It was lightly raining as I got up. I walked out of the tent and got some hot water going on our stoves for our coffee and hot chocolate. The rain slowly stopped as we ate breakfast. We brought a just add water Bisquick pancake mix along for this day, along with bacon and leftover hot dogs in lieu of sausages. It was absolutely delicious and we all ate heartily along with second cups of coffee. This meal will be a main staple on my trips henceforth. A Canadian gray jay watched us carefully from a tree, and two turtles, one of them for sure a large snapping turtle, swam near our campsite. Jesse also had a conversation with a white throated sparrow across the lake. They were whistling on the same key. It was incredible.

Cleanup was a snap thanks to an idea that I had had the previous year. I was struck by the need to have a large container to hold water for cleaning dishes. To serve this purpose, I bought a normal size contractor bucket at Ace Hardware to use as a camp sink. It was not cumbersome to pack, as I could place things inside it, and it also served as a nice seat. Jon and Grandpa were very helpful in washing and drying the dishes.

We then sat down for our devotional. I read a Bible passage and we prayed together, praising God, thanking Him for His many blessings, and praying for our families back home. Grandpa then told a story about something that had happened the past night. He had heard seven loud splashes in the water and then what he thought was footfalls in our campsite, so he prayed a prayer of protection over us and was able to fall back asleep. Jon and I teased him a little bit as neither of us had heard it. I’m sure that if he did hear something it was a beaver or the moose we had heard calling earlier the previous evening. Either way, we all appreciated God’s protection, especially as I was forced to store the bread in one of the packs outside the bear barrel.

We then returned to Devil’s Elbow to fish again, and worked the current and inlet beyond thoroughly, always being sure to cast toward the American side. Jon caught a decent sized bass which we put on the stringer. Grandpa had lots of hits and lost three Rapalas due to his drag which was not set correctly. I had a hit too, probably a bass, but could not get him to hook on again. I was extensively using a plastic shad minnow that roughly approximates Quetico Mike’s Zulu setup.

Bass were surfacing all around us but we headed back for camp with only one fish. After we were in the American portion of the lake again, Jon and I threw out our lures to troll back in. I was using the shad minnow. We were moving at a pretty good clip when I had a significant hit. A northern jumped behind the canoe and shook the lure out of his mouth. Jon and I immediately turned around and trolled the area again. He hit my lure again and I set the hook. I just about had him to the canoe when he dived into the weeds, wrapped the lure around it, and shook himself off. I was pretty upset about it. We worked the area a few more times, and I had one more hit but did not hook him. By this time Jesse was hollering across the lake for me to come and get lunch, so we headed back in.

After a lunch of summer sausage sandwiches and a rest, we headed out to fish again. Grandpa and I worked the same area where I had lost the northern. I put on a silver Rapala and soon boated a nice northern, maybe twenty-four inches or so. He wasn’t a record but I was happy. I then promptly lost my Rapala to an even bigger hit, probably the one I had lost before, that snapped my line because I did not set my drag right. We brought my first northern back to camp and released him after taking pictures. We then threw out some worms and bobbers while we relaxed from shore. I tossed mine out and turned to set my pole down when both Jon and Grandpa told me that my bobber had gone under. The fish put up a good fight and I finally got her to shore, a nice small mouth which I released. One of our lures stuck near shore and Jesse and Jon headed out to retrieve it. When they returned to shore there was a miscommunication about what to do with the canoe. It flipped and Jon landed in the water. While everyone was okay, we all were bummed that Jon’s cell phone had been unprotected in his pocket and hoped for the best.

Once again we had hot dogs and fish for dinner, and then headed out to work the walleye area one last time, as we had decided to head for Saganaga Falls the next day. Grandpa and I worked the south side of the tiny island. As he was reeling in a blue Rapala, a fish shot up from the depths, hit the rapala around ten feet from the canoe, and dived down. Grandpa reeled it in, and as it reached the surface I saw the telltale top fin. “Grandpa, that’s a huge walleye!” I said. He didn’t believe me at first but soon was as happy as any fisherman can be. We had finally found them. After signaling Jon and Jesse to come over, we got him on the stringer and went back to work. Jon reeled in a smaller walleye. I had a hit and miss, and Grandpa lost his blue rapala on an even bigger bite. Then the fish suddenly shut down. We worked the area again and again but could not coax the walleye to return. Either it was the blue rapala that we had lost or all of our banging and fussing with the canoes had spooked them. We headed back for camp happy that we had found the walleyes. We filleted them up and sealed them in a plastic bag for breakfast. One of the walleyes had an interesting growth on his gill. We enjoyed some music, stories, and another game of five hundred before cashing in.