Untitled Document

Review of the Great Get Away 2000

In trying to find inspiration and a place to start a writing of this sort I decided to read the last of the American Angler's Newsletters. This was published just prior to our annual trip. One of the first things that jumped off the page and hit me was the number of misspelled words in that document. I have decided to write this diary and or review of our 2000 trip in a program with spell check this time. I wish to thank everyone for not making too much fun of my inability to proof read my own articles. Or maybe everyone else is as weak as I am in the spellink department. I also tried to incorporate pictures from our trip into this document. It worked fine on my computer but the web page would not accept that copy. So I am running out of time and patience therefore I will publish the pictures on a separate page. Someday I will have this crazy machine figured out.

FRIDAY MORNING Al and I met at Duane's house around 3:30 a.m. As usual Duane was there with his bags packed and ready to get it on. While it took some finesse to get all the gear and fresh food loaded into Al's rig we still managed to be back on the pavement by 3:50. Al eased his way through Monroe and westward onto Hiway 2. As Al motored us towards the I-5 corridor our spirits were at an all time high, even at this early hour of the day. After arriving at our meeting point we were joined by Steve, Hugh and Gary C. Here we were to wait for the Hooch delivery by none other than Gary B. After a bit of a wait and a cup of coffee we all decided that we would head on to breakfast at Bells Fair. The club would have to struggle through the first couple of days this trip without the aid of the free houch. After we arrived at the restaurant and about to order our breakfast, Gary "what floor is your job site sir" showed up with the Hooch load! The day was saved. We looked almost as happy as Gary's fellow contractors to see his smiling face. A slight misunderstanding led to the special delivery effort by Gary. We were all grateful for his special effort, just like all the contractors working on his job sites last year. The stairs are over there, oh the elevator, has a Hooch fee, if you please. After a great meal, some fun conversations, ribbing and high fives for all we were off once again. The Sumas border crossing was to be our next stop around 7a.m. This went without a hitch as usual and as we expected. We made the Hope Sporting goods store stop at 8:45. The store was just opening and what neat store it was. There were lots of great looking flies and good local knowledge of the area lakes. The pricing appeared to be much more competitive than the store in Kamloops too. After dropping a fair amount of U.S. cash in exchange for some hot new flies, lures, fresh leader, tippets and supplies we were off again, next stop was Kamloops for gas and a few more supplies that we needed to complete the provisions list. We left Kamloops just before noon and made the base ranch by 1p.m. It was suggested, this was a great time for the first brew of the trip. We were here on the last leg of our journey at last. After the catching up with conversations, check in and payment in full for the week we eased our rigs off the ranch and up the steep mountain climb at 2p.m. At 2:45 we were receiving a hearty welcome from our old friend Josh at the docks. Josh grabbed the food locker by himself and hauled it to the waiting kimori to all our amazement. It must have weighed nearly 150 lbs. He then came back and grabbed the other one too! We had a bit of trouble with a broken starter gear but Josh figured out how to make it work for now. The weather was not bad, about 40 degrees and a 10 mph wind. There was a little light rain falling during our passage across the lake. The boats were not overloaded This year with five guys and five boats. In a short time we were motoring across the lake to our final destination. The passage was not fast but we did make it all the way there without rowing.

When we came around Eagle point our dock was waiting patiently. Now we remembered why we love it here so much. This place is so cool. After we unloaded and stowed our supplies and personal gear Duane offered the members a bottle of Canadian Club to celebrate the final task of the day. The line forms behind Al of course. We had a great chicken soup made by Hugh for our first nights stay. As we strung together our fly rods it was hard not to dream about hooking into one of the big ones in this lake. But this is just the first day of a seven day trip, the fish will have to wait till tomorrow

