We get up a bit late for us, about 7:15AM and have an oatmeal and applesauce breakfast. Once again we have a beautiful day. We could get very used to this (actually I believe we already have). My Bow Partner mentions that she would like to visit and possibly stay on Caribou Lake. It was a great looking lake and we decide to break camp and find a site over there. At the portage from Horseshoe to Caribou we wait on the water for a father and his two sons unloading. They look over at us repeatedly, and we told them to take their time. It became clear that the father wanted to talk as he thanked us for our patience. He indicated that it was their first trip to the BW, they were from Wisconsin and at an earlier portage a group came right in on them and basically pushed through and ended up taking one of their paddles. They were OK as they had brought a spare, but he thought that it would have been left at the end of the portage once they realized they had taken it, but it had not been left. We learned they had fished Gaskin, Vista, Horseshoe and Caribou with fishing being slow overall. They were on there way to Meed's Lake. They were a nice family and we bid them well. As we loaded up on the Caribou side of the portage and take off paddling, we go by the two easterly sites which are both empty, and are decent choices but we want an excuse to paddle. We head west and come to a very nice site that we both like, decent landing and a great view. We continue to the next westerly site on a point, it looks good from the water but it is taken. So we go to the northern sites, the furthest one is unremarkable, the next is taken by a large group (four canoes and the largest tarp I have ever seen). We continue to the last northerly site and it is OK just too close to the large group for our comfort level. That leaves the site across from the portage. It is empty so we look it over and it will be perfect for us, site #645 it is. We smile as we set up camp as so many of our task can be done w/o a word of direction being spoken, our self designated tasks have become very ingrained.

It isn't long before I try my luck at fishing and with only a couple of cast I hook up with a 32" northern, he makes a good battle and as I get him close to shore I see he is false hooked by the side of the head, I unhook and return him. Two casts later a 27" Northern is enticed, boy things are looking up and this one is also caught from the shore of the site. AHH, my reputation is saved as being the "provider". We take to the canoe to secure firewood and water for the night. My partner finds some easy pickings among some down cedar and I continue to be impressed with how well the Corona razor tooth 21" pruning saw makes short work of his find. I believe thanks goes to Suko from this site for sharing this equipment find. I protect the teeth of the blade with a guard I made from a piece of vinyl tubing 1/2 " OD, and slit it. It is held on with 4 or 5 bungee loop ties I made. My daughter-in-law is in the process of making me a sheath with a buckle and tie in loop so I can secure it to my pack when portaging. Many thanks to Dan Cooke of CCS for the cloth.

Firewood and drinking water secured we take to the sunning rock for a much needed swim. Refreshed, I find myself going to the fishing rod again. This time I switch over to a bare hook and leech with a slip bobber set at about 8 feet of depth. The smallies cannot resist and I land a number of them between 13" and 17" over the next 45 minutes. Finally the fishing justifies the portaging of all the fishing gear. I do not catch any walleye this trip, just can't seem to locate them.

I do have one embarrassing equipment admission, I brought a newly purchased 2nd hand camera along for the first time, a Pentax Optio and when I pressed the button to take a picture, it made a noise that I assumed meant the picture was taken, but not so, wrong assumption. I believe the noise was confirming that all the settings were fine and if I kept the button down a smidgen longer the picture would be snapped. So about 1/3 of my pictures, of otter, moose, eagles never happened, so the memories of those pictures will be frozen in our minds digital memory. I did get a great shot of the swimming squirrel and another harsh lesson to try out equipment beforehand.

On another equipment note I tried out Marc Bates' suggestion of placing a piece of nylon hose over the coffee filter which I already place on a gravity feed filter. After a minor knot adjustment this is the way to go to maximize the life of the filter. Thanks Marc, certainly better than using elastics.

The moon on our final evening was out in full glory, we had a wonderful fire going and enjoying our final libations so we would not have to carry out as much. Oh the sacrifices we make. We end up talking and conversing much later than usual, unwilling to end our last night in the BW for this year.