August 10, 2016 at 08:19AM

Shortly after my leech drifted to the bottom, something tapped my line and I set the hook. We had just dropped our anchors on a reef in 20 feet of water. Before I landed the first beautiful, 18 inch walleye Jacob’s rod was doubled over and his drag squealed as a 20 inch small mouth peeled line off his reel.

For several hours it seems like at least 1 person was battling a fish and doubles were not uncommon. The most striking thing was that only 1 or 2 of the fish we caught were small; the vast majority were walleye or smallmouth bass between 16 and 20 inches.
We let most of them go, but we kept a few and stuffed ourselves with golden chunks of fried fish for dinner, which we washed down with s’mores and Koolaid. What a way to end a day in the Wilderness.

Joshie Goldstein was so excited as his dad pulled his first smallmouth bass of the day out of the water, I thought he was going to leap right out of the canoe!

This special place needs our help. Sulfide-ore copper mines are being proposed along the southern edge of the Wilderness. They threaten to pollute our nation’s most popular Wilderness. Please follow the link in our bio, sign the petition and take action today to help protect the Wilderness for future generations.

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