~ Overnight temps dipped into the upper 40s and during the day they soared to above 80 but we were up and traveling early and beat the heat for the most part getting out to the entry point by 9/10 am ish. The wind and conditions were a non-factor as we were on the river for the couple of hours of travel that we had out to the entry point.

We passed several groups who were in their way in. The bugs were pretty awful on this stretch again. I liked the trip and some of the area well enough to return but I really did not like the entry point very much with the narrow river, shallow pullovers, etc. I am kind of surprised that is such a popular EP that people covet. Anyways, we made it back to our vehicles and got loaded up and on our way back into Ely to the outfitter to return the canoes. They offered complimentary Hamm’s. I am not much of a beer guy but figured why not and it actually hit the spot pretty well. We grabbed brunch at a local establishment to have a celebratory final meal and time to chat before we all went our separate ways. Everyone seemed to have a blast on the trip and want to do it in the future. 

It was a great trip overall with some really great friends. My brother and I are blessed to have met some great people in college who shared our Faith in God and our love for the outdoors. It was one of my favorite trips I have taken to date, and we will be hoping to get this group together for trips every 2 or 3 years moving forward. The difficulty will be once our kids all start getting older our group size will get too big, but I guess that is a good problem to have. We are planning an epic trip in Late May/ early June 2025 with this group to our best Walleye Lake to chase some trophies.

Total Fish Count for the Entire Trip (approx. but conservative estimates) • Walleye: 350 Walleye (biggest 26”) • Smallmouth Bass: 475 (biggest 21”) was very surprised we didn’t catch more big bass (less than 15 over 20”) • Crappie: 50 or so (biggest 15”) • Bluegill: Only 10 or so but all were 8-11”!!! • Northern Pike: 80 or so. Don’t think anyone targeted pike on this tip (a few in the upper 30” range but none over 40”)