Boat Wake

The Long Weekend

loaded boat

two hour cruise

set up camp

hearty food

warm sleeping bags

blueberries gathered
 

campfire

Teller visitors

long naps

fishing

fall colors captured

sleeping bag wrestling

 home again

warm shower

memories

~AnnMarie

Fishing Trip

Last weekend Harold and I went fishing.  Our friend Kenny and his son Ernie came with us.  We took our boat "up river" to Imuruk Basin and into the Agiapuk river.

It is about a 40 mile trip and takes two hours.  Along the way we took a break and threw rocks in the water.

We saw some friends leaving there cabin so we stopped to visit with them for a little while.

The best place to find the pike is in the shallow areas of the river delta away from the main channel.  Kenny and I actually had to get out of the boat and pull it through a narrow channel by hand.

Once we made it through the narrow part we drifted with the current and fished in the shallow water.  When we found the fish the action was very fast and exciting.  The pike grow to enormous size and are very aggressive.  With all four of us fishing I never seemed to have time to take any photos.

Ernie took a nap on the way home.

We had a lot of fishing action, but had a hard time getting them all in the boat.  Next time we need to get stronger line and a landing net.  In the end we came home with four pike that measured 24" to 30"

C.O.

Changing Seasons

Our Boat

Here is a nice shot of our "new" boat.  It is not really new, just newly in the water.  I built the boat a few years ago and we used it a few times.  It was unfortunately damaged (under 10,000 lbs of snow) and it took me a couple of years to find the time to fix/modify it.

The boat is just over 21' long and has a 90 hp Honda outboard.  The boat is built from plywood and fiberglass.  The front of the boat opens up with a ramp so that you can drive an ATV into the boat.  The ramp also makes it easier to load and unload other heavy gear.

We will use the boat for hauling things back and forth to the nearby village of Teller and for occasional camping or hunting trips.

C.O.

Bolger Fast Brick

Today we are on day four of our early summer adventure, a road trip that revolves around this boat. Currently, it lives in Colorado and in just a few short days it will be ours. We are taking two weeks to drive through Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming and South Dakota as we loop back to Northern Minnesota.

You may wonder why we are driving 2400 miles to buy this particular boat. Our reasons are twofold. The first is that the boat was designed by a man named Phil Bolger. C.O. particularly admires Bolger's unconventional, no nonsense approach to boat design. It seems people either love or hate his creations. C.O. falls in the “love it” category. C.O. had a few questions for the Colorado boat builder who spent two years constructing the 12 foot "Fast Brick" . Though it was not our intent, one e-mail led to another until we agreed to buy the boat instead of build a similar one ourselves.

The boat itself is a treasure, but we are also acquiring it as part of our retirement dream. The plan is for the Fast Brick to be used as the dinghy on our live aboard cruiser. In the meantime, it will be kept at the cabin in Minnesota where it'll be used around Side Lake and to explore neighboring waters.

--AnnMarie

Springtime Boating

A few people are starting to get their boats ready for spring time hunting. We will still have ice here within Port Clarence until June, but 10 or 15 miles out to on the other side of the sand spit it opens up sooner. Both of these boats are standard 18' Lunds with 60 hp motors. As long as the ice is not too rough a snowmobile will easily pull them on a sled like this.

C.O.

Fall Boating

Fall

It's that time of year,

Time to go out and retrieve your snowmobile from wherever you left it when the ice melted in the spring.

C.O.