The sun greets us and the wind is nearly completely gone as we break down camp. It’s at least 20 degrees warmer already! We’ve got some miles to cover, so we wistfully paddle out of Veron, exiting the way we came to the north. I promise myself to come back to this lake someday, and give it a good working-over if the weather lets me. By the second portage, it’s downright hot out. My thermometer says it’s 80, and we’re down to t-shirts and baseball hats. Wasn’t it just yesterday that we had everything we owned on? We get back into Camel, fish a spot or two, including our favorite one that we named “The Snack Shack” with several nice ‘eyes, smalleys and pike. It’s hard to leave, but we move out into Nan Lake where we have lunch (near a huge ant hill), and then up Cutty Creek. We’re resting in the shade and drinking lots of water, because it is still very hot, and the breeze is down to almost nothing. We do the last carry into Fred and are feeling some symptoms of heat stroke. I won’t forget the beautiful sight at the end of that portage—a sandy beach! I waded right in, and we all couldn’t wait to jump in to bathe and cool down. Wow, that felt amazing! The dip helped perk us back up and get our core temperature down, but we felt like we were done moving for the day. We take campsite W8 on Fred, and it is a dandy. The site is up about a 15’ granite slab/cliff, has a great view, lots of level space for tents, and is just an all-around gem in my book. The take out is not great, but would be a sure-fire 5-star if it was. [URL=http://s75.photobucket.com/user/MadBirdman/media/Quetico%202016%20Veron/Brett%20Journal_zpsgcwjvsbl.jpg.html]

[/URL] After setting camp, I caught a few fish right from shore as we were getting ready to head out in the canoe. The last one was a heavy northern, that was probably in the high 30” class, but I lost it while trying to lift him out, so I never got a tape on him. It cooled off just a bit, and we started really getting into the walleyes for the first time the whole trip. We had caught them, but this was the first time that I would call the action “fast”. We had several doubles and even a few triples, all of eating size or better. The beach/bath, nice campsite, and good fishing were a welcome pickup in mood from the cold and wind on Veron. We cleaned up some of the fish, and had a great fish fry that night. Love that Andy’s breading!