We woke up Tuesday morning to blue skies, but clouds moved in quickly and were replaced with the dull gray of overcast skies by midmorning. We had planned a bit shorter trip today to search for bluegills on one or more of the small lakes off of Clark Lake and decided to stick to that plan despite the forecast. Knowing rain was likely by lunch time, we buttoned up camp as best as we could, grabbed our rain jackets, and had a pleasant paddle through Loon and Clark into Glimmerglass.

Glimmerglass is a small lake, slightly stained, with vegetation all around the shorelines including grasses and lily pads- lots and lots of lily pads. Most of the areas we fished were fairly shallow- 3 to 5 feet, so we bobber fished with small jigs around the edges and immediately found fish after fish. We caught bluegills, sunfish, rock bass, and largemouth bass up to 15" without effort for an hour. But the gills were small, too small for a meal anyway, and the rain was starting earlier than expected. A slow sprinkle was replaced by a constant drizzle, which soon strengthened to steady sheets of rain that lasted the next 90 minutes. Sometime during the early stages of that mess we decided to land our canoe, get under the umbrella protection of the ancient pines lining the shore of the lake, and have an early lunch. We mostly just sat under the trees and talked, with stories from past trips to both Sylvania and Boundary Waters being the main topics. A few claps of thunder off in the distance kept us wondering what was still coming, but whatever it was never made its way to us.

Around Noon, the winds calmed, the rain stopped and the gloomy skies were replaced with scattered clouds and sunshine. We tried a different area of the lake near a point with a bit deeper water, and for that, we were rewarded handsomely. Within another hour or so, we had caught enough sizable bluegills for a fish-fry dinner after once again sorting through a number of smaller fish and the occasional largemouth. It was the most exciting and action packed day I had with bobber fishing in many years, and it really brought me back to my own early teen years when I would do this same thing on a small lake in northern Wisconsin with my grandfather. It was great to share such a simplistic yet rewarding experience with my son and to see him understand that fishing didn't always need to be about going after "the big ones".

Since Jaden was instrumental in catching these fish, he also got to help filet them in preparation for dinner. It was the first time he had ever really fileted fish, and while he still has more learning to do, it was a great first attempt and something I believe he'll be able to help with on future fishing trips.

We spent the remaining part of the day back at our camp, and I'm pretty sure we both took short naps. Despite the smaller lakes and easier portages as compared to other trips, we had really worn ourselves out, so the rest was well deserved and appreciated. We had our fish dinner and those bluegills made for a mighty tasty meal. We broke down most of camp, did a little shore fishing, and had a long campfire that evening and night until bedtime. We were now 2 for 2 on our fishing plans, and looking forward to moving to Mountain Lake the next morning to see what else Sylvania had in store for us.