Jesse Lake-Maria Lake-Pickerel Lake-Batchewaung Lake.

   Cold misty rain welcomed us to our last full day in Quetico. Cold and damp was going to be the conditions for the day. After breaking camp we fished our way to the portage to Maria Lake but to no avail. The portage was wet and muddy but it was nice to warm up while hauling gear. Portaging in the rain isn’t half bad when you have a canoe over your head keeping you at least semi-dry. Our first view of Maria Lake took all the misery out of us and reminded us why we do this. The water was glass calm and the fog, thick. The conditions that make you take a better look at the scenery closer to you. The water was clear and the bay was deep. It looked especially “fishy”. We eagerly put our canoes in the water to start fishing. A couple smallmouth were caught before we continued towards the next portage to Pickerel Lake.

   The landing on Pickerel is a shallow sandy beach. As everyone was putting the canoes in the water and starting to fish, it became evident that this was going to be a fun lake. Smallmouth bass seemed to be around every piece of structure. Fish were being caught before everyone was on the water. Nate and I aimed the canoe across the bay to get into an area with a little less fishing pressure. These guys have no problem casting over your canoe to get at fish. 

   As soon as we pulled in the bay my rod bent back. I set the hook and the fight was on. I knew I was into something substantial so I loosened the drag on my reel. I wasn’t going to muscle this fish in, I’d have to wear it out. I eventually did. It was the fish I was looking for during the tournament, a 21” walleye. Nate and I continued to fish around the bay. Floating Rapalas were being hammered on the surface by extremely aggressive smallmouth of various sizes just about anywhere we could cast. After about a half an hour of catching these scrappers we decided to move along. When we rounded out of the bay we met up with the others. 

   We decided to fish for our lunch and meet up on Mosquito Point. Shortly after deciding on a fish lunch, another walleye was caught. The fishing only got better when Nate and I went into the bay south of the point. Although we didn’t pick up any more walleye we did manage a mess of smallmouth and the occasional, Rapala shredding pike of 30+”.

   Mosquito Point has two unmarked campsites on it but they are rather hard to land canoes at. The northern most site looked promising so we shored up the canoes, scrambled up the rocks and checked it out. It was sufficient for a lunching spot. 

   There is an old trapper’s cabin back in the woods on Mosquito Point that we wanted to explore. Trails from the campsite led us right to it. The cabin is in rough shape but it appears that most of it was still standing. Utensils and other garbage litter the area around. I can only imagine the condition it was in when still in use. With us being wet, cold, and hungry we didn’t take much time to snoop around. 

   After lunch we packed up and headed north toward Batchewaung Bay. Later I learned that buy the time we reached the narrows leading into the bay from Pickeral Lake, Chad had landed a lake trout, taken with a floating rapala. I had high hopes of catching something in the narrows. The swift current and structure below looked very promising. I ended up just loosing a lure. 

   When Nate and I finally entered the bay, we could see that Greg and Brian B were well on their way across the bay, and as usual, Chad and Mike were still well behind us. Nate and I rigged up a couple blue shad raps and started trolling our way across the bay. At first we started hooking into weeds and could feel the lures hitting the bottom but we eventually got into some deeper water. Not long after that, my rod bent back once again and the fight was on. At first I didn’t know what it was but as I was dragging it up from the depths it pulled the tell tale sign of a lake trout, a reel screaming dive back down toward the bottom. It pulled this move several more times before I was able to wear it out. Then the fish pulled the other tell tale sign for a lake trout, it started to roll as I dragged it in. This wraps line around and around the fish making it difficult to land. I eventually put the 23” beauty in the boat and went about the work of untangling my line from around the fish. After that Nate and I circled back and trolled through the area again but weren’t as lucky the second time.

   As Nate and I proceeded on I could see that Greg and Brian B were circling around ahead of us and were probably trolling over an area a second time as we just did. When we reached the narrows to Little Batchewaung Bay, Nate and I were well ahead of the others. Passing through the narrows next to a cliff face, Nate and I both had hits but didn’t manage to hook up. We decided to turn around and pass by the cliff again. As we were turning the canoe my rod bent again and I set the hook. This was another laker but not nearly as big as the first one. Our second pass by the cliff paid off with a couple more hits but no hook ups. Greg and Brian B caught up with us. They also had two lakers in their canoe. We slowly moved our way into Little Batchewaung Bay allowing time for Chad and Mike to catch up. When they caught up to us they reported their canoe had a couple more lakers. As we left the little bay and headed up towards the main part of the lake we passed by one of the few occupied camps we had seen during the day. From the sounds of it, it was a family with kids having a blast, warm and dry in their tents, as opposed to us, cold, tired, and wet, dragging our way onward. When we reached the main part of Batchewaung Lake, and a campsite, it was nearly dark. 

   Setting up camp and trying to get a fire started was a burden as we were all cold and wet and it was starting to rain again. The real chore later was eating all the fish we had caught. I cooked at least four different batches of fish, seasoning them differently each time to keep it interesting until we finally finished. We spent the rest of our night talking about our experiences and follies of the trip while we tried to dry off by the fire.