Friday, May 23, 2025 The gang arrived in Ely at various times on Friday afternoon/ evening. The guys in our group had varied travel times from 2 hours to 12 hours to make it to Ely for the trip. We congregated in Ely at the outfitter to pick up some of our gear, permit, and to check in as the guys all started to arrive. We decided to get some food in town as well for an opening night dinner. Some burgers and brews were a good first meal of the trip. After our meal and catching up a little, we headed up to the entry point lake. This was our 2nd year renting a bunkhouse and canoes and it is very convenient and stress free. Renting the bunkhouse is here to stay for our trips. I am hoping that members of our crew start to accumulate some nice canoes so we can forgo that steep price every year though. We rented canoes again this year and split 8 ways, it is not awful. It is nice to have Kevlar canoes to use for travel. portaging, and fishing. The crew consolidated gear and went through the logistics of the trip to make sure all things were accounted for and people knew what to expect. This year we decided to do a tow in (first time tow) and paddle out. The tow was very convenient and we would be open to doing it again. We planned to fish Knife Lake and other various bays and smaller lakes for a variety of species.

Saturday, May 24, 2025

~Temperature was in the high 50s-low 60s during the day. It was overcast with some fog to start the day. The sun came out and took some time to burn off the fog. Quite calm to start the day but the wind began to build fairly quickly in the day but it was in the 8-12 mph range so easily manageable. We arrived at the landing for our canoes around 6:30 am for our 7am tow. We were eager to get started and on our way but we had to wait until close to 8am due to how thick the fog was and safety to operate the towboats. This was a new experience for our crew and went smoothly other than the delay in leaving the docks.

   

The tow went well as we headed up towards Knife Lake. We enjoyed chatting with the workers on the way up to our drop off. Our crew was able to get unloaded easily and were on our way shortly. We made quick work of a few of the portages and a few miles of paddling and were able to find one of our preferred camps open so that was a good way to start. We got the gear unloaded and then set to work getting camp in order. We broke out the provisions and had some lunch of salami, cheeses, and summer sausage bagels. During and after lunch the rest of us geared up and rigged our fishing rods for battle. Some guys rested for a bit and collected firewood but most of us were eager to get out fishing. I was paired up with my brother for traveling and fishing today so it was nice to catch up with him and spend time together. The early afternoon was slow but more towards the evening the fishing picked up and we were able to boat around 20 walleyes between the two of us. We were mainly fishing slip bobbers and casted jigs today with leeches or swimbait plastics. No giants but all nice 15-21” fish. We caught the most by numbers but the other guys all managed to catch some as well so overall it was a pretty good first night with around 45 walleye being caught by the group in total. Only 3 guys did not catch anything. When we got back to camp we made a quick dinner of mac and cheese and brats for the opening night backwoods meal. We tend to eat our big meal of the day during lunch time with more time to spare and not cutting into prime evening fishing time while making elaborate dinners. For this trip we planned lunches and dinners together as a group with typically eating the biggest meal during the middle of the day. After dinner we all settled in for a relaxing campfire with some adult beverages to relax after our long travel day. We spent time chatting about our families, life, work, adventures, and most importantly our Faith. Both my brother and I were blessed with some great Christian fellowship in our college days, and it was great to be in God’s creation exploring and sharing in the amazing fishing together. Fish caught: 45 walleyes, 1 over 25”.