Peffley's Camp a.k.a Bushwood Country Club

Well it's that time of year again, Vinnie and the boys from Appleton are in camp along with a full complement of other guests, and it's time for the annual long drive competition and closest to the pin contest. Big hitters and hacks alike will take their turn(s) for this year's bragging rights to see if they can unseat last year's champions. It's always a lot of fun with many laughs shared by all, and a great way to unwind after another great day of fishing. Of course this is all dependent upon the weather which we are promised is finally going to improve.

Speaking of the weather, that's been the story the past two weeks as abundant rains were upon us most of the early part of the week. We have had some relief yesterday (Tues) and although we have had very heavy cloud cover, so far today the rain has stayed away. The forecast for Friday thru next Tuesday is for sunshine and temps in the middle 70's which (if it holds up) will be a welcome relief, as finding even a small window to get on the lawn tractor and get the lawn mowed has been challenging. The lake continues to rise and is now up around two feet since the rains began a week and a half ago.

The rising lake level has also resulted in much cooler water temps as surface temps were approaching the mid-70's already just a short week and a half ago. Currently, surface temps are back in the low to mid 60's and although the water is a little dirtier than normal, fishing has been very good with many guests commenting "another great week".

Other projects around camp have been on hold with the frequent rains, but an improving forecast should get us back on schedule with this year's to-do list. Time permitting, I will try to post a few pictures of this year's golfing festivities.

Delayed (again)

Sorry for the lateness in getting a new blog entry out here. I had drafted one for the week of June 2-9, entitled "High Pressure, NO Stress" mentioning the incredible high pressure system we had that week that brought abundant sunshine, warm weather and an extremely calm lake almost all week. Problem is, I never got back to finishing it, and after this weeks weather (June 9-16) it sure isn't appropriate any more. Regardless, despite high pressure weather, it was low pressure fishing as we had another excellent week of fishing.

This past week, HOWEVER, saw low pressure systems one after another, move into the area bringing us abundant rainshowers. Not sure how much rain we got exactly, but enough to cause the lake to rise about 14" this week. So you get the idea. When a 15,000 acre body of water rises 14" in about 5 days--you've gotten quite a bit of rain. Other than being a pain in the butt to deal with it, it really didn't hurt the fishing much this week until about Tuesday-Wednesday when finally the rapidly rising lake and dirtier water from the downpours did start to damper the fishing. Even at that, guests complained very little about the weather, indicating to me that overall the fishing held up very well! Case in point-veteran camp guest Bob Stromberg had one of his worst "catching" trips ever in over 40 years of coming to the camp, yet his crew of four still managed to boat 357 walleye and northern for the week, despite losing a fair bit of fishing time to the weather.

We really needed the water for the lake levels so it's hard to complain too much, but now that we are "sitting pretty" water level wise, we are hoping the next couple of weeks will be significantly drier. Long-term forecasts however are indicating differently.

Die hard smallmouth fishermen, these guys were with us for only their second year ( in fact two of the guys were first timers) and had a smallmouth fishing trip bordering on unbelievable. In one day alone, the group of six intercepted smallmouth taking advantage of rapidly rising lake temperatures to get on their beds, and caught over 200 fish in one day! That's right, one day! Of course many of them were the 17-19" bronzeback bruiser variety with their big fish for the week a 19 1/2" gem. There are lots of new photos in the photo gallery, as I have had a little time to "catch up" on posting pictures, including many new photos submitted by several group even from opening week.

One of my favorite pics from the "smallmouth smashers".....

Too many smallmouth, not enough hands?

Will try to be a little more diligent in getting the blog done next time! Until then, goodbye from the distant shores of Wabaskang Lake.



Still May in Ontario

Although a lot of the midwest (including back home in Indiana) is experiencing weather much more like July with temperatures in the 90's, I can assure you this week it still feels like May here. Lot's of rain, stronger winds, and today a few snow flakes mixed in for good measure have so far been the story of the week. Bet the guys from last week are glad they were here for the opener!  While pretty uncomfortable conditions for our guests while fishing, the walleye, pike and smallmouth really haven't seemed to notice. Despite limited time on the water, guests are continuing to do extremely well with fish. Fortunately for us a 5 or 10 minute boat ride has them on excellent spots and they can fish a couple hours, limit out and be back to the warmth of their cabins.

