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Identify this close-up photo and win a fabulous Vermilion Bay Lodge coffee mug. Be the envy of your neighborhood as you flaunt your collectible V.B.L beverage containment device. Made from actual Chinese "China", this is a serious, manly mug. Enter often. The first correct guess takes it all!

Size Doesn't Matter

As proof of the old statement, "Size doesn't matter", the professor takes great pride in showing off his trophy small mouth bass caught on a rapala bigger than the trophy. As I take my lunch break today, I am reminded that millions of fish in Eagle Lake go to bed hungry every night. It's time to do something about that.

Tussle on Eagle Lake....

For those familiar Eagle Lake you may know about the park and boat launch on the east end of Eagle, just off hwy 594. You may not know that this was the site of a Hudson's Bay Co. trading post back in the "day". This year, specifically September 15th, is the 200th anniversary of a skirmish between the HBC people and an encampment of the rival Northwest Trading Co. Two of the HBC people were injured in some sword play and the clerk of the Nor'westers (Aeneas MacDonnell) was shot dead. The shooter, one John Mowat, was later captured and transported to Montreal by canoe where he was sentenced to six months in prison and branded on the hand with a hot iron. Eagle Lake is a pretty tame place these days compared to some of it's colorful history!

Change is good.......

Susanne has given me a new pair of snowshoes for my birthday (upcoming) and I am appreciating the upgrade to something new and not rotten. In much the same way I think many people are appreciating the change in leadership with our neighbours to the south. Not that Bush was old and rotten, but like my old snowshoes it was time to hang 'em up. It took a bit of research to find the traditional snowshoes that I was looking for. You might find this site interesting... www.fabersnowshoes.com ...they have been making snowshoes for 135 years!

Gord

Take the time to enjoy your surroundings

One of the things I have noticed about fishing on Eagle Lake is that it is easy to get too focused on just catching lots of fish. Take the time to soak in your surroundings and pay attention to what is around you. One trip that breaks up the week for me is a portage to Clear Water Lake. In high water years you can navigate the 100+ curves on the river taking you from Eagle Lake to Clear Water. In low water years, and when you just want to take a walk...try the short portage. Gord is the only resort with boats on this lake. In low water years you will have the lake to yourself. Fishing for lake trout and whitefish can be fabulous. In fact I honestly don't remember a trip not catching fish. But on the walk back, take time to look for the lady slipper orchids in the spring, or the blueberries, or the moose and bear tracks. Gord can give you directions to view the pictographs up and close.

How do I post a comment on this blog?

As a foreign correspondent, I have a confession to make. I joined AARP this year. As an official old fart I am sometimes challenged by things that are not familiar to me....like not catching fish at VBL or Blogs. As a Professor in training, I thought I would provide a brief tutorial on how to post a comment on this blog without having to actually set up a google account...

In the following example, you see a "post" on a topic related to huge muskies in Eagle Lake. At the bottom of the post there is a link titled "5 comments". If you were to click on the comments link.....

The comments link takes you to the comments posted by other guests in response to the posted topic.. There is a text box, titled "Post a comment". Type your comments in this box.....

After typing your comments, select "anonymous" from the drop down menu titled, "comment as". Then click on the button titled, "post comment". As just a suggestion, even if you are posting anonymously, you can tell us who you are in your comments!

This brings up a rather odd screen that has you verify a "word". Gord doesn't allow any illiterate guests at VBL. Type in the characters you see on screen (in this case "defluers") and then click on "finish". Your done! You will get a messgage that says, “your comment will be visible after approval”. Check back and you will see your post! in case you are wondering, "defluers" is Canadian for "the flowers".

Professor in training,

Andy

Two reasons to go barbless.....

Reason number one....it is so much easier to release those nice fish.

Reason number two....it is so much easier to release your fishing partner. You don't even have to hit him over the head to quiet him down.

Photo courtesy of Tom Kramer (the trout master)....hand courtesy of Ken Pekarek (the trout disaster).

Eagle Lake monster muskie sighting......

This dramatic photo submitted by Chuck Weiss, cub reporter for the Electric Beaver, proves that 10-ton muskies do exist! Sighted near the famous Bayview Hotel; the official watering hole of the annual Vermilion Bay Lodge Muskie Madness Week; this leaping leviathan may have been trying to digest an unlucky walleye angler spotted moments before this photo was taken.
The 5th Annual Vermilion Bay Lodge Muskie Madness Week......September 12 to 19, 2009....."Bring your harpoon"!

Looking forward to summer!

Another -40 degree morning and I'm thinking of summer and warmer weather. I dug up a few pictures from past summers to help remind me that it will happen....eventually.

Cabin fever..

Here are a few of the island cabins/boat-houses in Vermilion Bay in their winter slumber. Recognize them? Let me give you a hint....McCall's Island, Round Island & Boathouse Island are shown. See if you can match them up.

What does it mean?

While tromping through the bush I came across this interesting rock pile. It is basically one large flat rock being held up by a long, narrow rock. It is hard to tell from the pics but the big rock is likely over a hundred and fifty pounds and the narrow one maybe fifty pounds. I'm thinking it would have been difficult to maneuver them into this position if, for some strange reason, you had an inkling to do so. The real bizarre thing is this rock pile is way back behind the lodge in the middle of nowhere! It was a bit of a coronary inducer to get back there on snowshoes. My theory is that at one time these rocks were entwined in the roots of a tree which was blown over in a windstorm (very common on these rocky areas). The result was this unusual formation. The tree has long since disappeared. On the other hand perhaps the original Ojibway inhabitants around Eagle Lake had a special purpose for this, or they were just goofing around. Perhaps it was a bear looking for bugs. Who really knows? What is your theory?

Lodge addition, part two.....

Here's a couple more pictures of the timberframe addition. Last summer was extremely wet from spring to mid summer. We were very lucky we started digging and doing the "dirty work" after the monsoons ended. This should mean this summer's work will be mostly mud-free!

Lodge addition....

For those of you who are familiar with the lodge I thought it might be interesting to post a few pictures from the addition we started late last summer. A few years back we had a tornado knock down most of the big red pine around our house. We had most of these sawn into timbers with the intention of using them for a building project. Well, finally they are being put to a good use. What you are looking at in these two pictures is some of the details of the timber frame process.....everything is notched and many joints are pinned together with wooden pegs. If you are going to be around the lodge next July & August you will be able to see the next phase of timber frame construction going up. It is a unique way of building and a very good use of those 200 year old trees.

Fresh Air....

We have made some progress in creating a walking trail in behind the lodge. Susanne has been trying out her new snowshoes and today I even dusted off my antiques. Unfortunately the leather bindings were a little on the rotten side and I ended up just hoofing it in my boots. No problem, we made it up to the scenic lookout where you can catch a glimse of Vermilion Bay and Eagle Lake in the background. Plenty of deer tracks and the odd wolf track back in there. I think a couple of chairs back up on the "lookout" for summer visits would be a fine idea. I will work on that for 2009.

New Year's Day trout fishing....

New Year's Day 2009 was not the deep freeze that we have been having the past few weeks. Some fresh snow greeted us in the morning as Susanne & I headed out to Delano Lake. Other than two other people fishing there today we had the lake to ourselves. At the same time last year we were able to listen to a pack of wolves serenade each other for probably a half hour. This year all was quiet. After a couple of "dud" spots (they were great in the fall!) we ended up back at our usual location and managed to catch four lakers....three of which we kept. All were caught on jigging spoons.