The Lake of Futile Death and the Leaky Red Boat Reunite

After our return from Nauyuk, where we caught our limit of fish but hardly any spawning females (DOH!), we headed to Hovaktok (Louie Lake). Experience had taught us that this lake can be very, very tricksy. In fact, it has been named the Lake of Futile Death in previous years. Previous experience has also taught us that there can be a LOT of bears at Hovaktok.

Nancy: “Heidi, I feel that your luck and my luck together are…….catastrophic.”

Heidi: “This indeed appears to be the case. Let’s take stock. We have one barely floating boat (LRB), a few less floats, a plug in cooler that is now a box, and some damaged camping equipment. Our radio doesn’t work from Hovaktok. I feel that we need to plan for ALL contingencies.”

Nancy: “I used to think you were cynical and a bit pessimistic. Now I realize you are just realistic. Let’s take both bear kits and extra noodles.”

This being decided, we slung out camping equipment, food, and fuel in the likely eventuality that the ceiling would come down while we were working one day and we would be unable to get home. We also signed our gun in and out every day, AND we brought all of our nets home every day. This was extremely time consuming, as it involved taking all floats and weights off and bagging the nets BEFORE trying to wrassle them into the helichopper. The strategy apparently worked, as we did not see a single bear during our entire time there!!! The fishing was weird – as opposed to previous years we did not catch big spawning charr, and once again the spawning female lake trout were very elusive – BUT we did not have our equipment ransacked by bears. We also did catch our limit of lake trout, which was great, and we saw a wolf!

The other great thing is that Nancy is turning into a nerd. Quite often, Nancy speaks of ski patrol and rafting. The other day on the bus up from the barge, Nancy hadn’t said anything for about 5 minutes. This was unusual. Then she said, “I can’t believe that female last night was resting!! She even had her red fins on.” Later that day Nancy said, “Phew. This periphyton is slippery.”

Other quotes:

Nancy: “Oh, hello pretty lake trout. Welcome to the LRB. Population: you. Oh look, you are a ripe male.”

Heidi chuckles evilly. Another convert. ☺

The only problem these days is that we are a little short on sleep and have slept in the last two mornings. When this happens, Heidi bolts awake and shouts, “NANCY, IT’S GO TIME!”

Nancy: “WHERE ARE MY PANTS? WHY ARE THEY BACKWARDS?”
Heidi: “GO GO GO GO GO GO – we’re going to miss the shuttle!”
Nancy: “Heidi (upward inflection) – why are we always running when we’re awake?”
Heidi: “We can’t run while sleeping.”
Nancy: “I never drank coffee before I started working for you. Now I rely on it.”
Heidi: “And this is unfortunate, because we are running low on high-test. Too bad we can’t inject this into our veins.”
[Nancy bites into first cinnamon bun of the day]

Today we start our first real day on Roberts Lake. The Lake of Futile Death (now the lake of grudging life once again) is complete for this year. Good news: we can switch to an aluminum boat (maybe). Bad news: there are three bears in the area. Ha!