Assistant on a canoe trip!

By Brynna Skov

As Don’s assistant, I’ve helped out with practically every aspect of a trip – from taking reservations, to keeping the tackle box organized, to washing out the boats after a long day on the water. Everything, that is, except for actually coming along on a trip with Don and clients. So it was a real treat to go along with a young couple and their enthusiastic eight-year-old son, on a nature exploration trip last month in the role of a photographer.

It was a perfect day on the water. We paddled across the pond, a light breeze keeping most of the bugs away. A pair of eagles swooped down right in front of us and perched in a nearby tree, practically asking to have their pictures taken.

The fish were a little shyer but our young friend was persistent, insisting that Don just wasn’t being patient enough and that the fish would come if we just cast from the other side of the boat, or called them loudly enough. And it worked! All of a sudden he had a (fish) on the end of his line; I barely had time to turn my canoe and get a picture while he reeled it in. He caught a couple more after that, and didn’t want to stop; even when it was time to turn around and head back in toward the dock.

I’ve been to Seven Tree Pond dozens of times, but it was a new and special experience to be there with a kid who was experiencing the place for the first time and who was so excited about everything around him – from the fish he’d caught, to the “whirlpools” that spin off a paddle as it’s pushed through the water, to the freshwater mussels that we scooped up from the bottom of the pond.