Fall Colors at the Resort

The leaves turned color overnight.  Its so beautiful everywhere you look.  We had guests until Saturday morning and we worked like beavers and by Sunday afternoon we had the whole resort closed down.  Yippee!! Its time to leave and head south.

Closing Things Down

The big dock was brought to shore.  It will rest there for the winter.  We are starting to close down cabins.  Sunset cabin (pictured) is all closed up and winterized.  Its not as much work closing the cabins down as it is opening them in the spring.  We just pull all the bedding off, cover everything in plastic or old sheets, wash all the dishes and bag them up and scrub the kitchen and bath..  The guys blow out the water lines and take care of all the outdoor furniture (some gets stored in the cabin).  Some cabins get their carpets shampooed but the owners are going to take care of that after we leave. 

We have finished packing up the boat and I'm putting all my knick knacks away in the 5th wheel.  We've had some pretty cold mornings but its supposed to be nicer during the week.  I'm sure by the time we leave it will be just plain cold.  We will be heading out next week and we will spend a few days in the Twin Cities and then a few days in Branson, MO.  Our goal is to get down to Corpus Christi, TX. 

Smallmouth & Sunset

Jim caught a really nice smallmouth and so did I but we only got his fish picture.  His was the bigger fish.  We have had a great summer of fishing, catching all kinds of walleyes and some really nice bass.  The boat is in getting winterized so if I want to fish now I have to go off the dock or we might take out a rental boat.  We get to use the rental boats and pontoons just for the cost of gas.

We will miss the good fishing and the fabulous sunsets and the loons and the eagles and the otters and, and, and.  Now we are packing up and starting to close down the cabins.  There are still about half of them rented out until almost the end of the month.  The last weekend will be a scramble to get the last ones closed. 

Canadian Cabin

Some beautiful views on Namakan Lake.  The cabin is actually on the Canadian side of the lake.  The land and water on the Canadian side of all the lakes in Voyageur National Park are not part of any kind of park.  You need a border crossing permit and Canadian fishing license to boat and fish on the Canadian side.  A few of the cabin owners that lost their lease on the islands and land that became Voyageurs National Park moved to the Canadian side.   There are some beautiful cabins from what we could see.  There is a barge service that brings propane out to the islands and will probably bring anything else you need for a price. 
Couldn't resist a nice picture of a loon.  It seems we are always fishing where the loons are fishing.  We are starting to get ready to move on to our winter home.  The boat is out of the water and we will have it winterized.  It doesn't need winterizing where we are going but to get there we could hit below freezing temps.  We also could hit very cold weather coming north in the spring (like this spring) so we winterize it just in case.  Not sure if we will fish this winter or not. 

The Eagle has landed

Fishing got very slow but we were still catching some very small walleyes and bass.  A few of the small fish didn't survive being caught so we threw them out for the gulls and eagles to feed on.  We watched as a gull grabbed a floating fish and proceeded to swallow it whole just like a pelican.  We couldn't believe it.  We thought that gulls just pecked at their potential meals.  A small mouth bass that wasn't badly hooked was flopping on top of the water after we released it and a gull came over to it and tried to swallow it only it wouldn't go down.  The fish kept spreading its spikes so finally the gull gave up.  There were many gulls around all trying to grab this meal when all of a sudden they all started squawking.  They then all took off and left the area. 

We soon realized why the gulls took off.  An eagle flew in and quickly grabbed the fish and took off for its nest.  If you click on the pictures to make them bigger you can see the fish hanging out the backside from its claws.  We have been cleaning a lot of very small walleyes that should have been thrown back.  The people catching them all say the same thing -- it was badly hooked so we had to keep it.  They don't realize they missed a photo op of an eagle snatching the fish out of the water.    I would think a photo like that would be much more memorable than the morsel of walleye they enjoyed.