After breakfast the groups from Missouri/Iowa/Kansas and South Dakota left. One person left without a bear, but that was partially due to pickiness and his choice of weapon. He didn't seem too upset about it as he had shot a really big bear previously.
Bob took Arizona guy and me out for fishing near Wally Bay. Action was pretty respectable - still not as good as I've seen it, but the pike action had definitely picked up. We'd get into pockets and bring in a few fish, then have slower periods. But the conversation was good during the slow times. I wasn't so sure about Arizona guy when I first met him, but he was a really interesting character. He admitted that fishing wasn't his thing; I still felt bad when I probably caught near 10 fish to his one. This included a really nice smallmouth bass that fought the good fight.
After lunch with the smaller crew, the remaining two hunters went out while I went fishing with Bob again. Young Arizona guy had school work to do...
Bob took me up river a ways to go after - what else - pike. While headed upriver, I couldn't help but notice in the brilliant sunshine that the leaves were just starting to change in places. It isn't fall yet, but it is coming.
We went into a bay with a stream going into it. The stream was more of a trickle, but others had had good pike action when jigging for walleye.
After only a few casts a big fish took my lure. It got off, but I hoped it was a good sign. Barbless hooks may be a bit controversial, but after fishing in Manitoba several times, I really can't blame any lost fish on that hook rule.
It only took a few more casts until another big fish was on. This one was putting up a much tougher fight. At one point I thought it was snagged, but then the tugging started again. It took about 10 minutes to land the fish on the light tackle I was using. Keeping pressure on the line is critical. Soon enough, Bob netted the fish. We took a few pictures and measured it (36 inches) before quickly returning it to the water. It swam away, just a little bit wiser than before. Actually that probably isn't true - the reptilian brain of pike means it will probably grab a lure again just as soon as one pisses it off.
Pike action in the bay stayed really good. There were lots of fish, mostly small, but a few in the 25-30 inch range. The action was really good.
Then another lunker grabbed on to the lure. This fish didn't fight near as angrily, but it felt heavier. It took a little less time to land it, but we were able to get the slimy guy into the boat. This one was 40 inches and much fatter as well. It also had a lamprey eel on it.
We caught a few more fish before heading to another bay. Action was a bit slower, but still much better than earlier in the week. I didn't hook into any more huge ones, but fish came into the boat at a rate that when the little guys fell off as they were being taken out of the water, it was almost a blessing.
By this point the lure I had borrowed from Bob had been bent and twisted and rebent so many times I was worried it would break. But I just couldn't stop using Old Reliable. Given how bad the fishing was earlier in the week, this was one magic lure!
In the end, Bob kindly gave it to me. Perhaps I'll have to look for more of these...
We stopped at another lodge that Bob might be doing some carpentry work on in the near future. I had been there before and it needed a lot of work at that time. The improvements were already noticeable. Also noticeable was the change in water level. The dock is often only a couple feet above the water!
After a bit of down time, it started to get dark on the last couple hunters out for bear. Arizona guy one texted Vance that he had shot a bear. When the boat didn't come back early, there were some questions in camp.
About 45 minutes after the end of legal shooting light the boat motored slowly to the dock. Arizona guy two had also shot a bear and it was in the boat. It was a pretty nice bear, likely just over six feet. He had been hunting on the same stand I had shot my bear on so I couldn't help but wonder if that was one of the bears I had seen while sitting there.
Arizona guy 2's bear had been hit hard enough that there was lots of blood and even bone fragments found. Our resident veterinarian identified the bone as part of the radius or ulna depending on the size of the animal. It is a bit hard to see how even an off-side killing pass-through could could shatter the forearm of a bear, but bullets can do inexplicable things once their flight is interrupted. The plan was to head out in the morning and resume the search.
After taking care of Arizona guy two's bear with some associated carousing and imbibing, we had another late dinner, with everyone turning in shortly after.
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