START DAY: Sasaginnigak Lake (island site)

END DAY: Kawaseecheewonk Lake (Island Site)

CAMPSITE #6

We broke camp early and started the paddle heading south in the direction of Scout Lake. Just after leaving our island campsite, we were surprised to see a roughly a dozen pelicans; this is something that I’ve never seen up north in over four decades of fishing and camping trips in Minnesota, Canada, and Alaska.

The paddle back across Sasaginnigak Lake was uneventful as we did not have to contend with the wind and waves that we experienced the first time we crossed the big lake.

We ended the padding for the day at an island site on Kawaseecheewonk Lake. A few of the scouts did some exploring of the island and found an old wooden grave marker and an empty bottle of liquor in memory of “Big Al Lawler” 1937 – 2001. A discovery that the scouts enjoyed even more was finding a waterproof Ziplock bag that contained eight snickers chocolate bars. This bag was inadvertently forgotten by a former Northern Tier trek earlier in the summer. Our crew did the right thing and followed the “leave no trace” principle and took possession of the chocolate bars. Cindy worked them into a fine desert for the crew that evening.

After setting camp, Joe and Cameron along with Joey and Dave took two canoes to fish at the northern end of Kawaseecheewonk Lake that had a beautiful looking weed bed that we passed through earlier on the way to our island campsite. I told that boys on the way in that this spot looked like a great location to find a big northern pike. This was a good prediction as shortly after we arrived and started fishing, Joe hooked a descent pike that was maybe three pounds. He was reeling in this pike when a massive pike on the order of 40” to 42” T-boned his little pike and the fight was on. Unfortunately the big pike let go and Joe reeled in his small fish most upset that he did not get the big one. I told Joe to leave the little pike on the hook and cast it back out. The big pike again grabbed the little one and Joe fought it a second time only to have the big pike again release its grasp on the little one. This game was repeated a third time, but then after three unsuccessful rounds of trying eat Joe’s little pike, the big pike gave up and would not hit again.