Back to the BWCA, a tale of a master fisherman
Second spring trip into the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area with long time friend and master fisherman, George Zimmerman. Drove to Bemidji, MN via the Chicago area and a visit with my family and cousin (thanks Pat and Mark for the Cubs game at Miller stadium in Milwaukee). On May 16th, we get up early and drive from Bemidji to Ely, grab breakfast at the Chocolate Moose, get our tow across Moose Lake to Indian Portage and our long paddle back into the east end of the south Arm of Knife Lake. This is the same general area where George and I paddled into two springs ago - a good fishing trip with an exciting encounter with a black bear that led us to move camp at 2 in the morning.
No bear encounters this time, although we did see one along the shore on the South Arm of Knife Lake, but too far for a decent picture. George put on a master class in the catching of big fish as the pictures will show. Everything seems small compared to the first fish of the trip, a monster northern pike that George caught from shore at our camp, the first night in, however, most of the pictures of the other fish are showing 3-5 pound smallmouth bass, very good size walleyes, a couple of nice lake trout, and even a couple of whitefish. This was probably our most successful big fish trip of our 18 or so BWCA trips, and literally a master class by George in the art of catching big fish. This spring trip could become an annual event!
It was a yin, first half, and yang, second half of the trip as far as weather. Generally hot and dry the first half, hitting 90 degrees the second day in, and 85 on the third day. Rain and low 50's for the last half of the trip. Almost no one else back in the South Arm this trip. We only saw about two groups a day, going the portage from Hanson Lake to the South Arm. No one else was camped back in our part of the south Arm, and we only saw a few occupied camps in all of Knife lake. We came out on the Thursday before Memorial Day, so the groups were starting to head back in, when we were heading out - on a very drizzly wet day - scout troops where the packs were as big as the kids.
A few snafus (could this be a sign of our advancing age??). I left my fishing reels in George's garage - luckily we both bring in two rods and reels so I was able to fish with George's second rod and reel. George forgot his reading book - I had two, so he had reading material. My favorite senility story of the trip, though is related to a George visit to the loo.
All of the BWCA designated campsites have pit toilets located outside of camp (open air). This particular one was the farthest from camp of any site I've ever camped in. George and I are both coffee drinkers, and coffee's laxative properties make us both regular morning visitors to the loo, before venturing out fishing. George was first up, and I was doing camp clean up,and I noticed that George's toilet paper roll was still in camp. I thought, oh he must have two. A few minutes later, I hear a call from the woods - "hey Don, I could use a little help". Instead of taking his toilet paper bag back to the loo, George had taken a bag of sausages. A classic - and a story that will be told and retold in the years to come.
So all in all a great 9-day trip to the BWCA.
No bear encounters this time, although we did see one along the shore on the South Arm of Knife Lake, but too far for a decent picture. George put on a master class in the catching of big fish as the pictures will show. Everything seems small compared to the first fish of the trip, a monster northern pike that George caught from shore at our camp, the first night in, however, most of the pictures of the other fish are showing 3-5 pound smallmouth bass, very good size walleyes, a couple of nice lake trout, and even a couple of whitefish. This was probably our most successful big fish trip of our 18 or so BWCA trips, and literally a master class by George in the art of catching big fish. This spring trip could become an annual event!
It was a yin, first half, and yang, second half of the trip as far as weather. Generally hot and dry the first half, hitting 90 degrees the second day in, and 85 on the third day. Rain and low 50's for the last half of the trip. Almost no one else back in the South Arm this trip. We only saw about two groups a day, going the portage from Hanson Lake to the South Arm. No one else was camped back in our part of the south Arm, and we only saw a few occupied camps in all of Knife lake. We came out on the Thursday before Memorial Day, so the groups were starting to head back in, when we were heading out - on a very drizzly wet day - scout troops where the packs were as big as the kids.
A few snafus (could this be a sign of our advancing age??). I left my fishing reels in George's garage - luckily we both bring in two rods and reels so I was able to fish with George's second rod and reel. George forgot his reading book - I had two, so he had reading material. My favorite senility story of the trip, though is related to a George visit to the loo.
All of the BWCA designated campsites have pit toilets located outside of camp (open air). This particular one was the farthest from camp of any site I've ever camped in. George and I are both coffee drinkers, and coffee's laxative properties make us both regular morning visitors to the loo, before venturing out fishing. George was first up, and I was doing camp clean up,and I noticed that George's toilet paper roll was still in camp. I thought, oh he must have two. A few minutes later, I hear a call from the woods - "hey Don, I could use a little help". Instead of taking his toilet paper bag back to the loo, George had taken a bag of sausages. A classic - and a story that will be told and retold in the years to come.
So all in all a great 9-day trip to the BWCA.
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