After our last road trip adventure to Lake Superior , Roy spent hours trying to fix the trolling motor for the boat. He finally decided to buy a new part for it. He found one in stock near to where we were going fishing so we headed out for the marine parts store near Hayward, Wisconsin. Our destination was the Chippewa Flowage and we were fishing for Crappies.

According to their website , “The Chippewa Flowage, Wisconsin’s largest Wilderness Lake,  was created in 1923. The damming of the Chippewa River joined the waters of 11 natural lakes, 9 rivers and countless streams. It is composed of over 15,000 acres of water with more than 140 islands. There are in excess of 200 miles of primarily wild shoreline which will never be more than 15% developed.”

The islands and surrounding shorelands on the Flowage are owned by public, tribal and private landowners. The State owns about 50%, and tribal lands make up 30%.

As we pulled out of the driveway, Roy noticed the power steering on the truck was not working as it should. The start of another adventure.

When we got to the store outside Hayward, Roy spent some time installing the new part in the trolling motor. Unfortunately it got installed backward so he had to redo it next morning. But it was working!

Late that afternoon we checked into the resort and as we were getting the boat into the water, Roy noticed the plug for the boat was missing. It was taking on water. We must have lost the plug in the crash on the last trip. Since there was no spare, Roy found a big stick and pounded it into the hole to plug it. Amazingly it worked well and we stayed afloat the whole time we were there. Once we got the boat into the water the motor would not start. It seemed there was something wrong with the starter or the battery. So, Roy fished off the dock while we enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

Friday morning Roy switched some stuff around and was able to charge the battery enough to be able to start the motor.

While he was out there he met Jared whose boat had gotten away from the dock and he was trying to get it back. Roy helped him rescue his boat and they got to talking. Turned out he was spending the day with a guide looking for Crappies.

Finally we managed to head out across the lake. On the other side if the lake there was a narrow waterway leading to other lakes. At the start of the waterway there was a beach and Roy noticed it had a lot of rocks. Well you know how Roy loves to agate hunt so we tied up the boat and looked for agates. We found some beautiful rocks.

There was a family of otters out swimming just down the shore a bit from us. It looked like they were having a good time. When we got back out in the water we passed a large otter lodge.

Once we were out in the next lake, Roy was fishing constantly. At one point he had two big fish on two lines going two directions. I was frantically trying to steer the boat so the lines wouldn’t break but also so we would not get too close to shore and run aground. The fish would constantly change direction and go under the boat so I was trying to manage the boat and Roy was trying to tell me which direction to go and figure out what was going on with these fish. We ended up losing both of them but it got pretty exciting for a while there.

In the afternoon Roy took a little time out to paint a picture of one of the islands.

We headed back at dusk and as we neared the resort where we were staying, we could not see the dock. They were just finishing taking out the dock when we got there. It was a big disappointment and meant no more fishing off the dock in the evening as well as having to wade into shore in freezing cold water. We had to tie up just offshore.

Roy decided he would carry me to shore so I wouldn’t get wet which was pretty crazy since I weigh a lot. I slid off the boat and tried to grab onto his shoulders but it was not going to happen so I landed in the freezing water and peed in my pants as I did so. Ugh.

It was a good day, though.

That evening we talked to several people including Jared and nobody caught any Crappies. The fish weren’t biting.

We ordered a pizza for dinner and went back to the room very tired. Roy painted some more.

Next day the motor on the boat was dead. It would not start at all. Roy plugged in the trolling motor to charge it but it was plugged in all day and it didn’t seem to be charging.

Roy fished off the boat tied to shore all day. He caught lots of fish but only kept five. A Crappie and four Perch. He hooked a very large perch but lost it trying to get it into the net. It could have been a record breaker it was so big. Maybe. Anyway it was lost. It was both exciting and sad.

I spent the day enjoying the amazing scenery. Beauty everywhere. Every view was a picture. Sunny blue sky weather. A little windy. Chilly. Gorgeous. Seagulls fishing, Otters swimming playfully, Loons diving underwater and calling out, maybe Grebes, Eagles looking for a meal, and other large birds I couldn’t identify. One might have been an Osprey. I also saw deer tracks on the beach

I wish I had grabbed the binoculars on the way out the door.

At this point the boat motor was stuck in mud and had no power to raise it up. Roy was up early on Sunday morning, our third day of fishing, and he managed to swing the boat around and get it free of shore so he could fish a little further out using the trolling motor to get around. It was raining and chilly in the morning but cleared up in the afternoon. Roy was catching Crappies so he didn’t want to leave and we decided to stay an extra night.

The following morning the trolling motor was fully charged but the boat motor was still not working. We needed to get the motor to come up fully out of the water so we could load it onto the trailer to get home. After doing some research, Roy ended up hot-wiring it somehow and managed to get it to go up. When we loaded it onto the trailer we took a closer look and the wiring on the back of the motor was all frayed like some critter had chewed through it. It must have shorted out because of that. We couldn’t figure out how that happened.

It was cold and raining but I managed to get up onto the boat and we trolled around the area for an hour or two. Roy caught a nice sized Perch and a smaller one but nothing else that was worth keeping. We finally decided to call it a day. We took ten fish home with us.

The ride home was fairly uneventful but we did stop in Spooner to go bowling. Roy won two out of three.

On my drive home that night I slowed down for three does to cross the road in front of me.

All in all it was a great trip. Life is good.