A New Adventure - The True North Shore

Lake Superior's Canadian Islands

I had a pretty good adventure last weekend.  The Chief and The Colonel joined me in a truck pulling an 18 foot deep v Starcraft runabout on Highway 61 headed northeast early on Thursday morning.  We picked up a few things in Grand Marais and went across the border into Canada with no customs issues.  After a few more stops we arrived on Lake Superior's true north shore...Nipigon Bay.  This area of the big lake is studded with large and small islands, bays, reefs, and inlets.  It offers quite a bit of protection for smaller boats.  Still it is Lake Superior and we would need to be cautious and paying attention.  

We had made a connection with local resident over the phone and so we stopped into he and his wife's nice residence on a bay.  He was nice enough to point out a protected campsite well away from town as well as some fishing advice.  They were both very pleasant and we chatted quite a while.  After a bit, we headed over to the public access and loaded the boat.  We had lot of stuff.  Three people, three packs of tents, sleeping gear, and clothes, three coolers of food and refreshments, and lots of gasoline.  It piled up quickly, but the Starcraft fit it all in.  

The outboard fired right up, we backed out of the harbor, and headed out onto Nipigon Bay.  It was a little rough and the old 85hp Evinrude was working hard to move the heavy load, we had just hit cruising speed when the motor suddenly throttled down.  The Colonel, the boat's owner, said he hadn't moved the throttle, he had just lost power.  The motor sputtered a bit and died completely.  It failed to restart.  We were about a mile from the landing.  We all monkeyed with the engine...it seemed to be a gas problem.  A local fellow in a fishing boat thoughtfully came to our aid.  He waited until we got the 9.9hp kicker motor started and saw that we would make it back to the dock.  We thought maybe there was some water in the gas tank (it is a boat after all), so the Chief went to check if he had a bottle of isopropyl alcohol in his truck.  He didn't, but he did come back with the fellow we had chatted with earlier, and he had something even better, a full can of Sea Foam.  It is a concoction that apparently has powers that will address water in a gas tank, as long as it isn't too much.   We dumped the whole bottle in.  We tried restarting the motor, and we could keep it going as long as I kept squeezing the fuel bulb.  After a bit it started running on its own and we headed out again, thankful for the sea foam.  Unfortunately, the motor died again, just about the same spot it did last time-but this time it restarted right away.  We moved on-it seemed as though it was working through the bad gas.  It sputtered a few more times, but was getting better the further we went.  So we pressed on to the desired campsite.  It was a nice one on a protected channel with deep water nearby that looked good for trout.  It was near the big open area of Lake Superior, but not exposed to it.  After the delays, we didn't have time to get out fishing, but I did throw out a salted cisco from shore hoping for a passing fish.  We toasted our first day and enjoyed a pleasant, crisp evening.  The Colonel whipped up some of his own traditional German potato sausage (a ring of pork, sauerkraut, potatoes, and special spices) and some sauteed brussel sprouts.  It was fantastic.  He sure is handy in the kitchen.  We chatted well into the night before turning in.  

The next morning we didn't exactly wake up at the crack of dawn and a stiff south wind was building.  South winds are the worst for this area on the north shore of the world's largest lake.  I threw out my shorefishing rig as we ate breakfast and I soon heard my little bell ring on the pole.  I hustled down to the shore and saw the line was screaming off of the reel.  Before I even grabbed the rod I heard the fish leap out of the water and splash loudly...this was going to be a big salmon or steelhead.  But, it was not to be...the fish threw the hook when it leaped.  Shucks.  Still, it was a good sign for fishing, right?

Not exactly.  The wind forced us to troll only in the two adjacent bays.  They looked like good lake trout water, but it was not fast action.  The Chief had a heavy fish on right away, but it also got away.  He then caught a very small lake trout.  That was it for action until the very end of the afternoon.  As we headed back on our final trolling run back to camp, my favorite orange spoon, fished deep on a downrigger, triggered a strike.  Soon a nice (4-5lb) lake trout was flopping in the net and a supper was secured just in time.  As we headed back to camp, we spotted the fella from town in his 14 foot boat.  He was much braver than I...I would not have been out in that small boat in that high of seas...but he has a lot more experience.  He had been out fishing and stopped by to check on us.  We had a cold beer on shore and traded stories.  His stories of moose and deer hunting on the islands were particularly interesting.  He went on his way before the winds worsened.  

We enjoyed the fish in one of our favorite dishes, coconut thai rice.  It is super easy to make...sauteed onions and bell peppers, coconut milk, green curry paste, with lake trout chunks and fresh basil.  We put a lot more coconut milk in than most recipes call for so the trout can cook up nicely in the sauce.  Once again, it was fantastic.  We got to bed a bit earlier.  The forecast called for even stronger south winds the next day.

