Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

First Quetico trip July 2011
by marc24

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 07/11/2011
Entry & Exit Point: Quetico
Number of Days: 12
Group Size: 4
Day 3 of 12
Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Morning of day 3 dawns clear and warm. Dad and I head out to do some early morning fishing electing to explore the bay around camp instead of heading back to the falls. We have pretty good success this morning, catching plenty of bass and adding in a few nice walleyes. The sun came up and it got very warm quickly. We paddled back to camp, ate pancakes and eggs and watched all the red squirrels scurry in and out of a dead tree. There were also some little critters that we all heard throughout the night. At some point, I realize I do not have my sunglasses, and we search aimlessly and to no avail. I later realize I probably left them where we were filleting the fish across the bay from our site. Being a fisherman, I really need polarized glasses so my lovely wife sacrifices hers for the remainder of the trip. God bless her! Kawa Bay was our destination today, and we were on the water by 10 am.

I trolled a deep diver most of the way to Kawa Bay, catching maybe a half dozen fish along the way. Not exactly riveting fishing but always interesting as to what you have on the end of your line. We stopped to search for pictos near the entrance to Kawa Bay and think we may have found them but were not quite sure. Continuing on, we paddled all the way north on Kawa bay, checking out a few sites but pressing on all the way to the mouth of the Waiwiag River where we found an absolute beauty of a site. 5 stars all the way. It is wide open, plenty of trees to hang hammocks, tent pads with pine needles and a fantastic fire pit with cut logs for stools. Definitely one you would never forget.

We opted for a late lunch and skipping dinner in order to get some evening fishing in. We caught a bunch and then like sometimes happens all of a sudden the bite shut off. Both canoes headed back to camp and we just relaxed and enjoyed some smores. The skeeters were much more tolerable this evening and we stayed up and just enjoyed the absolute solitude of Kawa Bay. We did not see another canoe at all today, that's a real shame!