John's quote of the trip, "I'm marking a ton of fish...and I've got one of them!"
The excitements starts early when, before the group leaves Michigan, Dan exclaims, "I'm an idiot." After calls to the boarder patrol and home, Dan obtains a scanned copy of the passport he left at home. The group decides they will press on without Dan if the unofficial documents do not prevent the border patrol from taking Dan in for water-boarding. No such luck...the crossings are uneventful.
The police were as accommodating as the border patrol. The Ontario police officer told us to use our hazard lights after stopping us for pulling a trailer with no tail lights. The Michigan police let Matt slide after stopping him for pulling a trailer with no license plate.
A beautiful day for 18 holes at The Mackinaw Club on our way up. Everyone has 0 points going into the final 666 pairing. The Dan-Matt final 6 pairing outscore the John-Bry group, leading Dan and Matt to tie as golf champs. Results:
Dan: 5 pointsMatt: 5 pointsJohn: 0 pointsBry: 0 pointsA late start and cold weather on the trip home lead to a cold and dark finish to the 18 holes at The Mackinaw Club on the trip home. Not a problem for Bry, whose stellar golfing mocked the difficult conditions. Even though paired with Matt in the final group, Bry cruised to an easy win in round 2 of 666. Results:
Bry: 10 pointsDan: 5 pointsJohn: 3 pointsMatt: 2 pointsDinners: Matt's lasagna (compliments of Cathy), Dan's pulled pork sandwiches, Bry's chicken teriyaki, walleye, and John's steaks and perogis (thanks Darlene).
Our final two meals are complimented with wine furnished, once again, by the group's matriarch (thanks again Darlene).
Dan continues the "the tradition", but the rest of the group doesn't seem to notice.
A pair of foxes roam the camp this year, one red and the other calico colored. Our neighbor tells us they are cubs of last years visitors. The calico fox nabs the last corner of Cathy's lasagna.
No major damage to the boat, trailer, or truck this year. But Matt destroys the trolling motor battery by inverting the polarity for the overnight charge, the trolling motor lock-down mechanism falls apart, and the prop and skeg suffer minor damage after hitting a submerged rock by the grassy point. The trolling motor is usable when we tie the motor and place and hook up a loaner battery (thank's to Bob and Sondra).
A moose casually crosses Esher-Healy road in front of the truck on the trip out..."that was cool."
Once again, the group never gets around to playing "Chinese-Rummy-Trouble" or cribbage. Too many fish to clean.
Matt assumes the title of reigning fishing champ. He boats the first qualifier three of the five days, the most twice, and the biggest twice. He also lands the largest pike, northern, and bass, nets the most walleye, and ties for the most pike.
Bry's attempt to hang on to the fishing title proves unsuccessful. His flurry of catches late each day do not offset his slow starts. However, he does boat the most bass on the trip, one of which qualifies as a trophy. His success in the category is curious, given that smallmouth is the one fish he is least interested in catching.
Dan is still waiting to revisit the success he had in 2012. He and Matt were tied for the most walleye going into the final day, and Dan starts the day by boating a 23 inch pike early. The promising start is followed by a long drought, and Matt's four walleye and 25 inch pike on the last day dash Dan's last ditch hopes for glory.
John stays steady with the bottom bouncers, but sometimes replaces the floating jig with Rube Goldberg setups. Despite the occasional tangle, the setups help John stay in the fishing hunt with the biggest catches twice and the most catches once.
Overall fishing results
Most Bass: 6 (Bry)Largest Bass: 19.5 inches (Matt)Most Northern: 3 (Dan and Matt)Largest Northern: 29.5 inches (Matt)Most Walleye: 26 (Matt)Largest Walleye: 22.5 inches (Matt)Our third trip to Lake Windermere, and our performance keeps getting better. We (well, at least Matt) has a pretty good sense of how to navigate the lake, and we're able to reach our fishing destinations fairly quickly with minimal damage to the boat. The bra tree "flags" are really faded.
The group ventures out on day four despite severe weather warnings for the region. It's a (negative) trifecta! Cold air, strong wind, and steady rain make for frozen digits and miserable fishing. The early end to fishing that day is followed by Scotch doubles while watching the Tiger game in the camp game room.
The group concedes to Matt's request to try deep water trolling for trophy walleye and lake trout. Two mornings wasted!
Bry and Matt never make it to Goldie Lake to do some casting for pike and bass. Wading through 60 degree water on a rainy and 40 degree day for a little fishing variety just ain't that appealing.
The group never makes it to the "Northern Nook" to cast for pike (Bry's favorite type of fishing). But the northern were hitting on floating jigs in other parts of the lake.
Bry learns a proper way to tie fishing line.
Matt never gets to use the bimini top he packed in the back of the boat.
New places found: "Diversity Drive" and "Jumbo Point".