The forecast did not disappoint.  It was very windy on Saturday.  Twenty-five knots straight off the biggest part of Lake Superior.  We could see huge rolling breakers on each end of our channel.  Fishing would be restricted to our bay.  We tried shorefishing for quite a while with no luck.  We headed out in the boat and even the bay was pretty rough.  We got bounced around and we had no bites.  Once again we headed back to camp and connected with a fish just as we were about to pull up the lines.  The Chief caught a 5-6lb lake trout.  Supper was secured again.  He cleaned the fish and we took a break on camp for a while before we headed out fishing again.  From camp the bay looked like it had calmed a bit.  It had not.  We bounced around again and only made one pass before turning towards camp.  Just before the site, the Colonel connected again with a 2-3lb laker.  We let it swim free.  

Supper was supposed to be canned beef and noodles, but the Colonel called an audible and made a dish with sauteed mushrooms and onions in a parmesan sauce over braised lake trout.  It was...you know by now...fantastic.  The forecast called for calmer winds the next day, but strong winds on Monday, the day we were supposed to leave.  

We woke and listened to the forecast again...it just confirmed the one from the night before.  So, in the interest in safety, we decided to pack up camp and move to a campsite close to the landing.  We loaded back up, got the boat going (it was now working perfectly), and hit the bigger channel back towards town.  The rollers had calmed overnight and were very manageable.  We checked out the site on the map that was closest to town, but it wasn't even visible from the lake.  We had a chat with our friends from town-they were out for a picnic on their bigger boat-and we headed to the next closest site.  It was a neat one on a sand bar that offered two protected harbors for the boat.  We dumped off the gear and rigged the rods for trolling.  Our first spot just off a mid-channel reef produced no fish, as did a really neat deep shoreline that had beautifully eroded cliffs.  We reeled up and headed into an isolated bay near town and immediately had a hit that didn't hook up.  Soon after that, an eating sized lake trout was in the boat.  We made another pass and I hooked up with a nice sized coho salmon that we also invited to supper.  I must say that was one of the most satisfying fish I had caught in a while.  I had been fishing a shallow running stickbait off a planer board and had no action on it.  I decided to get a little deeper, so I put on my favorite orange spoon and, for the first time ever, I put on a snap weight...a trolling system a friend had recommended.  No joshing, I hooked that salmon 30 seconds after putting the new rig out.  That felt good.  Unfortunately that was the only shallow fish we hooked that day.  We did get three more smallish lake trout-two of them on my orange spoon.  So it wasn't too bad of a fishing afternoon.  

We enjoyed a nice campfire on the beach and the Chief freestyle (no breading) fried the trout and salmon and I made up a special batch of gnocchi in a creamy sundried tomato and pesto sauce.  Very good.  The salmon was right up there with the best fish I have ever eaten.  The Chief can clean and cook fish with the best of them.  It was a beautiful night.  

On Monday we quickly packed up after having some salmon salad the Colonel whipped up from some leftover fish with pickles and mayonnaise on crackers.  It was a great breakfast.  We loaded up and chugged into the landing without incident.  The wind was building and we were glad to be off the water.  We chatted with our new friends one more time.  One interesting item was discussed...on the beach at our last campsite the sand was littered with literally thousands of white oval plastic pellets the size of a lady bug.  They were everywhere.  We could not figure out where they came from.  When talking with the locals, we learned that a train derailment had happened several years ago and an entire boxcar of the pellets had been dumped in Lake Superior just up the bay.  Apparently the pellets are used in oil fracking operations in some way.  Now there is a boat permanently kept in the little town and its crew sucks the beached pellets in a vacuum sorter all summer long.  It looked to us that they had a long ways to go.  

We hit the road and headed back down the lakeshore to Thunder Bay, made it through US customs quickly and cruised into Duluth early evening.  It was a good trip, learned a few lessons, fishing wasn't fast, but we couldn't have expected to learn all the spots and tricks the first time, especially when the wind prevented us from exploring too much.  

Nature Moment: We didn't see too much wildlife on this trips.  The islands are forested differently than other areas at this latitude because Lake Superior keeps temps low and its winds, spray, and fog affect growth.  So the forests are mostly scrubby spruce and spindly birch.  The trees are quite small.  The islands have deer and moose and the biggest ones may have a resident wolf pack or two.  There weren't even many chipmunks, squirrels, or songbirds around.  There were lots of eagles, vultures, and osprey.  The nature moment, though, was hearing and seeing peregrine falcons.  These birds of prey are more scarce and have neat attributes-the fasted living thing on the planet when they dive bomb prey at more than 200 miles per hour.  We saw then right where the guide books would say to look-big flat faced cliffs.  They nest on open cliff shelves.  When we watched them, one seemed to be driving another one away from the area...maybe a youngster that was reluctant to leave mom's care and head south?  If I were to go to Hawk Ridge in Duluth, maybe I would see it flying by later this month.  

