Wednesday, May 31, 2006

New Experiences

The other day we went with Eva's parents, Gary and Nancy Kurz, plus Kathy Scully, a neighbor who came with them, down to Ham Lake for a day of fishing. Ham is a great lake for spring walleye fishing. None of our visitors had ever been there so we could also show them a new part of the Trail. It was a perfect day with lots of sunshine and a light breeze.

When you visit the Gunflint (or any other place for that matter), it is always fun to have new experiences. On this trip Nancy had three small new experiences.

On previous trips here, Nancy has caught bass, northern, and lake trout. But she has never caught a walleye. We were all encouraging her to catch one because walleye was to be the main entre for lunch. Nancy caught her first walleye that morning. It wasn't a huge one but it was a walleye. Gary got a northern to supplement the fish for our shore lunch.

Nancy's second first was not quite as much fun. She got her first tick in the woods. It was crawling up her neck when she found it. We don't get a lot of ticks up here and they are generally the larger ones that don't carry Lyme Disease but none of us really likes to find them crawling around.

Her final first was a first for all of us. Just before returning to the Cross River landing, we all saw a mother Golden Eye duck with a flock of about 10 brand new ducklings. Even Bruce who has lived here all his life could not remember when he had seen a flock of them. They must have been really young because they stayed in a tight little group right behind Mama. It was fun to see them.

We had a wonderful day on Ham Lake. Nancy's new experiences just added the icing to the cake.

No comments: