I woke up to the coldest morning of the trip - meaning the coldest morning since spring for me. Fall really is coming.
Everyone met for breakfast at the usual time. Gil, James and George were heading out immediately after eating as were Brian and Kathy. We said goodbyes and joked a bit. It has been a good group to hunt and fish with.
Carter took Kim, Brady and I fishing. We, again, went way up river to go after pike.
On the way upriver, we saw something moving across the water. As we got closer, we saw it was a mama bear and two cubs. I was quite impressed with how well they could swim, especially with the current.
Once they reached the bank, they high-tailed it into the brush - this was right by Kendall so I could only assume they were headed there for acorns and wild plums. I wonder if wild plums have laxative properties for bears as well? Almost certainly...
At our first fishing spot, we spotted a beaver dragging a stick across the bay to its dam. I'm not quite sure why it had to get that particular branch, since the area around the damn was thick with all manner of trees. But perhaps beavers are pickier than they look. Or maybe there was something really special about this tree that only a beaver can understand.
The morning was a bit slow, with a few small pike brought in. Carter fished some as well, but due to either luck or skill, he brought in the only monster at 39.5 inches. My biggest pike ever was 39 inches so I was hoping to break the 40-inch mark. It wasn't to be.
I brought in one decent fish at 31 inches. Even though it wasn't the biggest fish of the trip, it did fight relatively hard. And with the dead slow pike fishing, it was a good fish to catch.
But the slow morning also meant it was actually a bit tough to bring in enough fish for lunch. The two big ones were too big and most of the others were too small. Finally we caught one decent lunch pike to go along with Kim's walleyes caught while jigging.
Lunch was once again great with fish and fries. We shored on a small island with a channel next to it. The channel had water flowing at a very high rate. I tried to fish the channel, but more than anything it looked like a good place to snag on rocks. We didn't bring wood or propane so we foraged for wood for the fire; it was almost hard to find enough dry, dead wood to cook all the food. But we managed.
Fishing after lunch wasn't much better. We did catch a few fish and I had some good bites. But getting the fish to commit was difficult. On several occasions I had smallmouths on the line, but they spit the lures. Stupid fish...
Still, it was a fun day. There was lots of camaraderie and joking. I hadn't gotten to know Kim or Brady too well so that added to the enjoyment.
In addition to bears, beavers, pike, walleye, and smallmouths, we also got to see several more eagles. Again, not the best picture, but about as good as can be hoped for with a waterproof point and shoot camera.
Dinner that night was more subdued with only a few of us left in camp. Vance ate with us and we talked a bit about hunting, travel and life. Kim and Brady left to head to Winnipeg. I talked with everyone a short while before I decided I wanted to test fit my bear hide and meat in my coolers. It was a good thing I did this since I had to cut down one front shoulder to make everything fit.
Then it was packing up and turning in for the first leg of the drive home.
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