Hubs' Flub: I am generally the guy on our trips that does the planning, including reviewing the local regulations to ensure that we are compliant.  We like going to Ontario too much to lose that privilege due to ignorance.  So I found it odd when the local guy that checked on us when the motor died said his first words to us: "You got enough f**king poles?"  I had checked the regulations and it said we could each use two lines in Lake Superior in Ontario, so the eight poles the three of us had didn't seem out of line...2 poles per person plus some spares on a five day trip seemed about right.  We didn't answer his question, we just moved on to the engine discussion.  

When we went back to the dock to work on the engine, the local guy we knew brought us the sea foam and when we were about to take off again, he said, "You know you can only use 1 pole per person in this section of Lake Superior right?"

I was surprised.  I had checked the regulations, but he explained that the area around the islands was an exception.  I rechecked them and found the exception language in the booklet-he was right.  That explained the comment from the other fellow about so many poles.  Whew...although we didn't see any authorities, we were glad the guy let us know the rules.  And, truth be told, we had all we could handle with only three rods.  There were so many reefs and holes in the area that we were constantly raising and lowering lines and down rigging balls...it was more active than fishing around Duluth.  In fact, I did snag up my dipsy diver on a surprise reef.  I lost the a heavy duty clip, the dipsy, the snubber, the flourocarbon leader, the heavy duty swivels, and a seven dollar stick bait.  Totaled up it probably was more than $40 worth of stuff.  Ouch.  

Quote of the Trip: "Be careful on Nipigon Bay...it can get really rough."  

That was an unsolicited quote from a concerned fellow in the parking lot of the liquor store in Thunder Bay.  He gave it to us after he had just explained he never fished Lake Superior, just inland lakes.  It seemed a little odd, but we were glad for the hospitality.  

Another thing that was quoted multiple times was the Chief's affectionate imitation of the old Inuit man in the movie Never Cry Wolf.  The man responds to one of the lead character's crazy notions by saying "Good Idea." in a unique accent.  So, whenever someone made a decision to change lures or suggested a new spot, we always responded with "Good Idea" using the accent.  Unfortunately, by the end of the trip it had morphed into a new response: "Bad Idea."  

Superior Success, Kind Of

Salmonids

Close followers of my fishing adventures know that I personally have had very poor luck fishing Lake Superior, which is only a couple blocks from my home in Duluth.  Shorecasting, drifting flies and worms in tributaries, helping out on a buddy's charter boat, ice fishing, and spending a few hours on other friends' boats all had me netting plenty of fish for others, but never connecting on any fish myself.  Finally this spring I caught my first Lake Superior fish, a nice walleye, but those are considered a lowly bottom feeder by this trout snob.  No, I only count salmonids on my tally sheet.  Finally, I caught one small coho salmon on The Colonel's boat in August...a salmonid, but I barely even felt it wiggle bringing it in.  

Still, in mid-September I was excited to give it a try on a new buddy's boat. The Brewer hadn't had the boat, a small, but worthy craft, on the big lake yet and he was pretty excited to try it as well.  We arrived at the nearest public access just before sunrise, the first craft to be launched that day.  The boat went into the water, the truck went back up to be parked in the lot, and we stepped in to take off.  No go.  Dead battery.  The navigation light switched had been bumped on and the battery was drained.  Hmmm.  Tried to use a jumper from the truck.  No go.  Finally tried the emergency pull starter.  No go at first, but a re-rigging of it brought the 40 horse to life.  We headed out onto a dead calm Lake Superior.  I dropped down a dipsy-diver (we didn't have any downriggers) with a favorite orange spoon and had a strike before we even had the other lines in the water.  I reeled in a very nice coho salmon and The Brewer netted it perfectly.  Success!  Maybe today was finally my day.

We didn't have any more action in that area, so after a bit we headed out to deeper water.  The Brewer had a strike on his dipsy and stick bait, so we turned around slowly and headed back through that spot.  I saw my dipsy line tug and soon I had a nice lake trout to the boat.  The Brewer went for it with the net and somehow the fish went right through it!  The net had come apart and needed to be repaired.  We wrestled the trout on board by hand.  It wasn't huge, but The Brewer was going to feed his family well that night.  

We felt we had pinpointed a good spot, so we went to turn and troll through it again.  Suddenly an absolutely piercing noise came from his boat console.  I mean hurt your ears screaming.  It was some type of alarm.  We didn't dare shut the motor off for fear of not getting it started again (remember the dead battery) and after poking around a bit, we just boated back to the landing and gave up.  We didn't want to risk any major damage to the motor.  We think maybe the dead battery made the alarm system funky.  Either way, our day was done.  Just when I had finally found some Superior fish!  Foiled again.  

It was still a good trip for me with the two fish and I had a nice time chatting with the The Brewer on a beautiful Lake Superior morning.  Still living the good life in a cool city on a great lake.  

Nice and Easy

Chief Many-Little-Bottles mans the downrigger

It was an un-laborious Labor Day weekend for the Chief and I as we did a unique little Boundary Waters Canoe Area trip.  We ditched the canoes and fished and camped on one of the few lakes in the BWCA that allows motorboats.  

