Tuesday, August 07, 2018

Tuesday Tyler and I decided to day trip into Winchell to check out the sights on that lake. There was only a light wind, and wanting to avoid having to paddle on Winchell after the winds picked up, we left right away in the morning. Curt stayed behind to fish Gaskin. When we got to Winchell, we started trolling straight south across the lake from the portage, and almost immediately I hooked up with a fish. Maybe it was just Gaskin that was the issue? Nope, what felt like a nice fish ended up being a foul-hooked 10" smallmouth bass, and it was the only time either of our poles bent despite trolling down Winchell's south shore for about 3 1/2 miles. We did stop at the waterfall along the south shore where Tremble Lake flows into Winchell, which was a nice break and some beautiful scenery.

Somewhere near that waterfall was a random and fairly small weedy area, and Tyler hooked into a very large pike. He was able to get it close to the boat, and our guess was the fish was somewhere in the 38-40" range. Unfortunately Tyler wasn't ready for the pike's big run, and even though his drag wasn't set tight, the quick change of direction near the boat ended with a snapped line. We continued along the south shore areas to the Winchell bluffs, and climbed to the top for some breathtaking views of the lake and the surrounding area.

On the way down, only about 100 feet from the shoreline, the unthinkable happened. I fell, and knocked myself out. I posted about this as well after we returned, in a thread titled "It CAN (and just might) happen to you" on 8/12/18. My initial post to that thread is below:

"Most of us think we are careful. We plan, prepare, and try not to take unnecessary risks while in the wilderness. We think that will prevent accidents. 99% of the time, we are right. That 1% of the time doesn't enter our minds. Well, that changed for me on my recently completed trip.

At the bottom of the cliffs on the south side of Winchell, I was stepping from a moss covered rock to another rock a little higher than the one I was on. It was one easy step away, something I've done 1000's of time. I have no memory of what happened next, but my 17 yo son thankfully was only several steps behind me and saw it all. I slipped, fell, and lurched forward. I crashed into the side of the rock ahead of me, my head hitting the rocks about waist height, and crumpled to the ground. I came to as he reached me (2-3 seconds?) and reached into my pocket to try to answer the phone that I thought was ringing. There was no phone. In that 2-3 seconds I had imagined a phone call as well as my wife's voice telling me I had missed a call. I then realized my head hurt, and those were the first words out of my mouth. I was dazed and slightly bleeding from my cheek, ear, and arm all as a result of the rest of the fall after my body went limp from hitting the rock with my left eye area.

All in all, I was lucky. I did not have a concussion (yes, I did follow up with a doctor after the trip, again talked about in the other thread). My memory from just before that accident, as well as right after the accident was still fully intact. Other than some initial dizziness and a headache for a couple days, I was able to continue my trip as planned. I did end up with one hell of a black eye. It could have been much, much worse, and even with help from my son, it would have been a chore to get back to our site which at that time was about 4.5 miles of paddling and a portage away. If I had fallen harder, or on a more jagged rock and cracked my skull, our small first aid kit (which was with us) would not have done much. It will be a learning experience to draw from for years to come, but really was nothing more than what it was- a freak accident doing something I'm likely to continue doing.

Please, be careful out there at all times and don't take for granted how quickly a seemingly safe activity can turn into a potentially bad situation."

The rest of the day went by fairly uneventfully. We tried fishing later that afternoon and evening, and again ended up with not a single fish to eat. Dinner was a zero meat protein meal, and to make up for it, we ate the "extra" meal we always pack (rice and beans) along with our mashed potatoes, noodles, and applesauce. Talk about carbo-loading! Our bellies were full, but now our margin for error in relation to food was reduced to a couple extra packets of oatmeal and some extra trail mix. We needed fish, every day, the rest of the week. We went to bed knowing that we would be leaving to get to Meeds the next morning, and hoped that the change of lakes would also bring a change in our fishing fortunes.