Wow.

It happens every year:  suddenly we are done.  The work changes.  We go from day-to-day and week-to-week to we’ll be back in six months.  I’m bagging laundry and doing cabin inventories, Steve is pulling and servicing boats, and we’re sealing floors and locking doors.  Just like that…it’s done for another year.

We have a few bodies still in Camp.  Mike and Scott came back with a perfectly beautiful stringer of eight walleyes today.  Bless them for sticking it out!  Since Saturday the weather has been AWFUL.  Monday marked the fifth day in 13 years that we would say was unfishable.  High winds, 4+” of rain and cold nastiness made for a bad day to be a Camp owner!  Betty Ann and George gave up and went home Tuesday:(  The others stayed and were rewarded with a decent day today.  The rest of the week looks promising as well.

I phoned sister Rebecca Sunday night, warning her that we thought I’d broken my foot or ankle. It wasn’t anything romantic or poetic–I’d done it shampooing the carpets in our house!  Gruper iced and Aleved me.  He picked up dinner (you’d have to live here to understand).  I elevated it and prayed a lot that night.  Monday morning brought lots of improvement, and each day has been better.  I am walking like a normal person (I could not bear any weight Sunday evening)!  I’d say I’m 90% or better as I type:)

Our guys were here last week:)  We enjoyed their company immensely and received the shot in the arm to get us through until we are home again.  Jerry takes great pictures.  Here are a few:

I had an eagle shot of my own right outside our window one morning:

and a frog in our window well:

and a cat in a hiding place:

Back to Jerry, though!  Check out this sunset:

I think this bass qualified him for a Conservation Award!  I added Mac’s bass, Bender’s walleye and Jeff’s walleye to our page…I think I was remiss regarding Jerry’s bass:

What a pig, Jerry!  Beautiful.

Jeff and Jeff shared their pics (thank you)!  They were here for only four days and figured it out!  Jeff released a beautiful 25″ walleye (see Conservation page).  Here he is with a northern:

The guys understood the importance of conservation fishing!  They kept perfect eaters and let LOTS o’ fish go!

That’s a great mixed bag, guys!

Holes in the sky:

Harvest moon:

The guys caught great sunsets:

They played with special effects as well:

Speaking of suns, check out this incredible pic of last week’s sun dog!  Frank did a great job:

Neal and Marji shared two weeks with us again this year (thank you)!  They seem to truly enjoy their time up here.  Marji caught a nice slot northern:

Obviously that’s not Marji.  She’s a bit like me when it comes to big fish with teeth:  let the guy hold it!  She was not afraid of this perch, however:

I would have been nervous about these white caps!

Even if the clouds had silver linings…

Marji always gets good moss pics:

If you don’t love this red moss, there’s something wrong with you!

Here are just some nice scenic pics:

I LOVE this water abstract!

Here’s a nice representation of our “Big 4”:

A splashing duck

and a happy Buck

One thing’s for certain, though:  they may have been fishing here but it’s not their jig caught in the tree!

Thanks, Nemar!  We hope to see you next fall…or sooner!

I entitled this pic from my camera “Beer Can Sunset.”

The only thing prettier on a Canadian fall day…

Gruper the grouse hunter;)  Until next time…

 

 

 

Special Guest Blogger

Greetings from Andrea first.  Gruper and I just returned from a lovely half-day of fishing!  We did very well, catching perfect 16-17″ fish at each of our stops.  We kept four (our limit) and released many!  I took the variety point with one perch; otherwise everything was walleye!

The fall fish have started (finally)!  Last week we had a 25.5″ and at least two 23.5″ fish released!  Good friends from home are here this week and I expect great things from them (as well as more fishing for me)!

Funny note:  last week we had 3 Bobs, 2 Neals (Neil), 2 Eddies (Ed), 2 Rons (Ronnie), and 2 Jeffs in Camp.  I like it when they make it easy for us!  Please read on and enjoy an entry from our special guest!

Guess who????  Yes, it’s me Hanna for the third year in a row!

