Day 7 September 18, Sturgeon to Burntside

It seemed colder last night. The thermometer showed 40 degrees at 700am. The sky presented with a bunch of low clouds and the wind switched again back toward the east. Squirrelly. After a breakfast of coffee, bagels, and cream cheese we packed up camp and hit the water at 930am.

Yup, it just seems to be the time we get organized. We chose not to fish until we hit Rouge Lake in order to make some time across Sturgeon in a broadside wind. We did stop to check out a possible campsite for future use (3*) and surfed the wind swell into the creek heading to Rouge. Once there we pulled over two small beaver dams and the portaged up and over a large beaver construction project (5+ feet tall.) I’d be afraid to meet the beaver crew that engineered that one. We discussed for a while naming our expedition “Beaver Fever” while we negotiated three short portages into Rouge and lunched on a granite slab that held the remnants of a bunch of mussel shells. Maybe otters lunched here earlier? We caught a few small bass as we made our way to Burntside. Sneaking through a little hidey-hole into Burntside we were welcomed by a pair of loons. We made our way to a nearby point campsite to retrieve Dan’s rope. It was waiting patiently on a rock. We decided to proceed up the shore a few hundred yards to a second more sheltered possibility and took a quick look at a camp on a nearby island but decided on the middle site so we paddled back and set up camp around 300pm. It’s a nice site with a granite landing and a gentle ramp up to camp on a knoll in the pines. The fireplace is adjacent to a large flat slab for a sweet kitchen set up out of the wind. Not a lot of flat tent spots but we found one that would work for our narrow tent. (We are VERY particular about tent pads.) After camp was set, we had a snack and geared up to go fishing around 530-730pm. The wind just never let up and though the day was a mix of sun and clouds it never really warmed up. I spent most of the day paddling in a fleece hoodie, windshirt, PFD, alternating a cap and fleece hat just to stay warm enough in the wind. So back to fishing, we caught about 8 bass of varying sizes and kept one for dinner. “Where are the Walleye?” We are employing the sage advice of “Go Deeper. Fish Later, ” but the sun is setting about 730pm. I added layers and set up the kitchen while Tony cleaned the fish. We had a dinner of Knorr’s Thai Rice with Ramen filler, dehydrated vegies, pan-fried bass with a cashew topper. Very Yummy. Another couple arrived at the nearby island camp while we were fishing. We cleaned up and sat around the fire drinking hot chocolate until around 1000pm and then reading and bed. The wind was still blowing a little and there were a few stars in the sky.

Day 8, Friday September 15th Jean to Albert and Back

It felt warmer last night and I actually had to throw my arms out of the bag to vent. We got up around 700am. A light breeze was blowing from the west but the clouds were dense and low. We decided not to move today. I baked a coffee cake and we proceeded to eat the whole thing while sipping a second cup of coffee. After breakfast we decided to take a day trip over through Jean and then to Albert for lunch. It started to spit rain on the portage to Jean and by the time we entered Albert we were caught in a torrential downpour.

Huddled under some pines we shared a relatively dry lunch and then when the rain eased to a steady sprinkle we fished our way around the perimeter of the lake catching many (mostly small) bass and a couple of pike. I discovered my Mountain Hardware rain pants are crap! They keep you dry from the thighs down but my butt is soaked. The seam must be bad. Wonderfully there was no wind but it rained pretty consistently until about 300pm, when we headed back. For variety we chose to take the alternate portage back to Burntside but getting sucked thigh deep into the swamp changed our minds so we turned around and retraced our steps back to the previous portage. It was completely devoid of wind until we hit Burntside and then it returned. We fished our way back to camp via the southwestern part of the lake but no takers and hit camp just before sunset wet, hungry, but surprisingly not too cold. Tony got a fire going while I made a dinner of smoked salmon pasta with sun-dried tomatoes. We ate companionably by the fire, in the dark, while attempting to dry our socks. I guess that was our lay-over day? Hoping to dry out some tomorrow. It was a warm, windless, misty evening until. . .