And then there were three...

Well, Ryan and I enjoyed having camp to ourselves for about a month. And then things got even better when Earl joined us.

Flashbacks of the movie The Hangover played through my mind "And we're the three best friends that anybody could have"!

Our motto for the last two weeks has been to work hard-play hard. We put in a long day, then the next day we're fishing. Or we fish a morning, then do projects in afternoon. Mixing things up keeps us refreshed and motivated.

Water temps cooled slightly to mid-70's. Fish we targeted were caught in about 10-12". Wabaskang continues to produce, and the last couple weeks were no exception. While some trips had high numbers, others were remembered for larger size, and there were no trips where we came back disappointed. A combination of crankbaits, bottom bouncers, and plastics kept the walleye, northern, and smallmouth biting. We still have not broken down and used live bait- all artificial!

Here, Ryan caught and released these beautiful walleye:

Ryan is definitely the producer of smallies this year!

Another time out, in the same morning, I caught a 37" and I reeled in a 36" northern! Here's Ryan with the first one (not gonna lie- I was too nervous to hold):

and me with the second (got my confidence back):

I'll post a video of it sometime- it was a real wake-me-upper!

Ryan (tired of fishing with me lol) did some solo fishing on his birthday and came back for a birthday brunch

And later we had the Peffleys over for dinner to celebrate with us:

The 50 seconds of calm video from our dock that I posted last week on FB was well received, so thought I'd do one of the famous Wabby boat rides...

While Ryan prefers his social and down time to be on the water with a buddy, I have had some visits with girlfriends and time to soak in the sun:

While we consider each of our fishing excursions a form of fishing research and re-con for our guests, be assured that we also are spending a chunk of time doing camp updates. We three are doing all we can to make Tall Pines look its very best next year!

Earl's been snappin $h!t around here!

Each and every cabin is getting some attention. We have powerwashed all the decks and cabins, completely stained buildings 3,5,6,7,9,10,11, staff, shower house, and portions of others, doing structural repair to cabin 4, completed deck repair to Bear's Den, cutting down trees, removing old phone lines, sanding down wooden benches and picnic tables, and so many others in addition to the mowing and weedwhipping.

Cabin 4 front porch couldn't be saved

So demo day began...

salvaging some of original deck wood...

On Bear's Den, Earl is effective job-site foreman...

and check out the before and after of a good powerwashing:

Just one load of many on a "landscaping" day...

and tidying up a few things:

Just another day at R.T. Painting International...

Giving Earl and Patsy's cabin a little facelift:

We've actually really lucked out with incredible summer weather, but on the rare rain day, Earl and Ryan still find projects to tackle:

These two were right back at it filleting just like in the fish cleaning house last year:

Yes, Blueberries and raspberries have been in now a couple weeks (used in Birthday cake and pancakes!), and we've all three gone picking a few times- they're still getting bigger, but getting our fill (Andrea, I'll pick some for you!)

We don't take for granted our live art gallery each evening...

Still, both Earl and Ryan have commented how they wouldn't want to do this type of work a full 18 week season. We miss you all- our guests- our Tall Pines Family, and appreciate now more than ever the excitement, thrill, enjoyment, and fulfillment you give us. What is keeping us going now is knowing that our laborous work will be enjoyed next season. And we are hoping that by trimming down our seemingly endless to-do lists, it will allow us to focus on you campers in '21.

We're also busy rescheduling this year's guests and booking new guests. We cannot thank you enough for all those that talk about Tall Pines with their friends and family, share posts, wear T.P. swag with pride, give a Google or TripAdvisor review, and simply spread the word about our little neck in the woods...