Thursday, August 31, 2017 - Fishing day and Awesome Sunrise Today was set aside to go fishing. After and incredible sunrise and breakfast (and new life bird – Red-necked Grebe), I made my way back to Kawishiwi River, but only to the first portage. I fished the riffles below the rapids and caught a couple of small pike. I paddled around and fished the shoreline for a while, with no luck. I started fishing my way back to camp and tried trolling a shad rap, but I got tired of all the snags, so I went to the Jitterbug. There is a tree down near campsite 1322 that has left a fairly small gap between the tree and the opposite shore. Going up river earlier in the day I encountered a couple of otters at the spot. I wasn’t expecting much, but as the lure gurgled through the gap something BIG hit. I had it on for a few seconds before it broke me off. My guess is a large pike. I have caught a couple of large pike and this one felt considerably bigger. I paddled around a bit and in time I found the broken off Jitterbug. I encountered the same father and daughter from the day before and we talked for a bit. They had watched me make my way around Alice the day before and commented on the wave action. They also commented on the large bandage on my face, so they got the story. She is a child psych major at Minnesota, I am a retired teacher so we talked a bit about kid psychology. After our “have a good days” I paddled back up river and dragged a Jitterbug through the same place with no success. On the way back to my camp, I paddled around The Rock. I climbed it and enjoyed the view from on high. Back in camp, I listened to my weather radio and the forecast was 10-15 mph wind the following day with gusts to 25, and cold that night. I decided to get an early start and at least get part of the way back to the EP. I packed up everything except my sleeping stuff and set my watch for 5:30.