We each took care of some odds and ends on Friday morning and met up at the Chief's house around noon.  We soon headed north towing his 16 foot Lund with a 25 horsepower motor.  The forest service allows motors on our lake of choice, but only up to 25 horsepower.  Before too long, we arrived at a lake's boat landing just outside the BWCA.  We loaded our camping and fishing gear into the boat and headed north, away from the crowds.  After a bit we turned into a bay to the "truck portage" landing.  The forest service has an agreement with an operator to bring boats across a road-like portage into the BWCA lake.  The operator used to have an old truck, but now just uses an ATV with boat trailer.  He has set hours and we waited a little bit, chatting with other adventurers that were also waiting.  Before long, we were on the trailer and over the portage and then were zipping down the large BWCA lake, searching for a good campsite.  Some of the best ones were taken, but we found a pretty good site on an island and called it home.  We set up the tents and tarps and had a snack before heading out fishing during the usually productive evening hours.  Unfortunately we caught only one bass and no walleyes, our targeted species.  We gave it a real shot, staying well after sunset, but no luck.  We headed back to camp, but had a bit of trouble locating it in the dark. We did eventually find our site and were soon eating a supper of steaks and sauteed mushrooms and onions.  We stayed up well into the night solving the world's problems one at a time.  

After a warm, but comfortable, night, we leisurely ate breakfast and got our gear together.  We headed out on a nice sunny day, this time targeting my favorite fish, lake trout.  The Chief put on a unique purple spoon on his downrigger rod while I tried a more traditional gold spoon.  Nearly immediately, Chief had a strike.  He fought a larger fish for a few minutes, but the line soon went slack.  Crap!  He reeled in his line to discover that he didn't have the spoon anymore, the line had broken.  Hmm...a big pike with its line shearing teeth?  Or was it a trout and just a bad spot in the line?  Either way, we took it in stride and hoped it meant the fish were biting.  Chief put on another purple spoon and we continued on our deep water (90 feet on average) attack.  After no action, I switched from a spoon to a gold spinner with a salted sucker minnow.  The move paid off in short order and I caught a smallish lake trout-not the size we were seeking but a good sign.  As we moved into another fishy looking deep hole, the Chief's line released from the downrigger indicating a bite and soon we had a really nice trout (about 7lbs) in the net and on the stringer.  Before long, Chief had another bite and he caught and released a twin of his previous trout.  Clouds were building however, and thunder began to rumble.  The weather was about to change in a big way.  We buzzed back to camp and cleaned the trout for supper.  We settled into our chairs underneath the tarp when storm announced its arrival with a huge lightning strike, very close by - the second closest lightning strike I have experienced in my life (sometime I will tell you about the closest one).  That woke us up a bit.  The storm was a good one, lots of lightning, a major downpour of rain, and gusty winds.  Before long, things settled down and we were able to enjoy Chief's famous fried lake trout and mashed potatoes.  Temperatures were dropping that night and another fairly big storm rolled through as we were heading to bed.  

A rainy night produced a drippy, gray morning with a stiff north wind and cool temps-a complete 180 from the day before.  That usually spells poor fishing and this was no exception.  We gave it a good shot in the waves and rain, but had no bites.  Before long we scrapped it and just hung out under the tarp.  Rain kept up through much of the day.  We still had fun BSing.  I whipped up a fish-less sausage jambalaya type dish that hit the spot for supper and we hit the hay fairly early.  It was just one of those BWCA rainy days that occur once in a while.

On Monday morning the sun began poking back out as we packed up camp and loaded the boat.  It became a beautiful sunny day as we fished our way to the truck portage, but the fish were still off their feed - no bites.  After the ATV and boat rides we soon had the gear loaded in the truck and headed for Duluth.  I came home and caught a neighborhood Labor Day picnic just in time for some great food. 

It was good, relaxing trip that was easygoing...I'll try that area again someday. 

Nature Moment: After the storm had passed on Saturday, we became aware of a flock of large birds circling over our campsite.  Turkey vultures.  Soon there were a bunch of them circling right over us - 13 to be exact.  Did they see the lightning strike and assume we were dead?  It was a bit ominous.

Hubs' Flub:  I mentioned our trouble finding our site in the dark on the first evening.  We should have left a lantern turned on or something...  We bopped back and forth, even mistaking another occupied site for our own, which may have been awkward for site's occupants.  What made it worse is that we both had headlamps along...with dead batteries.  Not our best wilderness moment.  The site was actually much closer to the tip of the island than we had thought.  Next time we'll be more careful.  

Quote of the Trip: Chief - "Hey, there are people in our campsite!"

A Superior Fish

What's better than catching a trophy specimen of my favorite fish, the mighty lake trout?  Catching a trophy just a few miles from your front door.  The Colonel (formerly the Smoked Fish Guy) and I headed out on the big lake just outside of Duluth early Sunday morning determined to improve our Lake Superior luck.  Since he acquired and outfitted a big lake worthy boat, we had caught a few fish, but nothing really notable.  I think Superior is tough to learn, but we are sticking with it.

