Morning on Spoon brought decision making. Do we stay at this great site or continue on in hopes of finding better fishing? After a pancake breakfast, Dave was able to get a fire going, even in the damp conditions. We assessed the weather – cloudy, but not threatening. Let’s go! We packed up and headed out at 11 a.m. – a late start for sure.

Portages today were rocky, wet and slippery, and in some cases, very steep! I slipped twice and fell and it was tough getting up, despite the fact that my pack was lighter (less food). Dave managed to single portage the Big Blue pack and the canoe all but the final 20 rods of the portage into Vera, where he left the canoe against a downed tree that blocked the trail. I had a tough time there as well, having to crawl on my hands and knees to get under the tree. There was only one site occupied on Vera. We paddled to the western most site on the south shore and checked it out – too open for my liking. We paddled back to the previous site sitting up high above the lake. It had a nice swimming spot, but the site and tent pads were waterlogged. We planned to stay here 2 nights, but this site was less than ideal.

We were all tired and warm, which led to some cross words. We decided this site would have to do, and once the decision was made we got right to setting up camp and eating lunch. The gear was laid out to dry in the sun. Dave and Audrey discovered that crayfish inhabited the area around our canoe landing. They managed to catch 6 big ones and cooked them up in boiling water. Both report that the claws were very tasty, but the tails had a fishy taste. We cooked up our real dinner of lasagna, garlic fryin’ pan bread, and chocolate mudslide pie for dessert. No one is starving and we are eating quite well! Everyone set about the evening routine of me cleaning up, Dave prepping the fishing rods and Audrey getting drinking water pumped into bottles – she’s become a great camp helper. With chores done by 8 p.m. and an almost full moon in the sky, we set out to do some fishing. Audrey wanted to get a photo, so we paddled close to a beaver. Three tail slaps later, the beaver was gone along with the photo opportunity.

On our way to the opposite side of the lake, we stumbled upon a rock reef that runs east-west and is not marked on the map. We worked the reef area and I landed my first ever burbot using a gulp minnow. We threw the burbot back and continued fishing the reef. I landed a 13” walleye on the gulp minnow, which Dave saved for breakfast. The skeeters arrived quickly, and since we kept getting hung up on rocks, we headed back to camp for some shut eye.