Dr. McCutchan finally gets his laker
Greetings from Black Bear Lodge, Red Lake, Ontario!
Early Friday morning (May 29), Jerry Patteli was in his garden picking lettuce, onions and radishes for his famous primo salad that accompanies our first big fish fry. After he chased a couple of rabbits away, we were ready to go. We picked up Dr. Jon McCutchan, and along with my brother, Ron, our chief navigator, we were ready to head north. The four of us headed to Rock Island to meet the rest of our caravan. The trip was rather uneventful until we reached Cabela’s in Minnesota. We always have to stop there because we need to buy some more lures that we didn’t need.
On our final leg of the trip to International Falls, it was good that an optometrist was the driver because with his sharp vision, he noticed a deer along the road and got the brakes on just missing the critter by a couple of inches. The only other excitement was seeing three bears and a moose during our final leg in Canada.
Joining us this year as they have for more than a decade were the three Kirgan brothers, Larry, Richard and John; Dean Fox, their cousin; and Harry Lyons, a colleague of Larry’s. Also on the trip were coach Fritz Harms and his brother, Kurt, and my roommate from college, Phil Grant, and his son, Doug.
We arrived at camp, unloaded our gear, had supper, loaded our boats with gear, and headed out to try our luck. Dean caught a small walleye, and while bringing it in was surprised when a big northern came up and nailed it. The northern held on tight, and they netted both fish. John and Richard caught five lakers ranging from 12 to 16 pounds. Pretty good start.
The next day, Dean repeated his feat by pulling in a small northern which was immediately attacked by a big one. The fish fought hard taking several dives and a couple of runs. Finally, Dean worked him close to the boat, where he was successfully netted. This one weighed 12 pounds.
That evening, John, Richard and I boated five lakers ranging from 10 to 14 pounds.
Monday morning found Phil and Doug Grant leaving early to his favorite spot for northerns. It was Doug’s first fishing trip, and he was rewarded with a morning’s catch of 18 fish, most more than five pounds.
Again, Dean Fox boated a fine northern weighing 14 pounds, 12 ounces.
But last night was my favorite story. After fighting a laker for more than 10 minutes last year, Jon McCutchan lost a big laker when the fish bit his line. This night, we were fishing in a pretty solid rain. Finally, Jon tied into a trout, and the battle was on. The laker went on several runs, dove under the boat, and took the line around the motor, and thrashed near the boat. After Richard netted the laker, Jon was all smiles. He had broken his jinx and had finally got his laker. The three soaked fishermen immediately headed back to camp and a warm stove.
Today is our big fish fry and then back to the lake. We hope that when the PHS group gets here they will catch more fish to fry. We must get back to our duty of scouting for the hot spots.
