Improving Camp and Catching Fish Ep 4 10 Days, 10 Items; Alone on Island in the Canadian Wilderness

It's nice and hot, as fire normally is. It feels good though, it's really nice, warming me, warming my bones. Gonna have some breakfast, have some tea. I'm gonna head out, go explore, fish some. I got all the necessities, my GoPro, my gloves, my bear spray, my rain gear, my life jacket. I am going to move these logs inside more, just in case it does rain while I'm gone. These are my big fuel pieces. I'm gonna gather some kindling and stuff and put it in here before I go as well. just to be prepared. My birch bark's already on the inside. I will, if it does end up raining, I will scooch my fire pit in about another foot and I'm gonna build a chair right in front of it. But I can't pass up the opportunity with such calm water to not go paddle. So that's what's happening. After catching that big pike yesterday, I kinda realized what I was doing wrong the first couple days. I was just overzealous. I wasn't letting the fish tire itself out. was just so happy that i finally had a fish on i was just reeling her in try to get in the boat and i know better i just was was very anxious to get food to get it in the boat um with that big guy i let him run i let him tire himself out then when it's time to get on the boat it's much easier so that's why i'm sure i lost most of those well i think i lost four or five pike total but it's okay like i would have had i got my food anyways you know i mean i learned my lesson i relearned that lesson, old joe's good at relearning lessons but anyways it's all good this is that that's probably why i lost them gung ho joe, gung ho joe waves are kicking up, the wind's kicking up completely the exact opposite way it was coming from yesterday, like i said earlier too i was second guessing my decision on location, you know what i mean with the way i i oriented my camp, but the fact of the matter is the wind was coming from this way hard, now it's coming from this way, i'm camped on this side of an island so it's like i'm kind of getting cross breezes from both, but i'm not getting it uh full on, you know what i mean because if i camp on this side of an island i get a full on, and today i'd get a full on from this side so it's kind of the best of both worlds, i'm getting i am getting hammered where i am with wind uh when it kicks up, but there would be worse places to be, i'm sure the next best option is just hide out in the middle of the bush and i can do that, it's just i was anticipating bugs and uh that's why i wanted to be on a rocky outcrop for a breeze, this is day five and i've only ever i've only seen a couple of mosquitoes I saw a few black flies the first couple days, but they were just crawling around. They weren't doing anything, not active at all. But yeah, we shall see what time brings. This is by far the farthest down the lake that I've paddled. I'm nowhere near my island. I thought I'd come down here in search of walleye. I've only been getting pike, so let's see if I can catch a couple walleye. I would be ecstatic about that. Not holding my breath though. Realistic Joe. It feels different. It feels different. It's either a small pike or a walleye. Feels different, guys. Yeah, it's not fighting half as hard. Pike. Cool, that's today's food sorted. Not as big as yesterday, but definitely an eater. And enough food for me to eat today. Very cool. I'm going to keep paddling the same way I was going. I'll keep trolling, and if I catch another fish, I'll throw it back. Unless it's a walleye, then I'll keep her. Sun's coming out a bit. Blessing. It might turn out to be a beauty day. Well, I've come down far, far to the end of the lake. I think I'm going to turn around now. i want to do a few camp chores i want to build some furniture like a chair and a bench yeah yeah it was a successful morning i got to realize that it doesn't matter where i set up i set up in the best uh direction facing facing the best direction that i could have so i feel better about that i can't really improve upon my location so i want to improve my camp Today will be about a bit a little bit of sunlight that was peeking through is gone more clouds blowing in it's getting dark Oh, I'm about halfway back It's hard going need water. There's my put in there's my camp. I'm happy to be back the past three days I've been using this small brass Williams wobbler not small, but not very big Williams wobbler It's great great on the pike at least see about that tomorrow Oh my camp. Hello the camp the camp leave my bear spray out of the holster just set up on a stick there so I can see the red from far away and so if I come up to camp I can grab that as I'm walking up to my shelter in case there's any bear around but yeah it's not a concern. Bones need some stretching. Get myself up a chair I got four logs already notched this one idea is to put them together like this so I want them both notched roughly the same spot same angle so they'll fit together better using the Canadian jam not for something other than tying up a shelter so you can see what I'm doing here I think I'll show you my next step but basically a bipod I got a second bipod the second bipod is gonna go it's tied the same way it's constructed same way it's gonna go on the inside of the other one I'm gonna put stopper log here I'm gonna tie it in then I'll put another one on the top kind of hold it together and then I go boom boom boom boom boom with logs and that'll be my seat that'll be my back it should be pretty good I got a tie it all in together though so this is the bottom one I want the top one there so sometimes you can notch this but I don't really think it's necessary Canadian jam it all on so this Canadian jam is gonna hold three pieces of wood together right here sometimes you can grab a little stick wrap it around a few times and get a little bit extra like a toggle need a little bit extra torque on it okay she's on there really good but i will wrap it tie it off one side done just stop it from sliding it's sitting right on a rock too end up putting a rock back there put a rock there and i'll put a rock in front of that how that goes now i should be able to lean back because before when i leaned back in it it slid out damn it okay a heavier rock behind it's still sliding i just need a heavier rock behind she's going slowly okay no