Dad, Dave and Graham sharing cleaning techniques in Shorty's hut.

Sept. 9, 2010
So normally we are clocking 8-10 hrs on the boat a day on this annual fishing jont. But I think  we've paid Mother Nature to clean off our boat this week. Yes again not looking too promising, and it seems a little colder out today too.We headed up to the lodge with coffee in hand, to again, kill time till the weather accommodated, and hang with our fellow fish folks. Shorty comes into the lodge & chats about with all of us, then asks us to try a spot he thinks might be worthy. Its a short trip,straight out the bay, hang a left and look for the two islands named  blablabla....Okay so heres the thing, there are very few islands actually marked with names, and the two that I know of are Vance's Bay, they are marked on either side of the bay. So when our Shorty tells us by name where to go or where we've been....we have no clue. You have to remember that all these little islands are pretty well named but an island to you and I may not be to Shorty. You kind gotta give him some idea...like..."You know that island with the rock and the tree that's kinda bent...." Which describes all the islands out here!! We take our time to get out there and the sun is trying to peek out. We get out to what we think is the area he mentioned and we see "Dad and Dave" out there and a few others from another resort Blue Heron. Dave is getting quite proficient at catching clams out here.The man has talent!!! Crap its getting cold.....oops that was not my inside voice. The wind is making us drift quickly,which means I am multi- tasking,reading, drinking coffee and moving the boat.
Another hour later we decide to hit our hole. By which time I am officially freezing and have McGivered the Thermos bag and safety vest around my legs. By this time even Graham is feeling the chill,we go in for lunch and get warmed up. Now as I mentioned we have forgone any and all traditional things we have done in the past for this trip.I mean really, how many years do we pack the winter coats, fleece wear, gloves and heavy duty fishing shoes & wool socks and never use them? Now the winter coats were going no matter what,it only took the one trip up to Rice Lake years ago when it started to snow and we ran into town to buy new ones, that was not going to happen ever again! So I really had very little to layer with. But I layered up like a true Canuck! 4 layers on top, 2 in the middle and 3 on the feet!!
We didn't have too much luck that day either a couple small fish.
The talk at the lodge at dinner was,not how many we'd caught,but how many layers did you have on?