A Long Back Cast

A mirror image of Thunder mountain and the clouds above it reflected in the evening light on Stewart Lake, Yukon Two summers ago I took a trip back to the Yukon to visit my Whitehorse friends John Firth and his wife Dawn, and to fly in to our much beloved Stewart Lake, a place we have been returning to from time-to-time over four decades. On this visit to the lake, John and I were joined by my brother-in-law Ted Vandenberg from London and my life-long Ottawa friend Alan Clapp. Our five-day Stewart Lake adventure is captured in a retrospective feature that I wrote for Outdoor Canada Magazine. The article is published in the May/June edition which hit the news stands this week. Shoppers Drug Mart carries it, so that's where I picked up my copy. I'll have to wait for my subscription copy which I guess is coming by Canada Post's slow dogsled service. The digital edition may at some point put the Stewart Lake feature online. The photos below are a sample of some of the sights an...

  From Lowly Dish Washer to Swabbing the Deck in the Navy – all in six Months Budding fisherman  At  the age of 18, like most youth I was rudderless. With a lifetime ahead of me, I hadn't a clue what I wanted to do, other than fish, and there was no way I was going to make a living doing that full-time.  After I obtained my driver’s license, Mom hinted, on more than one occasion that I should get a part-time job if I wanted to keep driving the family car. That was enough incentive to get me off the couch and out the door to find a job. On a frigid week-night in January, 1976 I told Mom I was going to the Bayshore Shopping Centre to search for work. My first stop was at Le Quickie, a lunch counter-style restaurant that catered to shoppers at the normally busy mall in west-end Ottawa. Having no employment history, I knew the barrier to entry for a dish washer would be very low. The mall was quiet and the restaurant near empty. I spied the one waitress on shift that ev...