This morning the Colonel decided to try a dead-bait rig he had used to catch salmon in Alaska.  He had tried the rig in Lake Michigan a couple times with no action, but we thought it might be a good day to try it in Lake Superior.  So, we put out three lines with more traditional spoons and stickbaits and we rigged the dead cisco on the final line.  We put it on the downrigger below us at about 80 feet as we trolled over 150 to 200 feet of water.

Not much happened the first hour or so of trolling, so we decided to lower the cisco rig another 40 feet or so.  As the Colonel completed that task, the line released from the downrigger clip.  Son of a Biscuit!  He had over-tightened the line when lowering it and it accidentally released.  Or so we thought.  He began reeling the line in so that it could be re-rigged.  But the line tightened.  What the heck, it didn't release?  Our confusion was immediately cleared when the reel's drag began pulling out.  Fish on!  It must have hit just as we lowered the bait.

Well, the fight was an interesting one to say the least.  After the initial tussle, the fish began acting like the Colonel had caught a five gallon bucket.  Not really fighting, but not coming up, either.  I started to think that the fish had wrapped around the other downrigger ball.  The Colonel stuck with it for quite awhile, and the fish slowly started to come up, but it was still acting like a lead ball.  After hemming and hawing about what to do, we decided to pull up the other downrigger and see if it was tangled.  It wasn't.  Now we began thinking we had a serious fish on.  I pulled in the two surface lines and shut the motor off.  Soon we had our first look at the fish, just a splash of the tail, and we could see it was a dandy.  After a bit more of a battle, we cleanly netted the lake trout and hooted and hollered a bit.

The laker was 35 inches long with a 21 inch girth.  The internet formulas translate those measurements to 18 pounds.  The Colonel stated that the boat had just paid for itself.  It was a great moment.

We fished a few more hours and I finally caught a Lake Superior fish.  It was a one pound coho salmon.  That really hurt our average size for the day, but I was excited to eat salmon that night for dinner (the whole family loved it).

We wrapped up the outing in the early afternoon with no more bites, but our day was already made.

Quote of the Trip: "I think you caught the downrigger ball."

Hubs' Flub: I didn't really check with the Colonel about how long he wanted to fish that day.  So, I told my wonderful bride that I'd be home early afternoon so she could go have some fun at the knitting store.  When I met up with the Colonel, he had brought a ton of food and beer...he was planning on staying all day.  Oops.  I tried to figure out way to stay out, but it didn't happen.  So I screwed that one up.  Sorry, Colonel.

Nature Moment: There were no really notable nature moments on Lake Superior that day, so instead I will mention one that happened yesterday as I was driving to a site on Rainy Lake (just outside International Falls) that we are trying to turn into a park/picnic ground.  As I neared the site, a bald eagle swooped low over my vehicle...and crapped all over the hood and the windshield.  It was impressive.  The wipers got the windshield cleaned pretty well, but the hood needs some intense attention from the people at London Road Carwash.  Sorry, people.

Lake Superior is a Fickle Biscuit

When our daughter Super-Kid was a toddler and developing her vocabulary, I found myself having to adjust my language during unfortunate events so she didn't pick up any poor habits. I often fell back to my Dad's non-cussing that he did around me when I was a kid. Thus, "Son of a Biscuit!" became standard fare in our household. Well, let me tell you, Lake Superior is a fickle biscuit. After I arrived home from the annual Shitstorm trip in mid-June, my neighbor the charter captain told me all about the crazy good fishing he was having on the big lake just outside our home City of Duluth. Piles of delicious Coho Salmon, coolers full of big, hard fighting lake trout, and a even a king salmon or two thrown in for good measure. After having slow fishing up north, I was ready to hit Superior. Luckily my good pal The Colonel had just acquired a Lake Superior worthy boat. It was an older model but was in very good shape, 18 feet long, a deep v, and well-powered. Also luckily, he stumbled into a cache of older, but still in great shape, deep water trolling gear at no cost. Electric downriggers, trolling rods and reels, spoons, plugs, dipy divers, flashers, flies, a long handled net, the whole bit. He made a few other investments and the boat and gear was ready in short order.

We didn't make it out before the canoe trip, but the week we got back, the big lake was like glass and fishable Monday through Thursday. Of course, we couldn't go those days, we had too much work stuff going on. So we went on that Friday with his three boys. It was too windy. We tried to make a go of it for about an hour but the waves grew. Right before we hid behind the pier, I did catch a fish. My first Lake Superior fish. A lake trout, my favorite fish? No. A tasty coho salmon? No. A hard charging king salmon? No. It was one of those darn bottom feeding walleyes, a 25 incher. Caught 3 feet below the surface in 50 feet of Lake Superior water. Oh well.

