Happy Red and White (and Blue)

With a new month, we up North celebrated Canada Day yesterday, and also celebrate America's independence this week too. It is a good time to pause and be thankful for our freedoms, and can I just say our return to pre-2020 life. It feels like the good ole days up here, and boy are we loving it.

Week 5 produced quite well, and week 6 we started to see the walleye bite slowing; not sure if it was the early mayfly hatch, warmer water temps, low winds, or them just being stubborn. Numbers of walleye caught were lower than the other species, but we still had guests finding some larger 25"+ ones. That's part of the Wabby challenge though- She can be your best friend one day and then seem to give you the silent treatment another. Fish are now being caught more commonly in that 10-14" of water.

The northern have been biting pretty conistently, so thank goodness Earl is so good at filleting pike for our guests. Perch and smallmouth have also been popular these last couple weeks. And weather wise, hopefully from the pics below you'll see that the forest fires have not compromised our air most days. I've been getting lots of emails and questions about the air quality; we had about 2 days where smoke was thick, and most days it is hardly noticable. We finally got some rain Thursday and Friday, but need more of it and some humidity to get the fireban lifted.

Can't believe a year has passed since Pete and Connie were here; seems like we just blinked and they were back catching some beautiful walleye and big pike:

Just when we thought the crappie were done for awhile, Emily brings in a 13 incher:

She and hubby Joe, along with friends Scott and Lisa, got into some great fish including this pike:

Jonny landed this gigantic 29" walleye:

while buddy Josh got into some beautiful walleye too:

Jonny's passion for fishing is rubbing off on little Liam- listening to Liam tell stories of being on the boat is just adorable; he got in on the action too, hugging, and kissing them:

And Liam now makes the fourth generation of this family to fish on the Wabaskang! Sharon, Liam's grandma, tagged along, and was a joy to visit with when the boys were on the water.

We've had quite a few guests from Illinois recently, and we can't help but feel a little closer to our roots when they visit. These guys bonded in the firehouse, and brought that to the open waters. In addition to saving lives, they are also hockey players, mechanics, and Ninja Warriors to name a few.

Another couple from Illinois joined us and are the perfect pair on and off the water. We've known Ken now for about 5 years, and finally got to meet his better half who dominated the smallies this past week. They shared their time on the Wabaskang and Cliff Lake, landing some beautiful fish:

Another Bear's Den crew representing from Illinois, Cousins Will and Jack were so much fun to have- Jack could always be found fishing off the docks when the rest of the gang was playing bags, and Will had a smile on the entire week.

Jerry from the last blog had friends that came this week for the first time. They really caught onto the bite, as well as had a lot of laughs and visits on decks and sunsets on "the beach". Jeanette and Bill handled some nice walleye and big pike:

while Mike and Kathy did well too providing for some great fish fries:

Pete even captured this red mood sunset, remnants of the smoke from forest fires.

Tony (the creator of YetYet sauces and salsas we love and sold in gift shop last year) got to spend lots of quiet time on the water; he landed hundreds of fish, and here's just a few:

Keith and Mike were back this year with buddies Jim and Bob; they found some beauties including this 20" smallie as well as a 38" northern:

Tom and Rod were soaking up being on vacation up here and creating some memories in the Eagle's Nest with fellow buddies; they also got into multiple species including Tom's 22" walleye and Rod's 33" pike:

These two love birds, Steve and Sue, returned and were able to visit with daughter and son-in-law this time. They think we're positive people, but I see such inspiration in them. They'll be back again the fall to catch more perch lol:

Tina and Damien celebrating 10 years of marriage, got a new "View from Cabin 2":

and if that wasn't enough, they got to observe a moose with her calf:

After a few super hot days of 89-91 degrees, the Father's Day week Wednesday social provided some comfortable weather:

The Yamaha Crew paid us a visit this past week, checking our motors and doing some maintenance (yes- some flew from Japan and one from Toronto!). Thanks to Andrew from Lakeside Marina and his staff for coordinating. The information gathered and shared by them and us is invaluable:

Leaderboard from week 5:

And since we were slower these past couple weeks, Ryan and Earl were starting to get bored and needed a project (insert Earl's giggle here). In all seriousness though, this one was important for the safety of our guests:

One reason I enjoy continuing Andrea's tradition of blogging is that readers can re-live their own fishing memories, whether recent or from years ago. We even get guests from year's past that share stories with us through social media or email. This one comes from "Tooty" who remembers his biggest pike ever caught while staying at Tall Pines and wishes he could come back- great times:

Over a coffee break, we decided to bring back the 2019 Earl's Pic of the Week feature in the blog. So.... Earl's pic of the week was taken by Jonny Cordes who said the "Wabaskang be teeing off as usual". While she does usually produce, we all get the bigger picture too. And Karl Franzen gets it as he recently told me on the docks- "Catching fish is #2. Being on the water taking it all in is #1." I recently posted to Facebooks a quote that I think sums it up well too:

"To some it's just water. But to me, it's where I regain my sanity."

Happy 4th of July weekend to all- God Bless :)