I put a post on the trip planning page asking about Pine Lake. I am sure most of you check both sites, but thought I should at least ask if anyone has had fishing success in Pine Lake, or the surrounding lakes. I noticed that a couple of lakes near there are stocked with Brook Trout. Last year, our first to BWCA, we based out of Alpine, and the fishing was great. I would hate to lead my partners to a place with below average fishing after the success we had this July.

I have caught some decent walleyes & smallies in and around the bay with the small island at about mid lake on the north side. No experience fishing either Gadwell or Vale for brookies.....but it is on the to do list.

I believe Pine could be an excellent fishing lake. (It also has lake trout.) Basing my opinion from my own experience and from reading several threads about this lake. I think that frequently the disconcerting problem to successfully fishing this lake is the wind.

It is an east/west orientated lake with virtually no windbreaks all along its 7-8 mile length. The majority of the time I've spent on this lake the wind was perpetually howling. I've even been windbound a couple times.

Thats not to say don't go. Just a cautionary word. You'll want to focus more on early morning or later in the evening when the winds are usually not such a problem.

TB

I do know that Pine Lake has had some of the largest walleyes in the state taken from its waters.

Pine is a good walleye lake and produces some nice fish over 20". My friend caught a 28" walleye in Pine and I've caught a handful of 25" fish from Pine along with some 26 and 27" fish plus some eaters. I've never heard of any real big fish coming from Pine but I'm sure there are a few in there. The lake holds a lot of walleye but can be challenging to fish for a couple of reasons. The wind can make it hard to fish in a canoe on some days. Also, the lake lacks rock piles that top out at 10 to 20 ft which are usually obvious places to fish for summer walleyes. There are some deeper humps in the lake that top out at around 30 ft. A couple of those might be real good (hint, hint). Otherwise your best strategy is going to be trolling the shoreline and work the areas where you find fish. Expect a good evening bite.

My memeory of Pine is that it is exceedingly clear, which makes it tougher for walleyes in my experience. It might be fun to try a night expedition.

The water clarity is around 17-18 ft on a normal summer. That is clear and you probably won't get away with sloppy fishing but it is fishable in the day. I've never fished it at night but I've never camped in there and lundojams suggestion is probably a good one. I dug up a picture from the last time I fished pine a few years ago. The picture sucks, as do a lot of my attempts with the ultra-pod and self-timer. I like to get those big handsome walleyes back in the water quickly but also like some pictures for the photo album as well. Fortunately my outdoor passions involve fishing & hunting, not photography.

Hunter-
Good work; that is a nice one for sure. .

I portaged into Vale a few years back and never saw so many minnows in my life. No bites from brookies. A guy at a campsite nearby said it was pretty much dead.

Troutman,
I did two mid-July trips to Pine a long time ago. I fished orange 1/8 oz jigs with leeches in 20ft of water. I caught so many 2 lb walleyes that my left hand was bleeding taking them off the hook. There were a few in the 4lb range as well. Lots of 1-3 lb bass in 7-12 feet of water also. I lucked out in the wind department. I also remember morning and evening were the best times. On another trip we were windbound for 3 days watching rollers march parallel to the camp.

Thanks guys. The problem with the Boundary Waters is there are so many places to go and see, and fish!

quote Troutman: "Thanks guys. The problem with the Boundary Waters is there are so many places to go and see, and fish!"

Thats a good problem .