Funny story about this year.  We had been paddling near a large group off and on for a day or so coming from Kawnipi.  We had both stayed on Russell.  We got on the water slighly before them and paddled past their camp, however we were kind of trolling accross Russell.  They ended up passing us seemingly in a hurry.  We caught them going out of Russell on the way to Sturgeon as they were completing the first of their carries at the portage.  You should have seen the look on their faces as we just coasted on by them.  A couple of them turned and said wtf to their leader.  My bowman waved and I nodded trying not to grin.  To be honest, I had never paddled out this way, only up it and that was like 8 years ago, so I was sure hoping I was remembering things correctly.