I still hold honors as the only guest blogger Andrea has had–I think she likes me a lot!  I visited Tall Pines Camp again with Jim, Mary and Nick.  We had a good time (as always).  Mary was disappointed that the blueberries are all done–as is Andrea–but she found lots of mushrooms to photograph instead:

Sometimes while she wandered around looking for fungi I took a nap:

Jim and Nick caught some walleye:

Nice one, Nick;)  I suppose this was your perch too???

On the days Mary fishes, she tends to outdo the guys–even when they name her pole “Guppy Getter”:

Fishing makes me so tired I sometimes take a nap when we get back to the cabin:

Is it my imagination, or does it look like a fish is jumping out of the cloud on the right???

These dark clouds made me so scared I hid in Nick’s coat:

I don’t like storms one bit:(

No one shot a bear while we were at Tall Pines Camp, but I saw on Facebook (Tall Pines Camp, Ontario) that Buck shot one last week:

Wow…I’m not sure I want to be around when a bear comes in!  I’m not afraid of eagles, though:

or loony loons–even when their feathers are ruffled:

While Mary takes naturey photos, I sometimes stretch my legs by doing retrieves.  Andrea loves this picture:

Talk about exhausting…even Jim needs a nap after we play:

Mary found some great stuff in the bush this year besides fungi:

Doesn’t this moss look like a spider’s web???

 

beaver wood!

This stump looks hairy!

Is it my imagination or does this stump look like Wile E. Coyote??

We always visit some tried-and-true spots:

Mary always takes time to enjoy the beauty around us!

This is one of Andrea’s favorites:

Mary is a quilter and has a dry sense of humor:

Here’s a nice sunset:

This hole in the sky reminded Andrea of when the Red Hats were here last month:

which reminded her that she hadn’t posted their pictures yet!

All seven guys returned this year (Rich, #8, has apparently abandoned the group…):

The original three (because the 4th has gone AWOL):

Andrea was trying to scrunch down in this pic…like she’s so tall she would have blocked anyone…

The sky was great that evening:

with an incredible hole from those we love and miss:)

Andrea’s friend Dawn is here this week!  This one’s for her:

So, I was in noooo hurry to go home this year and even left my leash in our cabin.  I needed all the rest I could get at Camp because when we got home, we got this…

It’s name is Omar and I don’t know if I like it yet:(  Until next year, this is Hanna signing off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Catching Up

Greetings!  I’ve been able to go through some photos and put together a nice photo fest for us this week.  I’ve also got new blog fodder thanks to Mary and Brenda, and I know I’ll get some from Nemar this week as well.  All things considered, you’re stuck with me for at least a few more entries this season!

Last week brought a few more walleye:)  Many in the 20-22″ range were released (thanks!).  Here’s a pic from Robb:

Bob H. (one of the two in Camp for a couple of weeks) reported that walleye are deep and scattered.  He’s working at about 28-32′.

I added an incredible pic of Brenda with a 26″ walleye to our Conservation Awards Page.  That’s an inch or two shorter than last year’s release from her!  They come for the lake trout but seem to do OK on huge walleye in my opinion!

Brad and Devin were here a month or so ago.  They had a tough start but picked up speed as the week progressed!  Here are some nice fish pics from them:

This pic still cracks me up!  The bass on the right is nothing short of a freak!

These guys were also able to score a nice sunset progression:

Tom and Carrie were here several years ago.  They said they’d be back, and by golly they even brought kin!  Diane and Kurt joined them for a week of fishing and relaxation.  Here’s a good mixed bag:

They were able to enjoy a good shore lunch during their visit:

They caught one of the few moose pics for this season:

Here’s a great eagle’s nest.  We were unable to determine if that’s another adult or an eaglet in the nest…you be the judge:

Thanks, Guys!  We hope to see you again (and again, and again…)!

We (finally) received a pic of Mark’s 13.75″ perch.  It’s been added to the Conservation Awards Page (www.tallpinescamp.com).  I liked this “proof” picture though:

We received our drone photos!  The quality is incredible.  I preferred the aerial shots over the frontal ones.  I’ll probably use one of my own shots for a frontal view and this one from the drone for an overhead view of the entire camp:

Beautiful (if I do say so myself)!

