An aside...I had all three brands of maps. I like the new Voyageur maps the best, then the McKenzie, and then Fisher.

Bonus pictures! Flora of the BWCA, our kids. ;-)[paragraph break]

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Day 2...Time to rip lips and take names. Order of the day, tubes and topwaters! We got up and had a quick breakfast of bagel/cream cheese and coffee and were on the water by 8ish. We had done well last night on Hanson, so we decided to head back down there to pick up where we left off. We picked up a handful of bass on the north end of Hanson. This time I'd have some competition as TM remembered his polarized glasses. He forgot them yesterday, and I had a field day popping bass that I could see cruising that he couldn't. After an hour or so and a handful of bass we headed down towards the West end of the big island to fish some of the rock piles in that area. We caught some more, but nothing huge so we decided to head over towards Link Lake and the Pitfall PMA. As we headed over and passed a group of Amish guys kayaking. They seemed nice enough, and said they were from Missouri. They were camped out on the East shore Hanson site and said that it was an ok site. I got a nice 18" smallie on a Heddon top water and we headed off to Link.

We were told that Link was a decent Northern Pike lake and that it also had ok numbers of Smallmouth Bass. We went up and over the quick little portage, stopped for a quick sandwich, TM caught a little buck LM, and were on a narrow stretch of water that led into Link.

We fished around the island on the north end of Link and caught a few smallish Northerns on tubes and leeches. We headed down towards the rapids heading into Link from Gift and did pretty well throwing out leeches and little swimbaits. At one point I think we went 6 or 7 in a row. Mainly smaller fish with a few bigger 16"+ fish thrown in. We were going to try to hit Bullfrog, but there were a couple decent trees over the little creek down to it that we didn't feel like dealing with. After a couple of hours fishing on Link, we heded back over to Hanson and headed onto Ester to get dinner figured out. We were having steaks - since due to the deluge from Hurricane Ester neither of us were interested in cooking last night. Steaks, mashed potatoes and peas for dinner, with Bushmills and cigars for dessert. Yessir. Other random Day 2 occurances: We returned to camp and discovered a butterfly hoarde and two rabbits with massive white paws that seemed to planning an alliance to overthrow the new camp occupants. We'll have to keep an eye on them....not that they pose a threat to....Team Tuna!

Lakes: Ester Lake, Hanson Lake, Link Lake, Hanson Lake, Ester Lake

We decided last night whilst smoking cigars (and not getting bitten by bugs) that we should head up to Ashdick today. Up around 7am, breakfast of bagels/cream cheese & coffee and we were on the water by 8am. We trolled and jigged for lakers on the northern side of Ester on the way over to the Ashdick portage. There was zero wind and I figured that we should take advantage of the decent conditions. As with Day 1....Good: Zero wind....Bad: No fish. Around 9 we headed over to the Ashdick portage and fished the bay adjacent to the camp site to let the portage clear. While we were grab-assing and trying to jig for lakers two canoes headed over the portage. After a few fish on Zoom flukes (weightless with Gamakatsu G-Lock hooks) we headed over the portage. Not too bad...although after the recent rain from Monday, there was a decent amount of mud. The steep descent into Ashdick had some slick rocks, but we got across ok. This was the first buggy moment of the trip, but with Permethrin on our clothes and head nets they were manageable. Once on Ashdick, we paddled past the other two boats who were fishing on the South end of the lake. My research on the DNR Lakefinder site showed that most of the rocky bottom was on the North end, so we passed by them and headed to the North end of Ashdick. It also appeared to be deeper near the Northern end. After a quick 20 minute paddle, I tied on a Zoom top water frog and went to work. There was a good amount of wood, and it looked like prime Largemouth water. A few casts later my hunch was confirmed with my first BDub Green Bass.

After fishing around the north end of Ashdick and doing pretty well, we decided to check out the north campsite for a lunch stop. We passed the other two canoes on the way over. There were 4 mid-twenties paddlers (3 dudes and a girl) heading towards the Ashdick to Swamp portage. I wished them luck and off they went...hope it wasn't too muddy/buggy.

