Читать книгу Memories of Magical Waters - Gord Deval - Страница 9

Prologue

Most folks would find it well nigh impossible to name forty or fifty different bodies of water. When my publisher suggested that a work written by me, which delved into the charm and mystique of the many streams, rivers and lakes that I have been fortunate enough to have wet a line on or in during my more than sixty-five years of fishing, would appeal to anglers past and present, I sat down with a pencil, then slapped on my thinking cap. Amazingly, the list of waters that tested my angling skills over all those years totalled more than one hundred and seventy. If it had not been for this exercise, I would not have believed it.

Although a few of these waters provide me with only a faint and or mundane recollection, many others are indelibly etched in my memory bank. As often as not, big fish have little to do with it. Each and every brook, stream, river and lake that tested my mettle as an angler over all those years left its mark—several, pleasantly and a few not so pleasantly—while countless others provided magnificently vivid and detailed reminiscences. It is these wonderfully magical waters and the wonderful hours enjoyed fishing them that created all these magical memories.

Allow me to share a few of these moments with you.

Here are the “magical waters” listed alphabetically:

12 Mile Lake, 30 Island Lake, A/B Lake,* Allen Lake, Bald Lake, Balsam Lake, Baltimore Creek,† Bateaux River, Bay of Quinte, Beanpole Lake,* Beaver River,* Beaverkill River (NY), Benson Lake, Bighead River, Birchy Lake, Bitter Lake, Bivouac Lake, Black Lake, Blue Lake,* Bowmanville Creek, Boyne River, Broadback River,* Brooks Lake,† Brule Lake, Buckhorn Lake, Burdoch Lake, Butternut Lake, Cache Lake, Canoe Lake, Cavan Stream, Centreton Creek, Charleston Lake, Clear (Clean) Lake, Clement Lake, Coldwater Creek, Desert Lake, Devil Lake, Duck Lake, Duffins Creek, East Lake, East River, Echo Creek,* Fishtail Lake, Fleetwood Creek, Frenchman’s Bay, Georgian Bay,* Golden Lake, Grace Lake, Grand River, Grants Lake, Green Lake, Green Lake (2), Grenadier Pond, Gull Lake, Gull River, Hall’s Lake, Harburn Lake, Castleton Creek, Indian Brook, “Itsy Bitsy” Brook,* Janetville Stream, Jessops Creek, Jocko River, Kashagawigamog Lake, Kashawakamac (Long) Lake, Kawagama (Hollow) Lake, Kennesis Lake, Kiefers Creek, Kingscott Lake, Lady Evelyn Lake, Lake Huron, Lake Nippising, Lake of Bays, Lake Ontario, Lake Simcoe,† Limit Lake,* Little Birchy Lake, Little East River, Little Jocko River, Little Kennesis Lake, Little Mackie Lake, Little Redstone Lake, Long Mallory Lake, Long Schooner Lake, Loughborough Lake,* Lucky Lake,* Mackie Lake, Mad River, Madawaska River, Magnetwawan River, Mazinaw Lake, Mill Creek, Moore Lake, Moose Lake, Mosque Lake,* Muskoka Lake,* Noisy River, Nonquon River, North Lake, North Quinn Lake, North River (P.E.I.), Nottawasaga River, Oshawa Creek, Otonabee River, Ouse River, Papineau Creek, Peach (Miskwabi) Lake, Pefferlaw River, Pigeon Lake, Pigeon River, Pine Lake, Pine River, “Piss” (Trout) Creek,* Pottawatami Lake, Pretty River, Quinn Lake, Redstone Lake, Remi Lake,† Rice Lake, Rideau Lake, Rock Lake, Rocky Saugeen Stream, Rouge River, Round Schooner Lake, Rupert River, Saugeen River,* Scugog Lake, Severn River, Sharpes Creek, Sheldon Creek,† Shelter Valley Stream, Silver Creek, Silver Lake, Skootamata Lake, Sludge Lake,† South Quinn Lake, Sturgeon Lake, Sturgeon River, Sullivan Lake,† Sydenham River, Tedious Lake,* Temagami Lake, Toronto Islands, Trent River, Trout Creek (Pennsylvania), Trout Lake, Willemoc River (NY).*

The asterisk (*) in the above list indicates the greatest of all locations for the memories pertinent to these waters, and the symbol (†) marks those I also consider superb, thus their inclusion in this work. This book will, of course, deal with the most powerful and interesting recollections. The other waters listed here should still be considered as excellent sites, well worth a visit for the enterprising fisherman.