Canadian Cankles

This last week we've been on our annual pilgrimage to Northern Ontario's 'Island 10 Fishing Retreat'. It's an amazing place that I've been blessed to visit for 15 years. Many of my good friends, including my brother Mike and daughter Abby, twice, have made this trip with me. Regardless, whether the fishing is slow, good or great, it's a place to recharge from our fast paced lives. I've told countless others about it, but it's one of those places you really have to visit to understand. In my estimation, there's no place like it on earth, and sharing it with those you love makes it all the better. One, if not the only downside to this trip, is the fact that there's no chance of getting any real exercise. It also doesn't help that for every breakfast and dinner, they feed you like royalty. Not that you have to eat like royalty, but I believe they look upon it as being rude and unappreciative if you don't eat what they prepare. We're sticking to that story.  As I've gotten older, I also experience on this trip something we refer to as 'cankles'. My first memory of cankles are of my grandmother and mother talking about them. They would complain of their ankles swelling to the size of their knees, commonly caused by sitting around too much. (long car rides, couch potatoes and spending several days on a boat doing nothing but fishing) There really is no cure for cankles, with the exception of some daily activity. I can remember being quite young and asking my grandmother what's wrong with her legs? You would think that with all the grandchildren she had to keep up with, she would have no time for cankles. My mother, same thing. So I'm guessing this must be hereditary. But after this many trips, I'm still willing to suffer through a bad case of cankles for a week or so in order to spend time at one of my favorite places in the whole world.  I look forward to this week every year, like a little child does for Christmas, only worse. We start talking about it at the cigar shop in January, when the snow is still flying. Then as we get closer to the month of July, we start doing a countdown. The week leading up to the trip, I know we are a bit unbearable to our wives and close friends, but they usually humor us. Then after we return, it's a month or so of 'Island' stories and shenanigans, making memories that will last a lifetime.  This trip, compared to the other years, the fishing was about average or a little below. Taking into account the extreme dry weather and high water temps (the fish were not in their normal hideouts) and we brought along a greenhorn that hadn't been fishing since he was a young kid. The odds were stacked against us, but we caught enough fish for enjoying 2 shore lunches, donated some to the weekly Island fish fry and everyone brought some home. We also returned a lot of fish back to the lake so they could continue to grow, breed and keep Lady Evelyn Lake the great fishery it's been for many years.  Ed got 'big fish' honors with boating a 27.75" walleye and Eric got schooled by a big fish. After baiting and casting out, he put his brand new pole down to remove his rain gear and a big fish removed his pole from the boat. No joy on retrieving it either. Ed and I were going to try and snag it, but then Ed got a fish on and we had take care of business first. I did have a 'first' on my 15th year of visiting Island 10. We were trolling out of an area called 'Betty's Hole' and the water depth dropped to over 60 feet. Before we entered the 'S' narrows, I got a fish on and it was a fighter. After a short battle, I had boated a 20" whitefish, my first one on the lake. It was donated to the Island fish fry where the owners put on a feast and cook all the different species in the lake. They do this to show everyone that the cold, clean water that is in the lake makes all the fish taste good, even the bottom feeders.  There were copious amounts of laughter on the deck at Cabin #4, lots of great sunsets, some incredible star gazing and another great quote coined by Ed, "If you're not drinking with us, you're drinking against us." It might have been inspired by some 12 year old Elijah Craig bourbon. Remembering that as guys, we lean towards bathroom humor at times and we couldn't help noticing the number of trips the 'honey boat' was taking to empty the pumped out waste from all the cabins. They were trying to blame me for all those trips!  (even though i didn't spend near as much time in the crapper as two of our other room mates)  The guys wanted to paint flames on it, add a couple of rod holders and make it my fishing boat. As funny as that would look, I'd probably still catch more fish. We did have a little five day fishing derby for the week after a day of practice for the rookie. After dominating the first three days, I slacked off and did some casting and cove fishing to let the other guys catch up. By the end of the 5th day, we were all pretty close to representing in all four categories; first keeper of the day, biggest walleye of the day, biggest smallmouth bass of the day and biggest pike of the day. Our last day on the lake was Friday and we didn't Derby fish, but if we had, my catches would have taken all 4 categories. That's just how I roll.  All in all, it was a pretty good trip and some good memories were made, but Ive been home one night and I'm already thinking about next year.  Next summer we're adding a whole new twist to our trip and Barb will be coming with me for her first time, along with our good friends, Dan and Carrie Boysel.  Last fall, Dan had a serious bout with cancer. I visited him at home while he was recovering from one of his surgeries. He's talked about coming up for several years with me and our friend Don Blackburn. During our visit we decided that two summers from then, that he and Carrie and Barb and I would make the journey to 'Island 10' for our anniversaries. We will be celebrating our 30th anniversaries. We figured anyone that has put up with Dan or I for that long deserves a pretty special trip. (I'm sure a cruise or week on the beach somewhere will be our next trip) But until then, I'll keep reminding the girls what a great time they will have and the memories we will make, cankles be damned!   That's the view from my stand!  "Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after." Henry David Thoreau