Day 5: Fishing on Roy, Grandpa
Tuesday, June 10th, 2025
I rise before 6 and am eager to get on the water for our journey to Roy today. Even though it’s just one portage, it’s not an easy one, and I know from experience how quickly time flies on day trips when you will be retracing your journey back to camp at the end of the day. I feel very confident that we will have solid fishing success today, a stark contrast to how I felt just a couple days ago when we arrived. The glass-calm waters on the lake are begging to be paddled and fished, and I am antsy to get going. But I temper my enthusiasm and decide to get everything 100% ready to push off from the landing for our trip and to let Andrew catch up on his rest.
This takes a surprisingly long time. Soon it’s after 7 AM and Andrew is still sound asleep in his hammock. We’ve both slept perfectly through this trip so far, ending any trepidations I had about starting Andrew off from the very beginning in his own hammock setup. Though I know he needs as much rest as possible, I also know he wants to get plenty of fishing in this morning, so I finally wake him up. We eat our breakfast and then push off for the portage to Roy.
We reach the portage landing and unload. The landing on this end isn’t bad, but it isn’t great either. I’m still very eager to get rolling in hopes of fishing some topwater on Roy in the fleeting calm of the morning, and I make a mighty upward heave of the canoe while I’m on uneven footing in the water. Bad idea. The canoe never reaches my shoulders, my feet slip beneath me, and I come crashing down on my back on a boulder in one loud swearing pile of aging humanity, with what feels like the weight of the world upon me to add insult to injury. By some miracle I’m not injured, though I do need a moment or two to lay on the rocks and contemplate the pain and my own foolhardiness. While I’ve never been an ultralight camper, it’s amazing how much heavier the load is on my shoulders for this tandem fishing-focused trip compared to my past solo trips. I’ve gone from a solo canoe to large tandem, with a heavier layup. We’re carrying three fishing poles plus a net and way more fishing tackle, not just one pole. Three paddles instead of two. Two thwart bags full of snacks. It all adds up to a lot more weight on my shoulders this year (literally and figuratively)! The portage itself goes smoothly, aided by cooler temperatures and occasional drizzle this morning.
The whole portage is a tough wake up call, seeming much tougher than our initial portage in to Grandpa two days ago. My shoulders have been getting painfully sore during the longer portages, so I keep adjusting the yoke pads narrower, but it doesn’t seem to help (I later find when I’m perusing this site after my trip that I really should set the pads out as wide as possible, on the bony parts of my shoulders). While it’s not too hot, it’s quite humid, especially in the thick woods this morning. But nothing can temper our enthusiasm for catching a mess of smallmouth today!
By the time we arrive at Roy, the wind has picked up to a steady breeze that is putting a light chop on the water. In addition, we are peppered with intermittent rain showers from solidly overcast skies. Overall, these are less than ideal conditions for fishing topwater lures, but nonetheless, we give it a go along the southern shoreline, where we are briefly accompanied by a pair of otters. Andrew fishes with with a Berkley Choppo, and I with a Jitterbug. Andrew gets a few semi-interested strikes, but nothing that results in a catch. Even still, we are encouraged just to get some topwater action on this day.
We take a more conventional approach and switch lures, Andrew to a Mepps Black Fury, and I to a smaller black/gold Husky Jerk. Nothing doing on the Mepps for Andrew, but I do pick up a couple smaller fish trolling along the east bank on the Rapala. I briefly switch to the Mepps “Comet” inline spinner with a twister tail that was successful for Andrew in Tenor Lake, but get zero interest. The slower bite is offset by enjoying a nearby pair of loons as well as a high flying bald eagle. After one flyover, we see the eagle return on a much lower trajectory, then dive bomb the loons! The loons somehow thwart the attack, and the eagle never returns for another try. Another wildlife encounter I’ve never seen before!
For whatever reason, I feel like getting a little crazy and pick up a beautiful purple/silver Vibrax spinner that I bought on a whim but felt foolish when I did so (I’ve never fished with anything purple). But why not today? While not red hot, it’s the most successful lure of the morning, and I do pick up one nice keeper bass. It’s enough to convince Andrew to tie on a sparkly blue/white Vibrax, and he had some bites but not nearly as many as I was getting.
We find a spot on the northeast corner of the island at the north end of the lake and take a lunch break. By the time we finish our meal, it’s about 1:30, and I tell Andrew we have 90 minutes to “close the deal” with at least one keeper fish in order to have a fish fry tonight. I also say aloud that I doubt our chances, but that we won’t know until we try.
The sun is out now and the day has warmed nicely, which I believe leads to me getting steady action on the Vibrax. Andrew switches to a blue undressed version of the same lure, and joins the party. We continue to troll the east bank and wonder of wonders, manage to pick up two eater-size smallmouth on the purple Vibrax. What a feeling, knowing we will eat well tonight! We troll back to the portage to Grandpa and I want to catch just one more fish of any size before calling it a day. About 10 yards from the portage landing I reel in and discover the tiniest bass of the trip is on my line, further entertaining us both.

