Hommel Mangas
In some ways this year was similar to many of our past 35 years of family fishing trips to Sandy Beach Lodge in Northwest Ontario.
And yet it had a few extra sprinkles on top.
We drove the usual 17 hours and 32 minutes to Red Lake, Ontario. But this year we stopped for an extra day to meet our great nephew Ole in Duluth, Minnesota, and visited the waterfront Great Lakes Aquarium.
When we flew out of Red Lake into camp, our 2.4-year-old grandson John was mesmerized by climbing onto the float plane and taking in the view of flying low over the islands of trees and water. He probably won’t remember the first two float plane trips as he was 5-months old and 17 months, burrowed safely in to Chloe’s front baby wrap.
This year I spotted six eagles on the first two days of fishing; Phoebe counted 20 for our five days of fishing.
We jigged every morning and between our three boats of eight family members, had our shore lunch of fresh, fried walleye by noon. John was a trooper in the boat every day — riding out in “Poppy’s Boat” (Grandpa Steve Mangas). We had a bag of cars to line up in the bottom of the boat, as well as snacks — lots of water and snacks. John perfected the pee on a rock and off the side of the boat.
We fished for walleye in Johnson Bay, Hideout Bay, Banana Straits then on to Grassy Bay to cast for northern pike. The son-in-laws Jacob and Michael were the first to catch the big northerns — the competitive daughters followed suit. Jacob’s 44-incher was the winner of our week.
And maybe for the last year John avoided the windy, cool air from the boat ride by jumping into my lap every morning and hiding his face into my soft, green 40-year-old Abercrombie and Fitch Company sweatshirt as we motored for 35-minutes out to the big lake to our favorite fishing spots. Three days he fell asleep in my arms with my wind jacket warding off the brisk air.
I wondered, in 15 years when he’s 17-years-old and I’m 80 — will I be using him as a shield from the cool morning wind?
Janet Hommel Mangas grew up on the east side of Greenwood. The Center Grove area resident and her husband are the parents of three daughters. Send comments to [email protected].