SATURDAY The weather this morning is on the nasty side. The temperature this morning was 40 and the barometer reads 30.8 (fair weather?) at 8 a.m. The fronts are passing through quite quickly though so maybe there will be a window of opportunity to fish after all. After a full breakfast the crew hit the water about noon. This was our first shot at the fish thanks to a break in the weather. At least the hard core fishermen. It wasn't long before we were all back joining Duane in the warmth (?) of the lodge. But during the first outing Gary C. hooked into what proved to be the big fish of the week. Gary and Mike were fishing by the "flags" during some nasty weather and the 3 3/4 pound Kamloops trout smashed Gary's Muddler Minnow. The battle was on and oh what a fight it was. The weather got worse as Gary played out his fish. We finally netted the trout (Oh did we mention it was a SPAWNER?) and realized it's grand size. This fish is huge! After a couple of high five exchanges Gary and Mike decided this fishing was too good to be shut down by foul weather. They fished for about 40 minutes, enough to make two trolling passes and get soaked during a short downpour. It was agreed to head back to the warm lodge and show off the days catch. When the rest of the members checked out Gray's fish, a hush fell across the dock, you could hear whispers of "It's a SPAWNER". There was a immediate request for a rules interpretation and alas there were none violated. Gary soon was standing tall in the lead for the fish of the week and the much-envied Hat Pin with his 22 1/4 inch Kamloops trout. SPAWNER SPAWNER, SPAWNER,

There was a bit of criticism of the quality of the firewood selection and supply this year. It seems that a member felt that it was too green to keep a decent fire going. Thus the cabin felt a bit cool, no cold would be more accurate. Where was Gray B. when we needed his expertise in firebox stoking. A few penalty tugs were awarded and said member began to feel the warmth of the lodge soon after. For the evening entertainment the cook decided to cook up some chili and dogs. This should keep the boys laughing! Another note to ad to the fishing report for today, Al caught a 40" Tohotsu 6h.p.. Al said this monster put up one hell of a fight and he could hardly get it in the damn net. Later Al said when it first hit the fly he was trolling he thought it might be the infamous 46" Mercury 9.9 said to be lurking around the weed beds.

We have been impressed with how useful the Talkabouts are. We have enough to have one in every boat and the range will cover from one end of the lake to the other. We have found no "dead" spots anywhere. It's real nice to get reports from you buddies without having to motor all the way across the lake to find out the fishing sucks there too.

SUNDAY This morning the weather is looking like we had hoped for. It is a beautiful morning on the lake. We all hit the lake around 8a.m. and fished for about three hours until the breakfast bell started to ring. It was a pretty good morning for fishing. Duane caught and released 3 fish. Mike caught only one that went about 1 pound, but it was a real drag burner. Gary C. brought back 3 keepers for his efforts.

The cook made a sausage scramble today with hot cakes. This meal was quickly consumed by the boys. After the usual clean up and some cabin conversation the boys started to watch the lake to the east in anticipation of Gary B. and Greg's arrival. At 1 p.m. a Kimory was seen approaching the dock with two familiar faces smiling from ear to ear. After a quick unload with the help of all we had a grand re-opening ceremony. During this time Al was awarded his hat pin for last years biggest fish of the week. All is right once again; our group is complete for this year.

The weather was a bit on the wild side again today. Some thunderheads and real heavy hail storms showed up and the temperature didn't get above 47 in the afternoon. But with Gary B. on the fire control the cabin is much warmer now. During the afternoon fishing Hugh caught a couple of nice fish on a 52 Buick that he was trolling. It was the only fish that was reported for the afternoon effort today.

For dinner tonight we are doing a steak Bar-B-Q. The meal was a lot of fun to cook with everyone hanging outside and coaching each other on the perfect method for steak cooking. The meal was completed with salad and rolls. The best part of this dinner was that it was good food and nothing to clean up for the kitchen crew. It was agreed that next year we want to do this dinner twice during our stay and give Hugh a break during two nights at least. He really enjoyed watching the members grilling their own steaks. This is the easiest meal of the week Hugh commented

After dinner we made it back out on the lake for the late fishing. Greg caught 1, Hugh caught 2, Gary C. caught 0 and Mike caught 1. So far the fishing isn't too bad but not a real barnburner either.

Oh and we had to return to the base dock to retrieve our gas can and drop the extra boat off to Josh, he mumbled something about some fisherman keeping spawners. Hmmmmmm. Word travels fast in these parts.

