Tooth Lake Fly Fishing Trip

I had almost forgotten how much fun fly fishing can be. Earlier this year, I went up to Selkirk with my Dad to try to get a catfish or well... anything. Dad got a freshwater drum, I got skunked. Still had good company though, and we had a couple of "Canada's best hotdog" at Half Moon in Lockport. So all things considered, it was still a good night.

Fast forward to the Friday before fathers day. Dad came at 6:00 am to pick me up and head out to Black Lake and Tooth Lake for a couple days of fishing. The weather wasn't exactly ideal (rainy and windy), but it did look more promising for later in the day, and for Saturday. After a stop in Beausejour for an ample breakfast, we were on our way to Nopiming Park.

After setting up the tent at Black Lake Campground, we headed off to check out Tooth, there was still a fair bit of wind, and some rain, but we decided to head into the lake anyway. It's a bit of a hike unless you have a big 4x4 truck (Dad's camry couldn't quite make it). So we brought in the canoe, engine, gear and food. It was about 10:00 am ish (I think) by the time we got onto the water.

The ammo for the day was poppers. Poppers are floating flys that make a splunk sound when given a little tug. Casting them right up to the shore is the goal most of the time, but landing just above some sort of underwater protection (large boulders/logs) often resulted in some sort of strike. Because we were flyfishing, we had to keep out of the wind as much as we could (makes casting much more complicated). We kept to certain shores, and fairly close to launch bay.

Video from day 2:

Lunch spot for day 1: right behind me is where I caught 3 bass in 4 casts (about 2 minutes), while lunch was cooking.

Bass thumb. A sign of a good day of fishing.

Popper suspended above the water on our way to the next hot spot.

End of day 1 and the weather was clearing up nicely. Very calm water (which made for some nice fishing after a day of rain, mist, drizzle and wind. Also, as we were pulling off the water I had my very first experience with a park ranger. They were there checking licences, and making sure people weren't staying on the lake overnight. Nice guys, I think I had a couple classes at the UofM with one of them.

Nice master angler Smallmouth Bass:

and another:

There were about 6 or 7 Master Angler bass (18" or longer) caught over the weekend. Along with many many others. Most common size was in the 15-16" range.

Right arms tired, and giving the fish a break, we decided to call it a day and cruise back to the launch spot after a great couple of days. Time to go see the family.

Not only did my Dad take care of pretty much the whole trip, but after getting back to my house, he stayed for a couple hours to help take down a large tree branch that had been damaged in a recent storm.

Best dad I've ever had.

Oh, and the mosquitoes in my front yard were worse than those in the middle of the bush. C'mon city of Winnipeg, lets get that malathion going!

Recent Cycling

First MTB race of the year at birds hill park.

Finished middle of the pack.

It hurt my legs.

I need to spend some time on the MTB bike.

A monkey does ride the bike, but not this one.

Apparently sippy cups fit pretty well into water bottle holders.

Gratuitous artsy shot.

Benefits of having some 'extra time'

Well well, I've rejoined the ranks of the unemployed thanks to ~1/2 of the workforce at work getting laid off (just over 350 people). Upside, is that I've been able to get some really nice rides in lately.

The weather has been terrific (no need for extra layers or arm warmers). Saturday I went with some guys from the shop out to Darlingford to do some hill repeats (hill repeats are when you ride up and down the same hills to get a good workout in a short amount of time). It was good and hard. We passed this sign on the way to the valley we would be going into, then out of, then into, then out of, then into, then out of... how many is that? Either way, did 6 climbs that day over 65km

Sebastian(left) and Marion (coach):

Dr. T with a good suffer face going on:

Panoramic shot stitched together with Photoshop:

and last but not least.

Sebastian eating a banana:

what a great picture.

Then Monday, I hit Birds hill park for a few laps. Tuesday I rode up past Selkirk for another 80km. I got a cramp on the way back, and was having troubles holding on, gotta drink more fluids.

Sick Day

Well, I'm not sick.

But Abby is today, so we stayed home from church.

Abby was watching some TV, so I decided to tie a Fly. After I had finished she came in and wanted to "make a bug too". So we made another one together.

Abby's first Fly. A "Woolly Bugger" she picked the colors and helped cut some of the excess feathers and tail with the 'Abby-sized scissors'. We'll see later this year if it will catch something.

St. Adolphe... almost.

We've been having a little warmer than usual spring here in Manitoba, so the roads are clearing up quicker than normal. Nearly all the snow is gone. Yesterday was a nice, sunny +8 degrees Celsius out, so I took advantage of that and went for a ride south to go see how the roads were out to St. Adolphe. This is a very popular route, and one that I often head out on, it's a nice 30k ride if you leave from the perimeter highway, but can be stretched to 50k if I leave from home and add a little loop just past the town of St. Adolphe.

One reason why I wanted to head out that way was it follows the Red River, which is very high this time of year (not as high as last year when the roads were flooded out). As I came up to the turn to go over the river, I saw a barricade. So naturally I went through it and rode the very loose, and very rough gravel road up to the bridge.

I had to get off and walk a couple sections, so I took a couple more photo ops.

You can start to see the water level and ice on the river.

The geese are coming in already, and there was a herd of deer out in the field too.

And this is why this post it titled 'St. Adolphe... almost"

Last year the bridge was found to be unsafe to drive on as one of the support pillars had shifted.

I remember riding over it a couple days before it was discovered and thought the gaps in the expansion joints looked different than usual. I did forget about it by the time I got back home though. Hopefully the bridge is fixed soon as the residents have to drive a long ways out of their way to get over the river now.

Riding with Abby

It was quite a nice day out, so naturally I wanted to get outside for a bit (even though I'm a little under the weather lately). As I pulled up to the house Abby, Natalie and their mom had been out drawing on the sidewalk (and tree stump) with some chalk. I had mentioned earlier in the day I had hoped to go for a bit of a bike ride when I got home. Turns out Abby wanted to go too. So I got the trailer all set up, got our helmets out, and went for a ride. Abby had a little snack (some gummy bears) to keep her occupied during the ride (~1/2 and hour or so... I think).

She must have had a long day, because when I pulled into the driveway, and opened the cover on the trailer, this was what I found.

It was a nice relaxing ride through a couple of neighborhoods. Maybe next time we'll take Jess and Natalie too.

Roller Race

Just a quick update. Went to the Belgium Club here in Winnipeg for a 2-up roller race last night. (Click here for short Demo video).

2 bikes are connected to the dial in the middle that measures how 'far' they've gone. It was a 500m timed race, so full on sprint from the start. My time was 23.96 seconds. Fastest time (that I know of) was 22.75 seconds (Nicely done Jeremy). I'll find out today how it all ended.

Had some fun. was good to see the bunch from the shop. I put up a respectable time, but didn't feel so hot afterwards so I withdrew.

Sponsored by Woodcock Cycleworks. Thanks!