Saturday, August 15, 2020 Woke up to moist and wet conditions outside, Quick meal of oatmeal and granola while we surveyed the conditions on the water. Borderline whitecaps were rolling down Rib Lake and after a quick discussion with Logan we decided to not press onto Long island Lake as with Rib being smaller the waves surely wood be larger on Long Island. Instead turned our packed canoe back towards Ham where we had heard from other canoers the fishing was good. After some portages and fishing the connecting rivers I caught a Walleye on a Berkley flicker shad and threw it on the stringer. We worked the river system on and off catching mainly small bass and pike. It was during one of these times when a snot rocket of a pike slide down my hand and the second tremble hook on the Flicker shad was sent into my finger. The sensation of a pike on one end of a lure and you on the other is a unique one watching the fingerling pike wiggle around and it driving ever deeper into my finger. Grabbing it with the forceps I was able to get it unhooked and the pike hit the water with a splash. After a paddle to the shoreline I was sitting on a boulder and playing backwoods operation on my own finger. Keeping pressure on the backside of the barb I was able to find the angle the hook entered in at and slip the hook out. A quick bandage job followed and then a portage it wasn't ideal but it also wasn't something that a breaded walleye lunch couldn't fix. Once we were on Ham we set up camp on the campsite that was directly across from the portage. Logan had forgotten his rain gear over at the portage so he solo canoed back to get it. The wind had picked up and sent him out of my view as he went around a point. Twenty minutes later he was back soaked and pissed.... He had tipped the canoe trying to get it unstuck in a shallow portion of the lake. A rookie mistake for a rookie canoer. That night we worked the shoreline across from us and caught some decent smallies and at dusk we made a push for the opposite end following the shoreline we ended up in a cove. We were in the thick of smallies and good fishing every other cast brought one in. We were killing it on Berkely's flicker shads red, purple and silver it didn't matter they were hungry and aggressive. We kept two for supper and then called it a night as we paddled back and fry them with some lemon pepper seasoning then retired for the night sitting around the campfire and bonding over our wilderness experience.