MONDAY Mikes barometer is still reading 30.8, fair weather predicted hmmmmm it hasn't moved since we got here on Friday. Popular opinion says that it might not be too accurate at this elevation. Now why would anyone say that? Last night's low was about 39 degrees. During the day we are having temps in the low 40's with a slight drizzle. In the morning Gary C. and Mike fished from 7 to 9 a.m. They ended up cold and damp with only two bumps on the flies to show for their trouble. Al and Gary B. went out and Al lost a nice one off Moose point on a Muddler Minnow. Hugh and Greg went out also and got 3 and 2 respectively. The fish they caught were mostly shakers they reported.

For breakfast today we are doing biscuits and gravy. Mmmmmm. This is always a favorite for the crew. Al and Gary B. decided it was time to fire up the shower today. While the cook is busy in the kitchen they are heating and loading the water tank under Greg's supervision. By the time we are done with breakfast the shower water is so hot it sounds like a popcorn popper. The water got so hot it took two hours and two beers each just to get the courage to open up the showerhead.

There are quite a few fish rising in the bay today, mostly spawners we think heading for the creek and waiting bears. Today was Duane's day to kick Mikes butt in the fishing department. Duane chose to fish the northeast shoreline to the east of Eagle Bay. He caught 7 and lost 5 more during this outing. Mike caught 1 and got a sore arm from netting Duane's fish. This serves Mike right for running the outboard motor over Duane's line. Oops penalty tug awarded.

Josh dropped off more water for us today. He checked out some dropping around the area and though they might be moose, not bear thankfully.

Hugh and Greg landed some nice trout today. Hugh caught 2 and Greg got 1 in the boat and lost a lot of fish also today they said. Gary C. spent some time on the south side of the lake today and landed 5 during the afternoon. As usual the weather is a changing all the time with the fronts threatening on the horizon. We feel we should be ready to try the smoker out on Tuesday if all goes as planned.

Gary C. and Gary B. and Al are looking pretty dapper tonight all freshened up and smelling sweet after their experience with the shower today.

The cook is going to do a ham and scallop dinner tonight. Hugh found a recipe for a ham bake he wants to try for the breakfast meal with the expected leftovers. We thought it sounded pretty good so we'll give it a try. The cook is developing a fondness for Yogi bear cartoons. His Yogi glass always accompanies Hugh, "let's get Yogied"!

Later that evening during a Coleman Crossword Puzzle-a-Thon a quorum was held and everyone agreed that this lake and cabin is a real rare find. We will be back again in 2001 without a doubt. Back to the puzzle, four letter word starts with an……………….

TUESDAY The other bear made his presence known last night with a visit to the creek for a snack. It appears he has a insatiable appetite for fresh trout innards. It dropped to about 32 degrees last night too. You could feel the chill in the cabin when you woke up right away. For the time being the weather looks pretty stable, of course, we have seen this a few times before.

Hugh decided today was a good day for the old fashioned oatmeal. This is a good hot breakfast to keep the chill off. He then offered to make some hot cakes if anyone was interested and Mike jumped at that chance and passed on the oats. After the morning meal Greg decided to try his luck in the shower today. He almost got cooked in the rinse cycle, once again a bit too much wood in the firebox.

Now on to the fishing, this appears to be the big day of the week for the group as a whole. Duane once again kicked Mikes butt with a 5 fish day and Mike had to settle for 3. Hugh landed 3 and Greg landed 2, Gary B. and Al caught 7. Gary C. had 8 fish and 2 lost at the boat. Gary learned a tough lesson today. Check you nail knot to your backing line once in a while. It seems that a nice fish made a run and put him well into his backing, need we saw more. Yes the knot slipped off the line and the fly line, fly and fish were history. Could this be the revenge of the Spawner Gods?

While still looking for something to separate himself from the rest of the anglers Hugh hooked into a 6 hp Johnson. Put up one hell of a fight and it was the largest motor landed this week! We still believe there is a Mercury 9.9 out there somewhere. We have caught everything else on the lake now, or maybe that big one that took Gary C. line, could it have been the Mysterious Mercury 9.9?

Gary B. got the smoke house lit up big time today. We think with the cold weather we might need the extra heat that only Gary B. can get out of the firebox. We are trying a dry brine mix this year. We are using 1 to 1 of brown sugar and curing salt by weight. You coat the fish with it and give it one hour of heat. Now remove the excess moisture and coating and back in the smoke house for about four more hours. We will get back to this later.

