One of my favorite reads each month is the ” North with Doc” column in In-Fisherman magazine written for over 20 years by Greg Knowles who lives in Green Valley, Arizona. Greg’s column has chronicled the fishing adventures of he and his buddies at Knobby’s Bamaji Lake VIP outpost in Northwestern Ontario. If you’ve read this column, you know how accurately he captures the goings on of a group of guys with diverse backgrounds who share a week together fishing in the bush. In a way, we’ve all grown older together reading his stories about life’s adventures, the good and the bad, the happiness and sad. This year’s trip with fellow pals Tracy Hayward, Mike Woods, and Larry Hamlett to Birch Lake, Ontario was bittersweet. Just a year ago, a week after our trip to Birch, Larry ended up in the University of Iowa Hospitals with what was thought to be a stroke. Unfortunately, it was more–he had a cancerous tumor in his brain which took away his speech plus cancer in other parts of his body. The skilled doctors and rehab specialists have brought him to today where the last few months he’s felt good and has regained most of his speech. “The doctors have given me four or five years to live,” he told us on our way up to our fly out spot at Kay Air on Lake Lac Seul. “I plan to make the best of them!” he added. We arrived at our remote outpost cabin on Birch Lake early Saturday morning, July 7th. We unloaded our gear with the help of the guys leaving and helped them load their gear into Peter Kay’s Beechcraft while visiting about how fishing had been for them. There are two cabins at the site and we learned another group would be joining us Tuesday. After a quick unload and put away, we were on the water with the 14 foot Alumamarine boats powered by 15hp Yamaha motors. Larry drove one of the boats all week while Mike, Tracy, and I exchanged drivers and passengers during the week. Our weather was tough–lots of wind every day but one. Plus, we endured one heavy shower mid-week which reminded us how unpredictable Canadian weather can be. We fished hard every day and ended with a total of 798 fish for the week–mostly walleyes plus the pesky pike which manage to find your baits. This was my fourth year on the trip and I’d learned early on you can catch them using artificial baits. Most of our fish hit on a simple 3/8 ounce jig head tipped with a plastic tail. Pink and white was the hot color along with chartreuse. My pals used single tail plastics while I used the double-tails. I also used a spinner off a Wing-It bottom sponsor–the spinner set up was a Mylar float, three beads, then a slow death hook. I threaded the double tail plastic on the red hook and tipped with a small piece of Uncle Josh’s Pork Crawler (something you can’t buy anymore). The walleyes seemed to like the twister spinning in the water plus the pork acted as an attractant. On my jig rod, I attached a six-inch leader to ward off the pike bite offs, the jig, then the plastic. Our “captains” looked for areas where the wind was blowing into the weeds–that’s where the walleyes were! Boat control was critical on the tougher wind days back trolling into the wind or floating with the wind over the best spots. We fished all over the 26,000 acre lake mostly on good spots from the past and exploring a few new ones. We ate fish during the week and finished our limits out Friday morning for the ride home. Tracy also cooked Mississippi pork butt for us plus a Friday night steak fry! Larry and Mike did the boat chores and cleaned fish. My job was to wash dishes, cooking utensils, then clean up the cabin floors Friday night for the next group coming in. Apparently, I’m doing a good job because they haven’t changed my duties! During the week, we endured some hot weather, flies in the boat, rain, but mostly the wind. We were up early Saturday morning the 14th to get our gear out on the dock for Pete’s arrival by 7:30am. “This has been the WORST bite we’ve had in the twelve years we’ve been coming,” chorused Larry, Mike, and Tracy before loading our gear on the plane. But, in a way, it was the BEST week for us because Larry could join us. I got to sit up front in the plane for the ride back to Lac Seul and was amazed at the view of the water and trees from 3,000 feet! Back at Kay Air, we unloaded our gear then reloaded everything into Tracy’s Ford F-150 for the two day ride home. Another trip to Birch was in the books. I give thanks for the friendship of these men, the Glory of God’s creation, and the blessings we receive each day. We at walleyewisdom.com hope you enjoy reading the story and looking at the pics! Spike