Well, I finally put together some photos from our July 2006 Basswood trip. We were fortunate enough to spend 3 weeks at La Tourell's Resort and I portaged in to Basswood each day with 6 days off over the 3 week period to get my land legs back. The water temps this year were less than 70 degrees for the first 5 days and after that it became hot to say the least. Fishing was tougher than usual this year, but persistence usually pays off and it did.

Much of my fishing was done alone, but it was a welcomed break for me since I needed some time alone after a hectic Spring/early Summer guiding schedule.
I did get a chance to hook up with Bob Dahl (Dr. Bob) a local veteran of Basswood with a degree in camping, fishing, local landmarks and gourmet sandwich preparation. Bob and I took a relaxed approach to our day on Basswood considering the drought and area heat wave along with the distant forest fires. We still managed a 28 1/4..28 1/2.. and a 31 inch walleye.

Part of our afternoon was spent sight seeing and we managed to get some photos of the old sunken steam boiler in Hoist Bay. Then we ventured into Back Bay getting some nice bonus photos of a cow and her calf hunkered down in the shade.

Bob and I stopped off at Skidway campsite for a brief visit with Bob's pals Pogo and Darrel who were relaxing in the water sitting in their lawn chairs. We also ran into my friends Jim and Becky from Indiana and they were also camping. Jim stated they were getting low on Ice so I brought up a few blocks the next day.

I did a guided trip for Roger Banks from Harvey Illinois who was staying on Shagawa Lake and was able to put him on a 27 1/2 and 28 inch Basswood walleye along with some nice keeper size eyes. This was his 5th guided trip with me over the years and he sure enjoys himself. Overall the fishing was somewhat slow this year, but Basswood still managed to yield some real trophy fish for us just as it always does. The total mileage on the water for the 3 weeks was 511 miles and that was with cutting back from prior years travels.

Most of my fishing was done back trolling in waters averaging from 16 to 36 ft. Lindy rigs with 6 # test line and & # 8 hooks accounted for most of the trophy size fish. 40 inch northern...21 inch smallies & walleyes up to 31 inches. Basswood is an outstanding body of water, but the fishing slows down rapidly as the sun creeps up toward the noon position. That's generally the best time for a lunch break, site seeing, or a nice swim. Depending on the wind and cloud cover you can experience exceptions to this pattern. Late afternoon fishing usually begins to pick up as the evening approaches.

*All of the lunker size fish were photo and release as usual. Many of my awesome fish were caught when alone so I couldn't get photos of them.

If you would like to see some of the fish photos along with some other shots of interesting sites from my 2006 July Basswood trip click my web-page I'm looking forward to next years trip with hopefully some cooler weather. My wife Kathy did manage some nice fish on the days she fished with me. She also like$ to vi$it Fortune Bay Ca$ino to play bingo and the $lot$ twice a week and $omehow managed to come out ahead thi$ year.

http://leeslakegenevaguideservice.com/boundry_'06.htm

See ya on the water,

smallmouthguide


GOD BLESS THE BWCA!