The weather stayed on the fair side today all day, could we have turned the corner? Let's hope so. We are considering the cabin by the creek for a change of pace. It would be fun to have a front row seat for the bear's activities and be able to fish off that dock when we please. By the way I forgot to mention that the neighbors pulled out today. We now "own" the entire bay and camp area around it. We saw the bear at Eagle Bay 1 this evening. Gary C. thought it might go about 175 pounds and appeared to be about two years old. The bear was working the creek again and walked in front of the cabin. Gary C. tried to get some pictures from a boat but it was a bit too dark for a non-flash picture. Mike and Gary C. decided to try the creek mouth from the dock and had on heck of a grand time. They landed and released about 5 fish each After our dinner of beef stew and salad and rolls the two tried it again, Gary landed 5 more to Mike's 2.

Back to the smoker, the fish still aren't done yet at 9 p.m. We decided to add some wood and let it cook through the night. Bear alert tonight, fish in the smoker is not the smartest thing to leave out now is it.

WEDNESDAY Greg was expecting some fine weather today, got the Foster Grants all cleaned up and ready for action. He trusted the barometer that was still reading 30.8, fair weather Hmmmm. As we ventured out side to see if the bear had located our smoked fish the weather was looking pretty good today, in fact it looked great. The Smoked fish didn't look so good yet. The cold weather takes the heat out of the smokehouse as fast as we can put it in. The sample piece we tried sure had a good flavor. I guess if you slow smoke the fish it tastes better. That sounds logical doesn't it?

We are going to try Hugh's new Ham and Egg Casserole. It looks real nice and it tasted great too. After the kitchen crew did it's usual thing it was time to hit the water. The weather pattern was following last years almost to the day. On our last full day we had a 60-degree and blue-sky bonus. This year it happened again. With the nice weather the bite was on the slow side in the morning. But there was a steady parade of fish to the boat for the anglers with patience. Duane hooked into six fish and landed four of them, they were from 16" to 17 1/2". Good fish. Mike had four on and landed two. Gary B. and Al had six hook ups and two in the boat, mostly fishing east of Eagle bay. Gary C. is not having much of a morning, he was trolling a Doc Spratley on the south side of the lake directly across from the cabin. Greg and Hugh got two fish in the boat and stopped in at the Circle W for a couple of gallons of gas just in case. In the afternoon Greg and Hugh picked up five more fish to round out the day. All these fish and not one fish even close to taking out Gary C's first day monster.

For some unrecorded reason Hugh and Greg were awarded a penalty tug on returning for the days fishing. They didn't seem to mind it at all though.

As the week has begun to draw to a close it was Al's honor as last years winner of the "Hat Pin" to present Gary C. with his just reward for catching the largest fish of the week and doing it with a impressive Kamloops trout.

THURSDAY Well all-good things eventually have to come to an end, and so does our little trip. Feet started to shuffle around the cabin at 6 a.m. the earliest all week. It didn't take this group long to pack it in now with our light equipment load. We were all loaded in the Kimories by 7:15 and no one broke a sweat. After a quick cleaning of our lodge we pulled away from the dock at 7:30. It is the quietest ride of the trip as we all peeked over our shoulders at our lodge. We had a fuel shortage with the Merc and towed Gary C. the remaining way to the base dock. As usual fresh coffee was waiting for our crew. Mike went into brain vapor lock and misguided the loading efforts causing some extra driving mile for the members. He should have had a better plan, or any plan would have helped. We got to the ranch and those home made blueberry muffins about 9 a.m. and they were as good as we remembered them to be. After the usual fishing reports and stories, Missey suggested we travel a different way home. We should try the Tunkwa Lake road out of Savona she suggested. This will take us all the way to Merritt. This was a great road to take. We all enjoyed the scenery and the mountain views. We arrived in Merritt about noon and decided to eat in the D&G grill. This place had great food and Kokanee on tap. This new route home had everyone smiling.

The trip had to be a success because the members started to make plans for the 2001 trip before we even got back in the U.S.

After we got our tax return at Sumas the trip ended up costing $425.00 per man all-inclusive. That's not bad for all we did and where we were. By 7:30 almost all the members were back in their respective homes counting down the weeks until next year. THE END.

