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Rob

Monday, July 7, 2008

Northwest Territory fishing trip



A month from tomorrow we will leave for our Northwest Territory fishing trip. Flying out of Houston on August the 8th to Yellowknife, Northwest Territory,Canada, arriving there late in the evening. We stay at a hotel in Yellowknife, the capital of Northwest Territory, Canada for one night and then catch a float plane the next morning flying into the NWT wilderness and a Lake called Little Lake Marten. We will be fishing 6 full days (August 10th-15th) plus a half day at the beginning when we arrive in camp August 9th, as the ride in the float plane from Yellowknife takes about 2 hours.

The camp is located 160 miles north of Yellowknife, just above the tree line in the centre of the late summer range of the Bathurst Caribou Herd. This herd now numbers over 500,000 animals. The camp is number 12 on the map.

Another map looking down on top of the world approximate position of Little Marten Lake is marked in red.


· All food and lodging is included while in Camp,
· We will be staying in cabins, wooden floors with canvass side and ceiling. There is a gas powered generator run during the day for lights, heating is from an oil burning stove.
· Running water and shower facilities are shared in a separate cabin. The restrooms are outhouse style.
· Generator electricity and full kitchen facilities are offered and we will get three meals a day.
· Hot breakfast and box lunch and a hearty country food dinner will be waiting for us as we return to camp. Susie will be cooking for the group and her husband Sam Kapolak will be guiding with Peter Katiak. Susie, Sam and Peter are native Inuits and live in the NWT.



Picture of Little Lake Marten Camp.

· August 8th we arrive arrive from Calgary via Houston in the evening and take a shuttle bus to Chateau Nova staying overnight in Yellowknife.
· August 9th we will be picked up in the morning and do a short briefing and transfer to the float base. 1.75 hours later we will be stepping out onto the dock at Little Lake Marten Camp.
· August 16th the float plane will arrive with Caribou hunters that will stay in our camp and about mid morning head back to Yellowknife, where we will do a short debrief and be transported to the Chateau Nova for an overnight stay prior to catching the shuttle bus to the Airport back to Houston via Calgary againl. We arrive at the Houston airport a little before midnight.

The following species of fish are what we will be catching (hopefully) all are catch and release, except for what we will take back to camp to eat. We also will have to fish with barbless hooks as this is a Canadian law. I did this once in Sooke, British Columbia and it took losing the first two fish to get a hang of it. The main thing is no slack in the line to allow them to shake the hook out. The top fish is Artic Grayling, the middle is Pike and the bottom is Lake Trout. Grayling are a small extremely aggressive fish, most weigh around 2 to 3 pounds. The Pike get up to 30 to 40 pounds and the Lake Trout run about the same but in this remote location they could get up to 60 pounds.







More to come later.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Favorite Places we have visited since retirement

Buchart Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada























Paul, Dwanna and Susie along the water front on Whidbey Island, Washington, below is the view from a restaurant in Seattle.














This Salmon was caught on the below fishing trauler









The trauler that I went on Salmon fishing in Sooke, British Columbia, Canada











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The trip to Colorado was a blast. We are on the Royal Gorge bridge with friends Connie and Henry. We rode the Royal Gorge train for lunch and then later on the trip we rode the Durango to Silverton and back train. It was a wonderful trip









The Royal Gorge Bridge








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These pictures were taken of Susie and I across the Hudson River looking toward New York City. The building right above Susie's head is the Empire State Building. We had a great time attending our friends daughter's wedding and taking in 3 broadway shows.