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Walleye Opener 2009

867 views 0 replies 1 participant last post by  Whopper 
#1 ·
Well here's my take on our trip to Sportsman's Lodge on Little Vermilion.

Met up with my travel partner on Thursday morning the 14th at 7am in Toledo Ohio for our trek north, it was pouring rain on his arrival and kind of set the tone for things to come. Loaded up and headed off hoping to be in International Falls MN before dark, made it with time to spare and ended up deciding to make our way to Dryden Ontario. The drive from Fort Francis to Dryden was done with caution, ended up seeing four moose and a fox, had to come to a complete stop for one of the moose. Arrived in Dryden about 11pm and got a room for the night which would just leave a short jaunt to Balmertown the next morning. I asked the clerk for a 5am wake up call and called it a night. Up on time the next morning looked outside and it was clear but I could tell it was a bit brisk because the puddles in the parking lot were frozen and there was frost on the truck. We watched the weather forecast and it called for rain turning to snow by late afternoon/evening, great!
at least we'll be able to beat the nasty stuff for the last leg, WRONG wasn't on the road for just a little over an hour and a half when it started snowing



The further north we went the worst it got, arrived in Balmertown and there was probably already a few inches on the ground. We were greeted by the rest of our party who had spent the previous night in Balmertown who were scheduled for the first flight out, plan was to take the eight of us out along with or gear in two trips, the first group already had their gear loaded up on the carts ready to go on the plane. Pilot said he was just waiting for a break in the weather to get going and for us to visit a local eatery for some breakfast and he would come get us when he was ready, well the break never happened, it snowed the entire day and they ended up closing the highway that we had just driven in on so we ended up staying in Balmertown until the next afternoon.





Brought out the heavy equipment to clear the roads



As evening came upon us at the motel it was still coming down



Awoke the next morning to beautiful skies but still a bit chilly out, had to wait until mid afternoon for planes to start flying so now we have a major log jam at the plane dock, but with the sun shinning it was quite refreshing



Getting the plane ready for the first load



I think we were the second group of the dock, and away we went





The short ride out was scenic but a little bumpy, but the Beaver we were riding prevailed.



Stay tuned for part two
 
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