The season that wasn't...

Greetings to all; 

    Unfortunately, this finds me writing the "wilderness" blog in markedly less wild Minnesota (although the downtown area seems to be trending the other direction when current events are taken into account). The change of locales has come about because the final nail is in the coffin for our 2020 season with the most recent extension of the U.S. / Canada border closure, continuing the ban on pleasure travel until at least late September. 

    With that news breaking and running out of materials for improvements and AVGAS to keep the plane in the air, it was time to button up the camps for the season. 

    While it is always a little bit of a somber affair, it was a particular downer to be winterizing everything when the season is still in its prime and so many of you were holding out hope to join us. This situation is obviously out of everyone's hands, but my sincere thanks to all our guests that tried so hard to make Big Hook a reality this year. It'll be even better next!  

FISH FRY! Can taste it now...

     Pat, Maria, and I made the best of it, however, and got lots and lots done with what we had on hand at the camps. I made a few flights down to Red Lake too, racking up some credit card miles in addition to the air miles at the hardware stores and marinas. Everything should be in tip top shape for next year's opening.  

    COVID kept employee party more subdued than normal too. The pilots, nurses, and teachers from Sandy Lake, generations of whom have all been regular participants going back to Tom's freewheeling era and then Nathan's college years, are not allowed out of Sandy Lake right now. Most reservations up north are totally closed to outsiders currently. I was allowed to land at Sandy once to get fuel, but had to remain on the dock. This was doubly frustrating since I could see the stacks of lumber, siding, flooring, etc... we brought up the winter road. It's also understandable, however - it would be very bad if COVID got into any of these small, remote communities. 

A new window and kitchen updates at SW

   We got in a little fishing too! We found lots and lots of walleye grouped up around the 15' mark all around Central. The entrance to the narrows north of the asteroid field provided particularly fast action on a mission to clear / check out the north portage. Maria and I were throwing jigs and twister tails - and having the most luck with 3/8 oz in white and pink. Pat deployed a size 6 hammered gold Panther Martin with good success too. 

Dock repairs and a new boat ramp at Burnt Lake

    

    

    Pat also pulled out his fly rod in search of some northern. He never tied into any oversized models, but did have great success with numbers using streamer and mouse patterns. I was lucky to catch the big northern of the party day (and the season) while walleye fishing with the aforementioned white and pink jig setup. 

 

Gunner for scale.

    

We had lots of pool parties (dock swims) to cool off after some long days working and a handful of fish fries that were as good as ever. We also got to try out the newly crafted log benches around the fire ring outside the big cabin at Main Camp. They should act as excellent pulpits for spinning fish tales for many seasons to come. 

Employee Pool Party

   

 Other exciting happenings since my last update include a lynx sighting while clearing out the South Portage and a fire scare for the town of Red Lake (the town had to be evacuated, but thankfully everything is now under control). 

  While this season (or the lack thereof) was obviously a let down, it has been incredibly heartening to be in regular contact with so many of you that hold Big Hook near and dear. I've gotten to hear all sorts of great stories from years past and we've made lots of plans for trips and memories to come. The countdown to the 2021 season has certainly begun.

    To celebrate all the good times (and round out this year's holiday card since 2020 photos will be lacking) I'd like to invite you to share a picture or memory from a trip to Big Hook. You can post pics to our Facebook page, tag us on instagram (@bighookcamps), or email them to me (ryan@bighookcamps.com). Stories to the same or in the comments below. I can't wait to see and hear what you've got. 

    Thanks so much to all of you, Ryan 

Thanks Maria and Pat for all your help. 
Looking forward to next year!

It's Lonely Up Here!

Just like the jello mold at Christmas, some things you have to do for tradition's sake. With that in mind, The Big Hook Blog, summer 2020...

It's been a difficult year to say the least, but these sorts of hardships certainly put the important things in perspective. With that in mind, we'll focus on the good and try to enjoy the experience for what it is: unique. And unique it has been.

By the time I was allowed across the border, summer was already at its peak up here in Opasquia.

In order to abide by the current travel and quarantine restrictions in Canada, I had to drive directly from the border crossing south of Winnipeg to the maintenance facility that works on our airplane. Don't pass go, don't collect two hundred dollars, no liquor store, no Mcdonalds either. Gary and Jenn with Riverside Maintenance were kind enough to arrange a "contactless" delivery and had XZK already in the water and fueled up, all I had to do was load my stuff up and we were off.

Using what they could find, the MNR cobbled together a
shelter for their sprinkler pumps. Sunset still good. 

After two plus hours of flying I had Big Hook in my sights and touched down in the west arm of Central. It's a conservative landing, but I wanted to give myself plenty of room in case my float flying skills turned out to be rusty.

Tom with Sandy Lake Seaplane had stopped into Central once to check on camp and informed me of some bear damage. I was also aware of a fire that had started a few days earlier between the south side of Central and South Lake. I certainly wasn't expecting the rattle and hum of forest fire fighting sprinklers when I shut down the engine, however.

Unbeknownst to me, the Ministry of Natural Resources had spent the day setting up a sprinkler system as a precaution in case the fire turned north. In order to test the system and give everything a good soaking they left the pumps running. It was kind of like the 18th green at midnight gag I fell for years back - getting soaked as I stepped off the plane.

On the water at Central

I am extremely grateful for their hard work, however, and fortunately several rain storms have since put out the fire.

Then onto the waiting. Staff was to join me soon, but I needed to finish off the conditions of my quarantine. So, I went about many of the opening activities around camp - at least the ones I could manage on my own: turning on the water, getting the power online, internet and office up, etc... According to my phone I walked 8 miles up and down the board walk here one of those days. It's a bizarre experience to be the only human in a wilderness the size of many small countries. Fortunately Gunner kept me company, however.

Maria and Pat (who hail from Saskatoon, SK and Markdale, ON respectively) were able to join me before too long and are settling in nicely. Since their arrival, we've been able to get to Cocos, Burnt, and South Lakes, with a fly-over at West.

One of the biggest tasks so far has been knocking down the grass which is waste high in places. It's taking a beating on the equipment and we are now on hold till we can get new parts from Red Lake.

We are also going to have a good project with the dock at Burnt. A combination of high water and shifting ice picked up the floating dock and deposited it on top of the crib / pier.

The dock at Burnt had tough winter

The cabins otherwise seemed to have wintered well which will allow us to turn towards some improvements as soon as I can start hauling freight out of Sandy.

We have only been out fishing one evening so far, so the report is minimal. We spent an hour or two close to main camp and caught dinner plus a few more. The water is extremely high and the mayfly hatch extremely late - still many coming off at Cocos yesterday. For those who are West Lake aficionados, the rock right in front of camp appears to be completely under water and there is no shore left at Burnt either.

That's it for now. We'll be working away up here for awhile now. Like I said, we are really missing all of you!

We'll try to make the best of this, however, and I'll update again in another few weeks. Hopefully we'll make it out on the water a few times more between now and then. Wishing you all could join us.

Thanks for thinking Big Hook,
Ryan

Maiden Voyage