The next couple weeks was a series of disappointments. When my friends with boats could go, I couldn't. If I could, it was too windy. We even had a couple false starts when we thought we could fish, but turned around when the waves were determined to be too big. Finally on a sunny afternoon, the Colonel and I along with another friend made it out on the big lake. We got trolling, still learning the ins-and-outs of the boat and the gear. After a bit, we had a fish on and our friend, a skilled craftsman who had helped with some critical modifications on the boat, brought a nice 6lb or so lake trout on board. Joy! The Colonel later added a decent coho salmon to the box. Not too shabby, but my cold water species shutout on Lake Superior continued.

On July 4th, the wind finally laid down again and I had the rare treat of fishing Lake Superior in my canoe. It was dead calm at 5:30am when I started jigging off a rocky point up the shore from Duluth. I kept jigging deeper and deeper, and finally hooked a fish on the bottom in 130 feet of water. It felt like a very nice fish, but it spit the hook about 1/2 way up. Son of a Biscuit! It was my only bite of the morning, but I admit just being out aways on Lake Superior in a canoe is fun...if you look the right direction, all you can see in your view is the bow of your canoe and water all the way to the horizon. Looking the other way, it was so calm and clear I could make out Duluth's aerial lift bridge, but only the top half, over the horizon of blue. A great morning to be a Duluthian.

Made it out on the big lake again with the Colonel and his oldest boy on Saturday. The pizza and wings we brought on board were great and strangely, despite calm waters, we had the lake to ourselves. A little sprinkle kept the riff raff away I guess. Maybe they knew the fishing was bad...we never had a bite all afternoon. Nothing. Well, we did have equipment issues, tangled lines, missing lures, etc. So maybe that had something to do with it. Tried to go fishing on Sunday morning on another friend's boat, but the wind was stronger than forecast, so no go. Fishing can be a real biscuit sometimes.

Cold Water Quetico

The annual Camp Shitstorm Canoe Trip was a 10 day festival of fun this year. Overall fishing was slow, but the laughs made up for it.

Monday, May 27, 2013
Fran Tarkington Fan arrived from Seattle earlier in the weekend and, after correcting a customs mishap, helped the Colonel and I (Private Philips) pack up and do the prep for the trip. The Iowa gang (Tick Check, Gatorade, and Wear-Some-Shorts) arrived Sunday evening and the ping-pong contest began in earnest. It ended when an 11 year old said, "all Uncle (Tick Check) cares about is ping pong and tequila." So, it wasn't a fast start to the day on Monday. We hit the road north at about 10am and lunched at a favorite tavern. Heading further into the bush, we got to the tow boat at 2:30pm. It was an uneventful ride to the drop off in cool, but sunny temps. We grabbed a campsite nearby and leisurely set up the tents while enjoying brewhouse beers and catching up with one another. We all loved the new German brats that the Colonel makes at the Northern Waters Smokehaus. Honestly, best brats I have ever eaten. Lots of laughs well into the night.

Tuesday
It was cloudy but dry as we packed up camp, stowed the beer coolers on an island, and headed across the big part of the lake into Canada and Quetico. We met up with Janice the Ranger to get our permit. She was still getting settled in as the ice didn't leave her bay until the 20th and she had just been flown in to the station a couple days prior to our arrival. She was helpful and pleasant and we chatted about fishing spots and good campsites to look at. This is her 27th summer on the island and she has no retirement plans. Permit in hand, we all spread out to fish the bay, meeting back up at "Stupid Steve's Campsite (Janice's term)" on the north end. Wear-Some-Shorts and I had poor luck, as did Tick Check and Gatorade, but The Colonel and Fran Fan had caught some nice lake trout. The Colonel had caught and released one that he figures was near 10lbs. After setting up camp, we went out again and we all had better luck for lakers. We kept one fish to accompany our traditional early trip meal of asparagus, steaks, and free-style (no breading) lake trout. The campsite was decent, but had a nasty dead, leaning tree over it and the tent pads were marginal. Lots of laughs around the fire that night...for some unknown reason Tick Check tackled me and attempted a physical assault, but I fought him off. At least that is how I remember it.

Wednesday
We packed up the camp on a nice, sunny morning. We headed west to our first portage, which was crowded with other travelers. We negotiated it without incident and were soon fishing on another big lake with very cold water temperatures. The walleyes were not in the initial current area, so we moved on. Two of the canoes chose to take the short cut portage, but Wear-Some-Shorts and I decided to explore the lake and go around the long point. Wear-Some-Shorts caught two lakers and two bass in very shallow water next to shore. When we arrived at the appointed camp, we learned the others had caught a few nice walleyes, but it wasn't fast. Camp was near a current area. It had a good garage and sitting rock, but it was full of dead trees perilously hanging over the tent pads. The wind forecast was for light breezes, so we set up under the "widowmakers" anyway. We had another great meal of Dirty Rice, NWS andouille sausage, and fried walleye. Very good. Dirty rice has officially replaced our old standby of Red Beans and Rice, we just like it better. It started raining in earnest shortly after we went to bed.

