Friday, September 25, 2020 Last night it got completely calm and still in the middle of the night. It was so quiet that I could hear what I think was a beaver breathing and splashing around down on the lake! I’m thinking beaver because at one point he “plunked” his tail. No stars though, it was overcast.
Wow today was a tough day. I’m in the tent now by 8:30. Luckily, I’m warm, dry, and well-fed. Wasn’t easy though. Woke up to a calm, partly cloudy morning. Had a nice pancake breakfast, broke camp and loaded up. But I decided to try a few casts with the worm/bobber before going. It paid off. First- I get ripped off twice in a row by something big. Pike I guess. The third bobber down sticks though. And it’s a 20” smallie! Awesome fish. I let him go, can’t eat that one. I paddle over to the N arm of the S arm and then troll the “hot zone” from yesterday. No bites this time though. I do the portage- it really is a nice portage. The landing on Hanson is neat- some leaning cedars make a kind of dock, and the old cedar roots make a cool platform. As I paddle away, the sky darkens, and I hear thunder. I stop at the first campsite on the north shore to have some lunch. It starts to rain as I eat, so I don the raingear. After I eat, I take a few casts with the worm/bobber rig. Bobber down! I get a perfect dinner smallie and another little one. I also lose a bigger one. Not bad! I start paddling again, in the rain. When I get into Ester, I check out the first four sites. The first three aren’t what I’m looking for- they either have puddled tent sites or poor tarpology options. The fourth is taken by a big group with multiple tents, tarps, etc. They aren’t there at the moment. So, I gamble on the site by the Ashdick Lake portage, which is the last one on the lake. It is still pouring rain. Luckily the Ashdick site is workable. I get my tarp set up, so I at least have a dry spot to work from. But man is it hard to motivate in the pouring rain! I take a walk on the Ashdick portage. Not a great one, probably one of the rougher ones I’ve seen so far. Eventually the guys on that other site come back. They’d been over by (or on) Rabbit Lake. I have a clear view of their site, which is maybe a mile away. The rain continues. I hold off on putting up the tent, wanting it to stop raining first. Good luck with that… It finally lets up a little, so I give it a shot and put the tent up as fast as I can. Doesn’t matter- it gets soaked. Now I can hear my neighbors from across the lake and see that they have a fire, which I’m jealous of. No way I’m getting a fire tonight. It’s amazing how well sound carries over water. Finally, I make dinner under the tarp, using the overturned canoe as a table. Nice fish fry with mashed potatoes. At least that’s good! Finally, at about 6:30, I see the sky beginning to lighten to the north. But it’s still raining here! Then the sun actually comes out and I see a brilliant double rainbow! So cool. Once dishes are done, I take a few casts, but get no bites. I wind up using my Dad’s ancient orange tarp to cover the floor of my tent, since it’s soaking wet. At least I’ll be warm and dry tonight! I had used dish towels to wipe out as much water as I could, but that orange tarp really saved the day. My rod case was also huge today- I extended it as the center pole of my tarp, and that worked really well, helping the tarp effectively shed water. Now my neighbors crank up the music- I hear Metallica, Def Leppard, and some rap I don’t know. It doesn’t bother me. I guess I’m a bit lonely! One good thing about today- even though it rained a lot, it wasn’t cold. I’m guessing it was maybe 60 degrees today. And the forecasted 20mph wind never happened either. I didn’t love the lightning, but the weather certainly could have been worse!~South Arm Knife Lake, Hanson Lake, Ester Lake