Night Ride on Big Sand

In the musky world there are many larger than life stories and larger than life people. In my musky world, my mentor, Ken Stunnel is one of those people. He planted the seed 40 years ago and he is the reason I guide.

Minaki is a place or lore, legend, and unparalleled Canadian Shield beauty. It is where I cut my teeth as a guide in the 70s and is lives in my best dreams. Doug Kary, Robbie Bennett, Browner, Rupe, Judy, Batiuk’s Bait Shop, Holst Point Lodge, Sunset Point, and the Minaki Lodge are or were fixtures of our great northern musky country.

I have taken the late night ride home across Big Sand. It is a ride and a feeling like no other. It elevates your soul and Ken, you captured it beautifully. Thank you, for everything.

NIGHT RIDE ON BIG SAND

A monster moon, a night-light lantern, a cold shimmering beacon,
Golden trail over flat water,
Rising whiffs and swirls of mist cannot swallow the gold,
But create a spectral stage over which all alone I fly,
My boat on ballet slippers, the full throttled 90 horses are kitten quiet,
I’m elevating, airborne it seems,
Soaring breathlessly along this ethereal ribbon of glistening maze,
I can almost touch the stars.
Islands and shorelines flash by like tombstone shadows,
Timeless granite, towering forests,
Eerie in the night passing, a wondrous hideaway beauty
All the way to heaven.
The rest of the world sleeps.
The big lady was luminescent when she swam to the boat a little while ago,
A leviathan, a railway tie, a tanker,
A glowing fearless predator,
A grey wraith, part shark, part wolf,
The musky turned on my lure…nipped at it…then sat there…
Ominous,
And began to sink…
The night went undisturbed.
With knees of jelly I saluted the curtain call.
‘No, not tonight M’Lady? Yes, you’re magnificent, and so is the night!”