One of our favorite pictures from opening week. Dylan Quiggle, Tony Wieczorek and Mason McGowan are all smiles with a limit of walleyes they helped their Dads catch. This is what it's all about!

The weather has also slowed our ability to get many outdoor projects done so far this week. We did manage to get the rest of the treated lumber into camp yesterday to finish the new deck being built onto the lodge. Now if the weather will cooperate maybe we can actually use it. I will try to get a few more pictures from last week on the website soon and if you were in camp last week and have some email them to me and I will get them posted.

Until next time,

No really, it is Opening Day...

Very mild temperatures (low 70's), mixed with high humidity sure didn't make it feel like opening day yesterday however. The walleye sure didn't mind as cloudy skies, intermittent rain showers and enough wind for a good "walleye chop" on the water made for ideal conditions for opening day and the fish responded accordingly. Excellent fishing was par for most of the day with a lot of walleye caught and many guests releasing fish from 18-24 inches. Numerous pike in the 30"+ range were also caught throughout the day and several guys reported having HUGE pike follow their hooked walleyes right to the boat. By late afternoon, a front was upon us which brought some more rain and unfortunately stronger winds and a dramatic cool down. Most everyone reported that the walleye bite remained "on" but not nearly to the extent of the incredible action previous to the fronts arrival. All in all a great way to open the season and the action so far today has been just as good. Looking forward to seeing you all in camp soon and having you get in on the action! Be sure to watch the website for new pictures in the photo gallery.





There I was.....

back in the wild again, and I felt right at home where I belong. I had that feeling coming over me again, just like it happened so many times before....The spirit of the woods is like an old good friend, makes me feel warm and good inside....

For those not adept at playing name that tune... it's "Fred Bear" from Ted Nugent and a pretty appropriate theme for me after I've made my way back to camp. At the same time, it remains difficult to leave Milissa and the girls behind to finish school, military assignments et al..... but it's a dance we have grown accustomed to.

I made it into camp Monday afternoon, not quite beating a rain shower, but it could have been much worse had it been raining hard. The lake level looks to be about the same as it was in October when we shut down the camp and came home. However, I understand in the past couple of weeks it has come up about 7 inches to get to this level!

Camp looks good overall, especially now that she got a new haircut yesterday, as the mild weather really had the lawn at an accelerated state of growth. Water pump quit working yesterday after two days of working perfectly, but that's just the way things roll here in the wild. Think it's an electrical issue, but should have it resolved today so no need to bring extra pails to fetch water from the lake!

Ray and Marilyn will arrive in Dryden on Friday (May 11), so by Saturday morning it will be full steam ahead with camp opening and trust me there is still plenty to do. Looking forward to seeing everyone again soon!

What are those "rockpiles" alongside the road?

We've all seen them traveling up and down the highways in NW Ontario, those strange looking rock formations that look like little people, ranging in size from tiny to large. I know we get asked the question a lot by many guests who are relatively new to the area and have always tried to take the time to explain a little bit about what they are and what they mean. Just recently I received an e mail from Dennis Meyer from the Appleton area,  who has become a regular guest of camp for the past 5 years or so, explaining more about the Inukshuk and I thought it would be a great opportunity to pass along the information to help further enlighten everyone about the origin and background of the Inukshuk.
Thanks for sharing this Dennis and see you and the guys in camp soon!

The mysterious stone figures known as inuksuit can be found throughout the circumpolar world. Inukshuk, the singular of inuksuit, means "in the likeness of a human" in the Inuit language. They are monuments made of unworked stones that are used by the Inuit for communication and survival. The traditional meaning of the inukshuk is "Someone was here" or "You are on the right path."

The Inuit make inuksuit in different forms for a variety of purposes: as navigation or directional aids, to mark a place of respect or memorial for a beloved person, or to indicate migration routes or places where fish can be found. Other similar stone structures were objects of veneration, signifying places of power or the abode of spirits. Although most inuksuit appear singly, sometimes they are arranged in sequences spanning great distances or are grouped to mark a specific place.

