The Botsford Boys and Ones that Didn't Get Away

Time to write about fishing at the lake. Until recently, my efforts to catch a big one were pretty much limited to casting from the dock from time to time and a few uncomfortable outings in the canoe for an afternoon.

If I was asked, I would have had to honestly say the fishing is so-so, although I had heard of big catches from other cottagers.

That all changed starting last fall. Mark and his friends Art and Dan came up in September and spent the better part of their visit trying different lures. We fished off the dock and off islands. And neighbour Neil was kind enough to let us borrow his fishing boat as well. We lost a lot of lures - in the trees, in the lake and anywhere we could. Things didn't go so well, although after persevering on the second and last day Art caught what was until then the biggest bass I'd ever seen.

A few weeks later, I was up for a day with my friend Doug and from the awkward confines of a canoe, I caught one even bigger and certainly the biggest I've ever landed.

A couple of weeks ago (August 2013), Mark and his buddies came back for round two. Now I had my own proper boat for fishing and we could go anywhere on the lake.  Day 1 we didn't catch anything from the boat. Wouldn't you know that on day 2 they caught pike and pickerel right of the dock.  Perseverance paid off again as finally we caught some bass, including a couple of record breakers, from the boat on our last day.

Try landing a bass this size in a canoe. Right behind me you can see the secret fishing spot.

And these pictures below, by Dan, are from August 2013.

Dan surprised everyone, including himself, catching this pike right off the dock before finishing his morning coffee.

Above Dan displays a Whitefish - Later, Dan wrote: At a young age they have a small snout but as they age they're snouts get longer and protrude - Just like some of us !!!!!

They can get up to 20 to 30 lbs and are of the Carp family !!!!!  They are supposedly good eating - The big ones that is !!!!!

Mark, with bass taken at the entrance to the narrows at the northern end of the lake, and below with pickerel caught from the dock.

Art wins the prize for the smallest catch with this rock bass.

Captain Morgan's Deck

Watching my neighbours build their own cottages around the bay sometimes has me feeling that I missed out on something. Then I take on a project like building a deck, and I'm reminded of why I designed our cottage but left the construction to the pros. A deck is a modest project but still requires a fair bit of research and planning, not to mention the hard work.  Greg and I put up this 12 X 14 deck off the back of the screened porch.  It's a great spot to relax and enjoy the surrounding forest. See below for images before, during and after construction...

 

Greg calculated that the actual time working was just ten hours, but we spread it over a few days.

 Captain Morgan was the supplier for the celebratory toast when we were done.

Happy Birthday Barb! Here she is trying out her new hammock on her new deck!!

 

Expanding the Fleet

Until this year, we have been proudly human powering all of our watercraft. Two canoes and two kayaks offer a peaceful and environmentally friendly way to navigate the many bays of the lake.  However, sometimes it would be nice to have some motor power to take us quickly to one of the beaches, to offer guests a quick tour and especially when heading out to do some fishing. This spring, with the assistance of Kijiji, we found a 1980 aluminum boat and 7.5 HP motor. To our delight, not only are there no leaks in the boat, but the Evinrude motor started on the first try and has been running smoothly.  And just last week, again with help from Kijiji, we bought a pedal boat.  It'\s a very sturdy model and offers another option for casual touring or just floating around the bay with a book and taking in some sun.

 

Neighbour Neil (yes, one of four on the lake) was very generous in helping us by picking up the boat in Kemptville and towing it to the lake for us.

To get the pedal boat to the lake from where we bought it in Carleton Place, Emad kindly lent us his truck with a hitch and we rented a trailer for the evening.  Below, Barb and Laura take it for it's first spin.

A Makeover for Man's Spa weekend

A new name, a new oath, and a new game, but the same fun with lots of laughs, amazing food and a kick-ash campfire!

On the occasion of the third Man's Spa Weekend, it was re-christened Man's SPArtan weekend. Gives the name a little more testosterone. 

The originator of  our usual oath of secrecy, Billy Two-sheds, wasn't able to make it this year. We hope he's doing well, but in his absence we gave ourselves a licence to modify the oath to: "Whatever happens at Petit Lac Cayamant - I'm telling everybody! (some exceptions apply. see constest rules for details)". 

The new game is called Move that Dock. A team of four guys lift a dock and carry it through the bush and see how far they can go with no one falling down.   It's really fun! We're applying for a patent for the video game version as I write this. There's also a theme song to go with the game that was made up a little after midnight when Tim and his guitar and a bottle of whiskey got everyone singing along and improvising lyrics. There was even a verse expressing admiration of sorts for this blog. Soon, you'll be able to download it on I-tunes.

Between all the craziness, the guys did a lot of work around the place. Thank you! Much appreciated.

