Thursday, July 18, 2024. I did my morning walk and saw a chipping sparrow launching from a tree. We have chipping sparrows in MIchigan. I just never have time to photograph them.
But that’s all I saw. It was strangely quiet. As if the winds from last night had blown some of the birds away.
The waves were huge all morning and we made the best of our time bobbing up and down, sticking close by, in a part of Great Bear Lake they call the Airport. It was swell, as shown in this video.
We got a few hits on a chartreuse and pink polk-a-dot hognose (flatfish) with a white grub tail. But nothing giant.
There was no place to stop in the rolling seas, as land was far away. I peed again in a coffee can in the bow of the boat, and felt strangely good about being able to do that as the boat bobbed up and down.
For lunch we had sandwiches Manny made, this time, roast beef, with cheese, lettuce bits and mustard. As usual, our hostess had made treats–this time some marshmallow squares and a cookie of some kind.
At 2:23 Mark got this lake trout. I think he really enjoyed getting slimed all over by the lake trout. In the photo to the right, everything that looks shiny on his rain jacket and bibs is lake trout slime.
Mark tried to use a wet towel to remove the slime from his rain gear, but it wasn’t until he put his gear under a hot shower that it–and he–finally stopped smelling like fish.
At 3:50 Mark got this lake trout. I shot photos of him with my Nikon camera with the fish-eye lens and the series of shots turned out to be some of my favorite photos ever of him, in spite of the quality of the images.
We wrapped up the fishing day early because the fishing wasn’t amazing, and Manny was exhausted. I was a bit bummed at how slow fishing had been, especially since we were running out time…and heard several stories of big fish being caught by other people at the lodge. Grrr.
It took until 4:05 p.m. for me to get a fish. Mark took this shot and then ran a brief video of me releasing this fish. Releasing a fish makes me as happy as catching it.
Thursdays are special nights at the Trophy Lodge, such that our hostess dressed up, and a special spread of appetizers made.
We had good eats at Plummer’s Arctic Lodge. This video captures the entirety of the appetizers. Yum!
I played some pool and went to bed early.