Some of us wake early in the morning to head out fishing looking for a fish breakfast (which at this point we all agree is our desired time to eat fish). We bring back three smallies and a walleye for frying and a little taste testing. Scott and Zach do not prefer to eat fish but are willing to give it a try. Obviously this will be the freshest fish they have ever eaten. Almost all of us seem to prefer the smallmouths, I know everyone will find that strange, although the walleye was delicious as well.

Our goal today is to find a nice site on South Arm of Knife Lake and we are anxious to get rolling so we can arrive on Knife before the heavy winds start that we experienced last year. My parents are continuing their journey in another direction so we pack camp and part ways. It was a great idea to meet up with them in the wilderness. An easy yet busy paddle through Annie, Jenny, and Eddy allows us to arrive on South Arm at about 10 am. After the portage we are relieved to see calm waters on the lake and we proceed southwest with the intention of staying relatively close to Thunder Point so we can do a sunset hike. After about a 3 1/2 mile paddle we choose a wonderful site on the northern shore with a sheltered cooking area and nice hammock hanging trees.

I brought along a snorkel and mask just for fun on this trip so I took a dip looking for lures/artifacts in the water. Much to my surprise the fish were not at all startled by my presence. I spotted both small and largemouth bass hanging out along the dropoff. This will come in handy later in the trip.

We relax all afternoon, just swimming and fishing from the campsite then cooked chili and cornbread for dinner before heading out to fish for the evening. Fishing was slow, we only reeled in a few smallmouths, so we headed in to avoid the ever increasing buzzing from the woods. We head to the tents to the sounds of raindrops on the tarps.