This is the dock the lads lifted

 

 

After cleaning up the lot, posing where there was a large pile of brush



         Chef Patrick

 

Tim the music man

 

                                                             Al the MAN WITH THE AXE

 

 

 

 

 

 

Emad with his London newspaper

 

We left with more fond memories of great times together. Here's hoping the guys who couldn't be there this year will be back in September 2013. 

 

 

 

 

 

Tarzan and Jane Wannabes

A couple of years ago, I noticed a rope hanging from a tree on the shore on the other side of the lake towards the sandy peninsula.  It had been tied very high above the water around a branch of a massive tree. No idea how they did that but it created a great swinging rope. I thought some day we should give it a try. 

On a visit to the cottage in July our nieces Charlotte and Rowan, upon hearing about it, convinced us that day had come. 

There's a natural platform about 6 feet above the water's edge from which you launch yourself over the water and it gets deep fast enough that it's a pretty safe.  It's important to hold on tight though and to let go at the right time, ideally when you've reached the point when you momentarily stop and are about to swing back.

While the girls were brave, they were smart enough to ask uncle Neil to go first so they could be certain the rope and the tree would hold them.  Once that test succeeded, we had lots of fun taking turns dropping off from about six feet above the water into the deep.

Above:  Testing the rope. What are uncles for anyway?

Charlotte and Rowan

 

A Tribute to a Dear Family Friend

Every family has them - those relations on the perimeter of the family's structure, reliable and comforting as any, except family membership isn't official, it's honourary. These connections last through decades, and form part of a family’s fabric, and in quiet unassuming ways, help strengthen a family's character over time.

It was 1974, at my parents' cottage that we were introduced to this special friend, whose presence would become a fixture during our summers through the years. It’s only upon learning of a serious injury suffered by our friend that I recently came to appreciate her loyalty through 38 years.
  

Having chaperoned teenagers’ parties at my parents’ cottage in the 70's, guided our young family's visits to Provincial Parks of Ontario in the 90's and more recently helping us manage the waves as we built at our own cottage, our beloved green fibreglass canoe carries on.

The threat to her wellbeing triggered memories that there had been other times when we almost lost her.  Most notably, when she was only with a us a few years, my dad received a phone call in Ottawa from the Quebec Provincial Police. They were asking about a canoe, wanting to know if my dad owned one or if he had recently sold one that had his driver's license etched into it's metal gunell. Unbeknownst to us our young watercraft had been stolen from the family cottage. The police had pulled over a suspicous truck on highway 11 (now 105) near Wakefield and rescued her for us.

On Diving

With the recent Euro soccer tournament and the NHL playoffs a not too distant memory, it occurred to me that the primary meaning of the word "diving" is evolving. While the change is not as complete as the meaning that "surfing" has undergone thanks to the internet, the change for "diving" is decidedly for the worse. This is my stand for the conventional, wonderful "diving".

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Whenever I tell someone we have a cottage, it prompts a great interest and some fairly predictable questions: How far is it? Is it on the water?   Are motor boats allowed on the lake?

Recently, I noticed that another question is surprising me with its frequency:  Can you dive off the dock?  When I hear that question I know the person shares my passion for that short but sharp thrill.  And I realize it is probably just one of many things about the cottage I have come to take for granted after just a few years. The question and the reaction to my response that yes indeed, it’s a great dock for diving, reminds me that I am very lucky that our shore line drops off enough to enjoy this simple pleasure.

Diving off the dock sounds like quite a simple endeavour, but like most things, our personalities are therein revealed.  I have observed three categories of divers. First, there are the freestyle divers. Freestylers don't think about their dive for more than a couple of seconds before they launch themselves off the boards, gladly compromising form for creativity and quick wet results.  They may spin and enter feet first or dive sideways head first, but they are always completely satisfied with the results. Next we have our methodical divers. These swimmers carefully position themselves and contemplate the movements needed to complete a smooth entry and are satisfied with the straight, least disruptive piercing of the water's surface. And finally, we have our philosopher-divers.  These people write a wide ranging discourse in their head while standing in position, nowhere near ready to leap. They contemplate every sensation from the feel of the texture of the edge of the cedar boards which their toes have grasped to the filtered heat from the sunlight, shifting as the trees sway in the breeze. Then they anticipate the excitement of the brief mid-air interlude, the swift entry and the inevitable rush with the chill that will follow. Okay, maybe I've over analysed the philosopher-divers, obviously revealing which category I'm in.  Now sometimes people refer to philosopher-divers as wusses, but really, we just have so much to appreciate that we need extra time to enjoy it.





 


























To optimize the experience for all divers, 2012's first cottage project is a new dock ladder. There is no more need to stuggle to get onto the dock with a push-up and a quarter twist. Whether you want to instantly repeat a wild plunge, you want to perfect your form or you just want to stand around and contemplate the whole experience for another 5 minutes before launching again, enjoy!