Birthday trips are among my favourite trips of all. And if you want your guide to work extra hard, tell them the trip is a ‘special’ present. Any guide with a sense of pride, and we sure don’t do this for money, will bust a hump to make it what you hope it will be.

A rare cancellation left me sad because I had no one to fish with. Fortunately Kent and Amy who were on there way from the Montreal Jazzfest to the OttawaBluesfest https://www.facebook.com/ottawabluesfest remembered that Ottawa is home to some of the best musky fishing in the world. Two hours after we spoke we were out on the water learning to cast.