We woke up Monday morning to a steady wind, which was only forecasted to get stronger throughout the day. We headed to the large bay well south of Gold Island where the portage into Roy Lake is, and fished that area for several hours. I caught a few smaller pike and a smallmouth, but the action was pretty slow and Jaden didn't get a single strike. Even in this fairly protected area, we could tell the winds were getting strong, and we decided to eat lunch at site #402 (not a site I would have wanted to stay at) and head back towards camp.

We fought whitecaps as soon as we hit the main part of the lake while trying to head north across open water back to our site. Without a strong bow paddler, this was tough work. We eventually slipped around the point of Gold Island and found a slight break from the wind. Hoping to catch some fish for dinner, we took a few casts at a downed tree that reached well out from shore over some deeper water. We went in closer, marked quite a few fish and had lots of nibbles after switching to jigs, but nothing that we could hook. Seemingly out of nowhere, a huge wind gust pushed our canoe back into the limbs of the downed pine, and I watched helplessly as the pole I had hanging out the back of the canoe snagged a branch, bent heavily, and then quickly snapped. In retrospect, it was just another "dumb Dad" move; we should have just gone back to our site instead of battling the wind and waves.

After returning, we gathered lots of firewood and fished unsuccessfully from shore for the rest of the day. We also followed a short path through the woods to the north shore of the island, and took a quick look at Canada. I made Jaden point at it for a photo op, mostly because I know he hates it when I do things like that. Since it was still too windy to head back out and our fire grate area was well protected from the wind, we enjoyed a rather long campfire that evening and night. The forecast for Tuesday was for another day of heavy wind, so we decided to pack camp and head to Red Rock first thing in the morning to try and beat the winds.