Whitelaw Trip - Ontario

Recently I had the opportunity to return to Whitelaw lake in Ontario Canada. That is about 70 miles NE of Red Lake, Ontario. The group this time was made up of Jon Holets, Jonathan Holets, Dale Mell, Todd Mell, Pat Cleary, and myself. We do this trip through loonhaunt outfitters.

We drove up to Duluth on Monday 6/29. Tuesday morning we drove up to Red Lake, picked up bait, ate dinner, and crashed at the hotel. Wednesday morning we flew into Whitelaw on an Otter owned by Greenway Air.

We fished, ate, and slept for 4 days. The weather was great. There was a forest fire near by so we got to see lots of helicopters which was interesting. The menu was mostly fish but we did bring in some duck, caribou, and venison. We had fish in panko bread crumbs, Louisiana batter, Shorelunch, and red onion grilled. We had fish in vegetable oil and bacon grease. We had fish with breakfasts, as snacks, as dinners. Basically we had lots of fish!

No large northerns to speak of but the pig of the trip was a walleye caught by Jonathan Holets. This was a monster at 31 1/2 inches with an estimated weight of 15lbs. I've never seen a walleye even close to that one. When I first saw it I thought it must be a sucker or a carp! The outfitter said this was a 1 in 10 year fish. My highlight was reeling in a walleye and having a large northern grab my walleye and snap my line off right next to the boat. All told we estimate that we caught 500-600 walleyes.

We flew out on Sunday afternoon and drove all the way home getting in pretty late. It was a great trip and as always it seemed like a good time was had by all.

Group photo - Dale Jon, Todd, Jonathan, Pat, and me


Another group photo


Displaying dinner - Todd, Dale, and me


Jonathan and the pig of the trip


Captain Pat


The first day, we swear we saw sleet


The group loading up the Otter on the way in

Grandma's Marathon

Heather completed her first marathon this year up in Duluth. Originally she signed up for the half marathon but because so many people are interested in running the half they run a lottery to see who gets in. Unfortunately she wasn't selected so she said "what the heck, I'll run the full. She followed the training program religiously including several 20 mile runs with little to no difficulty.

Several of us went down to Bonnie and Jerry's to watch, including Dale, Carol, Anne, Zach, my mom, Todd, Peg, Doug, Megan, and Dave. Shannon and a friend ran the half and my buddy, Pat Cleary, ran the half so we watched them run by. At that point Todd and Shannon's family headed down to watch Shannon finish the race, she finished really strong and was very pleased with her time. The rest of us stayed to watch Heather come through in the full. She looked great and seemed really excited to see us so I think that helped motivate her further. After she went by, Anne and Zach, my mom, and I headed downtown to see Heather cross Lake Ave. We then met up with Pat who had already cleaned up from the half. Even though it was a hot, humid day Heather did great and came in with a decent time that was right around her goal. I know she felt great as this was a major accomplishment. We are very proud of her.

Here are some pictures.

Shannon and friend Pam


Heather just short of 26 miles


Heather, Mom, and me


Pat, Heather, and me


Peg, Dave, Megan, Todd, Shannon, and Doug


Heather seeing us for the first time at mile 19.4


Runners crossing Lake Ave.

Basement Update

Here are some new basement photos. This past weekend Todd and I sheetrocked the ceiling. Next is insulating the walls and doing that sheetrock.