Camping and fishing-trying to get back the father of my early youth. My dad had a heart attack when I was seven. He didn’t die, but he was never again the dad that took me camping and fishing and even hunting. His focus was on his own health.
In the town I grew up in, many folks loved to fish. Some of them even went to Canada to fish. As a teenager, the men of the town allowed me and my buddies to hang around as they shared their stories of all kinds of things. One of the things they shared was going into Canada to fish. The talk was always about how amazing fishing was there. Perch, Bass, Walleye, Northern Pike and even Muskellunge. I drooled when I heard about the fabled Muskie imagining catching one like shown in figure 1.
Figure 1: The Muskie of My Dreams
My fishing experience was 7-inch trout, 12-inch catfish, an occasional 14-inch Largemouth Bass, and of course bluegills and sunfish. I really wanted to do some “real fishing”.
I had returned to my hometown after most of the year away from home. I had been expelled from college after my first year. I had spent part of the year hitchhiking around the country taking odd jobs. I then spent a 6-month stint living with my brother and his wonderful family. I was back home working for my uncle, preparing to go back to college in summer.
I sought out Fred, one of the locals that I remembered talking about Calabogie. I found him at the local sandwich shop.
“Hi Fred.”, I said, “Remember me?”
He replied, "Of course I remember you, Ian. You were a guard on that 1959-1960 basketball team. You couldn’t get past that 6 foot seven center Tiny Traylor from Catasauqua. Your team was just too short. But you were a mighty fine guard. I remember you keeping their high-scoring guard to almost nothing.”
“Well, this isn’t about basketball, Fred. I was wondering what you can tell me about Calabogie, how you can get there, and what to do once there.”
“I didn’t know you liked fishing, Ian. Delighted to fill you in.”
“Yes, my dad used to take me before his heart attack.”
Fred proceeded to give me everything I needed to know.
The first thing was to get maps. I went to Allentown where there was a good bookstore. There I was able to find maps of Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario. I laid out the proposed route on the maps. Fred had given me enough information to be able to do this without a problem.
I could see that lake Calabogie emptied into a river called the Madawaska. The river was important because that is where Fred told me to camp. He said there really wasn’t any accommodation in town.
When he told me that, I had to go scrounging. I found my dad’s tent that we had used back when I was a wee one. I also found the spinning rod and reel that my folks bought me for my high school graduation. But then came the real challenge-the lures and gear for fishing for bass, Walleye, Pike, and Muskie.
Figure 2: Lake Calabogie and Madawaska River Running East
My dad still had his old tackle box with needle nose pliers, leaders, brass swivels, spoons, hooks and a lot of other stuff for fly fishing for trout. I needed more so I headed to the local hardware store and bought wiggle worms, Rapalas and Mepps. I also bought some metal leaders, a hook disgorger contraption and a metal stringer. I already had some good 40-pound silk and nylon line.
Now I wanted to see if I could get anybody to go with me. When I was in Illinois with my brother I bought an old rust bucket 1940 Buick, so I knew I could take a couple guys with me. Two of my former high school classmates said they would love to go along. They had also heard the stories of mind-bending fishing.
Jim said to me, “I want to go Ian, but I can only take Friday and Monday off from work. I guess it takes somewhere between 6 and 8 hours to get there according to Fred. We can go on Friday, get two full days fishing and back on Monday. Is that OK?”
Figure 3:1940 Buick Special
“It’s OK with me, but I have to check with Mike. I’m pretty sure that’s OK with him.” I checked with Mike, and it was fine. Then I arranged a time when all three of us were together.
“Look guys, I am providing the transportation. You need to provide the cooking gear and food. We are going to eat fish, so we will need a frying pan, filet knife, cutting board, some cooking oil, some breadcrumbs as well as a grate to put over the fire.’”
Mike said,” Good. I have all that from other camping trips. Jim, can you get the food.”
Jim answered, “No problem. Frankly we won’t need much since we will have fish galore. I do have a small cooler. Milk and cereal for breakfast. Peanut and jelly sandwiches for lunch and fish for supper. In between for snacks I will bring that gorp mix of raisins, peanuts, and M&M’s.”
I added, “We need plenty of water. I will bring Iodine pills and Kool-Aid. Bring a couple of water jugs each. And of course, your fishing gear and tent.”
The next Friday we were off to Calabogie. We followed the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania turnpike to Scranton where we picked up I-81 which ran past Syracuse all the way to the Canadian border at Thousand Islands. There was a bit of stop and start on I-81 as construction was still in progress.
We crossed the border a little after 1: 00. We decided to stop at a diner for a little lunch and then push on. It was still 2-3 hours to Calabogie, and we needed to set up camp.
Lunch finished, Jim said, “We really should buy some beer.”
Nobody disagreed so we bought a case of Molson Ale. None of us had ever tasted it but we were excited.
Figure 4: Molson Ale
We pushed on and were to Calabogie by about 6:00. We set up camp, munched on some Gorp, had a few beers, and went to bed.
Figure 5:Pup Tent Camping
I was up at the crack of dawn and had my lure in the river as the sun rose. Wham, I immediately had a hit. Quickly, I was bringing in a nice Walleye.
Figure 6: Walleye-Nice Way to Start the Day
I shouted to Jim and Mike,” Hey guys. The fish are biting.”
They were out of their tent in short order, fitting their poles and were soon catching fish. We did that for an hour or so-then sat down for our cold breakfast. We made a small fire and made campers coffee, coffee grounds in pot of water brought to boil. We used a kerchief to filter it.
I said, “Let’s go get our boat so we can fish the lake and get some big ones.”
