Thursday morning rolled around and the storm from the night before was replaced by sunshine. Although we received a much-needed dousing of rain, we were thankful that everything in camp was in order and dry. Breakfast was oatmeal today, which we were able to prepare, eat and clean up in quick fashion so that we could get back on the water to find more fish. Appropriately, we decided to focus our attention, that Thursday, on Thursday Bay. I had fished Thursday Bay before, so I went over the map with my partners and gave them suggestions for which bays to focus their attention, and we made plans to meet up near “little current” late afternoon. I was going to dawdle around camp a bit before heading out for fishing and I was going to focus on some other areas in order to give my buddies some space for fishing and taking advantage of the solo canoe.

I explored some small bays between Thursday and Friday bays and I had some good luck with smallmouth bass using a Whopper Plopper on the surface. It is definitely a thrill to watch a bass hammer a top-water bait, and the small bays that I initially fished were well protected from any wind, making my presentation more enticing. After working my way through two bays and having good luck with the fishing, I paddled over to Thursday Bay and went straight over to Little Current, which had very little current going through it compared to when I had been there two years earlier. The lower water levels were definitely noticeable at that landmark. Since my friends were fishing down in Thursday Bay proper, I headed east of Little Current and fished the islands and little bays that led toward Wednesday Bay. The fishing was good but a little slower than it had been earlier in the morning. As it was getting closer to the time when we had planned to meet near Little Current I paddled my way north and drifted down “Big Current” to get an idea of how the water flow compared to Little Current. I decided to switch to a jig, thinking that I could hook into a walleye or two as I lazily drifted through Big Current. While the water looked very fishy I had no strikes, and there was another canoe at the bottom of Big Current so I focused on staying out of their way, since they were ahead of me.

At the bottom of the run I pulled in my line and started paddling toward Little Current when I spied my partners who had pulled ashore near a vacant campsite. They weren’t exactly sure where “Little Current” was, so I told them that we were close and that they should just get back on the water and follow me. Since they had to get loaded back in their canoe I decided that I might as well drift my jig while I waited for them to catch up to me. That turned out to be the most fortuitous decision I made on the entire trip, because I had only had my jig in the water for a minute or two when it was struck hard. I set the hook and initially thought that I had gotten hung up on the bottom. But soon my rod was literally doubled over and line was zinging out of my reel, causing me to slightly adjust my drag. I knew at that time that whatever was on the other end of the line was quite a fish. It took me several minutes to work the fish to the surface, as it made two or three strong runs, reminding me of some of the salmon and trout I used to catch on fly rods when I lived in Alaska. When the fish finally showed itself I was amazed to see the biggest smallmouth bass I had ever seen in person and at that point I said a quick prayer that the fish wouldn’t go airborne and spit my hook. After a couple more short runs the fish was ready to land and thankfully I was able to maneuver the rod and my landing net to quickly bring the fish to the canoe. At that point I told my friends that we need to paddle to shore for pictures before I released this amazing bass. So I straddled the net handle under one leg and picked up a paddle and pointed my canoe to a good landing spot. Once I got out of my canoe and took a closer look at the fish in my net I couldn’t believe my good fortune. I fumbled through my backpack and pulled out my tape measure. A couple measurements confirmed that this fish was 21” in length and had a girth of 15”! Not only was I fortunate to land such a fish, but I did so with my buddies watching from their canoe, so that they were able to share in the joy that I was feeling at that moment. My friend Terry and I had fished a lot together when we both lived in Alaska and he had been with me when I caught my largest rainbow trout and my largest dolly varden and I had watched him land a couple halibut that weighed close to 150 pounds, so it was a special moment that he was able to share with my that day. After taking lots of pictures I released this fish back to the water and as she flipped and swam back into the deeper water I hoped that she would bring someone else as much joy as she brought me that afternoon.

After we released my bass we headed over to Little Current and spent about an hour catching some nice bass and a couple walleyes. However, we were unable to put enough eater walleyes on the stringer for a meal, so once again we released the fish and paddled home for a dehydrated dinner. As we sat around after dinner, listening to a chorus of frogs, I kept thinking how lucky I was that day, not only with landing a fish of a lifetime but simply being in a wilderness environment, connecting with nature and with good friends.