	. Review of the Great Get Away 2000 In trying to find inspiration and a place to start a writing of this sort I decided to read the last of the American Angler's Newsletters. This was published just prior to our annual trip. One of the first things that jumped off the page and hit me was the number of misspelled words in that document. I have decided to write this diary and or review of our 2000 trip in a program with spell check this time. I wish to thank everyone for not making too much fun of my inability to proof read my own articles. Or maybe everyone else is as weak as I am in the spellink department. I also tried to incorporate pictures from our trip into this document. It worked fine on my computer but the web page would not accept that copy. So I am running out of time and patience therefore I will publish the pictures on a separate page. Someday I will have this crazy machine figured out. FRIDAY MORNING Al and I met at Duane's house around 3:30 a.m. As usual Duane was there with his bags packed and ready to get it on. While it took some finesse to get all the gear and fresh food loaded into Al's rig we still managed to be back on the pavement by 3:50. Al eased his way through Monroe and westward onto Hiway 2. As Al motored us towards the I-5 corridor our spirits were at an all time high, even at this early hour of the day. After arriving at our meeting point we were joined by Steve, Hugh and Gary C. Here we were to wait for the Hooch delivery by none other than Gary B. After a bit of a wait and a cup of coffee we all decided that we would head on to breakfast at Bells Fair. The club would have to struggle through the first couple of days this trip without the aid of the free houch. After we arrived at the restaurant and about to order our breakfast, Gary "what floor is your job site sir" showed up with the Hooch load! The day was saved. We looked almost as happy as Gary's fellow contractors to see his smiling face. A slight misunderstanding led to the special delivery effort by Gary. We were all grateful for his special effort, just like all the contractors working on his job sites last year. The stairs are over there, oh the elevator, has a Hooch fee, if you please. After a great meal, some fun conversations, ribbing and high fives for all we were off once again. The Sumas border crossing was to be our next stop around 7a.m. This went without a hitch as usual and as we expected. We made the Hope Sporting goods store stop at 8:45. The store was just opening and what neat store it was. There were lots of great looking flies and good local knowledge of the area lakes. The pricing appeared to be much more competitive than the store in Kamloops too. After dropping a fair amount of U.S. cash in exchange for some hot new flies, lures, fresh leader, tippets and supplies we were off again, next stop was Kamloops for gas and a few more supplies that we needed to complete the provisions list. We left Kamloops just before noon and made the base ranch by 1p.m. It was suggested, this was a great time for the first brew of the trip. We were here on the last leg of our journey at last. After the catching up with conversations, check in and payment in full for the week we eased our rigs off the ranch and up the steep mountain climb at 2p.m. At 2:45 we were receiving a hearty welcome from our old friend Josh at the docks. Josh grabbed the food locker by himself and hauled it to the waiting kimori to all our amazement. It must have weighed nearly 150 lbs. He then came back and grabbed the other one too! We had a bit of trouble with a broken starter gear but Josh figured out how to make it work for now. The weather was not bad, about 40 degrees and a 10 mph wind. There was a little light rain falling during our passage across the lake. The boats were not overloaded This year with five guys and five boats. In a short time we were motoring across the lake to our final destination. The passage was not fast but we did make it all the way there without rowing. When we came around Eagle point our dock was waiting patiently. Now we remembered why we love it here so much. This place is so cool. After we unloaded and stowed our supplies and personal gear Duane offered the members a bottle of Canadian Club to celebrate the final task of the day. The line forms behind Al of course. We had a great chicken soup made by Hugh for our first nights stay. As we strung together our fly rods it was hard not to dream about hooking into one of the big ones in this lake. But this is just the first day of a seven day trip, the fish will have to wait till tomorrow SATURDAY The weather this morning is on the nasty side. The temperature this morning was 40 and the barometer reads 30.8 (fair weather?) at 8 a.m. The fronts are passing through quite quickly though so maybe there will be a window of opportunity to fish after all. After a full breakfast the crew hit the water about noon. This was our first