We left Chicago Thursday PM driving in the remnants of Gustav. We usually drive to Black River Falls and camp but opted for a dry bed and roof over our head as the rain continued. We woke early, took showers and were on our way to meet fonixmunkee in Duluth. I called fonix and we agreed to meet at the Perkins where I-35 ends. We arrived at the same time. What a view looking over Superior!!
We had a great time talking of past trips to the Island and future plans. It is funny how comfortable I always am with folks who share a passion for Isle Royale, there is a certain familiarity there and Richard and I have e-mailed back and forth over the years, so I felt I "knew" him. It was fun and pleasure to meet him in person!! Thanks again for the Forum!!
We continued on our way making a stop in Two Rivers to check out the bargains to be found at Granite Gear's Outlet. Thanks to fonix for the heads up on GG being open!
We arrived in Grand Portage late in the afternoon. We stopped at the dock and then headed to Rydens where we ran into Capt. Don, Jennifer, Mike and Tony enjoying dinner. We grabbed the table next to them and spoke of the summers events. It was good to be back in Grand Portage. We didn't stop to see it but the new visitor center for the Grand Portage Monument is nice!
Our friend Dan arrived later. Needless to say all were excited and sleep would not be much!!
We woke early unloaded our gear at the dock and Tricia and Dan went to Casino Station to grab coffee and donuts.
Our ride across was pleasant, a smooth ride. After stopping in Windigo, we were on our way to Rock Harbor. I was talking to a guy on the ride who posted on the Old Forums site, we had a great time talking about past trips, the old forums and the new forums. Wayne welcome to the Forums.
Soon we were close to Rock Harbor. As we rounded the point to Snug Harbor, there on the America's Dock were Dave and Michelle. They had arrived Friday on the Ranger to close up the Artist in Residence Cabin for the year. Upon docking we headed up to the shelters. We had cooked brats from the local butcher at home (we sear them over charcoal and them simmer them in dark beer!). Tricia freezes them and vaccum seals them. We carried them in a cooler with cheese, butter, cream cheese (for bagels). We heat them up in boiling water and dinner!!
While walking around later, I came a across a cow and calf at group site 3. I went back to get the group. We had good views of the two feeding.
We went to bed early as we were tired. Up early the next AM for the final leg of our commute to Malone Bay. At Chippewa Harbor, a guy I had met on previous trips, Derek, got on board. He had been kayaking the middle lakes. We had a good talk about his trip.
We arrived at Malone Bay. We approached the new dock and agreed the NPS had done a nice job at replacing it. We offloaded gear and moved to the shelters and found them empty. We paddled our kayaks to the shelter "beach" and portaged our kayaks to Siskiwit Lake. I had brought along this years birthday gift, a fish finder, and was anxious to try it. We also were trying yak clips, which you placed your paddle in while fishing or taking pictures.
We grabbed our fishing gear and headed over to Siskiwit to try our luck. The fish finder was switched on and it worked. I marked lots of bait fish and drop offs and humps. We headed to the West end of the lake, fishing points and dropoffs alonf the way. The wind was blowing fairly strong out of the West and the lake was choppy. No fish.
We returned to camp and made pizza for dinner accompanied by a fine red wine. When we were eating breakfast, a family of 5 river otters swam by.
We woke the next AM, ate breakfast and made sandwiches and went to the far end of the Siskiwit. We began hooking fish after being there about an hour. I lost 2 fish, the last one I had at the boat trying to get the lure out. The fish finder did a good job showing the weeds below. Michelle was the first to hook a northern, followed later by her dad who hooked a few 24"s . We returned to camp with a nice lake trout Dan had hooked. We had brought Shore Lunch and oil for a fish fry accompanied by Orzolaya (jambalaya with orzo instead of rice).
