Ram Lake - May 2015
by adludwig
Trip Type:
Paddling Canoe
Entry Date:
05/21/2015
Entry & Exit Point:
Ram Lake (EP 44)
Number of Days:
5
Group Size:
4
Discuss Trip:
View Discussion Thread (11 messages)
Day 4 of 5
Sunday, May 24, 2015 
We made frypan bread and heated up some pre-cooked bacon. As breakfast was finished cooking, I couldn't help but notice two sets of snoring coming from the other tent. I went up and yelled "You have 5 minutes before Wog and I eat your share of breakfast!" We were joined rather quickly for breakfast. We laid out the day and decided we should make tracks and get going to Little Trout Lake. We packed up our lunch, gear, and whatnots and headed for the portage to Kroft Lake. The first 2 portages weren't too bad. They were just warm ups for the portage from Rum to Little Trout. The other guys named it "Death Mountain". It was pretty steep, up and down, but at least it wasn't too long.
We hit the water and started casting! Wog and I checked out the campsite right in front of the portage. It didn't seem that great for an island site. There just wasn't much view of the water. Shortly thereafter, we ran into a couple who was heading out today. They had camped on Little Trout for a couple of days. He asked how the fishing was and I told him we caught a few the first day, but got shut out the second day. He proceeded to tell us, they had been just slaying the lakers. His advice was to troll "Yozuri Pin Minnows" in blue. We thanked them for the info and they went on their way. We immediately went to our tackle boxes to see what we had that was comparable. I tied on a jointed husky jerk and Wog tied on a Shadow Rap. We paddled over to the other guys and shared our intel. Well, wouldn't you know it, within a half hour, Wog and I had both boated a laker! We made our way around the lake and caught up with George and Mike near campsite by the Misquah portage. As we chatted, George told us he had FINALLY caught his first laker. Then, he hooked into another right in front of us! He boated his second fish of the day.
We took a break at that campsite to eat our lunch of jerky and granola bars. We were all rooting for Mike at this point. He was the only one who hadn't caught a fish yet this trip. We headed back out, as the temps actually got hot out. I caught my second trout of the day north of the island. We were catching our trout in around 27 feet of water. I was a little surprised how deep they were. Then, Wog caught his second fish of the day, a real beauty! It was a very dark fish. I loved the coloration of that fish.
We had gotten separated from Mike and George again. But shortly after Wog had released that gorgeous dark trout, they came around the point, hooting and hollering. Mike had finally caught a trout! We decided it was time to clean fish and start making our way back. I took the opportunity to snap a picture of Mike's fish:
We headed to shore to clean some fish. In our hurried exit from camp this morning, we realized just George had packed a filet knife. Oh well! We took turns and filleted a few out that we were going to pan fry tonight. Then, we loaded up and headed back to camp. I would have loved to stay and keep fishing, but the guys were all content with the fish we had caught and the wind had started picking up a little bit. We got back to camp and although it was early we were all starving. We had worked up quite the appetite and burned through the calories from that little lunch. We decided to eat early and be out on the water at sunset of our last night. Tonight we were having pan-fried trout and hash browns.
Dinner was awesome! The lakers fried up very well! We had breaded them in Andy's Red fish coating. We fried them crispy and with our crispy hashbrowns, they made quite a meal! We had fried up three trout, which after we had chunked it up, ended up being a lot of fish! By the end of dinner it was gone! We did dishes and hit the water. This was my last chance to catch a rainbow! We fished and fished. Right before dark the fish were hitting mayflies all over the surface. I decided to run a small spinner right under the surface. I cast and retrieved that thing for at least a half an hour. Next thing I know, Wog tied on a little rooster tail and was cruising it under the surface. Bam! We catches his second rainbow of the trip! Then, bam!, he hooks into another rainbow. This is another bruiser, and after quite a battle it did shake free. That was our last action of the night. I congratulated Wog on his awesome trip. In 8 months he had caught a brook trout, lake trout, and rainbow trout in the BWCA. I fell short on the rainbow... We went back to camp and I snapped a picture of the guys (Wog with his trout):
We stayed up for quite a while around the fire. Reality was starting to set in, we were headed home in the morning. It was a truly magical day and everyone went to bed happy.
