Wednesday, June 21, 2023 I was up just after 5 am and decided to go fishing. On the water before Peter, fished hard around the bay in front of camp and caught a few Smallmouths. Back in camp before 10 am and took a short nap. Got up and visited with Peter over breakfast and based on our research, there is supposed to be good smallmouth bass in Toe Lake. After cleaning up, we hit the water and started toward Toe, fishing the island on the south end of the bay. We didn’t even get a nibble, so we started paddling toward Toe. Peter was working a sunken island without any luck, while I tried to get ahead of him and check out the third campsite in Lady Boot. Suddenly he yelled there was a bear or moose swimming across the bay. Just then, the wind picked up from the direction I wanted to head for a picture. I paddled as hard as I could until I had closed the distance and needed to take my camera out of the dry bag and set up for the shot before the moose reached shore. I was thinking about what I need for settings while paddling, so I quickly did an exposure compensation of 1.3, with a shutter speed of 1/5000th. I had to overcompensate because the sun was behind the moose and needed a fast shutter speed because I was shaking, sitting in a bobbing canoe, and the moose was quite a bit away from me. This was my fourth moose sighting in the BWCA, first image. I would have been happy if the day had ended now, but we still had Toe to fish. Good news; no portage, the water was high enough to paddle over. I took a picture of Peter before we split up. He went along the west shoreline, and I worked along the east shoreline. My first fish on Toe, I have no idea how it got the hook in its mouth. After a quick release I caught a nicer one and worked up to my personal best 18” Smallmouth. Peter also had some luck on his side of the lake, but he didn’t get any measurements. He did think one might have been pushing 20”. Good trip to Toe! We got back to camp about seven, had hamburger and potatoes for dinner, cleaned up, got ready for travel day tomorrow. Can’t believe we spent three nights on this sight. Lots of trips up and down the hill, should make me stronger, not weaker. Zipped up the hammock before 10pm, as the mosquitos were taking over the bay after dark, and you could hear them all night long, it was a constant buzz.