Shanty Sanctuary 2023: Lake Nipigon 2023

0500-62F/58F. Solar 82%.

Dawning Of A New Day!

I had hoped for calm winds, but it is not to be! I walked the hill to get a better take on the wind velocity and it is about 6 mph inside the Channel, but I would expect more outside and with the fetch to the south it would be a direct side roll. So I cancelled my plan and may be stuck here for another day, and the current forecast does not look favorable.

0630-Study verse for the day is "... the Lord has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: "There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land." (Hosea 4:1)

0730-Study, prayer, and reading from "New Evidence..." is complete. Breakfast is next. Mostly cloudy. 69F/62F. Solar 78%.

0810-Finished Breakfast. Heavier cloud cover is moving in and the breeze increased. It was probably a good decision to not have ventured out this morning. It looks like a possible window of weather in the morning, I pray that it comes.

0915-Dishes are done, house is in order, now what? Mostly sunny now 70F/66F. Solar 75%. Too much wind to enjoy kayaking. I could fish some more, though I felt bad about the northern I put back but did not survive. He was too seriously damaged in the gills. The hook was caught up in the gills, very difficult to remove, and he was also out of the water too long while I tried to find tools to remove the lure. In the end I disconnected the lure and pulled it out the back side of the gills. He tried to recover but I think his gills were just too badly damaged. He became gull food, though he fought them off for a while. He was just too far gone. I need better tools for release of lures. Even with a barbless hook it was difficult to remove from the gills.

Observed one of the fishermen with the dogs going ashore to allow the two big labs to relief themselves. A big fat guy wearing no shirt in 62F and running at speed in the boat along with a stiff breeze blowing. It is the same macho aura I feel coming from the two boats with ill behaved dogs, oversized flag on the bow, and always running at full throttle no matter what! I suspect they are two brothers since they have the same bulk and appearance. There is a third that appears to be the son of the one with the noisy dogs. I will be glad to be away from them.

Will spend some time reviewing and transferring video from SD cards to my laptop external hard drive. But before I do that I opened up the cabin since it has warmed up some.

I was filling the rinse dish pan in the cockpit when I smelled for the second or third time what I thought was rotting fish. Then it dawned on me that it was the smell of leaking propane. It appeared to be coming from the main tank valve which had a pressure gauge attached. I shut off the gas and removed that attachment, which was suspect. I tested it after the gas smell dissipated and it appeared to go away. I have a gas alarm inside the cabin and it had not activated though the smell was in the cockpit, not the cabin.

1100-I finished my review and transfer of all photos and videos to date to my portable 5TB hard drive and then charged my laptop back up. Fishermen stayed and went south this morning for their fishing.

The deer flies make it unpleasant to sit up on the hill. I may fish a while, then get a snack, followed by a nap.

1310-I fished and managed to get a terrible backlash, lost my lure, and ultimately had to cut the line. I finally got the mess cleaned up and went back to fishing with a new silver spoon, but had no luck. I had numerous hits and caught one on the lure I lost which had some orange on it, so I switched to an orange jig of sorts with a small orange spoon attached. Got two hits almost immediately just as I was pulling the lure from the water, both were nice size northerns, maybe the same one twice? There were no more strikes and dogs on the boats began their noisy barking despite being locked inside the boat cabin. Must have woke up and saw me. They continually barked, a real pain!

I was hungry and got tired of the noise so I gave up and went back to the boat to have a snack. A T-storm was approaching in the NW. I may have to go back and retrieve my tackle before it gets wet!

1425-Had a snack lunch and checked to confirm the propane leak was fixed and it appears to be. I may nap while the T-storm moves through.

1630-Had a nice nap as the storm passed and woke up to relative calm. I checked the forecast and the evening is supposed to be very light winds. I may move.

Still T-storms to the west yet so we'll see what develops. I'll make dinner in the meantime. I'd like to get away from these fishermen and their irritating dogs.

1740-Finished beef stroganoff, salad, rolls, and red wine.

More T-storms coming through and a lot of instability in the air plus the forecast changes every time I take a look. I may have to wait until morning.

Finally Underway - End Of The Day

1840-Made a spur of the moment decision to go. Conditions seemed right, stable air, and light wind. So, I prepared for departure.

North Side Of Ramsey Island

1945-Arrived and anchored in Ramsey Harbor. Observed a caribou as I was in the process of putting down anchor. Got some hurried photos as it ran full tilt across the end of the harbor.