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“Fishing is just another way to get close to nature,” Al tells me before
we sit down to a steak dinner capped by homemade apple pie. “Nature
becomes humbling when you’re immersed in it. You can’t help but see
yourself as a cog in a system.”
That attitude sets the tone at Wilderness Island. Most visitors eat a
fewwalleye while they’re here, but the bulk of the angling is catch-
and-release, says Al, who has accumulated a wealth of natural history
knowledge from fishing guides hired from area First Nations and university
students who tutored the Errington kids while they were growing up. As
we talk, Al is feeding an injured week-old snowshoe hare milk through a
straw. “Wild animals are our neighbours around here,” he says. “You get
to know them after a while.” My daughters fall in love with the orphaned
leveret, which likes to nuzzle into their necks. They’re also smitten with
the wild blueberries that dot the woods around the lodge and turn up in
the kitchen’s baking.
The next morning, when other guests motor away to cast and jig, we get
back into kayaks and paddle along the shoreline in search of moose and
bears. Lynx and timber wolves can also be seen in the game preserve,
but we settle for mink and otter sightings before cooling down with a
swim from a sandy beach. There are about 20 people staying at the resort
today, but we don’t see anybody else while on the water. Wabatongushi
Lake is 35 kilometres long, and its north-south orientation, plus a
plethora of islands and bays, prevents the west wind fromwhipping up
toomuch chop, making it easy to explore.
In the afternoon, we fish. Veteran guide Larry Harvey (white beard, wind-
burnt face) steers an 18-foot cedar strip outboard into the open water and
considers which of his favourite walleye pools to try. “My gut says one
thing andmy brain says another,” he says. “Never listen to your brain.”
At the first spot, no luck. But at stop number two, as Harvey battles the
breeze to keep us in position, the fish start biting. Withinminutes, the
girls and I land each a good sized walleye—dinner for tomorrow night—
and we’re the ones who are hooked.
After another hearty meal, I reboot with a golden-hour swim off the
floating dock, then go for a makeshift stand-up paddleboard excursion
using a sail-less windsurfing board and a kayak paddle. In bed, as a
loon’s cry drifts across the lake, I can still feel the phantom sway of the
water.
Formore infoonErrington’sWilderness Island, go to
wildernessisland.com
.
Travel to the lodgeonHawkAir (
hawkair.com
)or,when thepassenger trainsare
running, theAlgomaCentral Railway.Bookendyour tripwithastay inSaultSte.
Marie
,with itsarrayof attractions, includingawaterfront
trail, theCanadianBushplaneHeritageCentre
), theSaultCanal
NationalHistoricSite
and the
AgawaCanyonTourTrain
.
Aswe talk, Al is feedingan injuredweek-old
snowshoeharemilk throughastraw. “Wild
animalsareour neighboursaroundhere.”
Themaindockat Errington's. COURTESYTOURISMSAULTSTE.MARIE
