I scanned these photos from my mom’s September 1973 photo album. My brother Jim said dad’s parents enjoyed fishing in Canada at Lake Nagagamasis which is 13 hours from Buffalo, and Pigeon Lake about 4 hours from Buffalo. We have several photos of Grandpa Ira and Grandma Rhoda with huge muskies that appear to be nearly as tall as my petite grandparents. Nagagamasis was too far for dad to take us and probably on a trip to Pigeon Lake, he explored a little closer and found Willow Bay Cottages on Rice Lake. For a few years around 1973 we had a family fishing week, then later mom and I stayed back and Jim and Dad went together or sometimes with friends.
The fish Dad caught most often on Rice Lake were Yellow Pike, know to the Canadians as Pickerel, but the official name is Walleye. We also used to catch jumbo Perch and Muskie. Now we mostly catch Bass and sunfish, with the occasional Walleye and large Perch.
Five years ago, while we were visiting Buffalo and talking about taking a family vacation, Jim and I decided to try Rice Lake. Jim and his wife Ania, love to fish and Roy was really interested, so Jim made us reservations for the next year. This summer was our 4th summer on Rice Lake and we plan to continue going as long as the interest continues.
The Peace Bridge into Canada is about 10 minutes from my Mom’s house and crosses the Niagara River. From there we travel about 3.5 hours through Toronto and then east some more to the town of Harwood on Rice Lake.
We had a friend, Nicholas, there that we’ve been waiting to see since last year. Each year the 7 cottages and 7 apartments are rented by the same people for the same week in August, so it was nice to see everyone again.
I barely got out of the car and the kids were out on the dock fishing. They stacked rocks to make an aquarium to keep their catch in.
Roy caught a smallish bass, but he loves it.
This year Jim and Ania’s son, Patryk, joined us for the first part of the week. He was the lucky guy to get the first and biggest bass of the trip.
While it looks like this week is all about fishing, it’s also about making memories. We make up new words like “worky” which is how you refer to a worm that has been on the hook since yesterday, is all dried up and looks a little like worm jerky. We also played Apples To Apples which is great fun with 3 little kids, one of which needs the definitions read to her and the other two don’t know enough about the world to fully understand all the cards. We also have English as a second language in our group so it’s a vocabulary lesson and lots of fun for all.
There is also craziness in the fish cleaning house after a long day on the boat.
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Oh, yes, back to the fishing. Roy and I caught the first two Walleye that we’re keepers.
The Walleye is a predator, he’s got large eyes for his night time activities and big teeth. Better to eat you my dear. On this day we went out in the late afternoon/evening, the it was windy and the lake was choppy. Our anchor wouldn’t hold so every few minutes we raised the anchor that was only slowing us down and moved away from shore. Jim thinks these conditions are what stirred up the Walleye, later I caught one too.
Last year Roy met Nicholas while fishing on the dock. This year Roy, Nicholas and Grandpa Phil spent their days on the boat a few yards from the dock pulling dozens and dozens of sunfish out of the water. One day, I was lucky enough to be watching when Nicholas pulled in this huge bass. The poor kid was shaking for about a half hour at the thought of his prize.
We also had beach days. Cobourg is a beautiful town a half hour away on Lake Ontario. We like to make a trip to the thrift stores, beach, playground, and of course Walmart.
Back to the fish. Bass and Walleye were our trophy fish. Here is my big one. A few years ago, I caught one of these and lost it because I didn’t know I was supposed to haul it in with the net. I learned from my mistake and this guy made it to the dinner table.
Patryk gets the grand prize for the single biggest fish, but Ania gets the prize for the most big fish.
After I caught the first bass of the day, Ania caught the bigger bass and then the second bass.
Another day she caught more bass and then two of these jumbo perch. Normally we catch three or four inch skinny perch.
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On this day, the perch were 11 inches.
With all this catching, comes eating. Jim and Ania are masters in the kitchen. I tried my best to bring this and that to the table. Mostly, I just bring my appetite.
We had fish prepared in several ways, fish cakes, baked fish, fried fish, vinegar marinated fish, fish tacos, fish chowder, and buttered fish. The side dishes are too numerous to mention. We eat most of the fish we catch, saving only the last few day’s worth for our fish fry with mom.
The three cottages next to us have a family reunion going on. The kids are all grown up and it’s great to hear from young adults in college and recent graduates. Their family always shares their good time with the younger kids at camp. After explaining the rules and hand signals, the kids give the thumbs up and off they go.
With all this water, there has to be more ways to cool off. Tubing sparked our swimming interest. The water was warm and pleasant on a hot day.
Off the south east end of Spook Island is a sand bar that extends off about 100 feet. The kids pulled the boat from the edge to of the sand bar, right up to the island and dropped the anchor in about 18 inches of water. They had a blast playing on the sandy banks and in the shallow water with a sandy bottom.
Rice Lake has plenty of nature too. Tree squirrels everywhere, this guy is grey, but they are also black.
The kids call this mink, Fluffy. He would hang out on the dock and eat Goby fish which the kids caught. This fish is native to the Black Sea and Caspian Sea, but in the 1990s it was mistakenly introduced to the great lakes and is now considered invasive.
Our little bay also has Lily Pads with these beautiful grapefruit sized flowers.
Then there is the kitty. The story is something like, a guest brought him here a dozen or so years ago and left him. He hung out all summer and then the owners of Willow Bay Cottages adopted him. He wanders freely through the camp, making friends along the way, and has nice restful snoozes on the patio chairs.
But lets not forget what brought us here. The fishing!
Only 51 week more until we go to Rice Lake