This past weekend was the Annual take the kids fishing weekend. Carl and his three boys, Wade and Caden along with the Loudamericans minus Mom headed up to Lake Vermilion, to Life of Riley about 5 hours north in search of the elusive small mouth, walleye and blue gill.
The first day was extremely hot pushing 95 degrees, but when you are on a lake simply jumping overboard helps with the heat. The kids swam, fished, raced around and generally had a great time.The cabin was a modest 3 bedroom affair complete with fans and pull out beds. It was a tight fit but if Santa could do so could we! The fish were hot and heavy and we lost count early Sunday morning as to how many we caught. Kay was in rare form being the only girl among 6 boys and was not in the least bit intimidated. In fact on the first morning the boys were up and making noise and generally bothering her. She sat up in her bed ( she was sleeping on the couch) reached into one of her survival bags and pulled out a Swiss Army knife, where she got that is another story, showed the knife to the boys and said " I have the knife and I am not afraid to use it", they pretty much left her alone after that! Carl made the comment that Kay has one of the strongest survival genes he has ever seen.
Sunday night brought in a huge storm and the rains came down for 4 hours and brought the temp down from 95 to 38 on Monday morning, yikes! The rain and temp change did not stop the fish and they kept right on biting and we started to worry about running out of bait. We had great hopes of a shore lunch on Monday afternoon and we started to pack up around 3:00 to head out, however it was not to be. Another stormed moved in with high winds, white caps on the lake and rain. We attempted to go a couple of times only to have to stop. Then at 5:00 we called it and headed back to the cabin,, made a big bon-fire and cooked the fish there. We ate like the was no tomorrow! Fresh fish, potatoes, onions and mushrooms and the secret dilly-wop- sauce. Side note for those who do not know what dilly-wop-sauce is, it is a creation that has taken a gigantic reputation as time marches on. It began as a fish sauce that I made up and fine tuned over the years and it has magical qualities, but you can only get dilly-wop-sauce on a fishing trip!The trip was a blast and everyone came home, tired, dirty and in disparate need of a bath!
Hope everyone has a great summer!
