I woke up later than normal and fitfully tossed and turned for a bit before getting up for coffee. I'll "suffer" through the unusual hours for bears and pike. In the realm of problems, my Canadian world was filled with good ones - I was having a blast.
After a breakfast of french toast, we all saddled up to head out on the water again.
Derrick took George and I out. We started out at Lamprey Bay where the action was good. Quality of fish were a bit small overall, but the quantity was better than we'd had. But not all the fish were small. George hooked into a really nice pike, landing a fish just under 39 inches. This was his biggest fish caught yet.
We moved around a few times to fish other spots. Action through the morning remained good. The best fish I caught was a nice smallmouth bass measuring between 15 and 16 inches. Even though not a real long fish, it had an almost football-like fatness.
George even hooked into another good one at just under 36 inches. I'm not sure what he was doing differently than me - or if it was just luck. The second big pike wasn't as lucky though since it bore scars of tangling with something - Derrick surmised it was from an otter. It had also lost an eye at some point, with one ghostly, clouded eye staring right through us.
The group met for lunch at Kendall Point. I'm always surprised that these cabins aren't used more. My guess is they are more occupied on weekends and/or during the summer. The view from Kendall is stunning, often called one of the prettiest spots on the river.
There are numerous wild plum trees on the property. I had never seen these before, but they tasted good. Bears love them and there was evidence of bears coming in as well. No doubt this sometimes is a bit unnerving to people staying there. Apparently wild plums also work as wild laxatives. Despite the fact that they were much tastier than I had thought they would be, I stopped eating them when I heard that.
Lunch was great with more of Derrick's moose sausage, fries, fish, stuff jalapenos. Everything that is needed for a Canadian shore lunch. I ate too much, but that has been the norm on this trip.
Fishing after lunch, for whatever reason, slowed down. A lot. We had only the odd bite and brought in a few into the boat. We still had fun, trying a few different techniques and lures. In one particularly weedy area that looked really pikey, I tried a buzz bait which is a lure I've never really had success with. I did get a top strike on it which I'll call a success even though the fish wasn't brought into the boat - both because of my past history with them and the painfully slow fishing.
At one point it started to rain and boats from all over started heading in. We stayed out and fished some more, before finally admitting defeat.
It is interesting that on some days, it seems all one needs to do is throw a lure anywhere into the water and be able to catch pike. Then there are days like this one where nothing seems to be biting anything. At all. So it goes.
Dinner was steaks grilled with mushrooms, which were excellent. We ate in two shifts since Brady was still hunting. Around the time the first dinner was wrapping up, we heard the boat come in. Brady had shot his black bear - which means every hunter in camp tagged out with time to spare! This was Brady's first bear and he was quite happy. It sounded like he was going through the same questions I was as far as what to do with it.
I'm also ponder when (not if) I'll head back north.
It wasn't terribly late and I'm sure there were lies to be told but I wanted at least a half-decent night of sleep. It may have appeared misanthropic, but I turned in early by bear camp standards.
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