready for transport or use. Before being used, they will be soaked in water to make them pliable. After they are sewn into place and allowed to dry, they seem to regain their normal strength. The roots retain their strength for decades but do tend to get brittle with age.
Dick Berreth often comes to the island alone in his canoe propelled by a small ancient motor.
Dick at the entrance to the Campbell River.
Don with a nice eating size walleye at the “Honey Hole”.
Dick’s walleye is a bit larger.
Setting sun from the deck. At the high latitude of the island, the sun sets at a very low angle.
Dick starts his canoe trip back to the landing, heavily laden with walleye fillets and Black Spruce roots.
Driving north, Pat Doyle and Jimmy Buck are met at the US/Canadian Border with this sign
Last chance to turn around and not enter Canada.
This is the Canadian Border inspection station
Trees in abundance appear in the Saskatchewan landscape several hundred miles north of the border.
Pat concentrates on his driving which is probably more hazardous than the Frontier Airline planes he captains for a living.
You can drive many, many miles in Saskatchewan, passing mostly hay fields and very seldom see any cows. What happens to all the hay??
The North Saskatchewan River flows on the north edge of Prince Albert and marks the end of cultivated land. Trees are pretty much solid from here north
As a pilot, Pat could not pass up checking out the float planes in LaRonge.
These planes keep busy conveying sportsmen to remote fishing destinations plus supplying mines and exploration camps, basically any place that has no road to it but does have water nearby. Some float planes are converted to skies during the winter for landing on snow or ice.
Pat rest in cabin #5 at the Brabant cabins, about 2 hours drive south of my boat landing.
Jimmy checks out the upper bunk.
The monster TV gets used less than the refrigerator.
Pat demonstrates his excellent pilot vision.
The eating nook is a convenient spot to drop baggage.
The boat landing is located in a rather shallow bay that tends to fill up with weeds and water lilies that tend to plug up the outboard motor propellers.
Another good shot looking downstream from the boat landing. Experience has shown that the deepest water and fewest weeds are along the far right (South) shoreline.
This photo was taken about one mile downstream. Two mile island is about a mile away with the river’s main channel on the left. We normally keep one or two boats stored on the right side of this island, trying to keep the local Indians from “barrowing” them in my off season. Unfortunately, this ploy is not fool proof.
Don is enjoying the calm water and bight sun that makes the trip to Dancing Loon Island much more pleasant. He is holding his trusty GPS unit that shows him his speed and estimated time of arrival at the island. The waders he is wearing are usually needed to negotiate the mud and shallow water at the boat landing.
Pat takes a “selfie” about 3 ½ miles from the landing.
Don and Pat 7 miles downstream from the landing
Jimmy with “halfway” island off on the horizon.
Dancing Loon Island beach front
Walleyes are “jumping into the boat” at Don’s feet.
Pat reels in a Walleye at the “Honey Hole”.
Pat removes his jig while Don works his pole.
Pat is definitely happy with his perfect eating size walleye.
Don gets into the act too. Wilson Rapids #1 is in the background.
Don has a small Northern on.
This is a safer way to land Northerns but it does take more time to untangle the eventual tangle of net, hooks and fish; which is probably why a net is frequently not used.
Don has caught enough fish and enjoys just watching the action.
Jimmy rows the sports canoe.
Pat at the “Welcome” sign. The bottom line reads “Crazy man end of lake”
Pat repairs the lashings on the “Crows Nest”.
It isn’t too surprising that a pilot would be so drawn to the “Crows Nest”.
Large patch of white Reindeer Moss, the main food of Reindeer.
Looking north from the “Crows Nest”.
This shows why travel through the forest is difficult if not on a trail.
A rare float plane traveling north.
North shore of Spalding Lake as seen from the “Crows Nest”.
Looking south from the “Crows Nest”.
Looking south from the “Crows Nest”. The nearest water is the channel south of the island that separates the island from the mainland. The furthest body of water is the opening bay of Northern Bay.
Looking west from the “Crows Nest” toward the route to the “Honey Hole”
Don has another Walleye at the “Honey Hole”.
One of the many nice things about fishing for Walleyes is the ability to haul them into the boat by grabbing the jig head and not having to bother with a dip net and the eventual untangling task.
