Of Wind, Water, & Wilderness
Bill Kuntze
Passing across Burntside, we happen upon a mid lake reef, having somewhat of a unique configuration. A huge boulder gave rise out of the stained depths to within a foot of the surface. Perched atop of its smooth slab were three rocks breaking the surface and arranged to resemble the back and armrests of a king-sized chair. From about fifty feet, John made an over-the-head cast toward it, reminiscent of the style, Lakers legend; Kareem Abdul Jabbar lobbed his hook shots to the hoop. As if making the swish, John's crankbait landed dead center on the "chair". The water erupted as the 18" bass slammed the lure and headed off the reef into deeper water. Before moving on, another smallie of almost equal size was picked up and then released from a total of six casts.
The reckless manner in which the bass had hammered the Rapala must have had a hypnotic effect on me. Instead of focusing on what I should have been doing, navigating, I must have switched over to auto-pilot. For the canoe was magnetically drifting southward toward some rocky shoreline structure. Eventually we ran out of places to "one more cast". A bit further down, the lake narrowed into what finally looked like a beaver run, with a portage trail leading off toward the direction of Clair Lake. It didn't take but seventy yards to run out of trail. The map was back at the canoe, so nothing to do but turn around. No wonder, we are in the wrong corner of Burntside to begin with and then this little matter of the mile long creek between here and Clair.
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