Barking Space

Continued from here…


Saturday Day Fever

Given our level of inebriation the night before, it’s not a surprise that we didn’t get up at the crack of dawn. The sky was overcast, and didn’t really inspire anyone (including the birds) to get up early. We ended up cooking a huge breakfast comprised of eggs, bacon, English muffins, hash browns and stuffed Brook Trout.

After our hearty breakfast we clipped over to the rapids again. This time we passed by some guys who looked like they were looking to fish. We went back to our spot, and, like the day before, while Brad was getting the worm on his hook, I reeled in another Brook Trout.

Shortly after, Brad snagged a Lake Trout. Unfortunately, it was within the slot limit, so he had to throw it back. It was entertaining watching him measure it several times just to make sure.

The guys who we passed noticed our luck, and immediately started moving in, fly fishing from the shore opposite our position. It kind of sucked, as this meant more competition for us. However, they caught nothing, as we probably spooked the fish given that the boat moved around a bit (mostly due to us snagging our lures several times and moving to boat to different positions to offer us different angles to pull them free).

After we figured it was pointless to continue at that location, we headed over to another lake.

This particular lake is fed from the same lake we had just fished on, but there is a dam dividing the two.

We left the boat above the dam, and proceeded on foot to fish below it.

Across the river were two guys who were serious fishermen (It’s a shame that there is no font manipulation for sarcasm). They had matching gear, and a big boxes of tackle, and were changing lures almost every cast. Brad pulled in a Large Mouthed Bass, but tossed it back due to the fact that it was out of season (unlike the jackasses on the other shore, who kept theirs).

A satisfying moment was when I reeled in a nice big Lake Trout, right in front of the pros. Brad gave me a pat on the back and seemed to relish out-fishing the guys across the way. I admit at first I didn’t feel the same. but when I realized that those guys didn’t care about the rules, I felt much better.

A Quick Break For Lunch

We headed back to the cottage for a bit to have some lunch, and then decided to hike over to another lake. It was about two or three kilometres away, so it was a decent hike. Along the way we came across some salamanders, and a ton of moose scat. There was literally a pile every ten feet for quite a distance!

We reached this other lake and tried several locations from the shore, attempting to land some Splake. No matter where we fished, we didn’t really get more than a nibble so we headed back.

On the way back, we came upon a Trillium. I’ve never seen a red one before.

I was thinking of taking a photo of it, but the flower was bent. It was drooped over, and so would have made a poor picture of the flower itself. The following dialogue ensued…

Brad: You should smell it.
Jorge: Why? [Crouching down next to it.]
Brad: You just should.
Jorge: What does it smell like?
Brad: Like no other flower.
Jorge: Yeah right. [Stands back up.]
Brad: Seriously.
Jorge: I don’t trust you. Let’s just keep moving.
Brad: [Has that look on his face when he is up to mischief.] You sure?
Jorge: Yeah. Let’s go. [Waits behind as Brad walks away. Crouches down and sticks his finger into the flower and then sniffs. Doesn’t smell anything other than fish and dirt]
Brad: [Turns around.]
Jorge: It doesn’t smell like anything.
Brad: You have to stick your nose in there.
Jorge: [Inspects for bugs and such, sticks nose in and sniffs.] UGH!
Brad: [Laughing.] Told you it didn’t smell like any other flower. Does it smell like rotting meat?
Jorge: Ugh. [Stands up.] Not really. Kinda. Well, like garbage.
Brad: Most flowers use a sweet scent to attract insects like bees for pollination. These flowers have a scent that attracts flies to spread their pollen.

While Brad doesn’t make you feel bad about knowing things, he certainly knows how to use what he knows to get a good laugh. That rat bastard….

On the way back, we fished off a bridge and didn’t catch anything, so we called the end to another good day of fishing.

That evening we had more fish for dinner and some rum punch.

Another good night.

The Rest of the Weekend

Sunday morning was beautiful. I took the opportunity to take some sunrise photos, and hopefully they turn out. It was my first time using slide film. I was up at 5:15, whereas Brad elected to sleep for a while longer.

We fished, caught another Brook Trout, and then Brad went to fish at another spot while I tried the end of the rapids. I also almost lost Brad’s fishing rod. He had finished up before me, and left the rod behind me on the rocks so he could go exploring. I went to cast off at one point, and my hook got caught in one of the small eyelets of his fishing rod. I flicked my wrist to cast out my line, and realized it was much heavier than it was when I wound up. I saw Brad’s fishing rod go flying out, and rather than stop my cast, I followed through by swinging it back to me. Luckily the rod stayed on my line, and ended up behind me once more.

I finally decided to call it quits, and went hiking up the rapids. Brad said there was good scenery and I should check it out. I wanted to take a photo of myself with the rapids behind me. I had a scare when I dropped my 75-300mm lens (it fell out of my pocket as I was trying to set up the camera). I figured I would check it for damage later (as I had two lenses), and set it on the rock with my camera, started the timer and carefully walked out along a flat rock that skirted the rapids. I ended up slipping on the algae, and almost taking a plunge into the drink. I scrambled back up to try to stop the camera, but ended up taking a picture of my crotch.

I ended up going back to the point where I started, and we then headed back to clean up the cottage.

When we finished, we went for some wings and beer, and scooted back to Brad’s house to watch Bubba Ho-Tep to pass the time before we went to the theatre to see The Hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy (which is an awesome movie).

Brad pearl of knowledge for the day: A moose can take a dump up to even twelve times a day!

Jorge nasty bastard trick of the day: After I got back to the point from my photo misadventure, I told Brad I had dropped my lens. I pulled it back out of my pocket and saw the lens cap was jammed into the front of the lens. My heart stopped for a moment, as I had to forcefully pry the cap off. Brad looked worried. I told him the lens was probably worth about $450. As I pried it off, I saw that the skylight filter was shattered, but the lens underneath was ok. I showed Brad the lens without taking the filter off, and I swore silently. He looked like he felt bad. I eventually let on that the lens was ok (there is a minute scratch, but it shouldn’t affect anything) and all was well.

All in all, a great time. When I got back to Toronto, I decided to hike home from the subway station. As I was about to leave the station, a scruffy-looking backpacker looked at me and gave me a wide smile. He said something that made me smile, too.

” Brother, with that backpack you look beautiful, but holding that paddle you look gorgeous. “

And who says Toronto isn’t friendly?

Filed under: Anecdotes, Friends, Spaces Archive |