Don rinses his hands while Pat works his pole.
Now Pat and Don both have Walleyes on their lines
Don has his Walleye on the stringer.
Looking north from the “Honey Hole”. Jay’s Island is on the far shore. Don’s original cabin site (but eventually discarded) was on the opposite side of Jay’s Island. All the forest on both sides of this bay was burned hard in 2010.
North side of the start of the Wilson Rapids #1.
Pat can’t keep the Walleyes off his line.
Pat is having fun. Don has just landed one
The stringer is getting full.
Pat and Don are pleased with a full stringer.
Pat and Jimmy think the fishing was pretty good.
Don transfers Walleyes to a bucket of water to keep them alive during the trip back to Dancing Loon Island. These live fish will go into the fish box to provide good eating even on a day you didn’t go fishing. Fish intended for same day eating will be left on the stringer.
Messing with buckets is a small price to pay for the flexibility that it provides. Forgetting to take an empty bucket when leaving the island happens too often.
Don and Pat leaving the “Honey Hole”.
Almost back from fishing.
Don cleans Walleye for supper.
Don has cleaned thousands and thousands of fish. Note the tin can where belly meat from the walleye will be used as “cut-bait” which when used on a jig normally increases the number of fish caught.
Don cleans Walleye for supper. The ammunition to the right of the cut-bait can was dropped on the ground around the beach by the Indians who visit the island in the Fall. This is not unusual. Often live shotgun shells will be found in the boats that have been “barrowed” by the Indians for duck hunting in the Fall.
These fish have skin “tags” left on them that is required by law (so the wardens can identify the type of fish…daaa) for any fish taken home, so these fish are going home.
Gord Hardlott and James McKinzey working on a moose they shot at the Northern Bay channel.
James cuts while Gord holds.
Off comes a hind quarter.
James still has a lot of cutting to do.
In a normal year Gord will shoot perhaps 4 or 5 moose. As an Indian, he is allowed to shot game for subsistence year round as long as he retains ownership of his “Treaty Number”. This number also exempts him from paying sales taxes. Before they understood the significant of the Treaty Number, some Indians sold their Treaty Numbers (this is legal) to white folks when this system was first started.
Gord and James start their 26 mile water trip to the landing.
Jimmy points to a pancreas left for the Great Spirit by the grateful hunters. This also happens to be one organ they refuse to eat anyway.
Pat runs the motor as Don “fiddles” with his tackle box on their way home from fishing.
Spectacular sunset from the Crows Nest.
Pat takes a selfie with the sunset.
Jimmy started to carve a wooden chain.
Jimmy is putting his secret batter onto the fish before frying them. The fillets have been cut into smaller chunks for frying. Yum! Yum!
Jimmy uses tongs to get the fillet chunks into the skillet.
Pat has the table ready for supper.
Jimmy has made some progress on his wooden chain carving project.
Pat helps Don install the cabin skirt. The fire control people suggested that a cabin skirt was helpful to reduce damage from fire by reducing the free movement of air to a fire. The skirt hides the storage under the cabin so there were several reasons to add it to the cabin.
Don runs the chain saw between adjacent half logs to trim off bumps and get a better fit.
Pat is bundled up, ready to go fishing.
Don connects the 10HP engine starter cables to the battery.
Normally Don is the one who gets over bundled up but Pat is the one today.
He is enjoying the battle.
It’s a small Northern. Gripping Northerns by their eye sockets stuns them a bit so that fish and handler receive less damage.
Pat is “gloved up” for tossing the Northern overboard. These fish are very slimy and smell rather strong so gloves are helpful, especially rubber coated gloves.
Water lilies near the end of the lake. This is ideal water for catching Northern Pike.
The boat is beached at the end of the lake in preparation for a hike along an esker to Esker Lake, a favorite hiking trail. Indian Island on the left and North Island on the right are seen in the background.
Jimmy points to a small creek inlet in the background.
Don holds a small animal snare used by local Indian trappers in the winter.
This is a partially destroyed Pine Martin trap. The Indians place bait and a trap in them to catch Pine Martins.
Don followed by Pat on the trail along the serpentine esker. We frequently find wolf, bear and moose scat along this trail along with other evide3nce of their presence.
