Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

Four guys and a pit bull in the BWCA.
by coachjeff

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 08/13/2011
Entry & Exit Point: East Bearskin Lake (EP 64)
Number of Days: 5
Group Size: 4
Day 4 of 5
Tuesday, August 16, 2011. Today, Minong wanted to go to a Lake that was one portage north of us. He said it is full of fish because no one heads there due to the big portage. Geoffrey and I had no desire to do another portage like that and try to catch fish with a nervous pit bull in the boat. We sent them on their way and put some camp chairs in the water and proceded to fish from shore. Lazy, yes, comfortable, yes, bugs, no, perfect!
After about 6 hours of lounging in our camp chairs perched in the water, we caught 4 decent size smallies. We both decided that leeches were the best bait up here, and those crap jigs we got at the beaver house were a waste of money. Juice and Minong were gone, so it was just Geoffrey, Delphi, and I. so quiet, so perfect, time for a nap. I awake to hearing Minong and Juice struggling to aim the bow of their canoe towards our site. It was obnoxious at first, but i couldn't help but laugh at their inability to work together. Geoffrey and I help them land their boat as they proudly boast their string of bass. One was friggin huge. We all respected our collective catches and proceeded onto what we called the "Bass Genocide"(it's on YOUTUBE). I had never filleted a fish before, but Minong had. Geoffrey has served as a head chef at several 5 star restaurants on the west coast, so he had the best technique. Minong, Geoffrey, and I all cleaned the fish while Juice made some juice.
Needless to say, we ate fish for dinner, and a lot of it. We fried some, and grilled some. Geoffrey brought some OLD BAY seasoning, and it was perfect. What wasn't perfect was that a storm was brewing. It came and went quickly, but dropped a LOT of water on us. Luckily we erected a communal shelter a waited it out. At one point, we all decided to go to bed, but i wasn't done yet as this was our last night on "the point". From my tent I asked if anyone was up for a night cap, and we all agreed. We spent a couple more hours enjoying our last night at this campsite with some of Juice's juice, cigars, and Geoffrey's ipod. We had so much fun talking about all of the crap we went through to get here, the fishing, and simply making fun of each other.
The plan for tomorrow was to portage back to East Bearskin and get the campsite that is located just off of the portage. After a few more jokes and a shot of whiskey, we all headed to bed.