I will be going into Knife Lake in mid-August with family and will probably camp in South Arm. I love to fish in the BWCA and have had good success with live bait. My question is: what is the best way to portage crawlers and leeches and is there a good way to keep crawlers cool? I have a leech locker which works great keeping leeches cool but is not so great for portaging.

The way I did leeches was I put them into a coleman thermos and changed the water in the morning and evening. The handle on the thermos made it possible to clip it onto the back of a duluth pack if need be. You might be able to use the same technique for crawlers since the thermos is insulated somewhat. Putting the crawlers in the thermos and then floating it in the water in the shade would probably keep them cool enough.

I used one of those yellow and white leech lodges made by Frabil. I would dip it the water while waiting to portage and set it in the water after it. I also kept it in the water in camp. While paddling it sat in the canoe. This kept them alive for 2 weeks and then I let them go.
canoe42

Hello Phil,
If you will do a search on leeches, you will find many references to them and how to care for them while portaging... here is a link to one:
http://www.bwca.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=forum.thread&confId=1&forumId=14&threadId=2131

Bruce

Thanks for all the advice! I bet my crawlers and leeches will be lively enough to wrestle the fish.

We used 2 leech lockers and still lost almost 2 pounds of leeechs ($40)at Skubes. It was the second week of July when it was 90 degrees every day. Keep them wet and cool and you should be fine.