From the top of the esker, looking back at Indian Island (left) and North Island (right) with Dancing Loon Island behind Indian Island. The off the low spit to the right of North Island is a frequent fishing spot.
Pat and Don pause for a rest. It is a good place for a walking stick.
Big toad tools on the colorful forest floor.
Don and Pat again facing the southwest.
Near our blueberry picking spot.
It’s a bit early for picking blue berries since few have ripened.
The fireweed are in full bloom however.
Pat and Don are returning to the boat. We almost always see bear tracks on this beach. We have definitely established that this area has an abundance of bears. In 2014, Jim’s trail camera recorded much bear activity in this area.
Pat and Don prepare to board the boat. Early in the season, this beach will normally be under water.
Pat stands in front of the Indian fish camp. It was destroyed by fire in 2010.
Inside the wood and canvas cabin. Note the role of “blue rope” hanging from the rafter. They use this blue rope for everything, especially in the fish netting. It cost $50 a role and will be found all over the lake.
The canvas does let in a lot of light.
Trash never seems to get removed from these camps.
This shotgun shell was never shot.
The goose decoy seems to be missing its head.
I wonder what came in this package?
Jimmy has another Walleye.
Jimmy holds another Walleye.
Pat with a nice stringer of Walleyes.
Don reads while laying on the cot.
Cabin front showing the new cabin skirt.
Trail from beach up to the cabin.
From the beach looking down the lake toward the way out.
Another pretty sunset, probably about 10PM
Don seems to have problems with his Dickie straps.
Jimmy catches a larger Walleye.
The abandoned cook shack where we lived for the first few years of cabin building.
Jimmy supervises Don who is filling a outboard motor gas tank.
A rain cell could be coming our way.
Jimmy mimics a bear that just got caught in our trap.
Pat looks more like a happy bear.
Lookout, the bear is getting loose.
Aerial view of cabin front. The ever improvising Jimmy attached his camera to a long sapling and with a timer took these unique perspective pictures.
Aerial view of cabin front. The ever improvising Jimmy attached his camera to a long sapling and with a timer took these unique perspective pictures.
Jimmy and Pat prepare for a big meal.
Beautiful sunset from the deck.
The vegetable baskets are getting depleted.
Pats sleeping quarters in the mud room.
A loon calls from off the island beach
Don and Pat are on the way back to the landing at the end of a great stay on the island. Don is towing an extra boat to the landing in anticipation of transporting the next group to the island.
Pat seems to be drying a sock.
Dancing Loon Island and calm water for the trip.
Pat looks for the seagull.
Seagulls abound in the area. Environmentalist claim that the advent of garbage dumps has attracted more gulls to the interior of the continent and these gulls are gradually reducing the Loon population by robbing eggs from their water shore nest.
Lilly pad filled shallow bay approaching the landing
Later in the summer the shallow water in this bay adds to the difficulty of using this landing. The boats in the background belong to Indians who leave then here year around, generally sunk in the water right side up.
Don was left alone after Jimmy and Pat left the island. He started to complete the refinishing of the cabin floor that was started earlier in the summer.
This shows the screw holes after the original screws were removed and new screws installed as needed. The cracks have been filled with 50 year caulk. This technique has proven to be very durable and superior to the many other techniques tried. Later it will be sanded with a 4” angle sander and finished with two coats of satin polyurethane.
Don takes a selfie to show how much saw dust is created by the process.
Don used this plastic cage to try and confine the sawdust from covering the whole cabin but it was only marginal successful.
Several buckets of sawdust was created.
The Ury’s stopped by the bridge across the Churchill River to look upstream.
Rod Ury and Boyd Gentry stop along the walkway
Rod Ury by the iconic green bridge over the Churchill River located about 50 miles north of LaRonge.
Devils Hole is seen where all the water if thrashing about and Otter Lake is in the background.
Devil’s Hole. Note the fishing boat downstream in front of the island.
This is our portage trail. It is about 100 yards long and quite a challenge, especially carrying a heavy load.
This is part of Rod’s load, quite typical. If the gas cans leak even a tiny bit, the smell becomes horrible.
Hey! At least it isn’t raining.
Mike Ury with a Walleye at the “Honey Hole”.