shot at the fish thanks to a break in the weather. At least the hard core fishermen. It wasn't long before we were all back joining Duane in the warmth (?) of the lodge. But during the first outing Gary C. hooked into what proved to be the big fish of the week. Gary and Mike were fishing by the "flags" during some nasty weather and the 3 3/4 pound Kamloops trout smashed Gary's Muddler Minnow. The battle was on and oh what a fight it was. The weather got worse as Gary played out his fish. We finally netted the trout (Oh did we mention it was a SPAWNER?) and realized it's grand size. This fish is huge! After a couple of high five exchanges Gary and Mike decided this fishing was too good to be shut down by foul weather. They fished for about 40 minutes, enough to make two trolling passes and get soaked during a short downpour. It was agreed to head back to the warm lodge and show off the days catch. When the rest of the members checked out Gray's fish, a hush fell across the dock, you could hear whispers of "It's a SPAWNER". There was a immediate request for a rules interpretation and alas there were none violated. Gary soon was standing tall in the lead for the fish of the week and the much-envied Hat Pin with his 22 1/4 inch Kamloops trout. SPAWNER SPAWNER, SPAWNER, There was a bit of criticism of the quality of the firewood selection and supply this year. It seems that a member felt that it was too green to keep a decent fire going. Thus the cabin felt a bit cool, no cold would be more accurate. Where was Gray B. when we needed his expertise in firebox stoking. A few penalty tugs were awarded and said member began to feel the warmth of the lodge soon after. For the evening entertainment the cook decided to cook up some chili and dogs. This should keep the boys laughing! Another note to ad to the fishing report for today, Al caught a 40" Tohotsu 6h.p.. Al said this monster put up one hell of a fight and he could hardly get it in the damn net. Later Al said when it first hit the fly he was trolling he thought it might be the infamous 46" Mercury 9.9 said to be lurking around the weed beds. We have been impressed with how useful the Talkabouts are. We have enough to have one in every boat and the range will cover from one end of the lake to the other. We have found no "dead" spots anywhere. It's real nice to get reports from you buddies without having to motor all the way across the lake to find out the fishing sucks there too. SUNDAY This morning the weather is looking like we had hoped for. It is a beautiful morning on the lake. We all hit the lake around 8a.m. and fished for about three hours until the breakfast bell started to ring. It was a pretty good morning for fishing. Duane caught and released 3 fish. Mike caught only one that went about 1 pound, but it was a real drag burner. Gary C. brought back 3 keepers for his efforts. The cook made a sausage scramble today with hot cakes. This meal was quickly consumed by the boys. After the usual clean up and some cabin conversation the boys started to watch the lake to the east in anticipation of Gary B. and Greg's arrival. At 1 p.m. a Kimory was seen approaching the dock with two familiar faces smiling from ear to ear. After a quick unload with the help of all we had a grand re-opening ceremony. During this time Al was awarded his hat pin for last years biggest fish of the week. All is right once again; our group is complete for this year. The weather was a bit on the wild side again today. Some thunderheads and real heavy hail storms showed up and the temperature didn't get above 47 in the afternoon. But with Gary B. on the fire control the cabin is much warmer now. During the afternoon fishing Hugh caught a couple of nice fish on a 52 Buick that he was trolling. It was the only fish that was reported for the afternoon effort today. For dinner tonight we are doing a steak Bar-B-Q. The meal was a lot of fun to cook with everyone hanging outside and coaching each other on the perfect method for steak cooking. The meal was completed with salad and rolls. The best part of this dinner was that it was good food and nothing to clean up for the kitchen crew. It was agreed that next year we want to do this dinner twice during our stay and give Hugh a break during two nights at least. He really enjoyed watching the members grilling their own steaks. This is the easiest meal of the week Hugh commented After dinner we made it back out on the lake for the late fishing. Greg caught 1, Hugh caught 2, Gary C. caught 0 and Mike caught 1. So far the fishing isn't too bad but not a real barnburner either. Oh and we had to return to the base dock to retrieve our gas can and drop the extra boat off to Josh, he mumbled something about some fisherman keeping spawners. Hmmmmmm. Word travels fast in these parts. MONDAY Mikes barometer is still reading 30.8, fair weather predicted hmmmmm it hasn't moved since we got here on Friday. Popular