Temagami 2011: Day 1, Saturday, July 16
We arrived in the Temagami area around noon after a long, tiring drive from PA, hauling the boat behind us. We stopped in North Bay for groceries, Rockpine at Marten River for breakfast, and a new stop – Gramps, to get our fishing licenses. (Dad’s – the local bait and tackle store – closed last fall, and so we’ll have to find a new place to get our bait for the week.) To our surprise and delight, when we walked into Gramps we saw Jim, the owner of the now-closed Dad’s. He is working a few days a week at Gramps and also doing maintenance for Temagami Shores. It was really great to see him, considering we were just commiserating about Dad’s not being open and not being able to catch up with Jim. He looked healthy and happy, and said that he and his wife are moving out of town to be closer to family.
We checked in but couldn’t get into our room yet, so we put the boat in the water. No problems there, although the whole process takes a bit of time. We took the boat out on the water to get it warmed up and when we rode by the Pacey’s dad said he saw people sitting outside. So we turned around and tied the boat up at their dock and Diana, Dorothy and Verdun’s daughter, greeted us. Verdun and Dorothy were home and we got to sit and visit with them. Verdun is very weak after his heart attack and Dorothy is weak from her condition, but both are in good spirits. We sat for a while with the three of them and caught up.
After we got into our cottage and unpacked we ran our errands in town – “dump” water, grocery store, and Busy Bee to order our raspberry pie. The Temagami Co-Op (local grocery store) also closed this fall, but reopened in July. It’s pretty bare bones in the store. All the shelves are empty except for necessities. It was sad to see it that way, but I was also thankful and appreciative it was open at all. The winter must have been difficult for the locals. I’m sure there was someone in town selling milk and eggs and bread, but for anything more than that you’d have to drive an hour up the road to the nearest grocery store.
We ate dinner out so we could save some time, especially since both dad and I were running on fumes for the journey. We ate at the Orient Garden and had a chance to talk to the owners, Helen and Terry, who both asked about Grandma and Papa.
We went for a quick swim in the lake (warm) and then go ready to go fishing. We headed down to Island 4 and we had the whole place to ourselves. The little motor gave dad trouble, and for a brief time the depth finder didn’t work, but soon we were up and running like usual. We trolled mostly in this 20-25 foot trough that dad knows off of the point of the island. I caught a nice bass in about 12 feet of water early in the night. Later dad caught a nice walleye in the slot and then one that was too small to keep. In that same area dad also caught two nice walleyes that we kept and another one in the slot. All told it was a very good night and I’m sure we’ll be heading back there tomorrow night. We got back to the cottage around 10 and the mosquitoes were out in force.
Heard the loons out on the lake.
Fish Count (Keepers):
Where: Island 4
Bait: worm harness
2 – Walleye (Dad)
size: both around 16 inches
1 – Bass (Gina)
size: around 13 inches
Fish Count (Throw Backs):
3 – Walleye (Dad)
where: Island 4
bait: worm harness
size: 19 ½ and 22 inches (“slotters”) and a small one.
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