The next day proved to be our last day of fishing. We were hoping to paddle out Friday but the Nissan Pathfinder that tagged the deer was officially totaled and we would have to spend time in Ely making arrangements for a rental car which was proving difficult. So by heading out Thursday that would make sure there was plenty of time for the three members driving to Chicago to make the necessary plans. I was a little upset about leaving a day early but understood. The good fishing made it even harder to leave but hey I had one more day to fish before leaving the next morning and I was going to make the most of it.

Rob and I headed straight back to the spot we nailed them at the day before. We picked up some walleyes (keeping enough for our last night’s dinner) but didn’t do nearly as well as the day before. All 6 of us were near the same spot and I figure we caught around 20 or so. The smallies had definitely moved in and took over providing us with all the action we wanted. Again leeches were the bait they wanted and it was fun watching all their aerial maneuvers. Most of the time at least one in the group had a fish on. It was safe to say we had located the spot.

The next hour proved to be pretty eventful. My slip bobber slowly went below the surface and it looked like a classic walleye bite where they slowly suck it down. I set the hook and made a few quick turns of the reel taking up the slack. After that it was game on. I told Rob if this is a walleye it is by far the biggest one I had ever caught. That doesn’t say much as I my 3 biggest Walleyes were just over 28” each. The fish kept digging and stayed near the bottom. I finely made some ground up on it and as it got closer to the boat we say that it was a very nice northern pike. Now things got exciting as we were not prepared to land a fish this size from a canoe. We had no net in our canoe so we briefly talked about rowing 30 yards to shore and beaching it. One of the guys in the group did have a net and they paddled over. After a few tries I was able to finally lead it into the net (being held by someone in a different canoe) and the fight was over.

We admired the pike and laughed about how we were able to land it. Jim in the next canoe snapped a few photos of me but they didn’t turn out the best. Oh wells I have the memories to last me a lifetime. I quickly cut off a piece of fishing line and stretched it nose to tail so I could have an accurate measurement later on. Being the largest northern I had ever caught a replica may be in my future so I wanted a size close enough for a taxidermist to order the correct form. I got the fish back in the water and moved some water over the gills. She revived pretty quick then slowly swim back down to the bottom where just 5 minutes before she came up from. I sat in the canoe for a few minutes just relaxing and enjoyed the moment. The next day when we got to Williams and Hall we measured the piece of line to be right at 43".

We fished for another hour and started to make the paddle back to camp. Since we were the first ones to leave I suggested hitting a spot on the south side of the lake that showed a good inside turn on the lake map that I had brought with. Within a few minutes of setting up the bobber was down again. After a few cranks the drag started singing. This time it was a nice walleye and proved to the largest of the trip. I cut off another piece of fishing line that later measure out just over 28". Still can’t get over that 29” mark but you can’t complain when you catch your largest northern and match your best walleye within an hour of each other. A quick photo and she also went back to the lake.

On the paddle back to camp it really had stopped bothering me that we were leaving the next morning. It had been a great morning and the last two days had rivaled anything I had ever experienced anywhere fishing wise. I was already thinking in my head about the next trip.

Fish was on the menu the last evening and the batter was Shorelunch in Cajun flavor. It was amazing to say the least. Rob and I decided to try a few different spots we selected from the map and they turned out to be a pleasant surprise as well. We picked up about a dozen walleyes letting them all go. I also nailed another nice pike around 34” after seeing him break the surface a few times chasing some smaller baitfish. He was eager to smash the trusty husky jerk on the second cast.