We'll be putting in at Sawbill and casually hitting several area lakes over 5 days. I've wanted to paddle the BWCA for many years....tickled to finally be going! Bringing spinning rod and fly rod. Hope to catch smallies, walleye, and pike. Being from the south, I'm only familiar with smallmouth. Any advice from you folks on those areas/techniques would be greatly appreciated. I can hardly wait.

I have an article called Grand Slam Lures ( for the BW and Quetico ), send an email to - queticomike@yahoo.com - and request the Grand Slam Lures article, it should help you with the basics. I also have articles on smallmouth topwater fishing and Zulu fishing if you are interested, just let me know. Good luck on your trip!

For Walleye, you can't go wrong with a jig tipped with a leech. If the wind is strong enough you can just drift with it, if it's calm cast it our and bounce it back along the bottom. Crawlers work too. Try to stay in 15 - 20' during the day, and gradually move up to 7-10 at night. Walleyes will almost certainly be most active at dawn and dusk. You will probably be able to catch them at night with a slip bobber from camp.

There's a great post on this site called "Walleye fishing 101" that has more info than you will ever need. I would recommend reading it.

For pike, you can cast or troll spinners or spoons. Small ones should be a pretty easy catch in shallower water. Think 5' or so. Bigger ones will be a bit deeper, honestly I've never had much luck with big pike in the summer months on anything but a sucker minnow which would probably be a pain in the BWCA. Trolling points and breaks again with spinners or spoons in 10-15' should theoretically work though.

quote tailfeather: "We'll be putting in at Sawbill and casually hitting several area lakes over 5 days. I've wanted to paddle the BWCA for many years....tickled to finally be going! Bringing spinning rod and fly rod. Hope to catch smallies, walleye, and pike. Being from the south, I'm only familiar with smalmouth. Any advice from you folks on those areas/techniques would be greatly appreciated. I can hardly wait. "

Listen to any advice that QueticoMike, or BassPro69 give you about fishing.

Simple works best if you're not familiar with a species/lake. Leech and a plain hook under a bobber works well for bass an walleye. I usually do better earlier and later in the day.

You will pick up pike almost anywhere that you fish. Finding bigger ones may be tougher. Try 10-15' near weeds and deeper water nearby. Husky jerks, spoons, inline and regular spinners all work well.

Give topwater fishing a try for smallies, it's a blast up there. Black jitterbug or skitterpop in firetiger or frog have been good to me.

Last bit of advice is don't try to lip the walleye or pike! ;)

Have a great trip!
Brandon

First let me say that I dont know if I would even qualify in the top ten of fishing people on this site.
Im all for using lures in the bwca that are multispecies. For example mepps spinners catch everything, rattlin raps catch everything, road runners catch everything, as do shad raps, littlecleos, berkley twister tails, road runners, you get the point. When space is at a minumum and I cant bring my big tackle box I really try to bring the lures that call everything in. Now if your looking to target alot of big fish read quetico mikes article for starters he knows what hes talking about. I would also do some research on past fishing threads, there are many talented and knowledgeable fishing people on this site,who have pursued fish for decades, some that are pros now, some that used to be pros, some that are well sought after guides, and you know who you are.Theres also bait shop owners, lodge owners, outfitters on this site also with a wealth of knowledge. The point is get a wide variety of background knowledge from people that have fished up there, and you will be catching them just like you do at home. p.s. Whatever you use for smallies down there will work up north. Have a great time and make sure you dont (lip) those northern pike :-)

I wonder if you used kevlar gloves could you lip a walleye? I'm thinking pike might be a lot more iffy.......

Guys, thanks so much for the replies. Queticomike was kind enough to send me some articles. Just got my little tackle box in order. Hope to have some photos to share when we get out next wknd. Thanks again for all your replies!

I'm from the south as well and last year experienced my first pikes. Awesome fish to catch (and eat) but bring some extra gear. It took some practice to consistently get them in the boat. Make sure to pack a bunch of wire leaders and a good net for them.

If you are going to use leaders, spend the extra money and get the titanium leaders, well worth the money. The are smaller in diameter (thinner), stronger and don't kink like the steel leaders. They last forever unless you snag them somehow.

The strong fluoro leaders are good also. Don't kink and are clear so fish can't see them.

Northerns can be pretty dangerous with all the thrashing if you're not used to them. Use caution with rapalas... I think everyone knows someone who's got a story of a hook through the hand. I find the best way to land a northern in a canoe is to pull it up alongside you and grab him overhand from right behind the gill plate and the head. You can kind of slide your fingers down in and behind the gill plate. Unless you've got a real big fish, a strong grip will keep just about any under control long enough to get the hook out.

Have fun!