I’ve told you about Harrop Lake before. This makes something like the seventeenth year in a row that I’ve gone north to this particularly spot with my friends and family. What’s so great about this particular spot? Well, this is the view from my cabin:

Actually the view is great, but it’s the fishing that matters right?

Well this year was perhaps even better than last in terms of big fish. I caught two northern over 40:

but neither was big enough to knock The Old Man’s fish out of the top spot:

Unfortunately, this year’s trip was not all perfect. Before dinner on the second night my mother slipped on mud and grass while walking between her cabin and the dinner cabin. She fell and broke both the bones in her lower leg. It was a bad situation, but it could have been so much worse. Our crew included a radiologist, an RN, a dentist, and a guy who has run clinics and radiology departments all his life. They got her reasonably diagnosed, splinted, and relaxed. The other huge stroke of luck was that there was a small float plane already parked on the dock. There is one worker in camp to keep the generator running, boats gassed, and cabins from burning down. This year that worker happened to be the owner of the operation and he happens to be a bush pilot as well.

We were able to get her on a four wheeler and then down to the dock, very slowly. From there we shuffled her backwards into the back of the plane, added The Old Man, and away they went. Despite being hundreds of miles from help, they were seen at a crappy Canadian clinic only a few hours after being hurt. The next day they were at a real hospital in KC and now she’s got screws and plates holding things together. It was a terrible accident that certainly changed the mood of camp but it could have been much, much worse.

Fortunately for us, they had to leave before surf and turf night:


One of the guys in our group gets part of his trip subsidized by the rest of the group in exchange for doing all the cook and supply logistics. I consider him to be irreplaceable!

Anyway, we ate well and crushed the fish. The wife and I boated 50-80 walleye each day including this stud that the wife caught (but wouldn’t hold for the picture):

Guess what… we booked the same week next year…

* I occasionally get google hits for “Harrop Lake”. If you get here and have been to Harrop, drop me a line. I would love to hear what others think. dukkillr@hotmail.com

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