opinion says that it might not be too accurate at this elevation. Now why would anyone say that? Last night's low was about 39 degrees. During the day we are having temps in the low 40's with a slight drizzle. In the morning Gary C. and Mike fished from 7 to 9 a.m. They ended up cold and damp with only two bumps on the flies to show for their trouble. Al and Gary B. went out and Al lost a nice one off Moose point on a Muddler Minnow. Hugh and Greg went out also and got 3 and 2 respectively. The fish they caught were mostly shakers they reported. For breakfast today we are doing biscuits and gravy. Mmmmmm. This is always a favorite for the crew. Al and Gary B. decided it was time to fire up the shower today. While the cook is busy in the kitchen they are heating and loading the water tank under Greg's supervision. By the time we are done with breakfast the shower water is so hot it sounds like a popcorn popper. The water got so hot it took two hours and two beers each just to get the courage to open up the showerhead. There are quite a few fish rising in the bay today, mostly spawners we think heading for the creek and waiting bears. Today was Duane's day to kick Mikes butt in the fishing department. Duane chose to fish the northeast shoreline to the east of Eagle Bay. He caught 7 and lost 5 more during this outing. Mike caught 1 and got a sore arm from netting Duane's fish. This serves Mike right for running the outboard motor over Duane's line. Oops penalty tug awarded. Josh dropped off more water for us today. He checked out some dropping around the area and though they might be moose, not bear thankfully. Hugh and Greg landed some nice trout today. Hugh caught 2 and Greg got 1 in the boat and lost a lot of fish also today they said. Gary C. spent some time on the south side of the lake today and landed 5 during the afternoon. As usual the weather is a changing all the time with the fronts threatening on the horizon. We feel we should be ready to try the smoker out on Tuesday if all goes as planned. Gary C. and Gary B. and Al are looking pretty dapper tonight all freshened up and smelling sweet after their experience with the shower today. The cook is going to do a ham and scallop dinner tonight. Hugh found a recipe for a ham bake he wants to try for the breakfast meal with the expected leftovers. We thought it sounded pretty good so we'll give it a try. The cook is developing a fondness for Yogi bear cartoons. His Yogi glass always accompanies Hugh, "let's get Yogied"! Later that evening during a Coleman Crossword Puzzle-a-Thon a quorum was held and everyone agreed that this lake and cabin is a real rare find. We will be back again in 2001 without a doubt. Back to the puzzle, four letter word starts with an………………. TUESDAY The other bear made his presence known last night with a visit to the creek for a snack. It appears he has a insatiable appetite for fresh trout innards. It dropped to about 32 degrees last night too. You could feel the chill in the cabin when you woke up right away. For the time being the weather looks pretty stable, of course, we have seen this a few times before. Hugh decided today was a good day for the old fashioned oatmeal. This is a good hot breakfast to keep the chill off. He then offered to make some hot cakes if anyone was interested and Mike jumped at that chance and passed on the oats. After the morning meal Greg decided to try his luck in the shower today. He almost got cooked in the rinse cycle, once again a bit too much wood in the firebox. Now on to the fishing, this appears to be the big day of the week for the group as a whole. Duane once again kicked Mikes butt with a 5 fish day and Mike had to settle for 3. Hugh landed 3 and Greg landed 2, Gary B. and Al caught 7. Gary C. had 8 fish and 2 lost at the boat. Gary learned a tough lesson today. Check you nail knot to your backing line once in a while. It seems that a nice fish made a run and put him well into his backing, need we saw more. Yes the knot slipped off the line and the fly line, fly and fish were history. Could this be the revenge of the Spawner Gods? While still looking for something to separate himself from the rest of the anglers Hugh hooked into a 6 hp Johnson. Put up one hell of a fight and it was the largest motor landed this week! We still believe there is a Mercury 9.9 out there somewhere. We have caught everything else on the lake now, or maybe that big one that took Gary C. line, could it have been the Mysterious Mercury 9.9? Gary B. got the smoke house lit up big time today. We think with the cold weather we might need the extra heat that only Gary B. can get out of the firebox. We are trying a dry brine mix this year. We are using 1 to 1 of brown sugar and curing salt by weight. You coat the fish with it and give it one hour of heat. Now remove the excess moisture and coating and back in the smoke house for about four more hours. We will get back to this