I’ve had a couple of tomato harvests off my scrawny plant this year:

Rhubarb AND cherry tomatoes–a banner year for my crops!

There’s a lovely family of toads living in our window well this year.  It’s been a long time since I’ve had them in there.  I saw a mama and seven babies!  This baby crawled onto its mama when I took their picture:

It honestly doesn’t get much cuter than that!

Remember when an otter crawled into Skip’s fish basket to steal fish…and it drowned?  We finally got it back:

Freya liked it a little too much and I had to put it out of her reach.  I think it was the fur.

Speaking of Skip, his buddy Mike’s dad Dean sent us a cool photo from earlier this season.  We think it could be a Lac Wabaskang Monster:

Eek!

I attended glass class again this week!  I decided to make a trivet to match my Iowa back splash:

It will look good in my kitchen…trust me!

Tony and Jack returned last month and brought Matthew.  Tony usually sends me big fish pics.  This trip, however, he sent me wake photos:

and my favorite will be my closer this week:

See you next week!  I think we’ll have a guest blogger….

 

And Suddenly…September (& Troy’s turn)

It’s so hard to believe that September has arrived!  It seems like just yesterday we were arriving for our 13th season.  Wow…time really does fly when you live in six-month increments.

Gruper and I were able to get our for my belated birthday fishing last Monday.  It was a good day to see what we could find.  We ended up doing well on walleye but it took a while to find them.  When we hit 26.5’…BAM!  We did really well from 26.5-30′.  I caught first (it was dinky, but it was first); I’d say we were tied for most (8ish each); Gruper took variety due to this:

So, as he was reeling it in I’m all like, “It’s a perfect ceviche size!!!” and he’s like, cringing because he HATES putting them in the net, the boat, etc.  Anyway, it was 28″, 1/2″ too long to keep:(  RATS!  Not only does he get to live, but his presence scared off our walleye.  Drat.

Anyway, I digress.  Gruper also took the point for biggest, releasing this beautiful 21″ walleye:

You’d think the least he could do for my birthday is let me catch the biggest walleye!  I’m hoping we can sneak out this week again.  Cross your fingers for us.

Our guests had to work hard for their fish again last week.  Adam and Nick win the award for perseverance.  Those two guys fished HARD, and their cabin ended up taking home their walleye limits as well as a bunch o’ perch.  The guys were dismayed, though, because them come for the perch and had to work so hard for the walleye that they didn’t fill their limits.  Mark (our June perch master) might have to share, eh Adam?

I enjoyed a little away time with two lovely ladies.  We attended an acrylic class.  I decided great-nephew Jack needed something for his walls.  He’s a Seahawks fan so I tried to do their colors:

It was fun and relaxing.  Debbie and Anita rock:)

Our island friends were here, like, weeks ago.  We always enjoy our time with them though it goes too quickly.  They come here to relax, fish, and get away from it all.  They shared some great fishing pics this year.  Here’s Natalie with a sampler platter:

Katelyn does her share as well:

Nice photo bomb, Emma!  Speaking of whom, here’s Emma with some catches:

I wonder what Jennifer can do with these perfect eaters?

Perhaps stuff them…

Those girls don’t, like, totally unplug for the two weeks.  While at potluck they check in with the home front:

and spend some time with the Camp hostess:

We are always invited out (and sometimes even show up uninvited) for a quiet evening at the cabin.  Family dog Rudy DOES NOT like men.  Most men, that is:

He was even sporting Steve’s Best Bud apparel!  Hilarious friendship there!

So, Troy does a bit o’ fishing himself:

 

but mostly I think he and Jennifer just truly enjoy two weeks of awayness.  Here are their takes on some local scenery:

Here are some reflection-y shots:

Nice segue for terrific sunset shots.  This was that week of unlimited colors!

I’ll close with, hands down, my favorite shot that Troy sent.  It kind of messes with you!  Have a great week!