Sunday, July 18, 2021 Didn’t sleep too well but the prospect of fishing got me going for the day. We ate breakfast and paddled off to Little Shell then Shell Lake. Brody caught several walleyes with a flicker shad just east and south of the big erratic west of the portage. Noah was getting out fished and it was starting to bother him. We move on over to the islands and I remembered the whopper ploppers I bought. Id read for years about them in the BWJ and just sort of considered them a gimmick not sure why I had that opinion, but it changed on the very first cast Austin made with it. Fish on! A good smallmouth then another and another. After Austin “plopped” it in a tree and nearly lost it, it was Noah who took his turn with it and he quickly caught 3 or 4 fish. Brody struggled with casting and gave up after a while.

We needed to stretch our legs so we paddled over to the south campsite on Con Island and checked it out. Noah and Brody found and caught a grouse that had fishing line tangled up on its feet. They were giggling and really smiling the whole time we worked on it. Eventually we freed it and off it went.

Again I was surprised by how few people were on Shell lake. We saw a group of canoes day tripping and a canoe on the south end of the lake. After paddling on the north side of the island not catching anything we head back to camp and eat a late lunch. We spend most of the afternoon lazing about camp in the water cooling off or on the rocks taking in the view. That evening we again troll around trying to pick up a walleye but no luck. We turn in early as we know we have a big day tomorrow.