This day we changed plans. We were going to paddle right into Indiana Lake, but decided that didn't have enough adventure or pizazz! We instead paddled through Basswood to the East and headed to Indiana via Good Lake. We had oatmeal and coffee in the morning and enjoyed sunny skies again. It was a little chilly, but not too bad. We had pretty good luck fishing right away that morning and caught several smallies. Nothing big, but I think I got one about 16 or so. We had heard that Hoist Bay had been great for smallies, but we didn't have much luck at all and decided to just head right into Good Lake. We did have a shore lunch of some walleyes and a northern - that was great.

On the way into Good, we encountered a first for all of us... our first Beaver Dam that we had to cross! One of the members of the group suggested we head back and go around... I said "Hell No!" and we stopped and dragged our canoes right over. Luna got unbelievably muddy and then leapt back into the canoe, creating havoc and general hysteria. We all had a nice chuckle... Luna is why we can't have nice things!

Good Lake was just a paddle-through lake, but we didn't see another soul. That was cool! It did look like a pretty lake and I think it would be worth it to fish it again someday. Everything up to this point had been generally pleasant. Then came the portage from Good to Indiana. It was a short one on the map, we figured maybe 100-125 rods. First we couldn't find the portage site - we thought it was co-located with the campsite near the portage, but indeed it wasn't. Then we bushwhacked to get to the portage. Then we executed the portage. It was hot and the elevation gain was beastly! But what's a trip to the outdoors without a little dose of suffering, eh? As Pat McManus would say... A Fine and Pleasant Misery!

Indiana Lake was breathtaking. It's a little pot hole lake with ultra clear water that's almost blue enough to look like the ocean. There are mature trees going right up to the bank around the entire shore... and there are bass! I did really well on the bass just working a jig back from shore. I kept one Smallie to eat with our walleyes, but other than that we threw everything back. I think I caught about 15+ bass that evening between shore and canoe fishing and the biggest was about a 17" Large Mouth. Happy times!

We had a fish fry that night and drank wine around the campfire. Since it was the summer solstice, we stayed up pretty late and just enjoyed the lightning bugs and beautiful lake that we had all to ourselves. We saw VERY few people the entire day and no one on Good or Indiana. One note - I decided one of my most important factors for selecting a site is level tent pads. The pads we had were marginal at this site, but everything else was fantastic!