First Tastes 2


By Riley Smith

Dates:June 4-7, 2004
Entry Point:61 - Daniels Lake (BWCA)
Type:Canoeing
Lakes:Bearskin, Daniels, Rove, Watap

I do not remember much of this trip either, as I was 7 years old at this time, but I do remember vividly pictures in my mind that remind me of the fond memories that were made. This time it was not just two dads and two sons, but we added a third pair that we were close friends with. We wisened up for our second trip together and put in at West Bearskin instead of portaging from Hungry Jack. We stayed at the same campsite as the year before: Camp Wannabanana. This year I do remember a few things that happened. We caught a stringer of fish near our campsite and left them tied to a submerged tree. This was at least a 25 ft stringer and the fish had room to swim deep into the lake. We would have them for dinner when we returned from our day trip. We day tripped to Rove, and hooked some incredible fish there. We paddled into Watap just to see it. Our trip leader passed around a lunch of "oranges" he had picked up for the occasion. It turned out, after everyones faces were permanantly locked in a pucker, that these "oranges" were simply small grape fruits. Fond memory. The portage to and from Rove was a long one for three 7 and 8 year olds and we were all fairly worn out by the time we returned to camp. Good thing we had a nice fish dinner to look forward to. When we got back to our tree, however, we found that someone had already beaten us to it. A large bald eagle had pulled our stringer out of the water and eaten more than half of our fish and left the remainder fairly mangled. This was a pretty funny memory for our group. Also on this trip was the first time I ever caught two fish on the same lure at the same time: two smallmouth on each end of a two trebble hook lure. This was also the first time I had ever had a fish take a lure that was not in the water. This just reenforced to me how magical this place truly is. I also fondly remember a tresure hunt my dad set up around our campsite with a hand-drawn map and clues and treasure hidden all around our site. This was a really great trip, and my second taste of the magical BWCAW.