BWCA 2016 Day Four
August 30, 2016

Nephew picked up three nice SMB morning of the fourth day.

Both kids boated all three species before returning to camp around 9-10 AM.

Pretty long mid-day break.  Poking around camp, looking through gear.  Even rare nap for a kid.

Snorkeling off campsites.  Looking at shoreline detail and thinking through where the land-bound casual casts would cut through water and snag.  Two for one: cleaning up a bit and also gaining some tackle.

First time I've had to deal with a capsized canoe.  Not first time in history of Dad's camp but first in some decades.  This one was triggered by a front seat failing: Dad and cousin were just paddling out maybe 125 yards and a screw gave out; the fall of the front paddler jolted such that the roll was initiated and not stopped.

The boys and I were on shore when it happened and my estimate is that we were on site lending a hand within sixty seconds; good response time; the boys sensed the urgency and acted well.  Nobody hurt; minor gear losses; much gear was saved by dedicated paddlers.

Evening session of this day got pretty silly.  Immediately.  Our notes indicate this fish was taped at 19.5" - one of the biggest SMB of the trip (we taped two at 19.5, no one could quite break 20).

Nephew was beating them down with a Hula Popper.  Think this one was 17 inches.

Biggest LMB I saw on any of the days: 19" taped.  Beauty of a bucket for a mouth.  These fish were just ripping topwater; right off the boat; sometimes right as the lure hit the water; it was a show.

This was approx 30 minutes after that big LMB; thought maybe he had two-specie-19s but our measurement said 18 inches.  Great fish to end the night.

And then to top it off back at camp he found via headlamp Grandpa's tacklebox  - the only substantive gear that had been lost in the capsize incident.

Day four totals for our boat: 9 pike, 8 SMB (half of which were 17-19.5"), 4 LMB (one 18 and one 19 incher).