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Veronica and I finally made it back home late last night. Flying and being sick made yesterday a very long day and night. I was starting to feel better but that did not last long and now Veronica is sick too. It was definitely not one of our better vacations, that's for sure. We really did not take many pictures at all this year. As I had mentioned in an earlier post, we found out that our dear buddy and pal, Dakota, past away last November. We were shocked and saddened to hear this news. I will miss Dakota deeply. Being in camp just wasn't quite the same without her being with us.
IN MEMORY OF A DEAR FRIEND

Dakota

I WILL MISS YOU

Below is a video that I took while Darcy and I were heading out for an evening of fishing. This was on the last night of our vacation up on Eagle Lake.

More Upcoming Travel Events

Yesterday I received news from Veronica that we are going to Vegas in October. Last night we also made a decision on where we wanted to go next year. After tossing around options, we decided that we would return to Alaska. Because we had such an excursion heavy itinerary on our last cruise to Alaska, that we wanted to return so that we could spend more time in the actual cities/towns that we docked at. We decided to get an oceanview balcony cabin this time. Unfortunately all of the aft oceanview balcony cabins were taken so we ended up with a oveanview balcony cabin near the aft but on the starboard side and on the 10th deck. Once again we will be on the NCL Pearl....a beautiful ship. This cruise will start on may 1st, in Vancouver, BC and end in Seattle, WA after 8 nights of cruising. We will most likely stay in Seattle before the cruise and then get some type of car service to take us to Vancouver, which is not that far away from Seattle. Today I spent the part of the day researching travel insurance for our cruise purchasing our tickets for the Cirque du Soleil show KÀ . This show is held at the MGM Grand. We ended up with fantastic seats....6 rows from the stage and just a hair to the right of center stage. Tomorrow is our last day here for a week. We leave early Friday morning to head up to International Falls, MN and then on Saturday morning, we are Canada bound. By Saturday afternoon, we should be settled into our favorite cabin, which is #8, right on the water over seeing the dock and boats and I will be busy getting all of our gear ready to start fishing on Sunday morning. I have been watching the projected weather and temperature reports on a daily basis. It looks like it will be rather cool up there...most days 62-74 degrees. I was worried that Veronica would be miserable with the heat and would have to opt out of fishing on some of the really hot days but it looks like that won't be happening. I would much rather have Veronica take a day off of fishing because she wants to take a break and read a book and relax compared to her having to take a day off because it is so hot and humid and she is miserable. Hopefully the weather predictions stay accurate. Hopefully I will have some great photos to share...going to be working on my trophy...over 50 inch musky.

Canada Bound

I just checked the calendar and counted the days...only 23 days and a wake up until Veronica and I leave for our annual migration up to Andy Myers Lodge on Eagle Lake, in Ontario Canada. I will have to cram 2 weeks of fishing into one week this year. I am hoping to get my trophy fish in 3 fish species...musky, walleye and northern pike. Opposite of what I have been doing in years past, I will be downsizing some of the lures that I will be using to catch some of these fish. I found out that the larger bladed bucktails were giving my old joints and back fits so this year downsizing is in order. If I fished with the larger bladed bucktails everyday, my body would get used to it but when you only throw these baits once a year, it can be quite the shock to the body. I am hoping that one of these days, I will be in a location where I can fish daily for these types of fish. It will be great to get away for a week and I know Veronica could sure use the break after the last 5 weeks of punishment that she has taken over the whole store remodel. Hopefully I will have some great photos and stories to share with everyone.

The Often Mentioned Ken From Canada

I have many times made mention of my friend Ken from up in Ontario, Canada...more specifically Vermilion Bay. He is lucky enough to be able to fish on some fantastic lakes in the area up there. One of the many lakes that he gets to fish on is Eagle Lake. Ken emails me with quite a number of videos, photos and jokes. Many of which I share with everyone out there in blogville. He are a couple of photos of Ken fishing and guiding others so that they can catch big fish. The first photo is of a Northern Pike and the 2nd photo is of a real nice walleye that Ken caught....the walleye are great fried. Veronica and I usually do some walleye fishing our first day on the lake. That way we will have some great fried walleye dinners to start our vacation off on the right foot. Because we currently live on the East coast, the only time we get to eat walleye, is when we are up at Eagle Lake. We need to move closer to our friends and favorite fishing grounds. Thanks again Ken...for sharing these great photos and for giving me my fishing fix for when I am not able to actually be up there. See you in August!!!!!

Ice Fishing Up In Canada

Here are several photos that my friend John Jakobs took of he and his wife Silvia ice fishing...I believe it is on Eagle Lake in Ontario Canada. It looks like they caught some really nice Lake Trout. Veronica and I have been out fishing with John, on Eagle Lake, several times. I remember last September, Veronica and I were out on Eagle Lake fishing with John and it was one of those really nasty days. Dark clouds, cold temps, windy and on and off rain. It was a tough day of fishing to say the least but John made it fun to be out there in that lousy weather.