problem we'll go grab one who's a peasant now not i that's not so bad guys your situation eh all right that was a good use of time this is a super comfortable chair it wasn't that hard just use a little bit of paracord and axe and i guess my saw to cut these i'm glad i brought a saw and an axe useful to get some water on and then if it does rain i'll move this chair in it's definitely uh portable i'll move it in i'll tuck it over into the corner a bit and then pull the fire uh pit right in a huge rock for the back leg of this it took a lot out of me carrying it up here okay so considering it's day five considering it's day five and i already got the chocolate and the s'more stuff out of my birthday present let me give you a little backstory originally i was supposed to come five days later than i did things got changed around and i changed my flight and i hopped on a flight and booked it up here as soon as quick as i could originally i would have only had four nights out here before my birthday and then six nights after five nights after the remainder for 10 days after my birthday so i would have been here about half the time and then my birthday and then spend the rest another half remainder of the time here because my flight got changed i came earlier it made my birthday the last night that i'm here it changed everything so when my wife and my daughter were packing that up for me they weren't making this for the last night they were making it for like the middle so they put unbeknownst to me they put the s'more stuff in it i would have had half the week or half the time five days at least to to eat that stuff because there's three there was enough for three s'mores that said i'm assuming the rest of what's in this box is there's the rain is meant for me to look at or have or keep or do whatever with for more than just one night the last night you know what i mean so i'm gonna open it today an early birthday present today for me you know what it's mine i can do whatever i want with it happy birthday thank you sweetheart no look at the bottom she loves her heart pictures two pictures of em and will i thought they might spray perfume on it my lovely family. Yeah, envelope. A little baby in an envelope. My dirty hands on it. From Emmy to dad. Upside down heart. Dear daddy. Oh, dear daddy. I hope you have a good birthday. We love you daddy with our full hearts near and far. I love dad. Oh, he's so precious. Thank you Emmy. I appreciate it. I love it. Another one from Emmy. From Emmy to dad. Dad heart. She made me out of a heart. That is awesome i think it's me that's too cool i'm gonna have to move back here i'm right in the cusp it's raining oh this one's from my my lovely wife i'm not gonna read this one to you i want to read this one to myself i'm going to um move everything back get out of the rain thank you family it's much appreciated i really i'm excited to read the one for my wife i'm excited i'm happy to see the one for my kid i feel good thank you very much for the note honey made me cry said a lot of the things that i needed to hear thank you for that i appreciate it i love you very much i sit here in the rain and i got these little birds these little brown birds they're like the color of a chipmunk and they like to run around instead of fly and i keep thinking of chipmunks well not anymore i i originally thought they were chipmunks but little bird little birdie my only animal companions birds i haven't been doing much i laid down for a while in my sleeping bag it got real cold and windy it stopped raining only rain for a touch nothing bad at all but it got real cold and windy um i laid in bed i think i passed out slash like dreamt i don't know if i was actually asleep but i was just thinking dreaming weird things it's hard to dream i guess if you're not asleep but it was this weird like in between thing um i wasn't fully out i woke up read some more of my book which i really like by the way actually it's called alone on the shield like kirk landers yeah kirk landers it's about a guy in quetico uh meeting someone that he knew like 60 years or 40 years ago or something like that on an island in quetico quetico is in another park near woodland caribou i'm near woodland caribou now but up here it's like wabakimi quetico and woodland caribou but yeah it's a good book i'm really enjoying it it's like a really good type of book for me to be reading out here but yeah and then uh then i got cold my feet started to get really cold in the uh in the sleeping bag so i got up and hiked behind my my shelter quite a bit in the thick woods and peed back there he came back i'll take you back in there maybe tomorrow it's uh it's wild back there like i've taken you back in there a little bit for me to get um spruce for the shelter but like it is thick and tons of blow down just moss as like deep as my knees it's it's absolutely insane back there like i wouldn't surprise me if no humans ever stepped foot on this island before you know what i mean there's so many on this lake like why would they i'm not saying it's not possible it very much is possible but it wouldn't surprise me there's no sign not recently anyways no sign of bear either no sign of anything really Oh red squirrel I saw a red squirrel mitten the pine cone shells the pine cone shells but other than that nothing but it's pretty nice now it's it's the sun's come out winds still there, but it's always been there. It's not strong right now. I gotta get up and do something. I've been laying around too much. It's 2 o'clock, 10 after 2. I didn't do much for lunch today. It was just jerky. I got that whole pike still for supper. Oh, I had my hot chocolate. I had my first hot chocolate while I was reading my book. It was good. It was really good. Okay, let's go do something. The ground is littered with grouse poop. Look my footprints in the moss that's insane see a clearing over there see if we can make our way over there doesn't seem to be too windy here there's no access to the water and there's no way I can hike back and forth with all my gear I could have done that to set up here and I wouldn't want to but a good spot for a picnic in the land is it just another type of lichen or is that that the red yeah with the red dots on it maybe it's just another type of lichen or moss pretty cool though you got like reindeer moss or lichen i think here i don't know what type that is another type right underneath that's a moss for sure that one i think this is reindeer lichen huh there's lots and lots and lots of lichens and mosses lots of different species well that's pretty cool there is a little spot down to the water not a clearing you got to go through the brush and that's a drop off but still there's a spot down to the water it looks pretty calm right now so I think I'm gonna go uh I think I'm gonna go canoe cast a line in see what I can see just spend a spend a little time on the water it's a little cold pretty nice dead standing tree that's solid sized so I'm gonna cut that baby down bring it back for firewood I'm nowhere near my island that was too much my heart's pounding on my chest before I can't really this is gonna be messed up in the wind I do I needed firewood I need substantial firewood right like I keep burning twigs and like the rotten pine and stuff it works fine it's just when i need warmth that won't do like that's just for cooking and for ambient smoke and fire but like if i need a hot fire to warm up or something stuff is key i was crossing my eyes i'm absolutely beat i need food and water it took a while warmed right up i think that was the first time i took off my tube today now i gotta cook supper this wood will last me a few days it's a lot of wood i do have to split some down doesn't smell rotten or punky you see this that's not normal that's not fat wood or anything it's very like fibrous solid that's not what i was expecting wood burns hot burns with a dark orange flame resin in it very good wood i'm happy i got that tree i'm gonna go get yeah i'm gonna go down and get my food i can barely move i need food really bad I'm gonna go get my fish cook it up it's been too long since i ate actual food today was just I just picked up some jerky trying to conserve again i'm not gonna eat rice tonight i'm gonna conserve it i have a whole pike every other night i've just had half a pike i have a whole pike yeah just fish tonight maybe a little tiny pinch of veggies a little splash a little salt bay of veggies in there this knife is getting dull i'm getting better at filleting them with the this knife still not as efficient but it works i don't even try and take out the bones anymore i just pick them them out when i eat does not matter i got time for picking bones you know i got time time is on my side time is all i have to race against time father time time to boogie i'll cook that much up for now it's quite quite the menage of fillets in there lots of fish still got only one in there And I'll save it might as well see I just thought of beer a nice cold good beer That would be amazing with this dinner last beer I had was the night I got into Red Lake the day before I started this trip after my flight after traveling all day I had two of them for dinner in Harlan and his girlfriend and a couple employees But before that I hadn't drank beer in a long time Like super hungry try and dig into this see if it's ready a little scrambled. Oh, yes, boy Look at the nutrients I can't do it He's much better at it than I am Alright, bon appetit, first bite Tastes familiar, it's not bad I'm just getting a little tired of eating pike I think Better than just rice Better than rice and veggies I'm gonna eat this up, I won't make you watch me eat my whole meal Hopefully I can go paddle tonight I want to, I want to go watch the sunset If there is one, there's tons of clouds So who knows, but that's my That's my wish for tonight That was hot, oh okay, that was hot sorry about that well that was quite filling what i've been doing to clean my dishes after i eat come down to the lake grab a big thing of moss or lichen put it completely in just scrub it right out like an sos pad or a brillo pad i guess trying to get all the scent out trying to get all the remains out because again this is my only pot right so i'm using this for boiling water to drink for making tea for cooking my food everything so it's better to not have your pine needle tea taste of three day old pike make sure to do the lid too because i'm boiling and things are splashing up into there all up in there rinse it out take my mess my spoon in it and call it the boiled water i mean you go for drinking or whatever i will actually pour the boiled water on here so i don't contaminate the water with this then it's good for drinking and being one of my favorite nights last night was like the least favorite but they've all been really nice northern lights on day one epic sunsets especially after today man today was like cold and so in my search for walleye considering i can't get them at all like i'm jigging right now i was jigging um i found that creek into the next lake remember i went down to that other lake and it looks it for fishing and then getting the canoe down there might be what i thought what if that lake drained out into somewhere what if that lake had a bigger like a river cone so that's always a good place to catch fish it's worth a shot and if tomorrow it's nice out i think i might do that and if not tomorrow maybe on the next nice day i will because i still have five days It's like today's the half moon. It's crazy. It seems like I've been out here for what's just five days, but that's how it feels to me. It seems like this is my home. That's where I live, right there. Now it's thundering and raining. I thought I heard thunder. Yeah, it's fricking, he's gonna come in here and spare you the act, but I'll show you beforehand and after. It's the old blister there. Can you see it? Yeah, right there. So I'll have to pop that. Man, I don't know. It's what's in the air, but like the weather completely changed It feels like like that storm system passed completely and that like it's gonna get like it feels warmer already Like I got a rage of fire going and stuff, but it feels a lot warmer than it was I have a feeling and I hate to say it even out loud, but I have a feeling the black flies are coming in That's okay. I've gone this long without them. That's a that's already more money in the bank Okay, I'm gonna pop this thing all better flat at least Super cold my hands are numb. I woke up to this wind ice Bitter ice cold wind. All right hunkering back down. I'm laying back in bed for a bit. Oh my god. Oh He's a big boy It's a big fish. That's a big old fish guys. Look at that guy. Holy crap