I slept warm in my hat, long johns, and socks despite it getting fairly cold in the high 30’s last night. Luna has started to chew her sleeping pad and rip out the insulation. I regret not bringing any rawhide bones for her. She has a lot of downtime when I’m doing chores.

I made breakfast and packed a lunch for our day trip today. Another spectacular sunny morning with a mist on the lake.

The plan is to go around the corner down a bay to the east end and take the portage into Plough Lake which is said to have good smallmouth bass fishing. There’s also rumours of a large stand of old cedars on the portage. I rig up the rods and we’re off.

At the Plough landing I see the trees. Some of these could be 300 years old. It’s a beautiful trail with boardwalks in places over the mud. Luna is very happy to be on the trail again.

The put in at Plough is mucky but I had fun fishing the lake and while I caught 11-12 fish only 2 were decent size. I lost a nice one when it jumped and spit out the single hook on the spinner bait. At the end of the narrow lake I retraced my way and went back to camp for lunch at 12:30.

We headed back out to fish on Emerald making a clockwise loop around the lake going around islands and into bays. I meet another solo canoeist and as we chat I realize it’s the guy who I saw at his site having coffee on Other Man. He’s only passing through on his way to the Gunflint Trail.

The fishing is slow but I do keep 2 decent smallmouth for supper. I filet them on a bare rock sticking out of the water. Luna does not like when I hit the fish with rocks to kill them and gets visibly upset. This time she hid in some thick bushes and wouldn't come out. I had to pull her by the collar. Border Collies can be extremely sensitive dogs. I think she got scared by the violence of it. It's not something I particularly enjoy doing either.

Back in camp it’s easy making a fire as previous campers left a pile of cut wood for me. I'm thankful for this.

The fish turns out great and Luna gets some too mixed in her food. I go for another swim after cleaning up. What a great place to swim and I dive off a little 3 foot platform rock. A group of 3 canoes with 6 middle aged women cruise past my site around 6:00 and I overhear their disappointment when they notice that this one is taken. They continue on up a ways and grab a nice 3 star on the south shore. I can hear their voices as they set up camp maybe a quarter of a mile away.

There’s a few loons here and they call to each other at dusk. It’s a beautiful sunset from the porch as I read my book.