After a leisurely bacon-and-egg breakfast we set off to explore the southern end of Jordan and to see if we could coax a few fish onto our hooks. After a couple of hours with nothing to show for the effort, Craig and I got bored with fishing and decided to return to camp. Scott and Erik chose to stay a bit longer and eventually did land a couple of small northerns from the bay near Jordan's south campsite. Finding themselves without a stringer they decided to release the fish and soon joined us back at camp. Since fish was on the menu for that evening we decided we better give it another try after lunch. Erik and Scott headed back to the south end of the lake while Craig and I headed for the narrow channel that leads to Ima. I also wanted to see if we could find the pictographs that are said to be on the west side of the channel.

Craig and I actually were through this channel once before when we had taken our first trip together back in the early 1990's and we were reminded what a pleasant, scenic paddle this little stretch provides. We looked hard and I THINK we found SOME markings on a couple of different spots that COULD be the pictographs but they were quite faded and rather indiscernible. We did not have much fishing luck here either until we got to the north end of the channel, near the rapids from Ima. After a number of casts with a red/white-striped Daredevil spoon, I suddenly felt a tug and my rod bent sharply. A few thrashes at the surface revealed a nice-sized northern! After a couple of runs, the fish tired enough for me to get it to the canoe and steer it toward Craig, who was waiting in the stern with our small landing net. This fish was really too big for the net and we were lucky to nose it in after two attempts. As soon as we got it over the canoe it flipped out of the net again and started some furious flopping on the bottom of the boat. I had opened my tackle box to get out a stringer and at this point it was still open so the flopping caused hooks and bobbers and lures and line all to go flying. What a mess but what fun! I also think the fish's teeth must have slightly slashed Craig's fingers as he worked this fish from behind me because once we got it on the stringer I noticed his knuckles bleeding a bit--but he hadn't noticed and said he didn't mind either. We measured the fish at 33" long with a weight of 10-pounds, 4-ounces.

We headed back to camp and arrived about the same time that Erik and Scott were returning. They also had a couple of small northerns (on the stringer they now had!) so there was plenty of fish for supper. For the first time, I tried cleaning northern pike using the no-y-bone method as Michael Furtman describes it in his book "A Boundary Waters Fishing Guide." This actually worked quite well and we all feasted on as many delicious, boneless northern fillets that we cared to eat. As soon as supper was concluded we were caught by a surprise rain shower. We scrambled to get the tarp up and wouldn't you know it: as soon as the tarp was up, the rains quit as quickly as they came! This night the temps had cooled so this made the evening fire feel extra cozy before we all turned in and slept soundly--this time IN our sleeping bags.