Great friends, great weather and great fishing are a perfect
description of this 9th biennial Canadian fly-in fishing trip of the
Kohibas, as we call ourselves.
My Dad “Fast Eddie”, brother “Fingers John” and I “Skipper
Dave” began using Canoe Canada Outfitters in the early 1980’s. My good friends,
“Catfish Larry”, “Hooks Len”, “Backwoods Bob” and “Thumper Scott” joined us in
1998. Catfish, the now eldest of the group, coined the name Kohibas because of
our love of cigars and it stuck. "Fast Eddie" passed away in 2008 and "Fingers" died
suddenly in 2012 so the group is now down to 5. Some of "Fingers’" ashes were
spread over McQuat Lake where we returned this year.
I departed Illinois on Wednesday, July 30, spent a few
nights on the road and met up with the group in Atikokan Ontario on Saturday,
Aug 2nd.
My first night was spent in Black River State Forest near
Black River Falls WI. Nicely wooded, pull through site here with good Verizon
reception for the Internet and several over-the-air TV channels available.
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| Camp at Black River State Forest |
The second night was at Pattison State Park, south of
Superior WI. This is the home of Big Manitou Falls, Wisconsin’s highest
waterfall. The park also boasts a swimming beach and hiking trails. Another
nicely wooded pull-through site but strangely enough Verizon Internet coverage
was spotty, although talk and text worked OK. No over-the-air TV stations were available.
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| Beach |
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| Bridge over the Black River that feeds Manitou Falls |
International Falls, aka "The Nations Icebox" or "Frostbite
Falls", is proud of its Voyagers history as noted on this plaque.
There used to be a 22 foot high thermometer in the park here
but it no longer exists. The Smokey Bear statue still stands, although it was a
bit sad to see sponsor labels on Smokey’s vest.
After crossing the border into Ft. Francis Ontario, without
incident I might add, and stopping at Rainy Lake Sports to pick up 5 pounds of
leeches I met the group at Canoe Canada Outfitters. We had a great meal and
played few games of pool at local establishments before spending the night in
one of the outfitter's bunk-rooms.
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| Canoe Canada Outfitter |
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| The "Ready Room" at Canoe Canada |
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| Walls decorated with paddles left from many, many past canoe parties |
Sunday morning we drove out to the seaplane port for our short
flight into McQuat Lake. Atikokan Areo is owned by Canoe Canada and the planes
are De Havilland Beavers. These single engine
workhorses can carry the pilot, full fuel tanks and 1200 pounds of passengers
and gear. You can read more about these classic planes here:
http://www.bush-planes.com/DeHavilland-DHC-2-Beaver.html
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| Wonder if anyone actually reads this? |
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| De Havilland Beaver |
Gear, food and passengers are weighed so the weight can be
divided between two planes. Bob and Scott took the first flight in and Larry,
Len and I followed. Even after so many years the flight over the Canadian
wilderness is enthralling; on occasion the sharp eyed pilot will spot a moose and
point it out. Nothing for us to see this year, although on his mid-week flight
check to our cabin the pilot spotted a moose swimming across North Bay on McQuat Lake.
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| Weighing of the gear |
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| "Catfish" loading up |
Arrival at camp means chores. All food and gear must be
hauled up to the cabin, things unpacked and stowed. Boats need to be taken off
the hard, motors gassed and fishing gear readied. There are 2 propane fridges
for food, beer and bait as well as a propane stove and hot water tank. The
cabin has running water for the kitchen sink and shower but the “little brown
shack” still stands out behind the cabin. Once the sound of the plane engine
fades and the initial chores are done we can all settle into the silence and
solitude of being the only cabin on the lake. No phones, no TV, no radio, no newspapers; just
the mid-week flight check to bring in more ice, and perhaps more refreshments.
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| Arrival |
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| Main cabin |
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| Kitchen |
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| This is for heat |
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| Bunk room |
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| Sauna cabin (door on the left inside screened area leads to a wood burning sauna). |
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| Little brown shack out back |
The days pass by, all similar; a relaxing morning and
breakfast, getting on the lake around 10 AM and back at the cabin with our limits
of bass and walleye by 2 PM for a big lunch of fresh fish fillets dropped into
the turkey fryer. Then time to chat and
have a cold drink with a cigar during the heat of the afternoon before heading
out later for some catch and release fishing. A hot shower and light dinner
followed by camaraderie on the cool, screened in sauna cabin porch and a good night’s sleep. Except for
a few drops of rain on Sunday the weather was perfect all week; sunny with
highs in the mid 80’s and cool nights in the upper 50’s. I think "Hooks" caught the largest Smallmouth of the week, which we released for breeding. He may have also had the largest Walleye.
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| Dock |
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| "Catfish" (foreground) and "Hooks" clean fish |
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| The skilled hands of the "Catfish" |
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| Waiting for lunch. "Catfish" on the left, "Hooks" on the right, "Thumper" right rear |
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| Fresh fried bass and walleye fillets |
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| "Catfish" and "Hooks" with the morning catch |
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| "Skipper" with a nice Smallmouth |
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| Ready to be taken to the cleaning table |
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| "Backwoods", the Condiment King |
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| Some nice "smallies" and a Walleye |
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| "Catfish" with the catch of the day |
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| "Backwoods" ready for a days fishing |
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| Evening camaraderie "Backwoods" left front, "Thumper" left rear, "Hooks" right front and "Catfish" right rear |
We did become familiar with some of the local wildlife.
There was Sweet Sarah, the VERY large spider who greeted us on the dock when we
departed each morning and returned each afternoon.
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| Sweet Sarah |
Greedy Gull, who liked to stick his head into the fish gut
bucket for his afternoon lunch.
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| Greedy Gull |
And Len’s favorite, Rodger Rabbit who lived under our cabin.
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| Rodger Rabbit |
Sadly I didn't bring the long lens because there was a pair
of nesting Bald Eagles with 2 youngsters who, while very large, hadn't yet
gotten their distinctive white head and tail; that takes about 5 years. There was
also a large turtle near the dock that always seemed to elude me when I had the
camera handy.
Before one realizes it’s time to say goodbye to our lake and
take our sea plane ride back to civilization.
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| Morning on McQuat |
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| Mid-day |
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| Early evening |
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| Artsy pic |
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| Twilight |
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| Boats "On the hard" at the end of the week |
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| "Hooks" contemplates the past several days as the float plane glides up to the dock to take us back |
The experience will supply us
with enough memories to last until 2016. To all my Kohiba brothers; it was “Tres
Good”!!
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| Traditional group shot for 2014 |
