I paddled around the lake and fished most of the day. Live bait definitely helps. Once it was dinner time, or late afternoon I decided to keep a fish for supper. I caught a nice golden walleye just the right size for supper. Man it was good to eat a meal of fresh fish. I battered it and fried it in butter. Made some cilantro lime rice. Realized I had no spoon or fork, so I used my drink mix scoop (I have some Gatorade powder or sometimes some generic fruit punch mix that I often use when I’m filling up my water bottle). One other thing I had forgotten was a stringer, but I made one out of 550 and a stick.

Of note: I broke my fishing rod and fixed it with superglue and tpu tape on my last solo trip to Duncan rose and south. This works very well. The tape goes on first with two small strips to hold the two rod pieces together. Mine overlapped 5 inches. I ‘sanded’ the rod pieces that would be adjoined by scraping the graphite with my knife edge. The tpu tape comes right off even after letting super glue dry on it. It’s so handy. The rod never came apart after that either and I caught a lake trout by accident and a bunch of bass on that trip. Also a northern on Insula, and some very big and feisty bass in the pools between the the falls in between the numbered lakes and Insula, while on my way out. They were very aggressive fish. If you want fish in every cast, go there. Bass only in the ten I caught at least. I let them all go. Right next to the portage by the other short portages. They thrive there.

I put my camera down to record one, and boom, big bass in seconds. This was yet to come though so more on that later…

Anyway, after eating the walleye, cleaning the pan, and putting my stove away, I again retreated to the point with my green tarp. The sun was setting. I was full of fresh caught walleye from worms I caught the night before. I had my Powerade mix in me, some peach tea in me, some snacks, and man I felt good watching the sunset and the loons cry out. My tarp was taught and even in the wind held its form well. This was one of the things I was testing so I made sure it had a chance to be tested. It never budged though and I was satisfied with the way I set it up.

My faith in those little lime green yellow chartreuse? Dyneema lines has grown. I still had a 550 line above the tarp center with a carabiner for a pitch point. But I always do that.

The extra end of that 550 was the line I used for my chair leash. Most times I came around the corner, that chair was laying sideways or in a different spot so it did need the tether up there on the point.

I didn’t need to hang my food pack anymore, it all fit in the black udap canister by this time, actually after 2-3 days it all fit in there. Not that it’s hard to hang my food pack. It’s just nice to drop it and walk away. It has an AirTag in it in case it gets moved or I forget it somewhere. Also it beeps quietly when I retrieve it. It know when its being moved. I’m still amazed at some of the gadgets we have nowadays. Somehow, my food container is digitized. I don’t mind though. Even though I like my old school stuff, I’m a bit of a hybrid.

When I hang I use three 550 lines, two pulleys and a carabiner attached to each pulley for ease. They are red orange and pink and reflective lines easy to see on the ground when bundled up, but still basically disappear in the air in the daytime. I know two lines would also work, but I prefer three so they are all the same length and I don’t have to have one really long rope.

one line goes over a branch on one tree, one line over another branch on a different tree. Then I connect those lines . That’s my horizontal line. I connect the end of the rope for my pulley & pack at the junction of those two lines, or close, and that line runs down to my food pack, which has a pulley on the grab handle attached by carabiner. the line from there goes back up to the horizontal line where my second pulley is attached, basically right at or near the junction of the two horizontal lines again. Then the rope that hangs down is the one you pulled on and tie off.

These three ropes and those two pulleys don’t weigh much. The carabiners split duty between 1)the food pack pulleys and the tarp at camp, and 2) the canoe tethers for packs and my portage yokes during travel. I bring 4 total carabiners with me. And four total 50 ft lengths of 55o rope. These three ropes three mentioned above, and another yellow chartreuse one for the tarp center attachment point also mentioned above.

Technically I can get by with three carabiners, but I take four and likely a couple more next time.

Also, If you haven’t used Avenza yet, start now. Small Portable rechargeable weather radios are not cheating. Get one. And also wear your pfd everyone. Unless you’re older than me, than I probably won’t bother you about it. ;) I have a map and compass in my pfd chest pocket with an aid kit. Other chest pocket has a needle nose pliers, a small knife, a small handheld marine air horn, and a lighter.

Anyways, I’m thinking of heading out tomorrow. I’ve got two days left of supplies, two days left on my float plan, and about a full days paddle away from the entry point. I decide to pack up tomorrow morning and head towards lake one, knowing I will probably stop somewhere to camp one more night, and split return paddle duties into two days and arriving back at entry point as planned on day 7.

I sleep very good every night, this night as well.