Fishing

Wallace Lake redemption… sort of

By AdamZax
July 4, 2016
22 Comments

This Canada Day I decided to spend time at Wallace Lake with my parents and brother, Tyler. Naturally I am still harboring a bit of resentment for that lake for embarrassing me every single time I’ve gone so far (see my previous post ‘Ego has no place here’), but I figured that since the forecast was calling for beautiful sunny, clear, and CALM weather that it would be a perfect shot at redemption for me and my kayak.

I was wrong of course, as usual.

My plan was to head out early Thursday morning, fish all day, spend the night, fish all day Friday and make it home in time to go watch fireworks with my lovely wife. I knew as soon as I woke up Thursday morning that it was going to be another one of ‘those’ trips. The skies were grey and menacing and the rain clouds were starting to spit. However, I checked the forecast again and it called for everything to be clear by noon. It wouldn’t be a problem as long as that held true.

The last hour of the drive ended up being very nice

It was not looking great on my drive in, it was raining most of the way. About an hour away from the lake though, the rain suddenly stopped, and the skies cleared right up. By the time I arrived at my parents trailer, it was actually a nice sunny day. The only downside was the wind, which was quite strong and of course one of the biggest factors I need to take into account before I head into open water. Of course it was windy, because that’s my luck when it comes to this lake.

Although I couldn’t get my kayak into the water right away, not all was lost. I sat, relaxed, drank beer, and visited with my parents and some of their friends who were out as well. I would have loved to spend the day on the ‘yak but let’s be honest, any time at a beautiful lake with good company and cold beer is a good time!

Nothing to do but put my awkwardly tanned feet up and wait for the wind to go down

It became pretty clear that the wind was not going to die down anytime soon, so in the afternoon my parents and their friends headed out on the boat, and I tagged along. I can’t complain too much, it’s not like fishing from a big comfy boat makes for a tough afternoon, and it always helps when your dad is a former fishing guide.

It’s no kayak.. but it’ll do

We tried a few spots without any luck, which was no problem as the sun was bright and warm and the water clear and refreshing. A little while later, however, he put us on top of some walleye and we started catching quickly. We pulled up 7 or 8 eater sized ‘eyes before it was time to head back to the trailer and get some dinner on the grill.

It’ll do

My brother and his girlfriend met up with us, and we all pigged out on steak and potatoes done perfectly on the grill. After that we lit up the fire, broke out more beer, and hung out for the evening until everyone trailed off to bed. All in all, a great day even without actually touching my kayak.

The morning brought breakfast and more relaxing in front of the fire. The wind was still going and I spent a good 3 hours or so from the time I woke up just sitting and watching the water, debating whether I wanted to take out the kayak or not.

I finally decided that the water was calm enough and that I should at least do a lap or something, so I dragged the ‘yak to the beach and headed out. Surprisingly it was easy going and I fished up the shoreline until I was at the far side of the lake from the beach. I didn’t catch much other than a small pike, I had a bunch of good hits but just couldn’t land them. I also managed to find the one huge jack in the lake that is terrible at hunting. I could see my lure in the water a few feet from me and just below it a huge set of jaws as this big jack came straight up underneath it and… completely missed it, chomping down on nothing and disappearing. Good job pike.. good job.

I floated around for a bit, made friends with a turtle, and pointed myself back towards the beach. As my luck would have it, of course, the wind picked up again right at that time, and started blowing directly in my face. This made for a really hard paddle back across the lake, but after my last experienced with the wind and whitecaps, this was not that intimidating. Tough paddling and a good workout, but not scary.

I made it back to the beach and started loading my stuff into my truck. Tyler took this opportunity to try out the kayak with a few quick laps in the calm water near the beach. He seemed to like it, and also enjoyed chasing around the ducks. Perhaps a kayak partner in the near future?

He liked it, but the ducks were not impressed

I loaded up and headed home to spend Canada Day evening with my wife. It was a good trip overall, like I said it’s hard to complain about sitting around relaxing by the lake. I caught a few fish, finally, but once again the wind kept me from doing any meaningful or enjoyable kayak fishing. The funny part is that my parents swear that it’s never windy when they are here, only when I come up.

Not sure I believe that, but it probably won’t keep me from coming back here whenever I can.