Wednesday, September 23, 2020 Got up to a beautiful, calm, sunny day at 6:30am. I eat breakfast and break camp, and I’m paddling by 8:40. Heading for the S Arm! I decide to troll. I put on a Cabelas crankbait (Wally Diver knockoff) that was really good in the Quetico last year. I’m over 100’ of water going across Little Knife and fish on! Laker, right? Nope- nice smallie! I land him, 17”. Then further up the shoreline I get another, this one 18.5”! Took 1.5 hrs paddling (trolling) to get into Knife Lake. I troll through Knife but get a little turned around at one point. I finally realize there’s a short portage into the S Arm. A guy who had been fishing nearby showed me. Nice map skills dummy! It was only like 50’ so hard to see on the map. I get one little pike on the blue-orange husky jerk trolling up the S Arm but that’s it. I take the campsite to the west of Eddy Falls, set up camp, and relax a bit. Nice site. Then I head over to check out the falls. Not much flow and no real fishing potential. A little disappointing. I portage into Eddy Lake. I didn’t plan well. Didn’t bring raingear, headlamp, or any food. Plus, I have to triple portage it even with just fishing gear. Not smart. Anyhow, Eddy Lake is supposed to have nice pike and smallies in it. Couldn’t prove it by me. I have one fish take a wimpy shot at a Pop R, but that’s it. No fish for me to eat tonight. Eddy Lake has potential- the shoreline is covered in downed timber, making it look like smallie heaven. Maybe at a different time of year? It is deep with steep drops though. I mark what I think are lakers deeper than 35’.
I get back to camp around 6:30. It’s been calm all day, but now a nasty east wind kicks up. That’s the one direction my campsite is exposed to. Figures. It’s now overcast too- at about 4pm some clouds had rolled in. I finally get my mac and cheese cooked up. I find a spot out of the wind and eat while I send my wife a msg on the InReach. There were mice at my site yesterday. When I woke up this morning, I found out that they had chewed a hole in my food bag and eaten part of an apple. Thank goodness that’s all they got, although they did also chew up some paper towels. Now on this campsite, there are mice at my feet while I’m trying to eat! I string a line and hang my food bag. Hopefully that will deter them. As I’m getting ready to go into the tent, I see a small owl flying through my site. He roosts in a tree right above me. I think it’s a saw-whet owl. Very cool! Hopefully he’ll get those mice! No fire tonight- too windy. No stars either, so I’m in the tent by 8:30 to read and journal. I’m reading "1984" on my son's recommendation. As I’m getting into the tent, I have an abdominal muscle cramp up. Never had that before. It was incredibly painful, but it goes away after a few minutes. For that few moments, I felt very alone out there! As I’m laying in the tent, the mice are running all over the exterior of the tent. Thankfully not inside the tent though. ~Little Knife Lake, Knife Lake, South Arm Knife Lake, Eddy Lake