Vacation Blog From Meta Lake Lodge in Nakina, ON Canada (Long Read!)

I met Steve Jackson and Frank Parzinski (and his two grandsons, Jacob and Joel) over at Frank Rozak's house. We would pack Frank R's truck and head over to pick up Bill Sharp from his house. Steve and Frank P, and the kids, would drive in one vehicle, and Bill and I would ride in Frank's truck.  I liked those arrangements, because we didn't leave until 9:30pm, and as you know that's well past my bedtime. While Frank and Bill sat in front, I had the entire back of the cab to lay down and sleep on the ride up...woot! woot!

I woke up 6 hours later, feeling refreshed and even more excited to get up north. Frank and Bill switched seats, so Bill would drive now, and take us over the border in a few hours. The crossing was a breeze at 4am, since there were no lines to wait in. The agent was a bit cranky, but let us in after a few questions about what we were going to Canada for and if we had anything to declare.

I went back to sleep for a couple more hours, and woke up when it was time for breakfast.  We lost Steve and Frank somewhere, when they stopped for breakfast at the place we would normally stop, but Frank and Bill couldn't remember where that was exactly, so we ate at an A&W in the next town from where the other's stopped. lol

Now, it was my turn to drive for a while. We found Steve and the gang again, when they caught up to us in the forest someplace between towns.

We arrived in Nakina around 2:30pm on Friday. We would be staying at the "584 Bed and Breakfast", owned by Larry and Raylene Schallock.  We enjoyed some Molson's and Lablatt's on the deck before a yummy dinner of fried walleye and some home made salads. It sure hit the spot after living on car food for 18 hours.

We all hit the hay early, since we needed to be at the airport by 5am the next morning. I was up at 4am and showered before getting the rest of them up. They were slow moving, but we got to the airport on time, and met up with Bob and Ned Boytim, who drove up and drove through the night. They slept in their truck for 5 hours instead of staying at the B&B with us.

The float planes only allow for 8 people to fly (with gear), so the pilot said one of us would need to fly out on a smaller two seater plane, and I jumped at that chance. However, it also meant I had to wait another hour and a half before it was our turn to fly out. Other planes were coming in and going out, so we followed the third plane out. 

I arrived at Meta Lake Lodge at 7:30, and went up for a quick breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage, and toast, before going to the cabin to unpack and get what fishing gear was still needed to be readied. Steve had been putting everything in our boat, while waiting on me, so most of it was done by the time I got there.

Saturday, August 6th...Day 1

It was chilly, windy, and cloudy the first day. We had brought a bunch of floats/markers with us to mark some weed beds to help the rest of our group find them. We set 10 of 12 out. 3 in Stoney Bay, 3 on the "hump" near the south bay in Ara Lake, 3 in the South Bay, and 1 marking a huge rock up in the North Bay of Ara. (Windy conditions that week will make three of those floats just disappear, never to be found again).

We only caught 11 fish the first day and only fished the south end of Ara and Stoney Bay.  We figured it was the cold front conditions making them sluggish, because we would see them follow the lures when casting, but they were not aggressive at all.

Dinner on Saturday night was a nice salad, oven roasted turkey, and mashed potatoes and gravy. Dessert was apple cake with vanilla ice cream...YUM!

Sunday, August 7th...Day 2

We started the morning by having breakfast with everyone up at the main lodge. We were doing the "American Plan", so we didn't have to do any cooking at the cabin.  They made breakfast, packed us lunches, and made dinner every day, so that gave us more time to fish and just relax.

Breakfast was thick french toast with sausage...YUM!!

Steve, who inhales his food, said "Get in the boat! Let's go!" But, he was mainly joking, because he says it at every meal...and, everyone who's ever fished with him gets that chiding. It's always good for a laugh. :)

It would be the last breakfast for me the rest of the week, since Steve and I both agreed to get on the lake by 6am. It would give us an extra two hours of fishing time each day. We just had Erin pack our lunches in a way that I could put the sandwiches together in the mornings, so they didn't get soggy over night. That worked out well, but a weeks worth of sandwiches for breakfast and lunch was getting old by the end of the week. lol

Anyway, back to fishing... Since we had fished the south end of Ara yesterday, we decided to run up north today. The weather was an improvement over yesterday, and was a little warmer.

We didn't catch any monster pike yet, but we were catching a lot of 22-28 inch pike, so the future of the  two lake system looks bright.  We would catch a total of 32 fish...both pike and walleye, but always more pike than walleye.

