Been Gone A while...Meta Lake Lodge Vacation Was an Adventure 8/6-8/15/15

This year, I didn't keep a daily blog for the Meta Lake trip. I started one, but I decided that sleeping in each morning, instead of getting up at 3am to write it, was more important. So, this will just be a shorter summary of a kind of a strange trip.

The mornings would start out with me waking up an hour and half before everyone else in camp. I would make the coffee and walk through the darkness up to the main lodge, so I could get an internet connection. I was always afraid I would meet a bear around each corner, but luckily I'm still here to write my story, so needless to say, the bears stayed out of camp...whew!

I made the coffee up in the lodge too, so the girls had some coffee to start their day, before making us breakfast.

Then, I would walk back down to the cabin as it got a little lighter out, so I could see if a bear was in camp before it saw me. lol  Can you tell I'm a little "bear nervous" up there?  I mean, we're surrounded by nothing but vast wilderness, and the food this camp puts out is wonderful. I can't imagine how any bear could resist the smells coming from their kitchen each day. They must be close by?  Anyway....I never saw any, so that was good.

When I reached the cabin, Frank would be the next man up. He would drink his coffee, and we would play some Gin Rummy while we waited for the last two sleepy heads to wake up. We usually had about an hour to play cards before everyone got ready to go have breakfast. Poor Frank never beat me once at that game, but he's a very good sport about it. :)

The fishing was not as good as it was last year, when we were there the week before we were there this year.  However, we did catch a few nice northern pike along with a ton of little hammer handle pike. Between Steve and I we caught (2) 39 inchers, a 37, 35, 34, and a 32 inch pike. They were real nice healthy fish too. 

We did have a really big scare while we were there though. Frank woke up Thursday morning and wasn't feeling well. He looked horrible and was having trouble breathing. I asked, "What's wrong?" And, he replied, "I can't breathe; I feel like I'm drowning". I immediately went and woke up Steve, who happens to also be everyone's family doctor back home, so he knew what was happening right away.  Cheryl, one of the camp owners, is also a nurse practitioner, so she and John were woken up to come and help.  Erin, the camp manager called the airport right away and got a plane headed out asap.

The plane arrived just in time, and took back off with Frank and Steve aboard. There would be an ambulance waiting back in Nakina for them, to take Frank to the little hospital in Geraldton, ON where he would be stabilized and then flown over to Thunder Bay's bigger hospital. He remained there until Saturday morning, until he could fly home to Ohio, where his sister would be waiting to take care of him, and he could get over to the Cleveland Clinic for more tests. 

I paid him a visit yesterday, and he's doing much better than I though he would be, but he will still probably need open heart surgery very soon, he said.

Steve came back that Thursday afternoon around 4pm, so needless to say, I stayed near the internet to get messages all day. I helped the female crew with stuff when I was asked if I wanted something to do. Cheryl and I gathered big rocks for a rock garden she was building for a family that had brought their father's ashes up to be placed at Meta Lake Lodge. It's out in front of the main lodge with a nice view of the lake. :)

Then, around 3pm the girls took me for a boat ride over to the "Tiki Bar", which is a sandbar off one of the little islands out a little ways from the lodge.  We sat in lawn chairs and soaked our feet in the cool water. Little minnows nibbled our feet too. I hear that people pay a lot of money over in Asia to have minnows do this, and we got it done for free!  The dogs also got to play in the water. Moose, who is a Newfoundland, likes to go under water to pick up rocks and bring them back to shore, has a large pile that he's pretty proud of. And, then, there's Filson...he's a Chow/Golden mix with a beautiful coat. He got a bath with really nice smelling shampoo while we were out there.  We talked, drank some drinks, laughed, and just relaxed.  John showed up in his boat a short time later and cooled off too.  An hour later, at 4pm we all headed back in, so they could get the dinner going for the rest of the camp that would be coming in from fishing a short time later.

Did I mention the meals were fantastic? Truly, it was. Just good "home cooking" that was simply delicious!  They served us breakfast, pack us lunches in little coolers that we got to choose from a menu of lunch meats and cheeses, and then served us dinner each day. How nice is that kind of package?  All we have to do is eat, fish, eat, fish, eat, sleep....and, repeat each day. :)

When Steve made it back at about 4:30pm he told us everything that happened with  Frank that morning, and what the prognosis was. Everyone sighed a breath of relief, and a good mood came over everyone again.  We had a nice dinner, some cocktails, and went to bed.  The next morning, after breakfast, Steve and I headed down to the south end of Ara Lake to fish. We had set up marker buoys on a large weed bed, and would be starting there.  

My first cast out: I start trolling with my Johnson's Silver Minnow...tipped with a glow Twister Tail...and, it wasn't even in the water 30 seconds before I got a hit. This fish was big! I told Steve it was big, and he put the motor in neutral, so I could fight her easier.   She was only a 39 inch fish, but she was fat! Steve netted her, gently, and now I have the picture of her to remember her by. Thank you Steve! She swam off on her release, to give someone else a catch to remember in the future. :)

It was a great vacation, and I will remember it forever.  If you care to see the photos of this trip, you can find them here: http://www.julswalleyefishingadventures.com/Meta-Lake-2015-Pics.html

The next blog will be about the Lake Erie trip I did with Capt. Eric Litton the morning I got back from Canada. What a great fishing trip to come home to! Can't wait to tell you about it. ;)

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls