Another sunny warm morning greeted us on this holiday. We arrived at the lodge at 6 am for a hearty breakfast. Kathy came over to our table and asked us to be back at the lodge by 6pm for the annual 4th of July party. We assured her we would not miss it!! After breakfast, we agreed to head back down to the east end of the lake where we had success yesterday. This point again produced some Walleye and Bass as we boated a dozen fish in the next hour. Jody loves to cast for Northerns so we decided to head to a large nearby island and try our luck. I positioned the boat for him as he casted the shoreline while we slowly drifted around the edge of the island. I decided to fish for Walleye so I dropped a jig and minnow combination over the edge of the boat as we slowly drift. It did not take long before Jody hooked his first Northern on his # 4 Mepps as a 7 pound Northern was hauled into the boat. This shoreline continued to produce fish after fish for Jody, as he hooked either a Northern or Small mouth on about every half dozen casts. I concentrated on keeping the boat in position while I caught 3 nice Walleyes in the next hour. As we drifted over a 30 foot hole, my rod was nearly pulled out of my hands. Wow!!! I told Jody that it felt like another nice walleye!!! A few minutes later I boated a 28” golden beauty!!!! I love this lake! We continued to boat more fish throughout the afternoon along this long shoreline. We ended the afternoon with around 40 fish. Mostly Northerns, and Bass, with an occasional Walleye thrown in the mix.

We arrived back to the lodge at 6pm. I had heard that Zup’s go all out for the 4th of July, and this year was no exception. We were greeted by a huge buffet style meal. Just about anything you could want to eat was there -- beef, Walleye, ham, chicken, different casseroles, salads, many vegetables, and tons of different desserts. Free beer and wine were also offered. The lodge was full of resort guests, people who worked or lived on the lake, and anybody else who could find their way to this awesome resort…young and old alike. After we gorged ourselves on all the great food, we sat back and watched all the people playing the games that Kathy had organized for the event. There were Minnow races, the egg toss, and the canoe races just to name a few. All the guests seemed to be having the times of their lives!! Jody and I agreed to watch our alcohol intake tonight! We will start our Quetico trip tomorrow and a hangover would not be a good way to start the trip. Our plan began to go astray as Kathy insisted we try some of her almost world famous rum punch. We did try it, and tried it, and tried it, and tried it!!! Oh well, our plan failed!!!! We still had some last minute things to do to get ready for tomorrow’s adventure so we left the party before the fireworks show began. We thanked Kathy and Mark for their hospitality and made our way back to our cabin.