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Sawbill Lake Camping & Fishing Trip
Tony, Jim, Colin and Ian
See Colin's photos
June 17-19, 2005

Ian loading the canoe on our launch at the Sawbill Lake campground on Friday afternoon.
Colin loading up the fishing rods at the launch.
Colin in the bow of my canoe just after launching.
Ian and Jim getting rigged up.
Ian and Jim balancing the canoe at launch.
Ian and Jim passing a US Forestry Service float plane before it took off.
Colin, in between hard paddle sessions.
We paddled 4 miles to the very end of Sawbill Lake and all of the campsites were taken.
We paddled back, checking out the portage where we planned to fish on Saturday.
Ian and Jim near sunset after 3-1/2 hours of paddling in search of a campsite.
At the portage to Smoke Lake. It was a
100-rod portage to Smoke Lake.
Colin, Ian and Jim hiked the portage to see what it looked like for tomorrow. I stayed back and took photos.
Colin at sunset on Sawbill Lake.
We thought we would have to go all the wack to the Sawbill Campground when it was getting dark, but we found a campsite at the end of the south bay of Sawbill Lake. Very lucky!
Ian and Colin behind the fire that they started for our campsite.
Moonrise at around 10pm looking south.
Moonrise in combination with the remnants of sunset light at around 10pm looking south.
Jim firing up my Coleman Peak1 backpacker stove for a late dinner and coffee.
Mid-moonrise looking south over Sawbill Lake, no wind and nice light.
Colin entering a 60-second time-exposure for 10-seconds and turning on his headlamp.
Sunrise on Saturday morning from our campsite.
I was up early after a squirrel dashed over my sleeping bag. I slept outside (Mr. Snorer...)
Jim prepping rods and reels for our fishing trip to Smoke Lake.
Ian went with me in the rental canoe on the paddle to the Smoke Lake Portage.
A dragonfly on the portage dock on Smoke Lake. Jim noticed that they only land in the sunlight, and never in the shade.
Jim at the end of his second trip across the Smoke Lake Portage.
Ian at the end of his "trip" across the Smoke Lake Portage. He took a digger of a fall on the way over with his gear, but he was cool about it.
A loon off our bow on Smoke Lake in a cove outside of the wind.
Ian rigging up his fishing line, with a look of
complete concentration...
Colin being cool at the east end of Smoke Lake while we waited for Jim and Ian.
Yeah, we were working hard the entire time, with no relaxation at all...
Jim pulled in the first nice walleye!
Jim showing Colin how he fillets a walleye to get pure flesh without bones.
Shore lunch on Saturday on Burnt Lake with one medium and one small walleye.
Jim cranking away at lunch. He melted his Lexan™ fork, which couldn't handle the heat.
While we were all slacking off after lunch (I was napping), Colin reeled in the first northern pike!
Ian playing in a nice northern pike just after lunch. Nice fish dance! We ate this one later.
Back at base camp. We were pretty beat after the last two days of paddling. I figured we paddled nearly 14 miles in two days.
My Gransförs Bruk axe, which helped us split a fine 6-foot bolt of seasoned spruce for our fire after we all pitched in with a too-small Sven Saw to cut it into 20" split logs.
Jim filleting Ian's northern pike.
Colin helped advise, as Jim had never filleted a northern pike before, and Colin just watched his neighbor Scott do one recently.
Jim did a great job, but we ended up with two nice sections that still had the "Y" bones inside, so we missed one crucial step.
We brought along Ian's twin (Nai) that nobody in the family ever talks about. They both sat on the log together for 25 seconds before they self-combusted back into just one, and Ian was left with us again...we never found out what happened to Nai, but there was a small spot of grease where he was sitting...
The USFS float plane coming in for a landing on south Sawbill Lake, trying to avoid the canoe traffic. That's Jim and Ian right under the plane!
It looks like a DeHaviland Beaver with an extra fuel tank riding underneath.

Nice trip had by all! We will do this trip every year around the same time as long as we are all able to!

--Tony

 

 
Copyright © 2005 Tony Rogers