Monday, May 30, 2016

We got up early and had a quick breakfast of instant oatmeal packets and some warmed up pre-cooked bacon. We were determined to get over to Clove Lake and fish some new water today. We quickly broke camp and headed to the portage. I was surprised how narrow and overgrown this frequently used portage was! We started on the south end of the lake and I had a bass surface behind a topwater early, which got me excited for things to come. Other than a few northerns, our day was a letdown. We covered a lot of water going all over the lake, mostly to keep hiding from the ever-changing wind. We met up with the guys on the western side and headed for the campsite near the entry for lunch. George, Mike, and Shaun had found a marker up on the shore that they pointed out to us. We got out and snapped some pictures before lunch.

We went up to the western campsite on Clove and had some lunch. Today we were having peanut butter and jelly flatbreads with trail mix and a Snickers bar for dessert. We decided that the wind was getting unbearable, so after lunch we headed back to Larch. A very curious bald eagle greeted us upon our return. That eagle followed us around fishing the rest of the day.

George, Mike, and Shaun had scratched up a few small smallmouth bass to get a start on our fish dinner for the night. The guys went out fishing, while I convinced Cooper to take a little nap again. Dad and I once again cruised the island for birds.

It was then decided we were going to eat an early dinner so that we could actually be out fishing at sunset. Dinner got a big boost with the stringer that George, Mike, and Shaun brought in!

As we prepared dinner, Mike noticed a huge snapping turtle sunbathing on a rock right off the island. This was probably the same bugger that had been visiting our stringers of fish. He knew did get any of our fish, but we kept moving them around. He was a big guy!

We ate a huge dinner of fish and hashbrowns, did up the dishes, and got out for our last hurrah at fishing. So far, just Shaun and I had completed the "trifecta", catching northerns, walleyes, and smallmouth bass. Dad was focused on getting his "trifecta" before the end of the night! We went over off the rocks on the eastern shore and boom, Dad got his smallmouth! "Trifecta" complete!

We fished for a while longer, but we all knew we should get back in and start tearing down some of the camp. This would help keep things moving in the morning when we wanted to get out of camp. We did squeeze in some hot chocolate time, as the boys had come to love this time of day. Then, it was off to bed, with our time drawing to an end.