Canadian Sunshine

I mentioned tricky weather earlier, let me explain. The first year we went, we were booked for Goin 2 but Oliver reported that they were in the midst of a drought and the reservoir’s waters were so low that they couldn’t land safely near Goin 2, so he switched us to Goin 1. That was okay with us as long as the fishing was good. And it was. But it rained almost every afternoon. Some drought they had in Canada. Two trips later, the pilot gets us to the cabin and kicks at the dusty ground around the campfire ring. “Careful with your cigarettes and campfires,” he says. “We’ve been pretty dry lately.” Of course, it rained every day we were there. We saw some great rainbows, however. Not the fish, the kind in the sky. Often they were doubles. One day on this lake, Rick and I were around a bend 1/2- 3/4 of a mile from the cabin and out of sight of the clearing. The rain clouds moved over our heads and it started to come down. Not so bad at first, just dimpling the waters of the lake, but then harder so the lake’s surface had no flat areas. Then it came down even harder. We were soaked even with our rain gear on and water poured from the bills of our caps. Rick was curled up in the bow of the boat as I started the motor to head back to the cabin to dry out. “Well,” I shouted above the sound of rain on the aluminum boat’s hull, “it can’t get any worse!” And it started to hail! Rick gave me the dirtiest look!
As we rounded the bend and looked across the open water toward the cabin clearing you could see Joe and his boys standing on the dock IN THE BRIGHT SUNLIGHT! It wasn’t even raining where they were only half a mile away.

Typical Rainy Day

We have thought about contracting with the Canadian government to help alleviate droughts north of the border. We haven’t tested our abilities here in the states. The five of us have very strong powers up north, however. But even with Rick missing on our last trip, we did all right in the rain department! Doesn’t stop us from fishing, just makes the woodstove in the cabin that much more comfortable.