The push from Kawnipi was a very long day. Since it was such a long and hard day, everyone slept in for the morning.

Dave_B and I started moving sometime around 7:00am or so. We had a few different options for breakfast, and settled on Cache Bay biscuits and gravy. Along with this, we figured we’d have another stab at the freeze dried eggs. This time though, we cooked the eggs really quick, not letting them settle into the rubbery paste they did the previous time we attempted to cook them.

This was the second time I had used the Cache Bay biscuits and gravy, and this time was much better than the last. Dave_B had used them before and did a great job of cooking them. I believe I simply didn’t get them done a few years ago. For the eggs, we let them set a little longer, and then I quick scrambled them with butter. A couple splashes of hot sauce and they were almost as good as eggs cooked at home……..Almost.

After breakfast we all went fishing…

I have fished the west side of Cache Bay quite a few times, having located and marked a few extra special places. Those places are known to some of the group, but only a few have ever fished them. Motts and I had pounded fish in one particular spot this past spring. It was the only spot we even had an opportunity to catch 100 fish on that particular trip.

Dave_B and I were working our way to those spots, fishing humps and reefs on the way into the area. That was when we ran into Chms and SmallieSaver and started talking about where they were headed. They had been told about a particular magical spot by some folks camping on the island behind the ranger station. It didn’t take long for me to recognize and understand that my spot and the spot they were heading to were one in the same. Those particular spots are great for one canoe but two would be a little too much. Dave and I both agreed that we’d fish something else. I had some more spots but they were not nearly the caliber of the spots Chms and SmallieSaver were about to experience. I would find out later that they never left spot A, and ended up catching very good numbers and decent size for the fall. In fact, they said it was much more like spring fishing this week than fall. They ended up with around 60 smallies, all sizes, in this magical place, in the span of a few hours. Now THAT’S fishing!!

Dave_B and I once again fished for smallies for a while but then changed to something else. While fishing smallies, we also fished humps and reefs that should have also produced decent walleye. We were quickly finding out that Kawnipi is a special place, and even though we were targeting walleye in very similar areas and structure, they simply were not cooperating. Dave_B and I debated heading back towards the pictographs on Cache Bay, but the wind was beginning to howl a little and we really didn’t want to get wind bound on Cache Bay. We found the up and over cut through and headed to what I thought was a magic laker spot that Janice had marked the previous spring.

Somehow Dave_B and I got completely turned around, because the magic laker spot was NO WHERE near where we were. The laker spot was supposed to be an island near lost bay, but we ended up fishing 90 feet of water behind Bell Island. This spot will definitely be added to my laker spots on Cache Bay. Man oh man. Whenever we found the “money spot” we found baitfish and lakers stacked up. The fish finder was like a slot machine. We marked fish mostly suspended around 70 ft. Lots of fish and just as many bait fish. On multiple passes both Dave_B and I hooked up with lakers. Dave_B would break one off, and then I’d have one come unbuttoned.

Finally, after a few different passes bouncing and trolling, I hooked up with a serious laker on a chartreuse 2 oz bottom bouncing jig. This fish was serious. I fought it for 10 or 15 minutes, giving and taking line as needed to wear it out. When I finally thought it was done, I brought the fish up alongside the canoe and BOOM, it took off again. This fish was easily the largest laker I had ever hooked…maybe the largest one I’ve ever seen hooked. When Dave_B went to grab and land the fish, it made one final run and pulled out the snap swivel on the leader I was using.

DAMN, that was a nice fish. We ended up fishing for another hour so with no hookups.

It was well past mid day, so Dave_B and I decided to head back to camp. Since we were not even close to where we thought we were, and since we were already turned around it was very easy for us to head the wrong way. We paddled towards the point where we thought our campsite was located only to see the vast expanse of Saganaga…….DAMN, how did we do that. Not only did we have a compass, but we even took it out to look. I guess we should have believed when it said we were travelling southeast. Images of the upside down Garmin GPS danced in my head.

When we turned around and started heading back to where the campsite actually was located, we saw the ranger station. This is when a boat came blasting out from the back side of the island. We’d be having another discussion with Janice, the Cache Bay ranger. When she recognized us from earlier in the week she was bummed out. She really thought she was going to be busting some folks trying to sneak in. We told her about our long push from Kawnipi the day before, and where we were camped. She told us that particular campsite was over used, and that she’d been trying to keep folks off of it. I can understand her position, but at 8:00pm in the dark, we would have camped on a bare rock had there been 3 tent pads.

After our Janice run in, we headed back towards our campsite again. This time we knew where it should be. On the way, we checked out another campsite that Janice told us about. This was just around the corner from where we camped and was much better. This must have been the second campsite that I knew about in this area. Dave_B and I pulled the canoe up and explored the camp for a few minutes. After a while, we decided this was a much better place to take a siesta than our campsite. There were many shade trees, and plenty of places to crawl up and take a nap, which is just what we did.

We napped for what seemed like hours, but in reality it was only 30 or 40 minutes, being awoken by SmallieSaver screaming across Cache Bay. We noticed them, about half mile out from where we were located. We got back into the canoe and headed out; making sure everything was good with them.

When we were close enough to talk, SmallieSaver told us that Chms had hooked up with a nice laker. In fact he had. Obviously one laker was not going to be enough for dinner, so Dave_B and I headed back to Bell Island, in search for another one or two. Once we arrived at Bell Island, Dave_B and I both put out trolling rigs. I used an old standby and Dave_B tied on the rig that Kristen_E had used on Keewatin. We made one pass…..BOOM, I hooked up on a really nice 3 or 4 lb eater laker. Since we only needed a couple we kept the canoe in 80 ft or more and headed back to camp.

We caught no other lakers.

Back in camp we tried to figure out just what we’d have for dinner……We had many options, and finally settled on a little of everything. We had 2 packages of red beans and rice, some banana bread mix, some dehydrated hash browns and the lakers. We decided to bake the lakers, cook the red beans and rice as normal, bake the bread, and then cook the hash browns.

For the hash browns, we buttered my Omnia oven and then put the hash browns, and some dried jalapenos, along with salt and pepper into it, and slow baked the mess for about 30 minutes. This turned out to be one of the best sides I’ve ever done in the Boundary Waters. Not only that, but it opened up a ton of ideas for future meals.

We ate like kings once again.

After dinner, we sat around and finished off what was left of whatever booze we had. I had probably 1/3 a bottle of spiced rum. Everyone said I was drunk. I was clearly not drunk, but I sure felt good, although I did have to be lead by hand back to the tent. I only wished the tent would have stopped spinning sooner.