The night once again passes quickly and I have a very good sleep in the tent after a hard day of fishing and landing the two rainbows. There is a bit of a chill in the air at daylight is summoned from the darkness of the night. A fire in the fire pit is welcomed not only in the heat it offers but the brightness and crackle of it warms the soul.
Coffee is also enjoyed sitting around the fire even though the coffee maker is not working so hot water is poured through the coffee filter, at least it tastes like coffee.
The aroma of deer sausage , eggs and with toast that is cooked over the fire on a V shaped stick made from a nearby bush is hard to beat too.
I am so contend around the fire and with a full belly, i fall asleep in my lawn chair. I only wake up as a angler who has been out at first light passes by my camp site. He is from a near by first nation youth camp that is set up a mile or so away. lots jumping out there” he says. That stirs me to action some what as I tidy up camp and then go and pick up some garbage around the vacant camp sites, not much but a little.
I take a stroll through the bush and capture some wild flowers on film. I stumble on the F/N camp that is just stirring to life. Adults are sitting around their fire while the ladies are cooking up hot cakes, bacon, and hash browns. They kindly offer me a coffee, “its Tims “ one of the men sys. Thats enough for me to say OK. It sure tastes better than my make shift blend.
The y invite me to sit with them at the fire, I accept and one of them tells me the purpose of the youth camp. After a while the chap I am talking to rises. “We feed the elders first that have passed on” he tells me. Others and I too remove our hats as a lady puts a plate of breakfast in the fire followed by a prayer in their native language. Intersting tradition I think. Shortly after I thank them for the coffee and head back to my camp and out onto the water. Its 10:30.
Just as I get a little off shore and put the anchor down the fellow in the clinker boat comes by. “Anything yet I say” as my voice echos across the lake. “No only 3 small ones after a few days of fishing, let them all go ” he says.” Looking for lunch now” he adds with a chuckle. The angler has just got these words out of his mouth when I hear a splash and then I see his rod launched like a cannon. It flys out of the boat landing with a huge splash. “O no the now distressed anglers utters as the fish continues to jump and splash around. The poor chap rows like mad to try and catch up to the aerobatic fish. My camera is capturing this embarrassing moment. The fellows gets one swipe at the surfaced fish but misses and its gone along with the reel in the 12 metres of water. ‘Should have rowed quicker” the now dejected chap says. I try to offer up some encouragement saying maybe if you put on a heavy weight you can catch on to it. I rig up to try and hook on but the weight I have is to light and I come up empty. The chap rows away rodless and sad. I should maybe post the segment on u tube but have not viewed it yet, but will and see if it has any entertainment value, a blooper for sure if I had filmed the rocket launch.
I move to the action of yesterday but in about 2 hours of fishing I have only one take but strike to soon or too late and miss the fish. The wind picks up, I head back to camp for a 3 hour nap. Maybe too much sleeping and not enough fishing but so be it.
After the nap i head back out for the evening fish and once again I meet up with the fellow who lost his rod a few hours ago, he has someone with him. ‘Any luck with finding it” I ask out of courtesy. “yep’ went back and got the wife after we took the grate off our camp stove, made a great grappling hook, got it on the first pass and the fish was still there, a three pounder.” Well he did get lunch after all be it a bit late. I congratulated him and moved on. His luck of finding his rod did not pass onto me and I have to resort to a worm and a Maple Leaf Drennan to coast a bite out of these now hard to catch fish. I guess The Master was right once again. I fish into the darkness before sulking back to camp dejected and quickly after, to bed.
I arise with new hope and head out early, just as the mist rises from the water, a few fish rise too but not onto my line. A couple hauling a couple of rods around with a gang troll are getting fish and when I ask them how they are doing they hold up a nice stringer of about 3 or 4 fish with fish up to 4 pounds. I may have fished a float and a worm but I do not think I would try a gang troll but that is maybe because I did not have one with me.
After a couple of hours I decide to pack it in, break camp, besides I need a better coffee than my lifeless coffee machine is producing.
The Leaf Mobile is loaded to the hilt with those hundred of bottles and tins taking up too much room. I mutter some thing like "should have left them where they lay for one of my copanion binners to salvage". Finally I am loaded gup my loot concealed under the Leaf craft.
The trip is short back to Merritt and the first stop is Tims of course, boy the coffee tastes great. I spend the rest of the day visiting the local library reading FWR, browsing in some stores and just chilling out. Another night is spent in the Leaf Mobile Motel and I get an early start home. The only incident is a car is overturned in the median by the toll booth. I phone the incident into 1130 news.
I arrive home early that morning and my wife is surprised to see me that soon in the day but I had had enough and besides the fish had got the best of me, but I will return to Merritt and to one of the hundred lakes she offers up. I will be up to the challenge. I post this early today as off to another adventure, another Journal. What will the day produce but I think I will tie my bar rod to the rod holder, one never knows do they?
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Topic: The Journal From Merrit, The Music Festivel, Making Money And Fishing (Read 3801 times)