We enjoyed a nice salad and then a dinner of scalloped potatoes, with the most mouth watering, and tender ham I've ever eaten...it was delicious! We finished it off with a sweet dessert of vanilla ice cream covered in raspberries.

Monday, August 8th...Day 3

Each morning I wake up first, at 4:30am. I get up and make coffee, and mine and Steve's sandwiches for the day.  Then, after a hot shower, and getting ready, I would go in and wake Steve up for the second time....by then, he was ready to get up and going.

We started out on the North end of Ara, and caught 30 fish up there by 12:00. While we were trolling around up there, we noticed a mother Loon with her fuzzy little baby Loon swimming around near an island. But, about 10 minutes later, the fuzzy little baby is all by itself closer to the island and our boat, and looking scared of something. It's head was tucked all the way down and tight to its body, and momma was no where in sight now.  Then, I looked over and saw two adult Loons swimming away....hmmmm. We didn't make much of it, and left to go fishing on the south end of Ara.

It took us a 1/2 hour to ride down there in our 18' wooden boat with the 15hp motor, so we arrived at approximately 12:30pm.  We trolled from 12:30 to 3pm and must have hit it at the right time, because we would catch another 28 fish, for a total of 58 for the day. So far, it was our best day yet.

Dinner was a salad, meatloaf, cauliflower mashed "potatoes" and sweet corn. Dessert was ice cream with banana's foster...YUM!!

Tuesday, August 9th...Day 4

Our early start was delayed, due to a thunderstorm that popped up at 5:30am. It had some gusty winds, and lightning, so we opted to let the sun come up more before venturing out.

Frank and Bill would decide it was not a good day to fish, and would stay at the cabin all day.

Steve and I finally headed out for the day around 7am. We were headed to the south end of Ara again. It's about an hour ride from camp on a good weather day, so today it was going to take much longer. And, the ride would likely bust my ass in the front of that little wooden boat.  

While we were still in the channel, between the two lakes, I said to Steve, "Maybe we should take the shoreline down, it will probably be more protected", and he replied, "Okay".

However, when we made the turn out of the channel and headed south, straight into the big waves, I kept waiting for him to turn to the left, and head towards the shoreline, but he kept going straight....ugh.

He kept it straight down the center of the lake and busted my ass the entire way down there! As we neared the south end it became calmer....thank goodness...and we could see it would be very fishable....a "bright side".

When we finally stopped, I was scowling from the butt buster ride that crushed my spine and rattled my brain inside my skull. I asked him, "I thought you were going to take the shoreline down?" He said, "Nope", and laughed. "It didn't look any better over there", he said.  A wise man once told me, "Don't start no shit, and there won't be no shit", so I bit my tongue, and waited for my headache to go away, before speaking again. There was no sense in ruining a day in paradise by arguing about a boat ride.   Even though, I think he did it on purpose, because when I kept looking at the shoreline going down...all I saw was calm water...hmmpf!  But, on the other hand, he got SOAKED from all the crashing water over the sides, so I doubt very much he did it on purpose. It just felt like it at the time. Ha!

Anyway, after my Motrin kicked in, and my headache went away it was a fun morning. We fished the bay and caught 13 pike and walleye. With the wind still gusting, and the bite slower than  normal...I asked Steve if we could troll the shoreline back up. Partly, because it would be protected, and mostly, because it would be something new to fish and explore. He was game, so we finished our trolling pass through the big weed bed in the south bay and headed north along the shoreline.

It took several hours to work our way up the shoreline, to the channel, but we found spots where we would catch a few, and then go a while without catching, and then, catch some more. We found 20 more fish that would fight and be released to live another day. We both agreed it was a fun day. 

We were maybe two points away from the channel when the wind kicked up again, really hard, and forced us to head back to the protected water in the channel instead of fishing the rest of the shoreline.

There are a  few spots in the channel we liked to hit, so we headed to the first spot. That's when I noticed the sky turning really dark behind Steve's right shoulder. It was coming from the south, where we just left, but seemed to be staying to the west, while we were headed to the east. 

Scanning the sky to the east, it looked like the storm would miss us, so we hit one of our hot spots in the channel. But, I kept a close eye on the sky's horizon, because I learned my lesson two years ago, when we got caught in a similar storm that snuck up us pretty quick.

I told Steve, "I think we need to head back. The horizon is looking like it's headed this way now". So, without hesitation, he picked up and we started our ride back. As we left the channel, and started crossing Meta Lake, the sky behind Steve started throwing lightning bolts down from the darkened sky. The sky above us was getting gnarly, and I was hoping we would make it in before it let loose too. Thankfully, it did. We hit the dock when the big bangs of thunder were starting, and made it into the cabin just before the rain started...woot! woot!

