Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

Fourtown Weekend Trip
by Dogpaddler

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 07/21/2023
Entry & Exit Point: Mudro Lake (restricted--no camping on Horse Lake) (EP 22)
Number of Days: 3
Group Size: 2
Day 2 of 3
Saturday, July 22, 2023

We woke up to a beautiful day. Low 60s and not very windy. We loaded the canoe with fishing supplies and snacks and set out. We may have made it 30 yards from the launch when I hooked into the first walleye of the day, a smaller one but one for the fry pan. As we trolled towards boot and around the islands working back past our site and north .5 mile we picked out 3 northern ranging from 10in to 24in, 2 small mouth bass and the wife reeled in a twin walleye for the fry pan. It was heating up and we were getting hungry so off to camp. After eating the clouds in the distance didn’t look nice. We had set a lean to shelter near a large rock for protection incase of a lightning storm as there was no shortage of towering red and white pine. It was fun watching the storm pick up and roll in, we even watched a deer in the distance swim from one side of the lake to the other. Slower than the day before the rain picked up and the noise picked up until we found ourselves hunkered down under the tarp sitting on life jackets. The storm droned on never getting as intense as the previous one but still blowing and pelting our site. As the lightning storm shrunk and become faint in the distance by wife decided it was time to go take a nap in the tent to which she found water. When we opted for the larger 3-4 person tent for this trip, we forgot we haven’t used it in over 3-4 years and the 15+ year old tent had a couple leaks. It was not a total loss, just meant some possible damp sleeping. After hanging gear in the sun we took off for some afternoon fishing. Paddling N around the burn area we were able to hook into a handful of small mouth, a few more northern and even a couple more walleye for the fry pan. We had a great night by the fire, little to no mosquitos.

** best fishing was trolling with the rapalas that have 2 treble hooks. Fire tiger or orange and silver. No luck jigging or with a bobber and leach.