Reflections: Fishing-Cabin Smells

Lizzy, our German wirehaired pointer, loved long rides in the car. She would spend most of the trip from Lincoln to our cabin on Stalker Lake in Otter Tail County, Minnesota, asleep on her back atop her comfy pillow. But as soon as we turned east off of Highway 59 and approached Ten Mile Lake, she would jump to her feet, spin in circles, and stick her nose in the air. She could smell that lake, the first sizable natural lake we would encounter on the trip and I would like to think she knew that we were only about 15 minutes from the cabin and many more good smells.

Compared to Lizzy’s sense of smell, as well as that of most humans, my olfactory perception powers are weak. Even so, there are many smells, most good, some bad, and a few ugly, commonly associated with the cabin that even I can detect. I realize that many of these smells occur elsewhere and even everywhere, but they seem especially odoriferous and occur more often at the cabin.

When we arrive at the cabin in the spring, we’re often greeted by the sweet smell of the largest lilac bush on earth. This bush has existed since as far back as I can remember and has probably flourished because it has served as a protective site for five generations of Gabelhouse men and boys to relieve themselves outdoors but out of public view.

Like Lizzy, I have always enjoyed the smell of a natural lake. As a kid, I would grab my rod and reel and run down the hill to the lake as soon as we arrived at the cabin. I couldn’t wait to reconnect with the lake and start fishing. Crunchy, calcified chara (also know as skunkweed) along with the sediment, containing zillions of tiny snail shells, produce a pungent smell that has always soothed my soul.

Some of the bad or ugly smells associated with the cabin include mothballs that had spent the winter in the boat, skunky well water left in the hot water heater since the last spring or summer trip, and actual skunk spray, especially if it’s on a dog. With a lake so available, we also get to “enjoy” a wet dog smell with regularity. Wet sponges used to clean up kayaks and wet canvas tents don’t smell very good either.

There are many distinctive smells associated with fishing. I have always enjoyed the smell of outboard motor exhaust in the water, but dead leeches and worms (including those dry and hardened on hooks) have less-than-pleasant smells. The worst smell at the cabin or anywhere is a five-gallon bucket of fish carcasses not disposed of soon enough.

While fish carcasses smell really bad, fish fillets coated with panko and frying in heart-healthy canola oil, along with onions frying with potatoes in a skillet, are really good smells. Eggs frying in bacon grease and coffee perking always smell better at the cabin. We smell more burnt marshmallows at the cabin than anywhere else, and bonfires used to cook them have there own pleasing smell.

There are a few foods we readily eat at the cabin but seldom have at home. My grandmother loved Zwieback toast and my mother liked chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry wafer cookies. They smell pretty much like the wrapping they come in, but they taste pretty good. Both my parents liked braunschweiger/liverwurst sandwiches and so do my son and I, especially when they’re eaten accompanied by a glass of buttermilk with salt sprinkled on top. Everyone else in the family gags at the smell of both. Alexa and Google tell me that the primary differences between braunschweiger and liverwurst are that braunschweiger is smoked and contains only pork, while liverwurst is boiled and can contain both pork and beef. I can’t tell the difference and eat whatever my wife buys, alternating my sandwiches between mayo with sweet pickle relish and butter with mustard.

Many smells associated with the cabin involve efforts to deal with mosquitoes. The propane-powered fogger, insect repellents, citronella candles, After Bite and Rhuli gel produce smells more often experienced at the cabin than anywhere else.

Other chemicals used extensively at the cabin with unique smells include Gulp! juice, honing oil used to sharpen knives, outboard motor lower-unit fluid, R/V antifreeze used to winterize the cabin’s water lines, Pine-Sol in the outhouse, suntan lotion, and weed killer.

My son’s family loves to drive area gravel roads near sundown in their Kawasaki Mule, affectionately known as “Ferris Muler.” They always come back to the cabin with a count of the number of deer, turkeys, and other wildlife seen. The open-air ride also allows them to readily smell their surroundings. Lakes, wetlands, cornfields, freshly mown grass, and cattle are more easily smelled from Ferris than from a car.

The trail in front of the cabin used to serve as the access road for five cabins west of Norway Beach Resort, but it never had much traffic. When my daughter was young, she used to like playing with the rocks on the trail and said there was an earthy smell that she enjoyed. Another trail with a pleasant smell is the path from the cabin down to the lake. The cedar mulch is quite fragrant.

Of all the smells present at the cabin, one stands above all others, probably because it is accompanied by a wonderful sight and sounds. The smell of cool, crisp, fresh air, late at night, under a star-filled sky, with frogs croaking in the nearby wetland and loons calling from the lake just can’t be beat.

As for Lizzy, she lived to be almost 14½ years old. We have considered burying her ashes at the cabin because she loved the place so much. But, she continues to take her longest car ride ever in the console between the two front seats of our SUV. We apologize to her every time we drive over highway rumble bars because she hated that sound. And, I swear I can sense a vibration beside me every time we approach Ten Mile Lake.

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Don Gabelhouse is an avid angler, former chief of fisheries for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, and a frequent contributor to the Reflections column.

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