The rain eased up about 3am but I could hear the wind high up in the trees all night long. According to the campground hosts, we got over an inch of rain overnight. I got up around 7:20 to a cloudy day. It was sprinkling and 62 degrees. The sprinkles didn’t last too long and I left right around 8:00 wearing the right shoes this time. The Lake One landing was strangely empty this morning and I had a pretty strong wind in my face, of course. I figured I would paddle down to the portage I was at on Sunday and then decide if I would go any farther in the wind. Once I got through there I decided I had enough gas to make it down to the next portage. Wouldn’t you know it, along the way, I ran into the group of women I met yesterday going the opposite direction. They were pretty surprised to see me and it turns out that it was their map and knee pad that was left yesterday. I felt kind of bad for not trying to run them down yesterday, but based on my condition last night, I think if I would have run down that 220 rod portage I would have been dead before I got back to Pickerel Lake. It took about an hour and a half to get to the small falls from the entry point. I took some video and pictures of the falls and carried Murphy over to fish below them even though I didn’t have much luck fishing in here the last time we were through. There has got to be some good fish in here, but every time I come here the weather has just changed and I think it shuts down the fish. Today I caught two pike and two bluegill. I was less than excited with either species on my hook. Right before I gave up on the area, I caught a smallmouth so at least all hope was not lost.

The next rapids looked completely different than I remember it from the three other trips I have taken through the area. I have only been here in the higher water months when the water splits around an island and runs into this little bay from two different directions. Today one of those rapids was completely dry. I floated around in the wind and the current and got a good bass and another snot rocket of a pike. The hot bait today was a white jig and a Gulp leech. So much for the theory of matching your jig color to the color of the sky because the sky was pretty dark and even sprinkling occasionally and I was using a really brightly colored jig. Of course, about the time I decided to head back to the spot I was at on Sunday and use the wind that I fought all the way here to my advantage, it died. The weather must have really killed the fishing because the same spot that produced at least 20 bass on Sunday gave up a total of 1 today. I was determined, though, not to quit fishing until I caught more bass than pike so I headed over to the rapids that runs into Confusion Lake and caught one more bass. I got back to camp about 4:30, had some chili and mashed potatoes for dinner and sat there wondering where the time went. On Sunday evening I was wondering what I would do with myself and now the trip is essentially over before I knew it.

Portages – 7 portages, 100 rods. Miles paddled - 6 Weather – cloudy with sprinkles, lo 62, hi 72