We had some salami and cheese sandwiches and hit the water for more bass. We found an isolated rock that TM pulled a decent 18.5" bass off of with a crankbait. We paddled arould some small islands and I managed a 19" bass on the Zoom Fluke. Saw a monster bass cruising (20+ easy) but we were drifting too quick and I managed to get hung up on some wood when I tried casting for it...Murphy's Law of Fishing. We continued down the Eastern bank of the lake and TM pulled off a 30" pike with a 3" Berkley Ripple Shad on a 1/8oz. jighead. It proved to be the biggest pike of the trip, good fight on 6lb. test. With clouds on the horizon, we headed back towards the portage back to Ester. With some decent cedar logs in the canoe that we found once back on Ester, we paddled into a stiff South wind back to our campsite. We took it easy in the afternoon and strung a few smallies for dinner. After cleaning them, we noticed they all had black spots throughout the filets, and we decided not to risk it. Beef Stroganoff in a bag (surprisingly, pretty good) with the Bushmills/Cigar chaser...as usual. Pretty good day, no rain...biggest pike and Bass of the trip (both SM and LM), and great weather. Still relatively no bugs, and the campsite is finally starting to dry out. Kind of.

Lakes: Ester Lake, Ashdick Lake, Ester Lake

Up early...today we have a date with Rabbit Lake. Over cocktails last night I was expressing a little disappointment over not having caught any walleyes or lake trout. I told TM not to worry though...because tomorrow was my birthday and if we were going to catch any lakers, it'd be on my birthday. I'm so smart. Quick breakfast and on the water before 8am. We paddled over to the Rabbit portage and were over in 15 minutes. It climbs quickly up from Ester before leveling out towards Rabbit. We paddled across with the goal of fishing the points that dropped into deeper water. No action for the first hour or so...wind was blowing a bit, but not bad. After a while, I tied on a leech and we paddled up to the point, parked the canoe in the shallows and cast out to deeper water. While retreiving my leech I saw a fish follow, and thinking it was a bass I let it drop and watched the fish hit it and turn. That's when I saw the spots...laker on! After a quick fight I netted my first laker ever...a 17" fish that was promptly invited to dinner. A little later I happened to look to my right and see a flash under TM's swimbait. He let his bait drop and another fish hit his bait. I thought it was a bass until I saw it double over his rod (6'6" St. Croix M action). After a good 3-4 minute fight I netted his fish, a nice 20" laker. Happy Birthday to me!

We paddled to the southernmost site on Rabbit and had lunch, salami/cheddar on wheat. Ok site, not bad...but I've seen better. Now with dinner on the stringer we fished a bit more and decided to portage back into Ester. After the portage, we cleaned the fish and set about getting dinner ready. Lake Trout confit, with a tamarind balsamic reduction...micro greens with a cilantro vinegarette, with creme brulee for dessert and some Turkish espresso to finish. Ok, maybe not....howabout fried lake trout, with potatoes and onions, whisky, and smores for dessert. Yeah, that's a little more realistic....best birthday dinner I've ever had. Great end to an awesome day.

Lakes: Ester Lake, Rabbit Lake, Ester Lake

Last day...sad to see another great trip come to an end, but looking forward to getting home to see the wife and dog. We had planned to get an early start to portage into Ottertrack by 8am. We left our site shortly after 7 and made our way towards the portage. We were over by 8:15 and decided to head West to check out the bay where the Ambrose homestead was. Ottertrack was glass...looked like another great travel day ahead.

We paddled towards Monument Portage and got dumped on right as we were pulling into Mud Bay. Portaging in rain gear...not too bad. Back in Swamp by 10:00am. At the dock side of the portage, we ran into Janice from Cache Bay Ranger Station. She said that she had some time off and was planning a "little two day trip" down to PP and up the Man Chain. I think she said it was 57 miles total, and that if she were 10 years younger she'd just do it in one day. Wow. Kudos to you, madam. After we got back on the water we got really close to a loon family. The male was trying to swim away (I'm guessing to draw us away from the female and the baby) while the female stayed relatively close. We sat within 20 feet for about 10 minutes...one of the coolest moments of the trip for me. After a while Loon Jr. hopped on Ma Loon's back and we paddled off. So cool.

Relatively uneventful paddle out. Picked up a little SE wind after we got out of Bay 1, but we didn't have issues. After a quick lunch stop on one of the island sites near the bay just West of AP, we fished the bay and picked up the last few fish of the trip. I heard some noise on the bank and caught a brief glimpse of a fisher right by the shoreline...didn't have a chance to get the camera out. Around the corner we went and finished off the trip where we began, at Honeymoon Island. A quick tow back, a couple of cold beers and showers at Seagull and we were on our way back to reality.

Another great trip with my dad...looking forward to many more.

Lakes: Ester Lake, Ottertrack Lake, Swamp Lake, Saganaga Lake