<p>I’m sitting on the 10-feet by 15-feet screened-in porch in cabin No. 1, overlooking Trout Lake at Sandy Beach Lodge in Northwest, Ontario. The fly-in fishing camp that we’ve been fishing since adding ‘Mangas’ to my name almost 30 years ago. The fishing lodge I first traveled to via four flights — the last being the float plane — pregnant with Alex, who is now 28 years old.</p><p>I distinctly remember wondering whether I would, indeed, enjoy this annual Mangas vacation with the hubby’s mom and dad. We jumped into the 16-foot Lund fishing boat and thudded across the choppy waters to hook our walleye shore lunch in the morning, then headed to Grassy Bay where the Mangas family was notorious for catching and releasing their 48-inch northern pike with their #5 Mepps.</p><p>Our three daughters have fallen in love with this tradition. Though Grandma Carmen, 89, stopped taking the long trek a few years ago and Grandpa Jack has passed to an even better view, we reminisce on the family time we built and continue to build.</p><p>Yesterday, I decided I was never coming back.</p><p>It was cold, rainy and there was a wind warning out. Every time the Lund fishing boat slammed down on the white caps on the big lake, it jarred my teeth and I remembered that somehow the rain had soaked through my rainsuit down to my skivvies.</p><p>I was in the boat with my hubby, while Alex and Phoebe rode with their guide Joe in the “Tootsie Roll” boat — the Cadillac of boats in Sandy Beach Lodge’s fishing boat fleet, an 18-foot Lund outfitter with a pedestal seat and a 50-horsepower Yamaha motor. As told to us, the owners of Tootsie Roll, brothers, had this more comfortable boat shipped in for their annual fishing trips.</p><p>Alex seemed to think she was gifted a ride in this boat as a thank you, kind of a “customer appreciation for buying tootsie rolls over the years.</p><p>Today, I changed my mind and decided I will be returning, because the weather was perfect. The lake was calm like a sheet of ice, and the walleye fishing was excellent.</p><p>If I had given up like I said, I would have missed:</p><p>Seeing two mature eagles with white heads and tails sitting side-by-side atop a pine tree. I’ve seen eagles every year, but never side by side.</p><p>Hooking and pulling in an 18-inch walleye and being astonished that as I lifted it from the lake, it had a 32-inch northern pike clenched to its midsection.</p><p>“Helping” our guide Joe pull in a 26-inch walleye. He actually didn’t know I was helping him until he pulled in up and I noticed I had also hooked it in its’ side.</p><p>Watching Phoebe proudly showing the moose skull with intact teeth that she found on a small island they stopped at.</p><p>Seeing Steve feeling totally relaxed in his “second home” that he’s annually returned to for nearly 40 years.</p><p>Hearing the story of when the French Brothers, who created the Mepps lure, vacationed and fished at Sandy Beach Lodge when the hubby was about 20 years old. We were sitting next to the the dinner lodge window, where they sat back nearly 40 years ago. It was then that Steve’s dad began to trial the #5 Mepps with great results and the Mangas/Mepps #5 tradition began.</p><p>Yep, I’ll be back.</p>
