Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

Iron Lake Trip 2016
by GopherAdventure

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 05/28/2016
Entry & Exit Point: Moose/Portage River (north) (EP 16)
Number of Days: 7
Group Size: 2
Day 3 of 7
Monday, May 30, 2016 Today we paddled over to one of our favorite honeypot fishing spots which did not disappoint because we caught our dinner in less than 15 minutes, and after some catch and release for a while we went back for lunch and relaxation because the weather was gorgeous. I explored the island and found a few ladyslippers growing on the SW side of the island. I had found a few in years past, but the tricky thing about the ladyslipper is that it is not a perennial and it has a very low success rate of its seeds which is what makes it hard to find. The ones I found were in full bloom and awesome.  I stocked us up on firewood and then we headed back out into Peterson Bay where the walleyes were biting like crazy (to this point, we had caught maybe 25 fish and all were walleyes except 1 Pike and 1 SMB. A couple of guys from Kentucky paddled by and watched us pull in a few walleyes and they were shocked. They said all they wanted was walleyes, but all they were catching was bass and pike. I chuckled at the irony and gave them a few ideas to help (they kept mispronouncing Rapala) which I found hilarious mostly because I'm not quite sure how to pronounce it either. They said "rah-paula" with the emphasis on the "paula".