Fishing Stories and Tall Tales

[manitoubass2]

I have lots of stories, but one of my best memories was when me and two buddies hopped in a tinny and made a long trip up to the north arm of Rainy Lake. The plan was to camp for 4 days or so, fish during the day and have some drinks at night, just have a good time out in the wilderness. I think I was about 20 at the time, pretty green. One friend was about as experienced as me, my other buddy was a city boy.

So, I packed up all my camping gear before departing. I really had everything we would need. But my buddy calls and says "nope, were packing light, my dads cabin is about 2 km's from the island we are camping on, we'll get up there, set up the camp, then head to the cabin in the morning for supplies". This would turn out to be a big mistake.

So we get to the island after about an hour ride. Find the right spot, crack a few beers and get our two tents up, make a fire pit etc. This day is a wash, no fishing, just sitting around having some drinks.

I wake up the next morning around 530am and decide I'll do some shore fishing for bass while the other two sleep. I rig up and head down to where the boat was tied up. OH NO!!!! No plug in the f'in boat!!!! Onlt thing out of the water is the nose of the boat, the back is planted firmly under about 4-5 feet of water!!!! So I head back up to wake these guys up and let em know the bad news.

As we come back down, the first thing I see is our can of gas floating about 200 yards away, damn, more bad news. We look at the situation from different angles/perspective to develope a plan. Ok guys, we got alot of work to do. It's like 630am and already about 25C on this small rock we decided to camp on.

So we head up to the fire pit to take note on what we actually have. This is more bad news, and really making me regret not taking what I hade previously packed. Here is what we had.

3 lighters, smokes, beer, long island tea, 3 fishing rods, a net, a blowhorn, life jackets, a chainsaw, a fire extinguisher, one skillet (no utensils), toilet paper, 3 tackle boxes, a box of Snickers and rain gear/tents.

Things I wish we had... a spatula, a fillet knife, water.

ok, now this rock we camped on is in a small secluded bay, it's hot, like real hot, and to make matters worse, its shallow and right in the middle of an elgae bloom. There goes are water....

We started by taking a walk around the island, just taking note of what it had for us. Well, basically nothing, other than wood.

Day two is spent chopping down trees, sectioning them, then swimming, lol. Two of us would barely manage to lift the arse end of the boat a few inches, the other guy had to get under water to get in a chunk of log to prop the boat up. It was very hard work, and took a good part of the day to get the boat up high enough to bail. Oh yeah, we had a bail can as well, lol. So now that thats done, we need to get on some shore fishing so we have something to eat. We had all had a few Snicker earlier, cause well they just basically melted.

So we fish for awhile, and we manage to get a few walleye and a pike. But remember, we have no fillete knife, or any knife for that matter. So, chainsaw it is. Off with the head and tail, and I gut the fish. Find a nice stick for each fish and over the fire it goes. Good eats at least.

Next day reality is setting in. The motor is full of water, need to be bled out. All the gas we have left is watered down. The cabin is too far a swim in big open water. I'ts the middle of the week, so there is no tourist fisherman in sight. The lake is just dead. It's a 30C everyday with zero wind. The water is hot and gross, swimming isnt even refreshing. Our goal for this day, boil as much water as possible and fish. We did that, and again we had had fish to eat and a little water to drink. It's beyond gross but it will have to do.

Day 3, day 4, day 5 are all the same, except our city boy friend stick himself with a treble hook through the web of the thumb. Ok, at least we got snips in the tackle box and some hard booze, lol. We planned to get it out without him pannicking, lol. We would give him some booze, and when he had a decent buzz, I would punch him in the other arm. When I did that, my buddy would push the hook through so we could snip it off. Worked like a charm. At this point, dehydration and sun stroke are very real. We have soaked clothes wrapped around our heads, and were following the shade. Only good news is we are fed.

Day six, sun stroke is bad. At this point, I'm pretty convinced that if we dont see someone today, thats about all she wrote. Remember, it's still dead calm and around 30C. Were on a rock, so it's much hotter actually. The mood is pretty somber. Visuals are kicking in, tremors, unbearable headpounding, and no energy to move. We manage to get a little rest, as night falls, it seems like we could recover just a little bit.

Day 7. Pretty sure were all dead at this point. Food doesnt matter. Sun stroke and dehydration is killing us fast. It doesnt feel fast, every minute feels like an hour. It's really tough to see. All 3 of us are going into a haze of blindness. It's like trying to see with your eyes filled with tears. Heart feels like its barely beating, but when it does, you feel it through your hole body. Evening comes, were alive. Then, we can hear a boat in the distance! Everyone of us attempts to fire warning flares and the air horn. It feels like forever, but were firing them off in despair, just totally frantic. I think this is it, the bodies last little bit of calories being used in one last effort to survive. About 5 minutes goes by and trust me, you'll never understand that feeling. The boat veers towards us! Finally some good news.

It's three americans, doing one last ditch of their camping supplies. Right away we get water, every little last bit the have. They have towels too. We set out, leaving everything behind. Once we hit open water we drench the towels to cover out bodies. Wakes pound the boat, sure, its frigging windy out in the open stretched, lol. But man o man, every wave just crushed our skulls. 35 minutes or so and we land on shore. The Americans had called for an ambulance to meet us at the 5 mile dock upon arrival. After that, I don't remember too much other then being hooked up to an iv. I think we slept on an iv for 3-4 days, but all of us were alive. The headache and dehydration took almost a full week to recover from.

Once we were all recovered, we got together to talk about the experience. We all basically said the same thing. That was actually pretty cool. I learned alot from that experience. Number one, never go anywhere in a boat unprepaired, EVER! Two, sun stroke is very real, and trust me, you do not want to experience it. I would never wish that kind of pain, trembling, hallucinations, blindness on anyone.

You think you can survive, well, its alot different when it gets thrown at you when your unprepaired. Nowadays, with much more experience and planning, it would be pretty easy. But you have to plan ahead, use your energy wisely, and act accordingly. Never waste your time. Everything is geared around health and shelter, everything.

Hope you enjoy the story... The next one will be funny, I promise

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oh, and never go in a boat without paddles. Two simple paddles would have saved us much sooner, as we could have made it to the cabin. There is a very good reason they are a lawful requirement these days.