Looks like Mike is using a double tailed “Mr. Twister” for bait.
Mike works on his fishing lures under the saw pavilion.
The saw pavilion stays up all winter and provides a good dry spot to store boat related gear, tackle boxes, fish poles, gasoline and oil, etc.
Mike and more gear, like a tool box, depth finder, tarps, anchors and buckets.
Boyd has another fish on while Rod is trying to get his pole organized
Boyd says “This is fun”!!
Rod thinks it could be his turn to catch a Walleye.
Boyd is going for his secret bait.
Even Rod can catch Walleyes at the “Honey Hole”, even if they are a bit on the small size.
Now Mike has another one.
And he gives it the tradition kiss.
Mike decides to weigh his Walleye.
They are a beautiful fish.
Rod weighs a Northern caught in Northern Bay.
They do put up a great fight and are a lot of fun to catch even if we seldom eat them.
The sun finally comes out. This is our artificial jetty, fish box and “Bathing Rock” at our beach.
Our waterfront. The pier is moveable to adjust for water level changes.
Bear Trap with front sliding door in the “down” position.
Saw Pavilion, looking toward the beach.
Moose rack on “A-Frame” at beach.
Boyd works on his fishing gear
Air-tight stove and south windows. Note drying rack with towel.
Mudroom sleeping area. Note electric lantern, it is powered by batteries that get charged with a solar cell.
Don is attaching a long pipe with sprinkler nozzle on top to a tree for a new cabin fire suppression sprinkler system. In 2010, during a very threatening fire, this system worked beautifully.
Rod stabilizes the rather shaky ladder.
Don is only slightly crazy.
Don is cutting off some limbs so the long trimmed pole (with pipe and sprinkler attached) can be attached to the live tree.
Don seems to need a few more hands to do the job at hand.
Boyd replenishes our fire wood supply. It is kept dry under the cabin and is handy for moving into the cabin as required.
Boyd, Rod and Mike with Walleyes destined to go back to Nebraska.
Our fishing boat ready for business.
West end of the island looking west toward a dark horizon.
Empty gas cans in front of the saw pavilion.
Rod, Boyd, Mike and Don at Rod’s obligatory group photo on the steps.
Boyd was one of Rods teachers when he was in high school.
Rod always leaves a big lure on the holder with a message written on it.
Air-tight stove with a full box of burnable garbage to be burned.
Rod with a small northern
Mike as they leave Northern Bay.
Rod steers to the “Honey Hole”.
The water is a bit choppy.
Rod is almost to the “Honey Hole”.
A mink is caught diving into the water at the “Honey Hole”.
Mike and Walleye at the “Honey Hole”.
This is Boyd’s secret lure that was very hot this trip. Naturally, Don stocked up on these for the next season but they were not so hot then. Perhaps the magic was in Boyd’s skill??
For Don, these Syclops seem to work better catching Northerns.
They do come in a variety of colors.
Mike seems to catch a lot of Walleyes.
The flash used for this photo really illustrate why these fish are called Walleyes.
The fish cleaning area got a coat of beach sand to stand on.
New cleaning station surface.
Boyd and Mike at the saw pavilion.
The new sprinkler pole is a bit of an eyesore but the comfort it provides is worth it.
Another sprinkler pole on the south side of the cabin.
This sprinkler is in the rear of the cabin.
Mike draws out an idea for Don to consider.
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On the way out to the landing., almost to the half-way point.
The second boat on this trip is seen from Rod’s boat near Campers Island.
Rod is pretty well bundled up because the trip across the lake, early in the morning can be bone chilling cold. On this particular trip, Don had forgotten his gloves and nearly froze his hands driving the boat.
Mike is pretty well bundled up too.
The second boat driven by Don about 6 miles from the landing.
Rod makes the turn to pass 3 mile island.
Rod’s Suburban back home in his driveway.
Pretty clean except for all the bugs you can’t avoid.
Cleaning up after a fishing trip is never as much fun as getting ready to go.
The compact storage in Rod’s truck shows how good he has become at using every possible nook and cranny of his cargo area.
Another pretty sunset as seen from the cabin deck.
Jay and Duke Niebur were the last visitors to the island.
Don’s nail location identification board. Want a nail? Check out what is available and in which drawer it is located.