Thursday
We packed up in the rain on this morning. Not a downpour, but a steady drip. We fished our way north through many areas of current (water was quite high on all the lakes). Only one or two spots held walleye, and we only stringered a couple of fish. After much discussion, we decided to push on to a lake trout lake...the water was just too cold for bass and walleye, but the lakers should be active was our reasoning. At the last portage of the day, right in front of a nice little waterfall, Tick Check tied into a lunker of a fish. After a battle that included getting out of the canoe and battling it from shore, he landed the beast, a 42 inch, very fat, northern pike. Probably the biggest pike I have ever seen. After photos and laughing at Fran Fan's battle with an middleeweight pike from the same spot that jumped two feet out of the water during the fight, a downpour of rain hit. The soggy day continued as we made our way onto an unfamiliar lake. We hadn't been there before, nor had anyone in our circle of friends. After watching Shorts catch an 18 inch bass (this new lake was smaller and the water was warmer than the last one), we found a decent campsite in a central location and set up the tents and tarp. The rain stopped and we made fantastic meal of homemade mac and cheese and walleye. A warming campfire ended the night.

Friday
We left camp intact and set out to explore and fish the lake. I paired up with Fran Fan and headed south, getting a couple lake trout right away. We made our way up a shallow creek catching some bass and pike as we went. It was a breezy, but sunny, day. We made our way back north and caught some more lake trout near camp. We headed to shore as black cloud was building to the south and west. The others joined us in camp and all spoke of great fishing...many large smallmouth bass (18" and 19") and plenty of decent lake trout. A good day by any standards. The black cloud moved closer and we battened down the hatches as severe thunderstorm hit us...pouring rain and very strong winds lasted about 20 minutes. After the storm passed we set about making a fire and fixing supper. It was a fantastic meal, probably the best on the trip-green curry and coconut rice. Very easy to make and it goes great with lake trout.

Saturday
We had intended to pack up and move this day, but it was raining and the fishing had been good the day before, so we decided to stay another night. It was a pretty gross day...misting rain and a strong, cold, north wind. We had "Quetico Supremes" for breakfast and hit the lake anyway. Tick Check and I searched for bass, but the cold front had shut them down. We hit a few lake trout near camp instead. Action was fairly steady, although all I personally caught was an 8 to 10lb pike. We went back to camp early as feet and hands were starting to get chilled. It took a team effort, but soon we had a roaring fire in spite of the steady rain. Supper was another favorite: Kek Burgers....bacon lake trout sandwiches.

Sunday
It dried up overnight and we packed up on a chilly (30's) morning. We caught a few more trout on our way off of the lake. We steadily headed south, backtracking on our route. Taking the extra day on the previous camp meant we altered our plans and we decided to stay two nights near a big current area that had lots of back bays on a big lake. The area had plenty of people, so we had to take a back bay campsite. It turned out to be just fine after we cut and moved some downed trees. It was a sunny day, but definitely had cold front conditions...we had no fish for supper. So, we made camp pesto on spaghetti with NWS salamini. It was perfect.

Monday
We stayed put in our little camp and split up to explore and fish the area. Shorts and I went north and caught a laker and a nice walleye off mid-lake structure. We checked out a pretty incoming creek and bay, but it only held small pike. We did find one of the best campsites I have ever seen in Canoe Country though, a pine covered island with a great garage and nice breeze with an elevated kitchen with a 240 degree view. I know where I will be seeking to camp next time. We fished our way back to camp, but the fish were still hibernating. I did take a warm shower thanks to the sun shower back at camp. Others returned with a mixed bag of trout, walleyes, and bass, but overall everyone reported very slow fishing. The Colonel had the story of the day with a 43.5 inch northern pike, the longest pike anyone on my trips has ever caught, a true trophy. We made up some fish tacos that night, even heating a rock in the campfire to pre-heat the tortillas. It was a fun idea.

Tuesday
It was cloudy, but dry, as we headed back to our take out point. We fished our way, only getting one lake trout the entire time. Very slow fishing. We stopped at Janice the Ranger's to give her a portage condition report (only two downed trees on the route). There was a huge pine tree down on her entrance path...a victim of the Friday storm that had just missed her solar power equipment. We bought a few Quetico souvenirs and took a group photo with her in it. She is as much a part of this area of Quetico as the lakes, rocks, and trees. We fished our way back into America with no luck at all. We took a over-loved, large campsite near the tow boat pick up. It was fishless mashed potatoes with re-hydrated hamburger and veggies for supper.

Wednesday
A sunny morning greeted us as we packed up camp once again. It was a short paddle to the pick up and soon we were loading the boats and the outboards were powering us to the dock. It was an uneventful journey back to Duluth. We said our goodbyes to our Quetico Family and hello to our "real" families. It was another great trip. I am very lucky I can take 10 days of my life to immerse myself into a paddling adventure, even if the fish don't cooperate fully. I thank my understanding bride and I thank my trip mates that let me join them each year.

