Lake MacSmith turned out to be our favorite lake and are planning on going there again in July 2009. The main reason we didn't go from 2006 to 2008 was, Sadie our dog was sick and in July of 2008, she was diagnosed having kidney failure. Now without her, it will surely seem different not having her to travel with us since she enjoyed swimming and chasing squirrels while there.
Lake Coonie was visited in 2003 where we caught plenty of fish but Lake MacSmith's lake was larger with many places to tie the boat up and explore. Our last visit to Lake MacSmith in July of 2005, we had a pleasant surprise when the plane approached the cabins pier, we saw a new building near the cabin and our pilot said it was a Swedish style steam sauna.
The pilot checked the propane tanks since the cabin lighting, refrigerator and cooking stove used propane. Seeing the plane take off from the lake was spectacular and when out of sight, the peace and quite surrounded us except for some distant Loons on the lake.
After unpacking, we prepared our fishing gear and launched one of the aluminum boats with the outboard motor. Checking out the lake was fun and we began fishing along some grassy areas using spinning lures for bass. Not having much luck, we began trolling using some artificial worms called Scoundrels that Mary rigged up. What a surprise when passing an outcropping of rocks, we had our first hit. Mary reeled in a nice sized Walley which we kept for our dinner that evening and returned further catches back into the lake. There was no problem catching fish and had the most fun catching some of the large Pike that populate the north end. When returning to our pier, Mary left her pole leaning over the edge of the boat and to our surprise, a 4 pound bass jumped completely out of the water and grabbed it. We returned it to the lake since our walleye was plenty for dinner. From then on, if we wanted a bass for dinner, we merely used a bobber and worm off the pier and sure enough, we always caught nice bass. Sudbury Aviation supplies worms and minnows but we only had luck with the live worms.
It was rather warm that July day and we thought about taking a dip (skinny dipping) just past the pier. It was only a few minutes when Mary discovered a black critter hanging onto her leg. I told her it was only a leach and they cause no harm. Well, needless to say, that was our first and last swimming episode even after I expalined how hospitals are using leaches to help during certain sugeries.
We had to check out the newly constructed steam sauna in 2005 and had to carry more water from the lake which by the way is also our cooking and drinking water. For drinking and cooking, we do add a few drops of bleach just to be sure since we weren't used to lake water. Modesty is not necessary at the lakes and soon we grabbed a towel and walked to the sauna. A fire was built and water was frequently sprinkled over the hot stones. It was so relaxing to enjoy the moist heat and after we finished, we used our portable solar heated shower bag hanging from a beam on the cabin porch to rinse off.