Jim replied, “Yes, Fred told us to go into town and ask for directions to Indian Joe. He has the boats for hire.”
We did that and were soon at a dock with several boats in evidence.
No Indian Joe. The very attractive young woman that was there said she was Joe’s daughter. It was obvious that Indian meant Native American.
She said, “Joe is off elsewhere today. He leaves me to take care of business. Do you fellows want a boat?”
I said, “Yes, indeed. Boat, motor and fuel.”
We paid the fees, got our gear from the car and climbed in the boat, ready to go catch lunkers, so we hoped.
Figure 7: The Type of Boat We Rented
She said, “Fellows, my name is Mary. There is a little town party tonight at the Grange Hall. I will be there. Why don’t you fellows come after your day of fishing Is over. I would love to see you.” She gave us a broad smile with the last statement.
We spent the day fishing. More Walleye, a few bass, one very nice pike and some smaller ones, but no Muskie.
Figure 8; We Had a Big Pike Like This.
We returned the boat to the dock and headed back to camp to eat our Walleye. That done we headed back to town for the party.
We walked into the small hall. It was packed.
Mary saw us, ran over and said, “Hi guys. I ‘m glad you came. New faces liven up the party. Beer is for sale over there. Dancing will start shortly. Oh, by the way, that is my dad over there. Why don’t you go say hi.”
We did just that, picking up some beers on the way.
Joe said, “Hi boys. Mary told me you had a good day today. Are you going out tomorrow?” We all shook hands.
I said, “You bet we are. Where can we go to find Muskie?”
Joe said, “Everybody asks that question. I wish I had a really good answer. There are one or two guys here in town that act as guides, but they are pretty pricy.”
I said, “Yeah we don’t have money for that.”
He said, “I will be at the dock in the morning. I’ll point you in the right direction.”
“Thank you. See you then. Back to the party for me.”
I went back with Jim and Mike. Soon they seemed to be getting into the spirit. It wasn’t long before Mike was out on the dance floor by himself doing what he thought was the Irish Jig.
Mary came over to us and grabbed my hand.
“Come with me.”, she said, seeming a bit tipsy. I complied.
We went out the back door. She led me to a small gazebo. When we got there, she grabbed me and kissed me passionately. I responded with gusto. Before I knew it she grabbed my crotch.
“Woah, Mary.”, I said. “I would love to, but your dad is just over there, and I am a stranger in town.”
“He doesn’t care.”, she said.
“Maybe, but I am not going to take that chance. He seems like a pretty tough dude to me. Let’s go back inside.”
She pouted but followed. Back inside Mike was still going at it like a madman.
Mary drifted away. I grabbed another beer and saw Indian Joe leaving.
“Hm.”. I thought, “Maybe now’s my chance.” I went looking for Mary. She was gone. So was Jim. “Damn.”
I grabbed another beer and went and sat down. Soon Mike joined me, dripping sweat.
“I’ve had it. Let’s get out of here. I drank too much and danced too much.”
“We need to wait for Jim. He went off with Mary. I think he got lucky.”
We waited. A bit later, Jim and Mary showed up, holding hands and smiling broadly.
“Hey, Jim. We need to get going. Morning’s coming fast.”
He kissed Mary and said, “Let’s go.”
Jim did not respond to questions. He just smiled. Back to camp and into the sack-we were all exhausted.
Morning was too soon, but we managed our coffee and cold breakfast. It was a lot later than yesterday when we finally got to the dock.
Joe pointed to the end of the lake and said, “Muskie like the warmer shallow water in the Spring. Up at that end of the lake there is plenty of shallow water. It is almost 3 miles from here. I have put the extra gas can in the boat as well, just in case,”
“Terrific.”, I said. “Thanks Joe. Maybe we will be lucky today.”
Jim and Mike grumbled a bit, “Why do we have to go for Muskie and kill all that time going over there. These Walleye are great, and they are nearby.”
“Oh, come on guys, you know we came to get Muskie. Fred told us they were almost a sure thing.”
“OK.”, they complied.
Three guys and gear in the boat and a small 3 horsepower motor did not make for speed. It took us more than an hour to get in the general vicinity that Joe had pointed out.
We got our lures in the water in short order and spent the next 3- or 4-hours fishing. Plenty of Walleye, occasional bass, some small pike, but no Muskie.
We decided to move to the other side of the bay we were on and get in shallower water. Mike was handling the motor. We got there and suddenly, crack-the motor blade hit something. And the boat stopped moving even though the motor was running.
Mike looked down in the water and said, “The propeller is not spinning.”
“Shit”, I said. “The shear pin broke to protect the propeller. There is no way we can fix that. We are screwed.”
Jim asked, “Does that mean we have to somehow paddle back to the dock all three miles.”
“I’m afraid so. And we don’t have a God damn paddle.”, I exclaimed.
We broke the top off the tackle box and used that. We took turns in the bow with that. The other two used hats to help out a little. It was late afternoon when we got back to the dock. Our fishing trip was over.
Mary was there. “Did you boys have trouble?”
We told her what happened.
“I can probably get that fixed for you in less than half an hour. Do you want that?”
` “No.”, I said, “There is no way we can get out and back to the Muskie location. We have caught plenty of Walleye. It is only Muskie that we missed.”
“Well, come back in the Fall. They come back to shallow water again. I would love to see you boys again.” With that she came over and gave all of us a kiss on the cheek and smiled deeply.
We headed back to camp, had our catch for supper, cleaned up, went to bed and drove home in the morning.
Well, I didn’t get my Muskie. But I did get a very nice kiss and offer from a very attractive girl.
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