Nature Moment: When Wear-Some-Shorts and I went to retrieve our beer cooler from the island at the end of the trip, we discovered that in-between the day early in the trip that we stashed our cooler and day we picked it up, a loon had made her nest and laid an egg right next to the cooler. She was not pleased when we snuck up to grab the cooler. No injuries to any party, thankfully. The egg was big and splotchy purple colored.

Hubs' Flub: Well, even though I should have learned my lesson some how, I managed to sunburn my ears again. Despite suncreen use, I ended up with blisters and everything. I must have burned off the nerves over the years, though, because they never hurt, just itched a bit. Next year: Zinc Oxide.

Quote of the Trip: There were plenty of candidates this trip, including, "I wouldn't snag into Fran Tarkington's throat if he was dying of thirst," but the quote the trip was definitely spoke by The Colonel when he said: "Dog shit would taste good if it was in a tortilla." We tested him by giving him a tortilla with moose poop in it...he didn't eat it.

Thank You, Sheep

It was the last winter camping and lake trout fishing trip of the season this past weekend. The Colonel, Rocket Man, and I got things loaded on Thursday morning and headed north on a warm, sunny day. We met the Captain at a lake access parking lot where he had been camping since Sunday. He reported slow fishing and sloppy conditions. We headed to our lake of choice and loaded the camping gear in the sleds, hooked them to the snow machines and hit the ice. We tooled around a bit looking for a good, easily accessible campsite and found one in an out of the way bay. We got the canvas tents and woodstoves set up, then headed out to fish. We found a lot of machine sucking slush in the bay, but we were able to set up out of the slop at a steep point. We failed to get any trout, the only fish caught was a small walleye. We stopped fishing fairly early and got some wood cut for the stove. We had a favorite meal, the Colonel's smoked ribs-they are fantastic.

On Friday morning, it was cold and sunny. The day started off with a bang (See Hubs' Flub below). We decided to fish a bay we hadn't tried in previous trips to this lake. It was slow fishing overall, but the day warmed, the wind was calm...I could have used a beach umbrella. I caught two smallish trout and a big cisco. Captain caught a couple decent trout, but the Colonel and Rocket Man were skunked. We fished fairly late trying to conjure up some action, but it never picked up. We had gnocchi in a tomato alfredo sauce and fried fish for supper.

We woke up to rain on Saturday morning. Rain or wet snow is the worst weather for winter campers. Canvas tents soak up the water and dampens gear. Fortunately the rain morphed into fog by the time we set out to fish and before long a west breeze blew the fog off and it was sunny and warm again. We went to a proven lake trout spot, but fishing was only slightly better. I caught a couple lake trout, the Captain, Rocket Man, and the Colonel caught one fish apiece. The Colonel lost a big fish at the hole at the end of the day, which was a real kick to the groin. The lake was pretty much a complete wet snow/slush slop fest by the end of the day, but the machines never bogged down on the trip back to camp. I made a new thai curry rice dish that night, and it turned out pretty well.

Sunday dawned with strong winds and falling snow. It was determined that conditions were not amenable to fishing, so we packed up camp at a leisurely pace and took off in blizzard like conditions for the landing. It was a slow ride on refrozen slush and blowing snow. We transferred the gear to the trucks, headed south, had lunch and buzzed back to Duluth with no issues. As usual it felt a bit odd to put the winter gear away in the garage for the last time this season. It was a good trip, but like most trips this year, fishing was slow. Not a good fishing catching winter season at all, but snow conditions were deep and often prevented us from fishing the spots we would have preferred. Now it is time to get switch the gear to open water angling.

Nature Moment: It is surprising how fast nature wakes up when the temperature goes up, despite there still being a ton of snow in the woods. We saw moths, flies, and even spiders. Won't be long and the black flies and mosquitoes will be out and about.

Hubs' Flub: This one was a doozy and I am lucky it wasn't worse than it was. It was pretty cold on Friday morning. The Colonel attempted to fire up the propane heater, but only the pilot light would come on. We goofed with it for a quite a bit and couldn't get it to go. I was a little frustrated and decided to just light the little camp stove on a 1 pound propane tank instead. I made the big mistake of attaching the 1 pound tank to the little stove inside the tent. Of course the little tank was cold and as sometimes happens, frost plugged the stove line. Propane sprayed out, hit the lit pilot light on the non-functioning heater and exploded. Whoosh. Big fire ball. My lap was on fire, and the little stove was burning at the tank, which was still leaking. I dropped it to the ground and slapped out the fire on my legs. I yelled Fire!, Fire! to get help from the Captain and Rocket Man in the other tent. The Colonel got our tent door open and I grabbed the burning stove and tank and threw them out the door, where Captain and Rocket man used snow to smother the fire before the tank blew. Wow, that was a wake up call. How could I be so stupid? (Don't answer that, dear.) The only permanent damage was a melted nylon hanging shelf that was right above my head. I was very lucky that I had my wool pants on. Wool doesn't burn well and doesn't melt. If I had had my fleece pants on? Melting and burning synthetic fibers would likely have burned my legs significantly. Thank you, sheep.

Quote of The Trip: "Fire!"