It’s not very often anymore that we get to experience spur-of-the-moment trips. Work and household responsibilities leave us carefully carving out moments when the boat can get put in the water, seeking out fish and adventure. Even those best-laid plans are sometimes blown up by circumstances out of our control; after all, what better time for things to go awry than the moment you believe you’re finally getting out on the water?
Advertisement
This time, however, everything unexpectedly fell into place. A couple extra days off of work, a vacant spot for one night in an otherwise booked up campground and favourable weather conditions left us with few excuses to reason our way out of it – those opportunities for adventure must be snatched up when they present themselves on a silver platter.
Advertisement
Dipping away for an overnight is relatively easy. Pre-made frozen breakfast sandwiches done on the barbecue in the morning, smokies for lunch and burgers for dinner – no dishes required and only a small handful of garbage generated. Instant coffees and the jet boil tucked away for an AM caffeine fix, we were hooked onto the boat and on our way in a little over an hour.
Advertisement
Blessed to live in an area surrounded by ample fishing opportunities, we were on the water by late morning. A slower start than we are used to close to home, but this trip we were after a different species than what we normally target: sockeye salmon. While no longer the shiny chrome fish of the ocean, at the beginning of August they still make fine table fare and I always anticipate smoking and canning sockeye.
Despite a slow start to the fishing, we switched up locations on the lake and joined countless other boats in a well-orchestrated dance of watercraft and tackle, chasing after the salmon. It’s not exactly relaxing, per se, the number of other fishermen makes it imperative that your head is always on a swivel. If you hit the run of salmon right, however, it is well worth it – we tucked our limit of fish into the cooler by early afternoon and spent the remainder of the day exploring the trails surrounding the campsite. The perfect way to wrap up a last-minute trip.