These sculptural forms are among the oldest and most important objects placed by humans upon the vast Arctic landscape and have become a familiar symbol of the Inuit and of their homeland. Inuit tradition forbids the destruction of inuksuit. An inukshuk (also known asinuksuk) is often venerated as symbolizing an ancestor who knew how to survive on the land in the traditional way. A familiar inukshuk is a welcome sight to a traveler on a featureless and forbidding landscape.

An inukshuk can be small or large, a single rock, several rocks balanced on each other, round boulders or flat. Built from whatever stones are at hand, each one is unique. The arrangement of stones indicates the purpose of the marker. The directions of arms or legs could indicate the direction of an open channel for navigation, or a valley for passage through the mountains. An inukshuk without arms, or with antlers affixed to it, would act as a marker for a cache of food.

An inukshuk in the form of a human being is called an inunnguaq. This type of structure forms the basis of the logo of the 2010 Winter Olympics designed by Vancouver artist Elena Rivera MacGregor. It is widely acknowledged that this design pays tribute to the inukshuk that stands at Vancouver's English Bay, which was created by artisan Alvin Kanak of Rankin Inlet, Northwest Territories. Friendship and the welcoming of the world are the meanings of both the English Bay structure and the 2010 Winter Olympics emblem.

Ice Out Imminent!

Our sources on Wabaskang Lake (notably our friend Tom Williams from Sleepy Dog Cabins), tell us that ice out on Wabaskang is now just a couple of days away. The ice is about half gone now and going fast! For those in the area this means some open water fishing opportunities for delicious lake trout, walleye and pike.

Back home in Granger, and monitoring our Facebook Group page, it is clear that many of you are anxiously counting down the days to your 2012 trip to camp. With only a few short weeks remaining before we head north, this last month will go by real fast. That's assuming that I can resist the temptation to jump the gun early and head up.....



The smiling faces (especially mine) are saying "man is it good to be out of the car!"

 We just returned from a 12 hour drive (each way) from the mountains of North Carolina where we took the girls for spring break, so I may need a couple of days to recover.... not from the 12 hours of driving, but  from being "locked" in the vehicle for 12 hours with the four girls! It was a fabulous trip, after having driven through the mountains of Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, West Virginia et al in the past, it was refreshing to stay in the area to discover more of the beauty and serenity this area has to offer. While not quite as remote and serene as camp, I have to admit it was certainly very peaceful at our mountain cabin rental and waking up in the cool mountain air and to some awesome views was very enjoyable. Another thing I personally liked about the experience was it offered some great perspective from the "renters" point of view, something I haven't really had in this environment since my last year as a guest of camp back in 2004. I caught myself on several occasions making mental notes like " oh, I like the way they did this", or "this is nice, but they could improve it by..." I'm sure some of the same observations that go through the heads of our guests every summer and we hope get shared with us as we are always open to doing even more to making the camp and your experience with us the best it can possibly be.

The ladies rest near Split Rock on Grandfather Mountain

The view of Linville Falls from the top of an awesome trail hike

Why the sign picture? Read on....

Well in addition to pointing the way to the swinging bridge which is a great walk between two mountain peaks suspended 5,280 feet in the air (a great experience even in rain, thunder and lightning as we found out), this is also where our vacation came close to an abrupt end. I learned a valuable lesson while driving up to the mountaintop--that being: don't spend too much time reading the signs and not focusing on the road! By the time I finished reading this sign the van tires were about two inches from the edge of the steep (no guard rail) embankment. As screams filled the van, I jerked the wheel to get us back on the road and on our way back up (instead of down) the mountain! I have to admit, even my pulse was up a couple of notches after this one! On the way back down after walking the bridge, I did point out to everyone that there are quite a few trees growing down the embankment where we nearly went over so I really don't think we would have rolled down that far.... Nobody seemed amused....

Enjoy the balance of spring and see you on the distant shores of Wabaskang Lake for some incredible Canadian Wilderness fishing soon!