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. 

Gold Portage

We took a tour of the northwest corner of the lake.  We hadn't been there before and decided we needed to check out every inch of the lake while we had the chance.  The bent tree is at the entrance to Gold Portage.  The second picture is the start of Gold Portage from the Lake Kabetogama side.  You can only go so far by boat or canoe and then you come to a little rapids that you can tube through if there is enough current to make it fun or just portage around it.  This outlet from the lake flows into Black Duck Bay which is part of Rainy Lake.

The Gold Portage got its name from back in the day when they used to go this way to get to the islands on Rainy Lake that had gold bearing ore on them.  Rainy Lake had gold mining for a short time until the veins ran out.  You can take a tour boat to see whats left of the mining equipment and shafts on the islands.  Now the area is all part of Voyaguers National Park so you can't explore for gold anymore.

Pet Northern Pike

Jim has managed to attract three small northern pike by the dock.   He calls them his pets now because they come when he throws dead minnows in the water.  Its pretty amazing when one of them goes after the minnow.  They will shoot out of the water like a shark to chomp down on the poor minnow.  We sell live bait and have to keep the minnow tank clean so the dead ones now go to feed the pike.  The pike are too little to keep so no one tries to catch them.  The kids and even the adults enjoy watching the pike stalk the minnow and then POW snatch it.  I tried to get a picture of him before the water erupts.  He's in the top picture by the letters reflecting in the water. 

The cold snap is over for now and its finally summer again.  Thank goodness although the fishing still hasn't gotten back to what was.  The bass fishing is pretty good and we both have caught nice bass.

Rainy Lake Visitor Center Boats

When we spent the day on Rainy Lake we launched at the boat launch at the visitor center for Voyagers National Park.  Its free to launch there and many people use it including cabin owners that have cabins on the islands.  They can safely park their vehicles for a day or a week or longer.  People that take their boats and just go camp on the islands at the designated campsites also launch here.  All they have to have is a free overnight camping permit. 

The big boat in the picture is the tour boat that the park service owns.  They do two hour tours of the lake.  You get to see the islands that had gold mines on them.  You also get a nice tour of the lake itself.  The other picture has our boat up front and the park service boats in the back.  There is also a sheriffs boat parked here.  When we were there we saw the sheriff race in by car and then him and a deputy or first responder ran to the sheriff boat and tore out on the lake.  We heard a 12 year old boy was hurt out on one of the houseboats.  We didn't here any more than that so don't know if he was ok or not. 

A Touch of Mink

We were out fishing and I saw a mink swimming out from an island.   I thought I would get a great picture with the telephoto lens.  As I was taking pictures he kept coming closer and closer to the boat.  Pretty soon I realized he was actually looking for a way in the boat.   I guess he thought it would be a good place to rest but I shooed him away.  Mink can be quite mean so I didn't want it getting too close.  I did want to reach out and pet that fabulous fur!

It has been kind of cool here and the water temp has dropped 10 degrees.  That makes it really hard to swim and enjoy all of the water toys.  The kids still manage to use them but they don't stay in the water as long.  When they turn blue from the cold water they run into the sauna to warm up.  Its looking like we are done with the hot weather and by mid August the night time temps usually drop in the 40's so the water will just keep getting colder from here on out.