Wednesday - Chippewa Harbor
I awoke at 6am and the guys woke up shortly thereafter. We took care of business and then packed up our gear and loaded up the boat. We were going to stay at Chippewa Harbor tonight! The weather was perfect with clear blue skies and light winds. We loaded up and pulled away from the Birch Island dock at 7:15am. We made a quick stop at Brian's island to fetch the remaining beer stash. Then it was a short ride around Scoville Point to Rock Harbor to refuel. After refueling we all took showers, then load up on ice and some food and snacks. 
The Ranger was at the main dock and Ray wanted to get some photos from the water so I took him out in Snug Harbor in the boat to get a different prospective. He snapped a photos and then we idled back to the docks and picked up Paul and Dad.The Ranger pulled out ahead of us by 10 minutes or so. We then headed out towards Chippewa Harbor. We were behind the Ranger all the way past the Rock Harbor Lighhouse and Ray snapped a few photos as we went along. We motored past the Ranger III and then headed around the point to Chippewa Harbor, arriving by 10:30am. The lake was smooth, the sky was clear and the temperture was warm.
Chippewa Harbor is one of my favorite spots at IRNP. We always stay at shelter #1 and since there was noone else at the site we occupied it again this year.After unloading our gear into the shelter and cleaning up the boat a bit, we all had bagels and cream cheese and some other snacks. Paul, Dad and I geared up to do some northern pike trolling in Chippewa Harbor. I caught a giant here last year and we were all hoping to hook up with another one this year.
We pulled away from the dock and trolled the entire north shore of Chippewa Harbor all the to the western end near the portage to Lake Whittlesey, then along the south side until we ended up at the small bay near the narrows. We trolled the usual rapalas and spoons. Nothing caught the entire way. We then casted in the small bay with rapalas. There are some more weed beds back in this area and we have always had good luck casting in here. Paul and I caught undersized pike. Water temp was 60 degree and we saw alot of roaming pike but they didn't seem interested in anything I had to offer. We tried all types of lures but they just weren't going to budge! 
We were getting hungry so after a couple of hours of fishing we headed back to the dock to make dinner. Before dinner Ray, Paul and I hiked over to the small cabin in Chippewa Harbor. We then hiked up to the top of the ridge and enjoyed the view and nice cool breeze at the top. I tried to make a phone call to my daughter by it wouldn't go through. After relaxing for about 20 minutes we hiked back down to the shelter so I could prepare our feast of chili dogs and the last of the lake trout we found in the cooler. No other hiker showed up and we had the place to ourselfs. Around 9pm I gathered some firewood and started a small fire in the grill. We had a few beers and chatted while using the smoke of the fire as a mosquito repellent. We all went to bed around 11pm under a clear starf illed sky. The moon was rising just as we went to bed.
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