I’m up at 7:00 and feeling much better. Cook up blueberry chocolate pancakes with 5 pieces of pre cooked bacon. Today is a day to fish with the weather having calmed down. Stew and Ben are out first. I throw the ball to get Luna tired enough for the canoe and get on the water around 10:00.

Right away I snag on rocks and lose a leader and a tail dancer lure. Then it happens again. The line was used the year before and apparently was frayed about 4 feet up the line. So I strip off 10 feet and rig up again. That solves the problem.

Tough little tree

I troll the eastern shore up to the north and pull in to a sliver of a bay which holds a campsite. I can only see the small landing but no sign of the site in the thick trees. It’s a good spot for lunch so we get out and explore. It turns out it’s a very cool site tucked in the trees. Hardly a view of the main water but a nice fireplace with level spots for two tents. Not bad if you want solitude.

I continue fishing around islands and make my way back to camp trolling. Almost back and I feel a fish on. I bring it in and it’s a beautiful 23 inch lake trout. Exactly what I am looking for! I quickly filet it on a nearby flat rock then head into camp.

Stew and Ben are not long after and they come in with a 14 inch walleye. Fish for dinner. I gave my filets to Stew as, well, he’s a really good cook! He likes to do it up. tonight we’ll have deep fried filets that were breaded in a pecan mix. There is also wild rice, corn, scrambled eggs done up in the leftover fish oil and a chocolate mousse for dessert.

For a nightcap as the sun fell we broke out the liquor. I shared my makers mark and Stew passed a flask of $150 rum. Yes, you read that right. Tripping with Stew has its perks.