START DAY: Sasaginnigak Lake

END DAY: Sasaginnigak Lake – Far side

CAMPSITE #4

This was another long day of paddling as we battled the big open water of Sasaginnigak Lake which was made more challenging going into the rain, wind, and waves. Shortly after leaving camp in the morning, I caught a 36 ½” pike that went 12 lbs trolling my 8” jointed Wiley Musky King fishing lure which Cindy nicknamed “the clown lure” due to the white color with red polka dot pattern. Twenty minutes later, I caught a 10 lbs pike trolling that same lure.

We stopped by the large island and checked out the fire tower and talked to a few guys fishing out of a 16’ aluminum boat from the local Sasaginnigak Lake Lodge. George, Matthew, and Cameron attempted to use their engineering skills to construct a sail to efficiently carry them across the lake. While they certainly earned an “A” for effort, their grade for effectiveness was not so good.

We continued to the far northwestern side of the lake and camped close to where we would portage out of Sasaginnigak Lake into a small branch of the Sasaginnigak River.

After arriving at camp, two canoes headed out fishing. George caught a nice 2 lbs and 3 lbs walleye to contribute to our first fish dinner. The rest of the crew caught some smaller pike and walleye, but enough for us to enjoy a good meal. Brian enjoyed relaxing as Dave filleted the fish and Joey cooked the fish using our tried-and-true method of frying in butter Crisco and then topping it off with Magic Chef seasoning and a little lemon juice. A special treat for our group was that our interpreter Brian really enjoyed backwoods cooking and brought along his own special bag of extra spices and ingredients. Brian made fried and spiced onion rings for the crew that were quickly devoured.