Birthday on the Chippewa

June 13, 2001 - Reunion On The Chippewa

Annemarie/Mom asked me what I would like to do on my Birthday and the first thing that came to mind up here in the North country was to spend the day on one of my favorite spots: The Chippewa & Torch rivers. Due to weather reports, we decided to head out on Monday to catch the more favorable WX day. Here is a brief summary of the day:

We slipped the Aluminum canoe in the Chippewa just below Lower Clam and found the water level some two feet higher than normal due to a ,later discovered, large Beaver dam downstream at the inlet to Cat tail lake. We started seeing deer and ducks immediately and almost laughed out loud at a large blue heron who lifted off the river only several feet away from us and than promptly tried to land on a branch of a large dead tree only to have the branch break off due to his weight- The heron dropped several feet when the branch broke and almost landed on the ground before recovering with tremendous wing flapping and again became airborne - looked like something directly from a Disney movie !

We ate a picnic lunch on Cat Tail Lake while observing the large Eagle Nest on the South end of the lake and watching the mother and father Eagles soar over us while protecting their nest. We proceeded to the point in the Chippewa where the Torch enters and pointed the canoe up river and silently entered a World that seldom sees the sight of humans. The Torch River is that World and we could sense that we entered that World as we portaged over the first large Beaver dam that is encountered shortly after we began our upstream adventure. Prior to that we could see the tell - tale signs of man ( aluminum boat and canoe marks) on the river rocks as other humans made their way up river, but when confronted with increasing rocks, logs, and the narrowing river channel and than finally running the final test of negotiating their way over or around a large beaver dam had decided to terminate their upstream adventure and leave the rest to their imagination and return to the more user friendly portion of the river and head back down river. Mom and I continued up the narrowing river and passed the inlet where the hidden wilderness lake called Kelly Lake enters the Torch. We immediately started seeing more deer at river side and the river banks were covered with their tracks along with the tracks of raccoons, beavers and muskrats. Up river about one mile, we turned the canoe back down river, and Mom became the fishing guide as she took over the back of the canoe and silently steered the river as I began to seriously fish the elusive musky. Every sharp bent of the river where the river current cut some depths were potential feeding areas for the musky and on this memorable day, it seemed that we had action on almost every one of these spots. In a short period of time I had landed and released three fine muskies and lost two more. As you know these river muskies are tremendous fighters as they have to constantly swim the currents. One of the muskies hit my red and white spoon when it was retrieved and fully out of the water. It covered me with water and literally woke me up which is quite an accomplishment when considering the source. Another muskie stood on its tail and shook the hook in a classic musky tactic. Another muskie shot off a sand bar ahead of the canoe and made a wake as it went down river in shallow water and I quickly cast ahead of it with my spoon and as the muskie passed by my retrieving spoon it turned in a rush and hit the spoon and the fight was on. Just before passing the beaver dam and returning to the land of civilization, we heard a rustle in the river bank high grasses and I stood in the canoe to see a newly dropped faun struggle to its wobbly feet and observe some alien from another world.

When we returned to Cat tail lake we heard the eaglets shriek their meal orders to their parents soaring high in the skies. As we proceeded back up the Chippewa the wind fell silent turning the lake and river to a glassy finish only punctuated by the

gently falling rain that began as we left Cat Tail Lake.

Several deer and ducks later, we arrived where we started the day some four hours earlier. We pulled up the canoe at the river landing, loaded our gear in the Explorer and headed home to Clam Lake and told each other that we were already looking forward to another reunion on the Chippewa and Torch Rivers and were already planning to introduce the grandchild to those unique and wonderful worlds. A great way to spend a Birthday and I thank Mom for arranging the day and being a patient and loving guide.

Looking forward to spending many more days on the river with my family members.