To celebrate my Dad's retirement this May, my brother and I took him fishing.
My brother bailed, but my Dad, his friend Merv, Erik Olson, and his dad made
the tour up to one of the nicest places I've visited - Crystal Lake Lodge. To see
this beautiful place, check out THIS
Full size
Here is Erik getting his dad's plane ready to go. That's my dad packing in the front.
Full size
This is a darker photo of Erik's dad's Mooney.
Full size
Erik and I took his dad's side-by-side out for a spin. I think we hit a new land speed record
through small willows.
Full size
My dad brought his friend Merv McKee up on this trip since my brother bailed (something about getting
drawn for moose and then shooting nothing...) Here they are in the back of the plane enroute up
north.
Full size
Here's Erik with a pretty nice-looking lake trout.
Full size
Erik again, this time with a slimy snake - the northern pike or jackfish.
Full size
Erik is taking the hook out of this monster's mouth.
Full size
It looks a little red once Erik makes it bleed all over the boat and himself.
Video of Erik reeling in a fish
Full size
Erik with yet another jack fish. These things grow pretty big up in Cree Lake.
Full size
Our guide Andre did a really nice job of cooking up shore lunch for us every day. Here
are my day and Merv enjoying about the freshest fish you can have.
Full size
Erik the captain heading back out on the lake after our shore lunch.
Full size
My dad and I got to fish together a little bit too. Here's my dad pulling in a big whopper.
Full size
This island had been burned out the previous year and had narrowly missed the cabin and lodges.
Full size
Here's my dad walking back to our boat along the sandy shore of Cree Lake. There are some
ungodly number of islands in this lake.
Full size
Dad drove the boat all of the time we fished together, which was just as well since I have
zero small engine background.
Full size
I was positive this monster was going to chomp my hand off.
Full size
I think this is by far the largest fish I've ever caught. Big props to my dad for helping me land
it and bring it in, even if I was using 5 lb test line. According to my dad, this allows you
to 'feel the fish better'. It also allows the fish to snap my line. A lot.
Full size
My dad's friend Merv also did really well fishing and managed to catch the biggest fish of
all of us.
Full size
We think this was a small badger or something that I saw on the other side of the BBQ, eyeing up
our leftovers.
Full size
We played a fair amount of cribbage in our cabin. I lost a fair amount I think, but as you can
see with this hand, I didn't have lots to play with. This is about the closest you can get to a
misdeal without calling one.
Full size
I think this is a pheasant that Erik and I saw as we were getting our gear ready to go.
Full size
This is the cook's cabin. We handled our own food so we really only stopped in here to say hello.
Full size
Here was our cabin for the few days we were up at Crystal Lake Lodge.
Thanks to Erik's dad Ron for coordinating this trip and making it possible. I really enjoyed
getting to spend time with my dad and my friend Erik in a fun location. Return to picture index
