8 A.M After talking with our guides we learn the ice has once again encircled the bay in front of the lodge. This means we are back down to airport bay and the cache of boats. The good news is that Edward thinks we should be able to make it down to the south end of the lake, about a forty minute boat ride. He plans to do that after our shore lunch of sandwiches.
9 A.M. We head to shallowest end of the bay and find a weed bed with some active pike. Peter lands the biggest fish of the trip, a thirty nine incher that Mark lets go before we get any pictures. Peter once again catches the fish on orange Mepps Aglia. I, meantime continue to throw out some streamers, a red and white bunny having produced a forty five and forty four inch pike from this same bay the day before from a guest from Wyoming. I do land quite a few fish but nothing better that Peters. Conditions are just not right for the pike to be too active.
12:00 Noon We head to shore to meet up with our other two boats for a quick lunch of sandwiches. So far the day has been okay but we are tired of fishing the same water.
1 P.M. As we head out of the bay, we are suddenly confronted with ice and fog. Edward leads the way, cautiously. After some turns around a couple of islands along with the busting of some black ice we break free of the main lake ice pack.
2 P.M. We have been trolling a sand esker for lake trout. I have brought along three boxes strictly dedicated for this species but so far it has not made a difference. Mark says we should follow his dad further south to fish some shallow bays and a river at the south end of the lake. Off we go for a thirty minute drive
3 P.M After casting in a couple of shallow bays we don’t catch a fish of any species. I convince Mark that we should try trolling the river. After two minutes we catch our first fish, a decent pike. We end up catching five nice pike with this technique, not bad considering one of the other boats doesn’t catch one.
4:30 P.M. As we head north back to the lodge we are all of sudden trapped by ice. Edward in the lead boat, had managed to sneak through the jam by going along shore. By the time we arrived just five minutes later the ice had moved tight to shore , knocking trees down in the process. After trying a couple different seams in the ice, we knew we only had one option left, skidding the boat across the ice. Luckily the ice was still very solid and we managed to pull the boat to the other side. Our last boat, was not doing quite as well, but with the little help from the first two boats we all made it through safely. From here we decided to see if we could make it back to the main lodge. With one point to go, we were stopped dead. Finally admitting defeat we headed back to airport bay and the long hike back to the lodge. While the fishing had been pretty slow for the most part on Day Three there had been no shortage of adventure.