Saturday, May 22, 2004
Disappointment Lake, Ahsub Lake, Jitterbug Lake

We got up early and made Earl Grey with a dash of Bailey's (since it was a bit chilly) and some trail mix for breakfast. Then we packed our fishing gear, stove, kitchen stuff and pans and headed out for a day trip. We fished our way up through most of Disappointment without much luck, but on the SW shore of the big bowl on the north end, I hooked a 24" Northern. So we hauled him in and headed for Ahsub, hoping to find a campsite to cook him up for lunch. But there were no open sites, so we paddled slowly (for the Northern's benefit) through Ahsub and portaged to Jitterbug where we found four canoes and eight people landing to go the other way. Luckily, there was space near the portage to cook and eat the Northern. So we did. Jitterbug didn't look like especially good fishing, so we decided to head back the way we came. We fished Ahsub for a while, but couldn't find the Brook Trout that are stocked there (neither of us really know how to catch stream trout in a cold lake on a cloudy day). So we trolled our way back down through Disappointment, as it was about six o'clock. We were nearly all the way back, literally 50 ft. from the landing point on our island when Josh hooked a 20" Walleye. Beautiful fish. Excellent dinner (we put the larger chunks in the beans and rice--fantastic). We sipped a bit of whiskey, toasted to an excellent day and went to bed.

Map: [Paddling in purple, Portaging in blue, fish marked by red fish]