Calm Waters and Blue Skies
The annual Camp Sh*tstorm canoe trip occurred this year from May 26 to June 4. After much planning and preparation (not easy for 8 guys on a 10 day trip), the guys all arrived in Duluth on the 25th. After some packing and repacking, the Colonel (aka Smoked Fish Guy) had the big, brick, wood fired pizza oven going and had several doughballs for crusts made up. We quickly made some great pies, including toppings such as panchetta, smoked pork loin, pepperoni, several cheeses, and even an egg or two. It was a great time with my wonderful bride and super kid there to help out.
The next morning on Memorial Day we hit the road north. On this trip was me (Private Phillips), the Colonel, Tick Check, Wear-Some-Shorts, Fran Tarkington Fan, Swimming Turtle, The Bull, and the Freshman. We hit the boat landing mid-morning and as we loaded the canoes up, another group came off the lake to go home. They had spent the weekend hunting for shed moose antlers and had found many, but unfortunately most of them were many seasons old and pretty beat up. There just are so few moose in the woods anymore. We did the necessary "before" trip photo and grabbed our paddles, fishing our way across the expansive island studded lake on a beautiful, sunny, calm day. We cruised down the shore a few miles with a couple lake trout being caught before we settled on a nice campsite that stretched the full width of a peninsula with canoe landings on both sides. We had a lot of laughs as we built a fire and cooked up some Northern Waters Smokehaus brats with all the fixings. Paired with a fine pale ale, supper was perfect. We all got caught up on trip mates' lives around the fire that night. The black flies and mosquitoes were starting to come out after the cold winter with a late spring. The water temps were still very cold.
We all packed up on a beautiful morning and ate premade breakfast burritos grilled over a fire. It was calm and warm, just about perfect. We made our first portage and then made our way across a lake to a portage bypassing a waterfall. The water is very high right now due the late spring and the deep winter. It was difficult to access the portage take out near the rapids. We ended up doing a little bushwacking to get around the cataract. Everybody dropped a line in on the next lake and several lake trout were caught, but all were quite small. The next two lakes only produced 1 or 2 smallmouth bass for the entire group. We cruised and fished down our destination lake, looking for a campsite. We settled on a fairly poor site, but it had good views and its lack of shade wasn't a big deal as it wasn't too warm out. Shorefishing and swimming the days grime away were the next tasks. No fish shorefishing either. A fine dinner of grilled hanging tender steaks, a well paired bottle of red wine, and roasted asparagus finished the day.
Day 3 opened sunny and calm again. We packed camp, wolfed down a couple mini-bagels, and hit the water. Wear-Some-Shorts and I checked out some of the lake's other campsites and were not at all impressed. This area was hard hit by the July 4, 1999 blowdown. We then made our way through several small lakes connected by short portages, with some team members catching a few northern pike. We landed on our destination lake and found the big body of water, bound by hills and steep cliffs on all sides, was dead calm. Everyone trolled towards the campsite that we had in mind, one of our true favorites in the BWCA. Nice shade, great swimming rock, good tent pads, good tarp hanging trees, good garage, nice kitchen. A few trout were caught on the way there and a few more were caught after setting up camp. It was dirty rice with andouille sausage and lake trout for supper. More and more we like to "free style" our lake trout. Simply melt some butter in the fry pan, season a skinned, but not breaded, filet chunk and fry it in the butter. The stronger trout taste holds up very well and the lack of breading lets that taste shine. We tried many seasoning combinations over the course of the trip and they were all great. Old Bay, pesto, black pepper, garlic powder and other seasoning combined many different ways to keep your taste buds guessing.
It was again sunny and calm on Day 4. I paired up with the Freshman for a layover day trout fishing bonanza. We caught many smallish trout and the best fishing was on shallow reefs and shorelines. Five to 10 feet was the best depths. We could watch the trout follow and hit our lures. We had the best success casting over the shallow structure and reeling the lures back to the canoe, just like we were fishing for summer bass. Trout Bassin' was born. It was a bit warmer that day and we took advantage of the top layer of water warming and did some jumping off the rock to swim and clean up. It was still mighty cold, but doable. The lazy afternoon led to all the boats coming back to camp and all were telling stories of many lake trout caught, and many of the fish were caught sight fishing in shallow water. No big trout, though. The unreleased fish were invited to be the main ingredient for our "Kek Burger" supper, a meal invented on the BWCA's Kekekabic Lake several years ago. It is a bacon trout cheeseburger.
We decided to pack up and head north on Day 5. We split into two alternative routes with Wear-Some-Shorts heading more west to bigger lake trout water and the others going more east to fish current areas for bass and walleye. The trout were pretty stubborn and we only caught one. The others also had slower fishing. The destination campsite was open and we took it. None of the campsites in this are real nice, and this one had some issues with a lack of shade and having spongy tent pads. It had a good swimming rock and the point out front caught the breeze. This was important as the black flies and mosquitoes were coming out in force after the 4 previous warm days. We all headed out fishing after getting camp set up. Wear-Some-Shorts and I fished a shallow reef for bass or walleye with no bites on our slip bobber rigs. We then trolled a shoreline into a bay. I caught a bass immediately, and as we cruised into the shallow, sandy, back end of the bay my spinner and leech was hit again. Good, I thought, we found the walleyes. Nope, it was a lake trout. The trout were shallow in this new lake, too. We ended up getting several nicer lake trout and two really stout whitefish just off the sand beach. Other reported slow fishing for the most part with a bass or trout here and there, but only one walleye. Just too cold yet, I guess. In fact it was the only walleye of the entire trip. It didn't matter to me, the trout were hitting, so why fight the walleyes? It was a supper of "The World's Most Expensive Mac and Cheese" Aged gouda, parmesan, and butter over bow ties with chunked pepperoni. With double battered fried fish along with it, it was delicious! Listening to the forecast before bed, we prepped for a 100% chance of rain the next day.
