Good evening Happy Campers, welcome to Summer 2022. This is Catfish Chris and I am writing to you from the Lodge at Happy Camp! We have been here for a few days and the list never seems to go down! The weather has been erratic, much rain, storms, heat and humidity. Like today it started out about 45 early this morning with sun, and by 11 it was 85 and hot. Now it is windy and we are in the midst of a Severe Thunderstorm watch! Just like in the states, wait 20 minutes and see what happens.
So the lodge is up and running, we have lots of water, the pressure would rival the Empire state Building! We had a couple of fish frys’s, but tonight there is wings in the oven and I just finished an Old Milwaukee in honor or my parent’s! We have been fishing and the bite is a little slow, water temps are just above 60 and the weeds are just starting to green a titch. With the erratic weather this will continue, but NO may fly hatches yet! Jigs and a piece of crawler pitched into the shallow grass are out producing anything else these days. From to tails to Gulp, hands down crawlers are what they want. Like last night, we were out in a shallow area of the lake, made a drift and caught and released one small Walleye. Second drift with crawlers we had more bites and returned those fish back to live another day for a chance to grow into a future Hillsport Monster! 🙂
On another note, the Loons are here but only 2 of them with a nest to the west of the beach in the 1st Bay. Just today we were working on a boat trailer at the lake and the Loons were calling. So I watched and sure enough, an MBE was headed right toward the nest. We watched as the Bald Eagle soared up, then circled and went away to find something else to eat.
Speaking of eating, the Bugs are tremendous, never seen like this before. From Black flies to Mosquitos and now Deer Flies, they are terrible. We are constantly swatting, spitting and swinging at them. With the rain coming down now, it looks like another crop of fresh bugs to chase all of us around.
In our travels, we have seen a few Grouse, Moose, and actually Bears. The other day we saw a Momma and one baby, so awesome. Speaking of awesome, or not so awesome, we travelled to the BMA in hopes of getting into it. Well 1 Kilometer off of the paved road, we were stopped by non stop water, no road and at least 100 feet of nothing, that was not a good thing. With the other 5 beavers spots along the way, there is no access in. So, I contacted the MNR in hopes of something.
Anyone who has been around camp in the last 10 years knows how that has gone, but alas maybe just maybe the winds of change are happening. Early this afternoon the phone rang and it was Marco from the MNR. If anyone has hunted with us or spoke of the MNR, they know about Marco. We feel he has always tried to help out with our hunt. Well, we spoke briefly and he understands the dilemma, and is trying to help. Marco spoke about an area which is closer to Happy Camp and will have better access. We are still discussing this but we are hopeful to get out there check it out and get a hunt going in the Spring of 2023. Actually there are no roads north of us, only water until you hit Hudson Bay and the Arctic ocean, so this could get real fun. Can anyone say Adventure!!! I sure can and we have toys and tool s to get after this, who is in! Bring your Bug dope, beverage and let’s get after it!!
It is quiet here in camp and mostly the region, just the wind, rain, bugs and occasional train. Just now as I write, those little hawks are flying over the lodge, sound like Killdeer but definitely not, any ideas?
It is time to close this chapter, stay tuned for more updates. Take care and hug your hounds all!!