Boundary Waters Fishing

[stevieray54]

Done it back in the 70s, Dare Devils, Silver Johnson Spoons,Minnows if yon can catch some,also it is a silver like spoon with Ruby Red plastic eye, also look for Large Super Dupper. Best wait to you get up to Ely..Be ready for Mesquito's.Steel leaders those fish have teeth like salt water.
Always wash your hands good after handling Northen Pike that slim will scare other fish if they smell it

[BigRed323]

[QUOTE=32drawlength;9678669]Just went this summer x 1 week with my boys & my brother & his boys.
Either canoe type will be fine, bring bug spray, a sling shot for the chipmunks, rain gear, water filter & camera for the bald eagles & bears.

Man, looks awesome. Can't wait

[Philip-TX]

We did it a couple years ago in August and the bugs weren't bad.
It was a Boy Scout trip so fishing was minimal (less then I'd hoped).
I was trying to be the "responsible adult" a cater all of the different interests/needs the boy had.
I took a couple of small plano boxes with bass stuff, hooks, corks,
Mr.Twister type grubs, texas rig, carolina rig, cranks, rattle traps, spinner baits.
You WILL find leeches, but we didn't use them much with cork/hook.
We used top water (weedles-frog) mostly, and put steel leaders on cuz pike torn 'em UP.

Used the light canoes, Gorilla tape WILL patch a hole in them FYI.
We caught smallmouth, and pike. Didn't fish the deep water for walleye.

Outfitter should rig you up with the large canoe packs and a cooking pack. If not ask for them. The big packs make the portages and packing in the canoe a dream. You don't want more than ONE bag/pack per person on the portage. remember that you have to carry paddles, seat cushion, etc, in your "free hands" while balancing a canoe on our head. Pack light, one set of wet/canoe clothes & shoes, and one set of dry/camp clothes & shoes for the week. The dehydrated foods, Mountain House is one. Line pot with a turkeys roaster bag for easy/neat cleanup, pour in boiling water and stir. We stowed our tackle, in the big pack, 'til we got to our site and fished/canoed out of our site, after we unloaded every thing.

Make portages an efficient operation. Plan who takes what before you reach the landing. Don't be rounding up water bottles, sunglasses, sunscreen, cameras, jackets, and other loose items in the canoe AT THE PORTAGE. Get out, load up and Move on. Don't be THAT GUY at the portage. There WILL be other groups occasionally at portages, and it can get crazy. I had fishing tackle, water, rain jacket, sunscreen, bug spray in a fanny pack clipped to canoe rail, when we portaged I just put it on, grabbed a pack or the canoe and we were off.

I'd like to go back with a private group and make a base camp, and venture out fishing in kayaks. But kayaks will be challenging for the portages. Still working on that. Have fun and report back....

[Dru]

We packed all our clothes in zip lock bags then put them in a big black trash bag prior to putting them in the back pack. You will get wet. We brought a bunch of dehydrated food for REI. We just paddled away from shore to get water. Drank it straight from the lake. 100% Deet was the only thing that kept the skeeters at bay. Nothing helped with the biting flies. We fished with live bait, worms and leaches. We canoed mostly but fished each eveniing and stayed on an island for 3 days and fished different lakes each day. Caught over 100 pike, 75 to 80 walleyes and 50 or so smallmouth. We had enough gear that each portage took two trips.

If you pack right you can take all the gear you need. One of the best trips I've ever taken.

[BigRed323]

We packed all our clothes in zip lock bags then put them in a big black trash bag prior to putting them in the back pack. You will get wet. We brought a bunch of dehydrated food for REI. We just paddled away from shore to get water. Drank it straight from the lake. 100% Deet was the only thing that kept the skeeters at bay. Nothing helped with the biting flies. We fished with live bait, worms and leaches. We canoed mostly but fished each eveniing and stayed on an island for 3 days and fished different lakes each day. Caught over 100 pike, 75 to 80 walleyes and 50 or so smallmouth. We had enough gear that each portage took two trips.

If you pack right you can take all the gear you need. One of the best trips I've ever taken.

That sounds awesome. Hope we get into those kinds of numbers

[StrayDog]

www.bwca.com You'll find the best answers on this site.

Buy a gravity water filter (bag that you fill w/filter at the bottom. no pumping, just gravity). We use a single gravity filter for 5 guys.

Keep ALL of your food in a separate pack. Get a rope and pulley set-up to suspend your food bag between trees at night.

Get a mosquito head net and bug spray with a high percentage of deet (90% or better).

You can only camp at designated camp sites which have a fire pit w/grill and a bivy toilet.

In August I would consider skipping a tent and using a hammock with a mosquito net.

If you go to Gran Marais - get a pizza and a cold drink at sven an ole's when you head out.

[BigRed323]

www.bwca.com You'll find the best answers on this site.

Buy a gravity water filter (bag that you fill w/filter at the bottom. no pumping, just gravity). We use a single gravity filter for 5 guys.

Keep ALL of your food in a separate pack. Get a rope and pulley set-up to suspend your food bag between trees at night.

Get a mosquito head net and bug spray with a high percentage of deet (90% or better).

You can only camp at designated camp sites which have a fire pit w/grill and a bivy toilet.

In August I would consider skipping a tent and using a hammock with a mosquito net.

If you go to Gran Marais - get a pizza and a cold drink at sven an ole's when you head out.

Thanks for the tips.

Regarding the food, are you saying to do that b/c of bears? Did you see a few out there?

[StrayDog]

Thanks for the tips.

Regarding the food, are you saying to do that b/c of bears? Did you see a few out there?

Yes, you want to hang your food because of bears.

I never saw bears in person but I saw lots of sign. I saw tracks where they came by our camp at night but they never bothered us because we're always very careful with cleaning fish/food scraps and hang our food a ways from camp.

Saw plenty of Moose, Bald Eagles, and the grouse will make you jump every time (they sound like a lawnmower when they drum on the ground).

If you ever get to Fort Worth you are welcome to borrow some gear. I have nothing fancy or expensive but it's done the job for me the last 3 or 4 times I've been up there.

I'd also look at a couple of packable rods (3 or 4 piece). I just use cheap eagle claw medium action spinning rods. I never needed to do any accurate or long distance casting.

[dragonsdaddy]

mosquitos are dominating. take a good sleeping net or tent. you can't believe how aggressive and loud they are. fishing is great.

[BigRed323]

Boundary Waters bound tomorrow morning!

Any last minute tips to keep in mind?