Wednesday, May 25, 2022 First duff day of the trip and the forecast was for solid rain all afternoon. We had the Nemo Bug Out shelter along because we were expecting bugs. There were no bugs, with the exception of those pretty little purple moths that liked to land on the dogs. But when there is rain, the Bug Out is exceptional. The screening prevents water from coming in sideways for the most part, so we had a large area to hide under later in the day.
We took our time getting up and making breakfast. Our spread was another massive serving of scrambled eggs, pancakes, and bacon. We were making up for lost calories from all the work the day before. After finally eating, I was eager to get in my canoe and get on the water. I had some fishing to do. Krystal was going to head out in her own time, so I threw Gichi in the boat and paddled toward the south side of the lake. The wind was already starting so I stayed as much on the lee side as I could.
I dropped my line in and began to troll along the southern shore. I immediately got a hit. With good tension on the line, I reeled in a gorgeous small lake trout. Knowing I was not fishing for trout this year, I hadn’t gotten a trout stamp, so released that beauty back into the lake and began paddling again. You ever have that feeling that something is watching you? Well right after I let that fish go, that’s how I felt. I looked up toward the burnt hillside and scanned the landscape. Sure enough, there was a moose staring at me from atop a rock face on the hill. I tried to paddle closer to it to get a good photo, but it was too far away. I did snap a photo but the moose was fairly difficult to make out, but it’s there!

My solo adventure continued down the length of the lake. I kept trolling because it was windy and so far, I had been successful with that method. Maybe 20 minutes later, I had a small pike on. Not big enough to feed us all, so I slipped the hook out of its mouth while still in the water. We started fishing barbless two years ago so getting the hook out is always an easy task. I paddled on until I got into the far western end of the lake and made my way into the island dotted western end. Long Island Lake is stunning, from burnt hills to the islands strewn across its waters.
I didn’t have any luck on the western end and the rain had begun to fall, so I decided to make my way back to camp. Just as I had rounded the southern point on the west end, I spotted a bear right near a campsite. The ambling black bear was sniffing around the shore and checking for something good to eat. I recorded some video and the bear disappeared back into the woods.

I started paddling again and got a snag. I stopped to get my line free and looked over my shoulder, and that big old bear was swimming across the lake! I got some okay footage of it but I stayed far away. Two animal sightings on one fishing trip, I felt so fortunate to be out in my canoe on that rainy day.

Fishing my way back to camp, I hooked into one bug net buried in the depths. It was in perfectly good condition with the exception of some lake weed and debris. Shortly after hooking into that treasure, another Laker decided to join me from the depths, but this time it was a nice sized beauty. I was just about to reach into the net to release it, and the trout flicked its backend and slipped through the net all on its own. Good thing I was not keeping trout!
After battling the bug net and the trout, I kept finding myself moving backward so I reeled in for a bit to make more distance back toward camp. I dug in with my paddle until I got to the lee side of some islands. The water was shallower so I was hoping to catch a pike. I tossed my line back in and a few short paddles later, thwack! A pike!
A good fight was had, but when I got it next to the boat, the mighty fighter revealed that though it was strong, it was certainly not meal worthy. I released the tension on my line so the pike could throw the lure, and it set itself free in seconds. At this time, the rain began to fall in desperation. Gichi and I tucked in and headed back to camp, fishless but thoroughly thrilled by the adventure we had had together. I could not wait to get back to camp and relay our journey to Krystal.

Rainy (our smallest muttski) and Dobby were heralding us from shore as we got back to camp. I unloaded and quickly hunkered down under the tarp with Krystal. She whipped up some lunch for us as she told her fishing story for the day. She had caught one pike and nearly gotten lost on the big lake. I was bursting at the seams waiting to tell her my tale. Over lunch wraps and drooling dogs, we ate and chatted about our day. It was mid-afternoon and the rain was coming down eagerly. With cozy sleeping bags and books waiting for us in the tent, we scurried in and lulled the day away in the warmth of a lazy rainy afternoon while the UCO candle burned the dampness out.

Around six o’clock in the evening, we eventually hauled ourselves out of the tent to feed the dogs, feed ourselves again, and shiver without a fire. We sat out as long as we could, but neither of us had wanted to leave the tent in the first place. Feeding the dogs had taken precedence over our comfort. With the dogs happily fed, and our bellies full after indulging in the delicious dehydrated butternut squash risotto I had made, we climbed back into the tent for the night.