Rruuff Day

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G'day Mates... Oops,wait. That was Evening in Australia.

Welcome to Rruuff Day's latest ramblings.... As some of you may know or have heard, I have just returned from my annual June fishing adventure. To open with a little history, hmmmm....Is anyone still reading this?....

Beginning approximately 30 years ago, I started going on a yearly one week fishing trip with a friend of mine... At some point during each adventure, we would meet other like-minded fisher types.... Some became friends and some became very good friends who have been attending this annual trip for almost each of the last 29 trips. The organizing of these trips has always been my responsibility and I almost always pick a remote spot where people do not often go. Our trips originally started with backpacking as far into the mountain streams as our backs would allow but now, due to deteriorated muscle and the lack of the youthful stamina, usually involve driving until we run out of road and then flying by float plane until we run out of civilization (I expect there may be a comment from a couple of the more comedic members here :p)

Over the 30 years, we have gained many new friends but have lost many old friends who have passed on to a better place.

Several of our group are/were Canadian, and several are/were American. From Alberta... from Nova Scotia, BC, from Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.
We have fished from Brown Bear lake in Northern Ontario through the western provinces to Northern BC and the Yukon, and had adventures from Lake Guntersville in Alabama, to Hanging Dog Creek in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina.

For those of you that are thinking enviously of me being able to afford to do things like this, no; I am not rich.... not even close. I just adopted different priorities in life at a very early age. My philosophy, be it right or wrong was and is, to live for the day, do the things on my bucket list while I still can, and spend my last dollar on the day that I die.

But I digress.....

This year between illness and lost companions we were down to a group of only three. Our destination was Northern Manitoba; more specifically, Cairns Lake, flying with a company based in Flin Flon, named Wings over Kississing. Now for the free advertising clip that Nik and Riley may ban me for.... This company is far and beyond one of the best organized and dependable float plane / fishing outfitters I have had the pleasure of experiencing ( and I have done this more than a few times). They do everything from remote fishing excursions to supply runs for Northern communities and Mining towns, executive charters, to Polar Bear viewing excursions into Churchill. Wings Over Kississing

Anyhows... moving along... The three of us left Red Deer last Friday morning and headed North East. After stopping at 317 garage sales along the way, we pulled into Prince Albert, Saskatchewhat.......lol...... at about 7 pm and called it a night. Early next morning we are on the road again and wind our way over to the Hanson Lake road.... ok... Not many... or possibly no-one knows where the heck I am talking about but other than the road from Winnipeg, this is the "other" road to Flin Flon. Some of it is paved.... some of it is gravel.... not much of it is populated... and none of it is smooth.... For those of you who are thinking "Whaaaaa", I'm basically stating that this is NOT a Corvette road.

But I digress..... again...

We arrived in Flin Flon (which by the way is the end of all roads), about 1:00 pm and made our way to the float plane base where we unloaded the truck with 7.2 metric tonnes of fishing gear.... then we went to the Co-op Grocery store in downtown Flin Flon to buy our 3.4 more tonnes of groceries and refreshments for the week.

Back to the float plane base.... loaded up.... and in the air in a 1953 de havilland DHC-2 Beaver.... great fun.... 110 km straight North of Flin Flon and down to the one and only cabin on the lake that would be our home for the next 6 days....

Unpacked, had a celebratory toast, and then out onto the lake to catch our shore lunch for the next day. That has become our tradition. Catch enough fish and filet them for shore lunch the next day. Night time meals consist of Moose and Elk steak on the BBQ. (One of my buddies and I are both hunters).Then we drink.... Larry and Ken with traditional rum and cokes... and of course me, the odd man out with my Woodford Reserve Kentucky Bourbon.... mmmmmm.... and of course small stakes Texas holdem poker... ..... damn.... Larry and Ken are easy marks and I will rely on you not to tell them I said that.... hahahah....

The lake was a relatively narrow two legged lake with a total of about 14 miles length and many small bays to explore. And explore we did. With GPS in hand (thank goodness) we boated and fished the entire lake over the course of the trip. The lake contains Northern Pike, Walleye, and Lake Trout, and we caught and feasted on each of those species.

As always, the week went way too quickly and too soon came the morning we were all packed up and waiting for our exit ride.

Needless to say, we had a great trip.... we enjoy each other's company and humour immensely.... we caught enough fish to keep us well entertained, and of course fed... lol... and upon leaving the lake, we cruised the Town as well and I scored at several more garage sales along the way.

With that, I will end this diatribe and leave you with a couple of pictures of this year's adventure.....




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Thx Murray... Deep fry for lunch was definitely the Canada Food Guide taste of the week.... hehe.... It's only a few times a year I get to eat meals that healthy....(probably a good thing....:eek:)
 
Thanks Graham. It use to make me wonder a bit.... especially before we learned not to forget key things hahaha........ But I do have to admit.... they give us a satellite phone in case of emergencies.
 
Great pics! Sounds like a great trip and like one of those vacations that's a true vacation where you don't actually need a vacation from your vacation when you get home.
 
Great pics! Sounds like a great trip and like one of those vacations that's a true vacation where you don't actually need a vacation from your vacation when you get home.
You would be right Riley. This is the true "no stress" vacation that you never want to leave..... :thumbs:
 
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