Another clear and beautiful morning though temperatures seem a bit warmer today. After packing up camp, we decide to take our time and drift down the lake, fishing as we go. For once it seems, the wind is at our backs and we still are able to make good time despite our lackadaisical attitude towards paddling. After a few casts, a northern takes interest in my silver spoon. Another one of decent size, this time however, I am careless and do not bother to wear him out before landing him. When I get him next to the canoe I am overly aggressive and with one lightning-quick thrash he breaks my line. I am starting to second guess my decision to go with lighter 6 pound test this trip. I try to forget about losing my all-star lure as we continue on down the lake. This does not take long, as from the left corner of my eye I see what appears to be the large brown silhouette of a moose emerging from the woods. My dad and I slowly turn the canoe around in anticipation of what the moose will do next. To our amazement the large cow begins to enter the water and heads across the lake right in front of us. We are stunned to see her swim a distance of over a hundred yards to the opposite shoreline. With a little shake and a final look around, she disappears back into the lush-green landscape. This was turning into one hell of a trip we thought, as we crossed moose viewing off the day’s activity list. After a side exploration up a stream surrounded by long green grassy vegetation, we stop for lunch on a nearby island. It was hot now with temperatures certainly exceeding 90 degrees. We welcome the brief reprieve from the suns rays as we eat our soup and peanut butter and honey sandwiches in the cover of a few small pines.

Back on our journey, I decide to troll the deep water looking to see if I can gain the interests of any creature that may be lurking in the depths of this great lake. I have never had any real success fishing this way and today would continue that trend. In twenty minutes I had grown bored and replaced my rod with a paddle; much to the satisfaction of my dad I think. My fishing interests had led us to fall far behind my mother and brother, now just a tiny spec on the water in front of us. In addition to this I had not been paying close attention to the map, knowing that if we just kept moving down the lake we couldn’t go too far wrong. The geography on this section of the lake south of Hunter Island and boundary point proved somewhat difficult to read being that it was hard to distinguish what were islands, points, mainland, etc……..Yes, I guess this is just my way of disguising the simple truth that we didn’t exactly know where the hell it is we were. Adding to our situation was the presence of a series of thunderheads encroaching from our rear. It was painfully obvious that in less than an hour we would be feeling the effects of this storm whether we were prepared or not.

Fate would have it on this trip that just beyond the next point about a quarter mile down existed a four star campsite once again conveniently abandoned. We quickly set up camp and just in time, for it was then that the lakes personality changed drastically. 45 mile an hour gusts violently churned the surface of the water and caused our tent to nearly blow back into the woods after its stakes were uprooted. The downpour felt wonderful but like most storms up here it only lasted for 15 minutes or so and did little to break the heat of the day. We soon fillet the northern and walleye to compliment a meal of rice and macaroni and cheese. I feel that I have liking towards pike and walleye more so than lake trout despite the constant encounters with the infamous Y-bones. On that subject, it seems that the few bones in the trout the night before if any had a tendency to dissolve during the cooking process. With our appetites filled we stayed up late that night enjoying the campfire and a deep red moon that reflected perfectly off the lakes surface from where it hovered above the opposite tree-line. Tomorrow would be a rest/recreational day.

src="./upload/bwells113-160806-181913.JPG" align="left" >