After cocktails with Frank and Bill, we headed up for dinner, where we would enjoy a nice caesar salad, spaghetti with meat sauce, and cheesy bread. Dessert would be a three layer cake of chocolate and lemon with a lemon cream filling and a chocolate/lemon frosting. A strange combination, I thought, but it was surprisingly really good! Yum!!

Wednesday, August 10th...Day 5

It was a cold morning with spotty fog. The lake was calm though, so the lack of wind was a welcomed change.  We left the dock at 6am... It was the kind of morning that makes you wonder if it could ever get more beautiful than that, and make you stop to inhale the cool, clean air... deeply. 

We headed to the south end and fished the usual spots with pretty good success. We then moved to the main lake point at the mouth of the bay, where we had caught quite a few there the day before on our shoreline troll. There were 4 other boats there though, so we made one pass, caught a few, and then headed across the lake to Stoney Bay. We started on the north shore, out in front, where there are a lot of rocks, and picked up a few walleye and pike, before heading into the bay to hit the big weed bed.  

Stoney Bay is better for walleye, I think, because we seemed to catch more walleye than pike in there.  We still haven't caught a pike over 30 inches, but there's still two more days to go.

We made a move to the north end of Ara after leaving Stoney Bay, to see if there was an afternoon bite up there. When we arrived up there, and our trolling pass took us over to the the islands, we noticed the fuzzy baby Loon was still there....alone.  I had to wonder if the momma had abandoned it, because it was sick, or it was just time for it to be weaned, or if she went off with a new male and left the baby behind.  I had no knowledge of baby Loons, so I was just upset that it was still all alone and so young.  Had momma been killed by an eagle or giant pike? Would the baby meet the same fate soon, since it was so young?  I know, I know....bleeding heart...."it's nature", but I couldn't help feeling sad for the little bugger.

We left it alone, and while trolling back down to the south, we saw a big Bald Eagle flying over the island, really low. I thought for sure it was going to get the baby Loon, but it caught a wind and did the circle thing high into the sky instead. Whew! That was close.   Steve agreed to let me bring some fresh minnows the next morning to feed it, in case the momma had left it alone. After three days, sitting in the same spot, I could only think about how hungry it must be. So, that was our plan.

After leaving the north end, we went into the channel to hit our usual honey holes to finish out the day.  We ended today with 63 pike and walleye.

Dinner was the usual Wednesday night fish fry. Everyone is supposed to bring back some walleye to be cooked up, but Steve is a staunch catch and release angler, and I have no issue with that, so we agreed that we could just eat the beans and salads for dinner. After all, the beans are a meal in themselves, and are really really good! Frank and  Bill didn't bring in any fish either, but Frank P., his grandsons, and Bob and Ned Boytim brought in enough to share with all of us, so we had fried walleye, homemade baked beans, cole slaw, and potato salad for dinner.

Dessert was...ice cream again. Yum!!

Thursday, August 11th....Day 6

Steve thought it would be nice to take one of Frank's grandsons each day, so today we took the youngest one, Joel.  I told him he had to be up early, and if he didn't get to the boat by 6am, we were leaving without him.   I told Steve to make sure to go knock on their cabin door at 5:45 to make sure he's up.  But, of course, he's so pokey in the mornings too, that at 5:50, I went up there and knocked.  A sleepy little boy looked through the door window, and I said,  with a smile, "Let's go Kid!", and turned to walk away.  My sternness worked, because he was at the dock and in the boat by 6am. Ha!  After that, I would soften my "touch", to wake him up completely. It was chilly in the morning, and like most little boys who dress themselves, he was not going to be warm enough, so Steve gave up his Guidewear jacket to let Joel wear, so he would be warm enough on the run up the lake.

We headed to the  north end, first thing, and started a trolling pass in "Walleye Alley" before making a pass around the grassy island and by the bigger rock islands up there.  We were happy to see that we would not need to feed the baby Loon this morning, because as we neared the rocks, where it had been hanging out, we saw momma with it again.  That made our hearts happy, and we told Joel the story of the little Loon, and it made him smile too.

We turned the boat and headed back towards "Walleye Alley", trolling our big Silver Minnows tipped with white twister tails. I figured it was a good time to use the bathroom, since it was slow, and I really had to pee. 

