Cache River-Kawnipi Lake

   The morning greeted us with a cold rain that seemed like it could turn to snow at any minute. We did the best we could to keep our dry gear dry, while we packed up and loaded the canoes. Progressing along the river we could hear the falls where the Cache River dumps into Kawnipi Lake well before we arrived at the portage around it. While cautiously approaching the portage around the falls we were visited by a very fearless orange and black bird that was picking around the ground on shore only a couple feet from us. I had never seen one before but I suspected it was a Redstart. After the trip it was confirmed. Unfortunately our gear was all packed away and ready to portage so as far as I know, nobody got a picture of the little fellow.    The portage around the falls is fairly steep. We cautiously made our way down to Kawnipi Lake to the put-in, without incident. The second our canoes were in the water the fishing resumed. The base of the falls proved to be loaded with walleye, smallmouth, and pike. After catching our fill of walleye, we pulled the canoes into a campsite and had a fish feast. 

   It has been a couple years since we’ve enjoyed fish tacos so we decided to make them at this opportunity. Our fish tacos are simply a little instant brown rice, some rehydrated refried beans, fish fried with taco seasoning, and a little hot sauce, all wrapped up in a flour tortilla shell. Simply delicious! While we enjoyed them we were again visited by a flock of grey jays whose curiosity and fearlessness of people never ceases to amaze me.

   As we sat around eating we discussed the trip options we had after the late start and the unexpectedly long journey along the Cache River. After pulling out the maps and estimating how far we could go in a day we realized that we were not all that far behind our original planned travel. Since Kawnipi Lake has always treated us well with fishing, we decided to take it easy for the day. Our plan was to enjoy the good fishing and improving weather on Kawnipi.

   After climbing back into the canoes we traveled south through Cache Bay. The bay was too shallow to use any lures that dove very deep. As it turned out, that didn’t matter. The walleye were not very deep and floating rapalas turned out to be the hot lure. By the time we reached the main part of Kawnipi Lake we had landed at least ten walleye for our canoe alone. The crew all released the fish we caught in complete confidence that we would be able to catch our dinner later in the day.

   After turning out of the bay we headed northwest on the lake through a variety of islands and bays searching for a campsite west of Kasey Island. While checking out one site indicated on the map that was too small for our size crew we noticed a rock cliff across the bay. We decided to check out the top of the cliff and found a perfect spot to camp with a view of the lake on either side of the cliff. Once camp was set up we loaded ourselves back in the canoes to catch dinner. As predicted Kawnipi was good to us and we had caught another meal of walleye while trolling around the nearby shores. The floating rapalas were still the key to catching fish.

   By the time dusk arrived the sky had completely cleared up. The night sky was simply amazing. The lack of ambient light let the stars shine in all their glory. I’ve never seen star filled skies like I have in the North Country. As we enjoyed the night sky we kept warm by a small fire while frost covered everything around us.