It dawned dark and dry. In fact, we watched the rain bounce around us all day until finally a drizzle set in about 6pm. So we got in a good solid day of fishing. People caught trout just off camp and some bass were found in the back bays. I paired with Fran Tarkington Fan this day and we made our way back to the beach where I had found the trout the day before. We made some trolling passes and got several bites, but we only landed a couple - lake trout are very adept as throwing the hook, especially when they are along side the canoe. We did a trolling tour of the island we were camped on and had a couple strikes, but nothing hooked up solid, so we went back to the sand bay. This time we fan casted our spoons and big spinners as we meandered around the bay. We caught several nice lakers this way...again like we were casting for summertime bass...Trout Bassin'. It started to drizzle as we made our way back to camp. Rain began in earnest as supper was prepared. It was another great meal - Coconut thai rice with trout chuncks. It is always a good one. The rain soaked us pretty good over night.
Day 7 was a travel day and a drizzle/rain pattern settled in early. Wear-Some-Shorts and I trolled the entire length of the passage to the first portage without a bite, even though the water looked good for trout. We made an uphill carry, the longest of the trip, to the next lake. The portage had a scenic waterfall next to it and featured the biggest cedar trees I had ever seen. We trolled across the new, much smaller lake and were please to catch several nice sized lake trout. It was the fastest action of the trip as pretty much everyone caught trout crossing the lake. We floated through a riffle into another lake. The best campsite was taken, but we found an adequate site on the other side of the island. We tried to try our gear out as best we could, but the alternate rain/mist/drizzle made it difficult. Some attempts at fishing were made, but very few fish were coaxed to bite. The nasty cold front we had around us was taking its toll. Good thing we kept some trout from the other lake for supper. The Colonel tried a new recipe for supper, a lemon zested trout, mushroom and noodle dish. It was very good.
The rain kept up all night and we again packed the wet gear and headed out. Wear-Some-Shorts broke this lake's seal just as we approached the portage by catching a nice trout. We headed down a portage to a lake we have paddled through many times and have never caught a lake trout on, even though they are present according to the DNR. We trolled to the next portage and just as it bagan shallowing up, my rod bent over with a strike. I was excited to get a trout, but alas, it was a decent northern pike. Oh well. We were finally struck with a head wind as we crossed the biggest water of the trip. But, as we near the point to turn and head south, the northeast wind diminished and we had an easy trail going down the lake. We had no action. The water was high enough to float into our destination lake. Some sun was thinking about popping out between continued drizzling. I discovered my rain pants leaked at the crotch. The rain finally ceased for the most part when we set up camp and I was able to dry out much of my stuff. I tried shore fishing for bass and walleye and others sought them out in canoes, and just enough bass were caught to fry up and be served with our doctored up mashed potatoes. The flavored instant mashed potatoes made nowadays are actually quite good and I beef them up a bit by adding my personally dehydrated hamburger and mixed veggies.
We woke on Day 9 to sun and a very stiff north wind. It help dry out all our gear and we packed up and headed out. A short hilly portage brought us to the next lake, where the bugs were pretty serious. We blew with a tailwind to the next portage bringing us back to our entry lake. We got our desired campsite and people set out to get some last supper trout. Only one was caught - the cold front had us stymied. I had caught some nice fish right from shore at this campsite before, but there were no bites this time. The final supper was pesto noodles and free style trout. I love "Camp Pesto."
On the final morning, the camp was packed up and we made the short paddle to the landing and the trucks. It was sunny and calm and the bugs were out in force again. We loaded up the gear and canoes and after the "After" group picture, we headed back to town. We found a good spot for burgers and beer and made the uneventful trip home. After getting things repacked in Duluth, the other fellas headed out after hardy handshakes. It wasn't the best fishing we've had but the Trout Bassin' was really fun. The water was just too cold to easily catch walleyes and bass without live minnows. Overall, another great trip!
Nature Moment: We saw the normal loons, eagles, and ducks on the water, but we were surprised to see flocks of geese on a couple lakes and even saw a pair of geese with a brood of babies. I don't believe I have ever seen Canadian geese in the BWCA other than high flying flocks. Odd. We also saw an inordinate amount of garter snakes on the portage. Must be a good snake year.
Quote of the Trip: There were lots of good ponderings on this trip with questions about the make-a-wish program, the origin of frogs and turtles and other universe examinations. The quote of the trip, however, evolved over the entire trip and resulted in: "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage, RCA recording artists...the Black Flies!!!!"
Hubs' Flub: There I was, in the canoe over deep water. I decided to put on a shallow running sinking rapala. I removed the previous lure, got out a wire leader, hooked the rapala to it and tossed it over the side of the canoe. Did you catch the flub? I never hooked the leader, and thus the rapala to the line coming off my reel. The brand new never before used rapala sank to the bottom of the lake to be never seen again. I wish I could say this was the first time I have done that...
The Black Flies in full stage costuming
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