I set the rod in the rod holder, and it wasn't a minute later the rod tip bends with a violent tug. I told young Joel to get it out of the rod holder.  But, he couldn't lift it out of the cradle, so I yelled to Steve to get it, because my pants were around my ankles, while I squatted in the bottom of the boat with a cut off bleach bottle between my legs. lol

Joel did a fantastic job of reeling in a big 40" pike. Steve netted it, and got it in the boat quickly, because it was hanging halfway out of the rubber net. After a quick measurement and a few pictures, she was released to swim another day. Yay!

We left the north end and headed down to the south bay again. Joel ended up falling asleep on the ride down, and woke up as soon as we had another fish on. He was a happy boy, since he reeled in 33 of our 35 fish. 

Something very special happened when he was reeling in one of the fish on my rod. A young Bald Eagle flew over from a tree on the shore, and flew very low, like it was going to try and get Joel's fish, that was thrashing on the surface. But, it was too close to the boat by the time it got there, and it circled back. 

However, it didn't fly back to shore and made a B-line back to our boat, because Steve's lure was fouled with weeds and on the surface. I pointed that out to Steve, before the eagle tried to go for it, and it flew straight over the length of our boat, about 20 feet up in the air. We could see all the details on the feathers and its face. It looked us over with curiosity, and flew off again. 

We were in awe, and couldn't believe that just happened! Then, it came back two more times and did the same thing....straight over the boat and only about 20 feet up in the air.  We just looked at each other and laughed at our good luck with this chance meeting of one of America's most majestic birds of prey. It was truly a magnificent sight to behold. :)

It was a nice day, and he couldn't wait to tell his grandpa and his brother that he caught the biggest fish of the week so far.

When they finally showed up at the dock, we walked down, so he could tell them. But, his brother burst his bubble when he said, they caught one that was 45 inches, but it got away when grandpa brought it in the boat, and it flopped and bounced out of the boat before they could do anything with it.  So, I said, "Well, too bad, so sad, that doesn't count". It has to be measured to be official. lol

That made Joel smile again, because he was in the lead for the big fish pot at the end of the week.

Grandpa was so disappointed, because it was the biggest fish he's ever caught up there in the many years he's been fishing the lakes.

Dinner was grilled steaks to order, salad, and baked potatoes with butter and sour cream.  Dessert was something, but I can't remember what it was. I'm sure it was worthy of a "YUM!" though. ;)

Friday, August 12th...Day 7

We woke up to a cold front again. The wind was calm though, so that was nice.

We would be taking Joel's older brother, Jacob, today.  Steve went to wake him up, and we hit the water at 6:15am. Again, like young boys do, he was not dressed properly, so again, Steve gave him his jacket to wear. I'm sure it had to be a cold ride for Steve, because he without his jacket, he wasn't going to be warm enough either. 

We made the same rounds as the day before, but didn't get any big fish, but we did catch a few more than the day before.  Jacob had reeled in 13 fish before taking a 3 hour nap, where in which Steve and I would land another 27 fish, trolling the weed bed in the south bay.

We finished off the day by casting our honey holes in the channel, but the holes were not was productive as the previous days, and we would end our day with a total of 47 fish.

The highlight of the day was looking over and seeing something odd in the water...and, it was moving. I asked, "Did Ned throw a black marker or something?" But, then we saw the ears...it was a swimming bear!  We got close enough to get video, but not close enough to freak it out, because it had to be tired from its long swim across the bay.  We videoed it for about a 1/4 mile and watched it run out of the water and disappear into the woods.  That was SO COOL!! Glad we had the chance to see it. :)

We had cocktails and packed up our belongings for the early flight out in the morning, before heading up for dinner.

We had a nice dinner of baked chicken, rice pilaf, and garlic green beans. Dessert was a choice of either apple or blueberry crisp with ice cream...Yum! :)

After dinner, we finished packing and organizing our gear, so it could be set out in the morning to be picked up by the staff and loaded on the dock, so when the plane came in, we would be the first flight out.

I woke up early, and cleaned the cabin, and set all the gear out on the porch while them rest of the slept in. I would have time to sleep in the truck on our way to Geraldton, for breakfast.

We stopped at a little restaurant for breakfast, and then set forth on our long journey home. A long story short...we made it back to Frank's house about 1am Sunday morning.

It was a fun trip, and I feel very fortunate to have been invited to spend the time with all of them. The fishing was just a bonus. They are a great bunch of guys, and  I can't thank them enough for the opportunity.  I hope to do it again in the future.

Capt Juls

You can view the trip pictures here:

http://www.julswalleyefishingadventures.com/Photos-Pg-19.html