Northstar Canoe CEO Bear Paulsen says the thing that makes canoeing truly special is that it’s a shared experience, hence their company slogan “Share Wonder.” On this day especially, it feels like Andrew and I are really starting to hit our stride as a canoeing duo. When not catching fish, each of us truly enjoys the challenge of netting the catch for the other. When working the shorelines, the commands of “Dixon left/right” (c-stroke from the bow while I back paddle from the stern) and “Double C” are born so we can quickly steer the canoe toward the shoreline of our choosing.

After a few photos capturing our elation, I teach Andrew how clean the fish on the shoreline and ziploc the filets for our portage back into Grandpa. This portage is never easy, but we both feel lighter on our feet tonight as we look forward to our fish dinner. Even though it’s just after 5 pm when we reach the landing on Grandpa and Andrew is especially eager to get back to camp for a fire, food, and dry feet, I convince him to at least do a little trolling on the way back to camp. I tie on the glass ghost perch X-Rap for a conventional approach, so Andrew decides to go wild and tie on a big #3 Firetiger/Perch Syclops spoon. I’ve never had any luck whatsoever on any of my Syclops lures, so much so that I almost didn’t bring them along. I tell Andrew that while this day has already been wonderful, if he catches a fish on the Syclops, I’ll be jumping in the lake tonight! Sure enough, after a few missed strikes, he does it! It’s a Grandpa special that we release, and he and I may have a new favorite lure.

We make our way back to camp, bathed in the golden glow of the lingering evening twilight, guffawing like a couple seasoned voyageurs as we re-live the defining moments of this incredible day. Catching the smallies as the clock ran out on us. Seeing the eagle attack the loons. Watching the otters swim. Nearly busting my back on a rock. Catching a pike on what to this point was thought to be a hopelessly large and obnoxious lure.
Back at camp, we quickly unload and organize, then start a fire. True to my word and the high spirits that rule the day, we strip down for our first leap off of the large boulder in front of our campsite. While we don’t stay in the water long, the water temp is far more bearable than what I’ve experienced during my past trips in May! We take three more jumps, trying cannonballs and distance leaps, never once touching bottom. While the other site on the lake is pretty nice, it doesn’t have a jump rock like this! I’ve always wanted to stay at a site with a nice jump rock, especially with my kids, but I didn’t expect to have one on this trip!
The rest of the night is passed fishing off the jumping rock, enjoying the fish, some tomato soup, cheez-its with fried summer sausage and melted cheese from the fry bake skillet, and dessert. While we have designs on another early morning departure for more fishing on Roy, neither of us want to stop basking in the glow of this fire, under these stars, after this perfect Boundary Waters day. This is the type of day I drew up in my mind when I planned this trip. It was a day of adventure, challenge, success, relaxation, and joy. We retire to the hammocks just before midnight, eager for the adventures tomorrow holds.

Stats—> Portages: 2 | Portage rods: 260 | Fish caught: 18 smallmouth, 4 pike | Lakes: Grandpa, Roy