Next On The Agenda: "Clear Lake"!

With Malaher Lake and Onepine Lake shut down for the winter, next on our schedule was Clear Lake! Clear Lake is a tremendous walleye lake, with the largest one caught this year that I know of measuring 30"! Not bad for a 4-man camp! Besides cleaning the cabin, cutting wood, and cleaning boats, one of the important aspects of closing up a camp is heading for the "portage lakes" and retrieving the motors from the "portage boats", and pulling the boats up on shore and turning them over above the Spring "high water" marks so they can be re-outfitted in Spring. At every camp, this was the first "task" Guy "McGyver" Jefford and I would set out to do. Clear Lake has two portage lakes that guests can fish during their stay at the camp.


"McGyver at the "tiller" as he and I head for Clear Lakes' "portage lakes".


In a boat, heading out. Looking at this "pic", I can feel the wind and smell the lake, nothing like being "in the bush"!


There were "active" Beaver lodges spaced along our route.


This Beaver lodge is actually built overlapping on shore, as there is a "fracture" in the rock underneath that forms part of the living quarters.


An "active" lodge, and the beavers are already placing "feed" along the entrance to the lodge.

On the return trip, with "portage motors" aboard, and the boats pulled up for the winter, we decided to stop at an old Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources "heli-pad" that had been "brushed" years back at a point on a piece of shoreline close to the camp. We were looking for dry firewood, but most of the wood cut to make the heli-pad was "punky", having absorbed much moisture as it was laying down, and was no good for firewood. We noticed there were many "bear scrapes" in the moss, as bears had been looking for ants and grubs to feed on as they "bulked" up for winter.


"Bear scrapes"!






We looked close at the moss, pulled some up, and there were ants "scurrying" everywhere. Still hard to believe that bears can bulk up on ants, grubs, berries, and whatever else they can find before Winter's "big sleep"! I then pulled up a large chunk of moss, telling McGyver.... "There must be "grubs" here, too!" Sure enough, under the first large piece of moss I pulled up.........


"Grub" sushi! Well, we went back to camp, loaded the Beaver, and headed back to our base at Herod Lake, one more camp completed! "Last word" of my "Post" goes to "writhing" Mr. Grub....


"Adios"! Stay tuned...........

LINK - "Clear Lake"!