It was about 20 feet above the rocky shore of Lake Winnipeg, perched on a limestone cliff that Lake Agassiz had formed thousands of years earlier. It was well hidden by balsam, birch and red willow trees. It gave us a commanding view of all shipping activity in our part of Humbuck Bay.

We had many adventures in the fort and the surrounding forest. But I remember one day in 1941 when we weren’t just kids in a fort, we were like spies on a real mission. Afí (grandfather) had said to be on the lookout for the Fish Inspector.  (For the uninitiated, the Fish Inspector was, at the time, the equivalent of a combination of the RCMP, the Nazis, and the taxman.)

To us kids this was another boat to secretly observe as it plied the waters of our bay. Remember this was the Fall of ‘44 and as far as we knew, the German Navy could come steaming along at any moment. We were always on the look out for possible threats and we made many plans for daring rescues and escapes. To the countless fishermen who made their living on that part of Lake Winnipeg, however, this was serious business.

Of no interest to us spies, the Station had shipped a good load of pickeral and saugers that week. A good catch. The fish were small and would make great eating fillets. The fact that the fish were small would be noted by those who watch such matters when the fish was off loaded in Selkirk. The fact that this size of fillet was greatly desired by the consumer meant nothing to the Authorities. It only indicated to them that the fishermen were using illegal small mesh nets. At that time in Humbuck Bay the legal mesh was 4 1/4ins. My father tried in vain to explain to the Fisheries Department this size only catches the large, reproductive fish - you literally are killing off the producers of future fish. But the fish biologists could not or would not buy this argument from some smelly fisherman. (It should be noted it is currently accepted practice to release larger fish back to their environment so that future generations might also enjoy the thrill of fishing.) As my common sense father would often say, "When the law is wrong you change the law or break it until that happens."

Back at our fort we saw the small boat slowly approaching, hugging the shore so that maximum surprise could be effected. The men in the boat hunkered down as if to be invisible to their intended prey. We raced to inform Afi of the impending enemy invasion. There was much scurrying about by the fishermen as they stashed their illegal nets deep in the forest. The Fish Inspectors went about their business in the Bay. They seized a number of illegal nets – enough to enable them to stop looking, perhaps, and then came ashore to confer with my father who was the Station Owner/Operator.

The Fish Inspectors were all known to the fishermen. Most had at one time fished the mighty Lake before ‘donning the livery of the King’. This particular group of men was led by my father’s best friend Pete Thorsteinson. He informed Pete he had no idea how the nets got into our part of the bay - probably some fishermen from around the Point coming in at night. This charade went on for a few moments while us kids contemplated how we could disembowel these ‘barbarians’ on our dock. My father would have none of that. Instead, he invited the Government men in for dinner at the cook shack. Pete knew the cook’s (my mother) culinary skills well and jumped at the chance of a home cooked meal. My father made it very clear to the other fishermen present that the visitors were to be treated with the greatest of respect. His theory was that having paid our dues with confiscated gear, the Fish Inspectors would leave his crew alone. Maybe he was right - despite Mother’s fabulous cooking, they did stay away; for a while. And so with one less enemy in need of surveillance we returned to the fort to plan our next adventure on Humbuck Bay.

Growing up around the fishing industry in Gimli I watched this same passing parade play out many times. The music was the same, only the musicians were different.

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March 2007