Now, 7 years later, this youngster outfished Uncle Dan for the second year in a row, which is fine with me.
At the portage we found a map of the Park, but it must have been the southwest portion of Algonquin, because it had Mubwayaka Lake on it, but not David Creek or the Tim River.
The more we thought about it, the more sense it made to stay with the devil we knew, rather than risk the unknown. It had been a few years since any of us were on the Tim, and none of us knew for sure about David Creek, the connecting route back into Ralph Bice. So we set off to Little Trout, and stayed between the islands and the south shore on Little Trout without any trouble, although with caution, and rested for an hour or so at the Little Trout end of the portage into Bice. During this time a pair of anglers landed to untangle their lines, and they showed us the biggest speckled trout I've ever seen, other than hanging from a wall: about 22 inches and 4 pounds of colour: red dots, fins outlined in white, olive green flanks, white belly. This is the kind of fish every angler dreams about!
The north shore opens even wider into the main lake, north of where the islands along the south shore form a comma, and it was at this point where the waves got crazy. Darren and I could manage, but only just, and neither of us are small men-Darren climbs trees for a living. Nathan and Cliff, though, they hit a wall. They could barely make any headway at all in spite of their experience and strength, and quickly realized they had to land to retain any little energy. We landed safely on the north shore opposite the island, and were very happy to be within walking distance and on the same shore as our campsite, about halfway down the lake! To a man, that is an understatement!
How high were the waves? Noticeably higher than two years ago, in this video of Round Lake on our spring 2013 trip: (That adventure is found here:
http://www.thelilydipper.com/uncle-travelling-dan/algonquin-spring
http://www.thelilydipper.com/uncle-travelling-dan/algonquin-spring-part-2
Get outside this winter, but stay warm, eh!