I’m excited. In fact, I’m on a boat to or from one of my favorite fishing spots in the wonderful waters of Kasba Lake Lodge. But I’m not excited. And I’m not in a boat. And I’m not going anywhere on Lake Kasba.
Very, very sad.
COVID-19. I hate this.
Back northwest in my favorite position on earth.
Kasba Lake is probably about 800 miles north of Winnipeg, Manitoba. The lake is located in the Northwest Territories and the territory of Nunavut and is located north of all corners of Canada, the intersection of the Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan, Nunavut and Manitoba. (Nunavut is Canada’s northernmost and least populated territory and is home to some 32,000 Inuit Aboriginal Indians).
The lake itself is about 20 miles wide and 40 miles long with many rivers flowing into the lake, but a river, the mighty Kazan, flows.
Lake Kasba is located on the plains that are necessarily lowlands without mountains. However, the land was long cut by glaciers that excavated the land to shape the lake, leaving many stones such as eskers and intermediate islands.
Winter is bloody and hard. Summer is short and open water ice fishing is a short season of about two months.
They come with wolves, grizzly and grizzly bears, black bears, weasels, beavers and other furry animals, moose, caribou, ptarmigans, arctic terns, somormujos, eagles, parasitic jaegers, mosquitoes and black flies.
It is also the position of absolute silence. My position. When the boat’s engine is off, it’s like going into a mausoleum and closing the door. You hear nothing, no boat, no engine, no background noise, no beep from the mobile phone, not even the splash of the water as opposed to the shore on a quiet day. You don’t hear anything yet your own breathing.
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Of course, once you’re two minutes from camp, everything looks the same. It takes years of delight in the lake to sharpen its presence of mind, to decide your way through the multitude of islands, coves, bays, rocky spots, underwater openers and fast currents at the mouths of the rivers.
This can be fatal for a beginner without an experienced guide. The water temperature in the giant water can be between 30 degrees Fahrenheit and the middle of the season in the 1940s before cooling again. Missing or being ejected from the ship is not an option. Thunderstorms with damaging upper winds are not unusual, as climate adjustments on flat ground.
The result is one of the world’s fisheries. Lake trout weighs more than five pounds, the giant pike is between 40 and 150 inches long and weighs between 30 and 3 five pounds. and the shadow of the Arctic may exceed five pounds, which is the most giant in the world. And for expert fly fishermen, white fish is huge!
My favorite story is that of my most productive friend and wife, Maxine. She loves Kasba as much as I do … that two weeks of wild fishing are your limit. I don’t have a time limit and I fish regularly throughout the month of July.
Anyway, a few years ago, as we packed north, I had pleaded with Max to stop him with makeup, scented deodorant, hairdressing, hand lotion or anything else that smelled. For once, he listened. The concept is that black flies for the maximum component will leave you if they are not attracted to scented products.
For two weeks, until the last day of fishing, almost all the time Max was at the camp, fishing on the lake or on the shore over lunch, she was rarely bitten. Then. Then she became elegant to me. I mean, she hadn’t been bitten all this time. Then why doesn’t it get fancy? After all, it was the last night at the camp.
I sat in the dressing room waiting for her and I didn’t know she was doing the woman thing.
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Then, as it’s a beautiful afternoon, Max walks down the gravel track. It extends along the mountain more than a mile from the camp.
After a while, I went to the cabin with her.
Luckily, Max was fine until he reached the end of the track. That’s when a swarm of black flies captured the moment. Now, black flies are the length of small mosquitoes, but when they congregate, they swarm through thousands, perhaps through tens of thousands. The swarm can be 10 feet tall, so wide and thick that it is difficult to see.
Those black flies were hungry. They weren’t in the mood to feel sorry for him. They covered her up and ran as fast as she could to our cabin. As she approached, I heard her scream. I opened the door and she broke into the cockpit. I grabbed her and literally put her in the shower. I opened the water. He wiped as many black flies from his face as possible. And then he started to help him rip his clothes. The flies took a while to loosen and wash in the shower drain. Then I sprayed the insect killer’s piece and started the black flies out of his hair. Many of them had their teeth glued to their scalps.
Max looked like minced meat. Blood flowing everywhere. Wherever the black flies bite, they leave a small bleeding wound. Think of black flies as teeth with wings. Now think of lots of stings from thousands of insects.
By the time we were given home, Max had been in a dignified and lost fight… Seriously.
Since then, I’ve looked at your suitcase for our return trips. And I can make sure it doesn’t contain anything that smells.
This year, none of us had to pack. Due to COVID-19. What we have are memories.
Next year it can’t be here soon enough.
Bill Gindlesperger is head administrator of the University of Pennsylvania, Shippensburg and founder of eLynxx Solutions, which provides customer printing software for direct mail acquisition and control, marketing, promotion and printing. He is a board member, crusader advisor, publications commentator and radio. Can be attached to [email protected].