An Outdoorsman’s Journal:

A week in paradise

Hello friends, The Canadian fly-in fishing trip that I am about to write about is a big part of my life history. I started flying to Schultz Lake (chimolodge.com) in 1982 with my family. I became camp manager at Chimo Lodge in 1988 and in 1989, I started my writing career as camp manager at Chimo Lodge. About all I can say is that first it was my dear friends Pete and Elisabeth Hagedorn that I worked with and for, and now it is Chris and Tammy Leblanc, and both couples were fantastic at running this business, as are all of their employees. If you are into fly-in fishing trips, check out the website and reviews. Saturday, June 14 — High 67, low 48 Our group of nine, which was eight members of my family and a very good friend, would be flown 60 air miles to Schultz Lake in a de Havilland Beaver and the much larger Otter.

After months of looking forward to this annual trip and much preparation, the true adventure would begin. First, we move into our cabin and get our rods rigged; then we draw cards and seven of us find out what day we will cook and do dishes. Next is what we all came here for, and that is to get in our boats and play until dark, which is about 10:30 p.m.

My brother Tom Walters would be in one boat with his son Josh and grandson Preston, and as usual they had the longest drive as they came up from Denham Springs, Louisiana. My brother-in-law Dick Schuster and his sons Riley and Trent would be in another and I would be at the tiller with my brother Mike and our good buddy Gary Gray.

I think it is fair to say that much of what we catch our walleye and northern pike on is crawler harnesses, floating jigs, and my favorite, the Rippin’ Rap.

An interesting situation for us was a major forest fire about 50 miles to our north that forced the evacuation

of two fly-in native communities, and those fires would bring smoke off and on all week. A side bar on the fires is, the chain of lakes of which we are the only cabin on is very low and would drop all week, and we would receive no rain.

In regards to the fishing, or should I say catching: I caught my first walleye one minute after I started and Mike and Gary had the same type of luck. For the most part, this trip is about family and friends spending time together and what we are really good at is laughing.

Until dark we had great success and then it was time for a fish fry and, as usual, a very late night sitting around the table and laughing. My dad, the late Robert Walters, started this trip back in ‘82 and he was a very wise man for doing it.

The big fish for the day went to Riley Schuster, with a 39-inch gator caught on a pink spoon. Monday, June 16 — High 67, low 46 Today I would fish with my nephew Josh Walters and his 16-year-oldson Preston. We would drive our boat to a trail and then carry our gear about a half a mile to another lake which can have excellent fishing.

For myself, just fishing with Josh and Preston is a bonus, as I only see them maybe every five years. Josh is a crane operator and that is one very demanding job with lots of knowledge required.

From start to finish, we caught fish, and one of the cool parts was fishing a deep pool below a rapids where we could see numerous walleye and small northern pike. On my first cast with the trusty Rippin’ Rap, I caught a 22-incher.

Josh caught the biggest walleye, which was just over 24 inches, and at dark we headed back to the cabin.

After dark, Tommy cooked “walleye Coubion,” next it was a game of crap on your neighbor, and before we knew it, it was 3:30 a.m., the birds were chirping, and we still had five days left at our annual home for a week.

Sunset