Popular Post Gixxerjoe04 Posted July 3, 2016 Popular Post Report Share Posted July 3, 2016 Just got back from vacation, guess you could call it that since it was a ton of work but really fun. Went up to Ely Minnesota and camped and fished for a week up in the boundary waters. Canoed 13 miles to a campsite that was on an island we had to ourselves plus some minks, otters and bald eagles that came around. Had pretty good fishing, caught a ton of smallmouth with the biggest being 2.5lbs, caught some walleye with the biggest being a little over 5 pounds and a few northern pike. Real pretty area up that way, weather got a little crazy a couple days while we were out, was nice because the lake we were in didn't allow boats with motors, so didn't see many people most of the week. Had a long 14 hour drive home through the night but it's nice to sleep in a bed and use a toilet haha. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted July 3, 2016 Report Share Posted July 3, 2016 Awesome, looks beautiful. A dream of mine...I'll do the Boundary Waters one day. Is that your Wenonah or did you rent the canoes? Those are nice boats for rentals. How were the bugs? We were on the Current River in southern MO last weekend and we got killed by the house flies and horseflies. We were talking about how bad the bugs are supposed to be up north in the summer. You didn't mention it so I guess you escaped their fury unscathed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gixxerjoe04 Posted July 3, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2016 We rented the canoes from an outfitter, was about $180 for the rental, fishing license and permits, had to buy food and booze so pretty cheap vacation. The canoes were nice and light, we only had to do two portages about 1/3 of a mile each, that part def wasn't fun but paddling miles into the wind going to our campsite sucked especially since I just go canoeing on big creeks here so you don't actually have to paddle. Coming back yesterday wasn't bad, basically no wind and my muscles were use to it. The mosquitoes and black flies were pretty bad, we had a few windy days which kept them away which was nice. What sucked is bug spray had 0 effect on them. One day we were fishing and couldn't see behind us because of the trees, heard thunder and finally looked and a big storm came rolling through, paddled our arms off to get back to camp, got a little wet but made it back before the big stuff hit. Then another day the wind picked up a ton while we were out, awful head wind, had some real big waves. Powered through it but def had my butthole puckered a couple times when some big waves hit. Was a lot of work but really cool experience, last year the guys saw the northern lights, would have loved to see them this year but didn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted July 4, 2016 Report Share Posted July 4, 2016 Sounds like a great trip man. Those storms and other adversities are what makes a trip memorable. I do agree though...paddling through dead water into a headwind totally sucks. And so do portages. Blah. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted July 4, 2016 Report Share Posted July 4, 2016 Are pics 6 & 10 walleyes? Glad you had a great time! Thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted July 4, 2016 Report Share Posted July 4, 2016 THAT is an awesome vacation! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JosephThomas Posted July 4, 2016 Report Share Posted July 4, 2016 Wow awesome. Glad you survived the bugs Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Gixxerjoe04 Posted July 4, 2016 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted July 4, 2016 57 minutes ago, K Cooper said: Are pics 6 & 10 walleyes? Glad you had a great time! Thanks for sharing. Yea, the number 6 pic weighed a little over 2lbs and pic 10 was 5lbs 2 ounces, ate the 5lb one and was an idiot and left the other on a stringer over night because it was raining and didn't want to clean it. Turtle or otter ate most of it, we pulled the carcass out and laid it on a rock hoping an eagle would grab it. Had one fly by real close but didn't take it so little minks and seagulls ate the rest. The pics don't really give the 5lb one justice. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted July 5, 2016 Report Share Posted July 5, 2016 On 7/3/2016 at 10:00 PM, Gixxerjoe04 said: Yea, the number 6 pic weighed a little over 2lbs and pic 10 was 5lbs 2 ounces, ate the 5lb one and was an idiot and left the other on a stringer over night because it was raining and didn't want to clean it. Turtle or otter ate most of it, we pulled the carcass out and laid it on a rock hoping an eagle would grab it. Had one fly by real close but didn't take it so little minks and seagulls ate the rest. The pics don't really give the 5lb one justice. I've camped across a lot of MN but never the boundary waters. Some day ... Last week i was camping just south of you at Split Rock Lighthouse and saw some of that same bad weather roll through. The storms were very pretty but we stayed plenty south of them. This was the storm Thursday the picture doesn't do it justice. It's a good thing your interaction with the local wildlife was positive. We were chased out of our campground (figuratively) Thursday night by a Big mamma black bear and her cub. Some people ignored the bear warnings and left food all over their campsites and then chased the bear around all day long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted July 5, 2016 Report Share Posted July 5, 2016 Those pics are great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gixxerjoe04 Posted July 6, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2016 Yea the storm was pretty crazy, we saw it and had to book it 2 miles back to our camp, it was slowly getting closer and started pouring down rain while we were about a mile away. Then all of a sudden it stopped raining on us but was raining on both sides of us then stopped until we got to camp and poured for a few hours. The next day while out we got some crazy head wind coming in, the waves were 2-3 feet at times. We were gonna pull off and hold out but there wasn't any place close by so had to battle through it. Had a couple waves comes over the front but luckily kept the canoe straight the whole time, if we would have got sideways it could have been bad. Just made more cool stories for the trip haha, the good thing about our campsite was it being an island and not a huge one so didn't have to worry about big animals, wish I could have got to see some big animals from a distance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted July 6, 2016 Report Share Posted July 6, 2016 14 hours ago, Gixxerjoe04 said: the good thing about our campsite was it being an island and not a huge one so didn't have to worry about big animals, wish I could have got to see some big animals from a distance. My buddy does some fly fishing guiding out west and he ran into this guy on his last trip. He was in a drift boat so not quite as scary, but to stumble across him on foot? No thanks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodger. Posted July 6, 2016 Report Share Posted July 6, 2016 Glad you had a good time - I could never really get into the fishing thing, but I understand why so many people enjoy it. Great pics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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