later. The weather stayed on the fair side today all day, could we have turned the corner? Let's hope so. We are considering the cabin by the creek for a change of pace. It would be fun to have a front row seat for the bear's activities and be able to fish off that dock when we please. By the way I forgot to mention that the neighbors pulled out today. We now "own" the entire bay and camp area around it. We saw the bear at Eagle Bay 1 this evening. Gary C. thought it might go about 175 pounds and appeared to be about two years old. The bear was working the creek again and walked in front of the cabin. Gary C. tried to get some pictures from a boat but it was a bit too dark for a non-flash picture. Mike and Gary C. decided to try the creek mouth from the dock and had on heck of a grand time. They landed and released about 5 fish each After our dinner of beef stew and salad and rolls the two tried it again, Gary landed 5 more to Mike's 2. Back to the smoker, the fish still aren't done yet at 9 p.m. We decided to add some wood and let it cook through the night. Bear alert tonight, fish in the smoker is not the smartest thing to leave out now is it. WEDNESDAY Greg was expecting some fine weather today, got the Foster Grants all cleaned up and ready for action. He trusted the barometer that was still reading 30.8, fair weather Hmmmm. As we ventured out side to see if the bear had located our smoked fish the weather was looking pretty good today, in fact it looked great. The Smoked fish didn't look so good yet. The cold weather takes the heat out of the smokehouse as fast as we can put it in. The sample piece we tried sure had a good flavor. I guess if you slow smoke the fish it tastes better. That sounds logical doesn't it? We are going to try Hugh's new Ham and Egg Casserole. It looks real nice and it tasted great too. After the kitchen crew did it's usual thing it was time to hit the water. The weather pattern was following last years almost to the day. On our last full day we had a 60-degree and blue-sky bonus. This year it happened again. With the nice weather the bite was on the slow side in the morning. But there was a steady parade of fish to the boat for the anglers with patience. Duane hooked into six fish and landed four of them, they were from 16" to 17 1/2". Good fish. Mike had four on and landed two. Gary B. and Al had six hook ups and two in the boat, mostly fishing east of Eagle bay. Gary C. is not having much of a morning, he was trolling a Doc Spratley on the south side of the lake directly across from the cabin. Greg and Hugh got two fish in the boat and stopped in at the Circle W for a couple of gallons of gas just in case. In the afternoon Greg and Hugh picked up five more fish to round out the day. All these fish and not one fish even close to taking out Gary C's first day monster. For some unrecorded reason Hugh and Greg were awarded a penalty tug on returning for the days fishing. They didn't seem to mind it at all though. As the week has begun to draw to a close it was Al's honor as last years winner of the "Hat Pin" to present Gary C. with his just reward for catching the largest fish of the week and doing it with a impressive Kamloops trout. THURSDAY Well all-good things eventually have to come to an end, and so does our little trip. Feet started to shuffle around the cabin at 6 a.m. the earliest all week. It didn't take this group long to pack it in now with our light equipment load. We were all loaded in the Kimories by 7:15 and no one broke a sweat. After a quick cleaning of our lodge we pulled away from the dock at 7:30. It is the quietest ride of the trip as we all peeked over our shoulders at our lodge. We had a fuel shortage with the Merc and towed Gary C. the remaining way to the base dock. As usual fresh coffee was waiting for our crew. Mike went into brain vapor lock and misguided the loading efforts causing some extra driving mile for the members. He should have had a better plan, or any plan would have helped. We got to the ranch and those home made blueberry muffins about 9 a.m. and they were as good as we remembered them to be. After the usual fishing reports and stories, Missey suggested we travel a different way home. We should try the Tunkwa Lake road out of Savona she suggested. This will take us all the way to Merritt. This was a great road to take. We all enjoyed the scenery and the mountain views. We arrived in Merritt about noon and decided to eat in the D&G grill. This place had great food and Kokanee on tap. This new route home had everyone smiling. The trip had to be a success because the members started to make plans for the 2001 trip before we even got back in the U.S. After we got our tax return at Sumas the trip ended up costing $425.00 per man all-inclusive. That's not bad for all we did and where we were. By 7:30 almost all the members were back in their respective homes counting down the weeks until next year. THE END.