Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

Kawishiwi to Polly (or The Wettest Trip Ever?)
by fitgers1

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 06/19/2011
Entry & Exit Point: Kawishiwi Lake (EP 37)
Number of Days: 7
Group Size: 4
Day 2 of 7
Monday, June 20, 2011 Monday started out pretty good. It was the best day we had. The morning was cloudy, cold and windy. The weather got a bit better over the day and we were able to get some fishing in. Gary was up first and then myself. The boys were in the sack for a while yet. We had breakfast and watched a beaver swim a short distance away from us. We were slow to get on the water as we were all a bit sore from the voyage in. Fishing that day we caught some northerns and walleye's. Nice 'eyes to. Perfect eating size. We found good fishing on the north end on the west side of the long peninsula. We watched a bald eagle pick up a fish (we had seen one do that same on Kawasachong the day before). The eagle flew over a small island (north center island w/campsite). We were north of the island and couldn't see where the eagle went. All of the sudden we started hearing screeching. Non-stop screeching. It sounded like crazy dinosaurs in a movie. We soon realized it had to be the baby eaglets in the nest eating, perhaps fighting over, their fresh fish dinner that had just been flown in by mom or dad. We caught a late in the day walleye and brought it back to camp. Too late to fry him so we put him on a stringer and tied him to shore. Gary said a snapping turtle might get him but we took a chance. About a 1/2 hour later, I walked over to look at the walleye and sure enough, there was a snapping turtle. It was on top of the 'eye with one front foot holding the fish to the bottom. We shot a few pictures and scared the turtle away. Luckily he haded taken a bite out of the 'eye yet and he was alright. I was surprised at how the turtle could get up to the fish and then hold him down. I would think the fish would have just kept swiming around as far as the stringer would allow. We left the fish and came back 10 minutes later. Again the turtle was there. We decided to let the fish go as we knew he would be turtle food overnight if left there. The sky cleared and we watched the stars and satellites for a couple hours. I enjoyed my first evening in my new ENO hammock. Very relaxing. Later in my tent I listened to KQDS from Duluth. Not my favorite station but I couldn't pick up WELY or Grand Marais without holding the radio up in the air and turned in 5 different directions. Weather report was not good for the next few days. Rain, rain and more rain and even more wind. It wasn't looking good for the home team.