Wednesday, June 14, 2006. Overcast with temps in the upper 70s. Some rain showers.

The next morning after breakfast, we decided to try fishing the western portion of Burntside. While moving through the narrow channel connecting the east and west portions of the lake, my brother noticed something unusual. Protruding above the tall water grass in a small bay on the north side of the channel, were the unmistakable antlers of a bull moose. He was apparently lying down in the water – maybe to cool off or to escape the bugs. We paused, cameras at the ready to see what would happen next. Eventually the moose noticed our presence and stood up. He was a big boy. He glanced over his shoulder at us, then lumbered onto shore and disappeared into the trees.

The fishing in the western portion of Burntside turned out to be spotty. After waiting out a brief rain shower, we saw another moose strolling on the far western shoreline.

After a bacon and eggs brunch back at camp, we packed up once again and headed south. Today would take us through Rouge Lake, Jean Creek and then into Sturgeon Lake. My Fisher map indicated 5 portages on Jean Creek. Thankfully there were only 3 plus a beaver dam pullover. There was a lot of fire damage in this area all the way from Rouge into Sturgeon. As we entered Sturgeon, we saw a canoe. Then another. And soon another. Our alone time was over. The campsite we had hoped to get was occupied. The other campsites in the area sucked for one reason or another. Then we stumbled on this little island camp site. It wasn’t even indicated on the McKensie map, but was shown on my Fisher map. It had three of the nicest, most level tent pads I’d ever seen. But this was a SMALL island. You could stand in the middle and have a 360 degree view of the lake. Sanitation was going to be a problem. We all agreed to take our business elsewhere if at all possible.

Weary from the days travel, we setup camp. Sturgeon Lake would provide our second and last layover. After dinner we headed out in search of fish. We picked up some little smallmouth and pike. Not too encouraging. We went to bed that night intent on hitting the fishing hard the next morning.