Scarborough Fly & Bait Casting Association 23 Willowhurst Crescent, Scarborough  Ontario M1R 3R7 Phone & Fax - 416/755-5663 E Mail -coachman@pathcom.com Web Site - www.pathcom.com/~coachman NEW!! E-Books  Web Site - www.gordondeval.com

The Reel Thing September 2010           This, my first Reel Thing in quite a while, will of necessity be rather short. Reason being, after escaping a grueling experience stranded deep in the bush almost a thousand miles when the big Otter Bush plane failed to arrive as had been previously arranged. The villainous weather was the culprit.           However and fortunately, this, the 2010 BROADBACK RIVER CREW was one of the very best of those gentlemen who assisted and looked after The Old Guy in every possible manner. Overall there is a great deal to write about, but I’ve been heavily involved with the  doctors during  the past two days and present that I’m forced to spend in Scarborough Grace Hospital with my various ‘recovering’ details, so I will attempt to lean heavily on my severely damaged memory to simply provide a brief summary of the most pertinent and ‘memorable’ details of this just concluded wonderful trip.           Knowing that about we will be traveling to the far north, we have a barometer with us as one of the more important items in our kit. It had been steady, only slightly on the low pressure side, but soon began to decline sharply then after the initial lovely couple days of fishing the barometer began to bottom out. When we eventually returned from the bush, we were told that there had been terrible weather in all of the north and north-east……hey, like we didn’t know ourselves though, eh!           Nevertheless, on our initial hike to what was always considered to be the ‘Glory Hole’ David struck ‘pay-dirt’ and after a short and furious battle with the biggest brook trout caught in our territory in the past five or six years, not far off the eight pound mark. Unfortunately my rusty old pocket DeLiar couldn’t give us an accurate read.           Then to prove it wasn’t just a fluke, Scot almost topped David’s catch with another gorgeous brookie in the four pound class. F.Y.I., for almost sixty years my buddies and I declare a Speckled Trout weighing in excess of four pounds to be a MOUNTIE!  Prior to that and after the barometer plummeted, no more sizeable specks were caught but did provide us with a number of  delicious meals with the smaller trout in the rivulets around the sides of the great falls.           In addition, there were several great meals provided for the crew, and thanks to David, Patrick and Scot’s efforts, largely due to Dave’s six pound pickerel, along with several other fat beauties caught by the gang……..perhaps the last fish, another nice pickerel caught near the Indian Camp by Patrick was a delicious meal prepared by Scot using nothing much but twigs to cook the thing up to help us to save from starving while we awaited the two day late plane’s arrival.           A couple tid-bits I will savour forever are: Scot’s engineering expertise in re-building the bridge between the camp’s privy, along with his use of blueberry bushes in lieu of stakes to support the shelter while we awaited the Otter’s eventual arrival. Another extremely appreciated memory that be burned into my memory forever will be when both David and Patrick took turns several times to assist me when they knew it was a struggle for me to completely get out of my wet and soggy gear.           Another highlight coming mind was one of the last meals that we were able to throw together using a little left-over flour, extra virgin olive oil, home-made maple syrup, a touch of vanilla and several handfuls of plump blueberries. This 2010 Broadback River Trip provided us with dozens of memorable items to be savoured during the years and hopefully it may be repeated again one day in the future.           Thanks Guys, The Old Guy,           The 2010 Broadback Crew: DAVID JOHNSON                                                      SCOT BENSON                                                      PATRICK WALSH                                                      GORDON DEVAL                                                                                                                                                                                SELECT ANOTHER ISSUE HOME