We paddled to Wood Lake on Tuesday. I caught a few off the camping area. Tricia and I moved towards the South end of the Lake where we started getting strikes. I hooked a 28" northern. Tricia hooked one, (I made her wait while I took pictures of her). We paddled back to the camp area for lunch and then went back to South end. The action had slowed, Dan hooked one and that was about it. The wind had picked up, we had to paddle back into a head wind. Dan had hooked a whitefish earlier so we had fish again. I had brought a baitcasting rod which tangled on the first cast and a fly rod. The fish we were catching were hitting on top of the weeds in 15' of water (5' off the bottom). I didn't try my fly rod.
Dave and Michelle were leaving the next morning to begin their paddle back to Rock Harbor. WE had fun talking of the past few days events and enjoying Cheddar Potato soups with fish. The next day, Dan and I went to Siskiwit to get Dave and Michelle's kayaks. The loaded up their gear and were soon on their way.
We grabbed Dan's sail rig for his kayak and headed to Siskiwit to try it out. After a bit of head scratching we figured out the rig and soon Dan was under Full Canvas.
The wind was a little puffy and variable which made sailing "lively".
After a pleasant morning sailing, we enjoyed the "warm" lake waters and went for a swim. We had lunch and paddled back to the West end to try for Northern. We caught a few, nothing worth keeping. I want to mention on my spoons, I clipped the third hook of the treble hooks to facilitate releasing fish. I don't think it made a difference in hooking fish and made releasing the fish easier. A moose showed up as it was getting dark and we headed to go back to camp. We had spaghetti for dinner with a nice red wine.
The Thursday dawned dark and rainy and continued through the day. Tricia slept, I went to the Vistor cabin to read. Reece, a paddler from Chippewa who was out for month, showed up in his self made wood kayak. We had a nice chat. He said that Michelle and Dave made it to Chippewa. Dan fished and bought back a nice northern for dinner. We had both looked at video off cleaning northern and removing the y bone. It worked well!!
Friday, was nice. A father and son from MI who were kayaking left early to paddle back to Rock Harbor. I helped Reece portage his kayak to Siskiwit. We ended up portaging our kayaks back to Malone. We planned on headin to Wright Island the next day. We checked the forcast for our return trip Sunday, Glales were forecast Sunday afternoon. We hoped we would be back in Grand Portage early.
We woke early the next day and checked the forcast. Gales still predicted. We wonderd whether the Voyager might come Saturday instead of Sunday. We had a beautiful paddle to Wright Island. We paddled the South Side toi the bay where the family had lived eeking out a living fishing. It was cool to see the cabins and buildings. It is sad to see the fishing boats wasting away. I would love to make one!!!
We were paddling from Wright Island to Malone Island when a Park Service boat appeared. We were approached by the boat. It was Ranger Carl who was on his way to Windigo toi take over duties there. He related that Mike and the Voyaguer would be coming that evening to pick us up and maybe head back to Grand Portage.
We continued our paddle to Hat Island and back to the dock at Malone where we left our boats.
We went back to the shelter to begin packing. We were ready by 4:00 assuming the Voyageur would be there around 5:30.
Sure enough about 5:20 we could see the Voyageur throught the Island cuts. Mike blew the horn as he made his way though the channel markers. We loaded quickly and were on our way. We arrived at Windigo in the dark at 8:00. We made our way in the rain to the shelters. We were up ealry hoping to beat the predicted gales back to GP. We had to wait for some last minute arrivals. We stopped at Washington Island to pick up some folks there. As we cleared the Islands, we were slammed with 4-6' waves and strong winds. It would be a slow ride back. We were taking the seas on the beam causing us to roll quite a bit. Mike adjusted his course as big waves approached. It was an exciting ride. We unloaded gear at GP. WE spoke to Capt Don a bit about our fishing and began our trip home.
We stopped in Grand Marais at the Blue Water Cafe for breakfast. We had intended to go to Sven and Ollies in honor of Ingo, but breafast was what we needed !!! We began planning our Spring '09 trip!!!!
More Pics:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/567282370ruyxPN