Wog and I both got up pretty early. We were both anxious to fish some new water today. We got coffee and breakfast started. From the way the morning looked, it was going to be a gorgeous day!
We made frypan bread and heated up some pre-cooked bacon. As breakfast was finished cooking, I couldn't help but notice two sets of snoring coming from the other tent. I went up and yelled "You have 5 minutes before Wog and I eat your share of breakfast!" We were joined rather quickly for breakfast. We laid out the day and decided we should make tracks and get going to Little Trout Lake. We packed up our lunch, gear, and whatnots and headed for the portage to Kroft Lake. The first 2 portages weren't too bad. They were just warm ups for the portage from Rum to Little Trout. The other guys named it "Death Mountain". It was pretty steep, up and down, but at least it wasn't too long.
We hit the water and started casting! Wog and I checked out the campsite right in front of the portage. It didn't seem that great for an island site. There just wasn't much view of the water. Shortly thereafter, we ran into a couple who was heading out today. They had camped on Little Trout for a couple of days. He asked how the fishing was and I told him we caught a few the first day, but got shut out the second day. He proceeded to tell us, they had been just slaying the lakers. His advice was to troll "Yozuri Pin Minnows" in blue. We thanked them for the info and they went on their way. We immediately went to our tackle boxes to see what we had that was comparable. I tied on a jointed husky jerk and Wog tied on a Shadow Rap. We paddled over to the other guys and shared our intel. Well, wouldn't you know it, within a half hour, Wog and I had both boated a laker! We made our way around the lake and caught up with George and Mike near campsite by the Misquah portage. As we chatted, George told us he had FINALLY caught his first laker. Then, he hooked into another right in front of us! He boated his second fish of the day.
We took a break at that campsite to eat our lunch of jerky and granola bars. We were all rooting for Mike at this point. He was the only one who hadn't caught a fish yet this trip. We headed back out, as the temps actually got hot out. I caught my second trout of the day north of the island. We were catching our trout in around 27 feet of water. I was a little surprised how deep they were. Then, Wog caught his second fish of the day, a real beauty! It was a very dark fish. I loved the coloration of that fish.
We had gotten separated from Mike and George again. But shortly after Wog had released that gorgeous dark trout, they came around the point, hooting and hollering. Mike had finally caught a trout! We decided it was time to clean fish and start making our way back. I took the opportunity to snap a picture of Mike's fish:
We headed to shore to clean some fish. In our hurried exit from camp this morning, we realized just George had packed a filet knife. Oh well! We took turns and filleted a few out that we were going to pan fry tonight. Then, we loaded up and headed back to camp. I would have loved to stay and keep fishing, but the guys were all content with the fish we had caught and the wind had started picking up a little bit. We got back to camp and although it was early we were all starving. We had worked up quite the appetite and burned through the calories from that little lunch. We decided to eat early and be out on the water at sunset of our last night. Tonight we were having pan-fried trout and hash browns.
Dinner was awesome! The lakers fried up very well! We had breaded them in Andy's Red fish coating. We fried them crispy and with our crispy hashbrowns, they made quite a meal! We had fried up three trout, which after we had chunked it up, ended up being a lot of fish! By the end of dinner it was gone! We did dishes and hit the water. This was my last chance to catch a rainbow! We fished and fished. Right before dark the fish were hitting mayflies all over the surface. I decided to run a small spinner right under the surface. I cast and retrieved that thing for at least a half an hour. Next thing I know, Wog tied on a little rooster tail and was cruising it under the surface. Bam! We catches his second rainbow of the trip! Then, bam!, he hooks into another rainbow. This is another bruiser, and after quite a battle it did shake free. That was our last action of the night. I congratulated Wog on his awesome trip. In 8 months he had caught a brook trout, lake trout, and rainbow trout in the BWCA. I fell short on the rainbow... We went back to camp and I snapped a picture of the guys (Wog with his trout):
We stayed up for quite a while around the fire. Reality was starting to set in, we were headed home in the morning. It was a truly magical day and everyone went to bed happy.
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