We are heading up next week and we have never fished Quetico before and Boundary Waters a couple of times. We are not out to catch dinner or the big one, just out to have fun and catch something. LOL

What would you recommend for the basic lures to take? We heading into Lake Agnes.

I wrote an article called Grand Slam Lures ( for Quetico and BWCA ) - if you would like a copy, send an email to - queticomike@yahoo.com - and request the article.

There have been a number of posts about favorite lures. One of the favorites that always shows up on the list is the jig and twister tail combo.

For most, the 1/4 oz jig and 3" twister tail does the job, but there are so many variations. Find a reef, a hump or a point and cast and pop the jig along the rocky bottom. If fish are there, chances are that they'll hit. You'll get snagged once in a while, but you can get skilled at popping them out without breaking your line. Sometimes, the only option is to snap the line and re-tie.

Never go into Quetico without jigs and twister tails.

Mr Mike: thanks. I totally forgot about that article, I think I have it somewhere.
Mr. Jack: Thanks: I have a few twisters but need to get some more :-)

The wife and daughter, who I am sure will out fish me, just want to catch anything. I guess that goes for me too :-)

The one time I was on Agnes I did really well trolling cranks. We just put a couple of deep divers like a tail dancer or DT-16 and trolled anytime we explored for pictos/petroglyphs or moved camp. We caught a lot of fish it really slowed us down :). It was about the same time of year as you are going. The lakers were especially active and shallow for that time of year, but we caught smallies, walleyes and mostly lakers. Might be a good way to start and find spots to try or if you are lucky like we were you'll catch all ya want not even trying.

T

Just got back last week and did pretty well. Our approach is pretty simple, something to fish on top, in the middle and on the bottom. Fished shorelines a lot, looking for cover as well as rocks and small islands (we don't take any sort of electronics, so many fish, really no need)

On the top, we caught a bunch of fish on plastic jerk or stick baits as well as poppers like the Pop-R or Devils's Horse.

Caught some fish in the middle with crank baits of all sorts.

On the bottom, the jig head and white twister tail, of course. Yes, we did get hung up a bit but did not sweat it. In ten days, went through about thirty jigs, they get chewed up pretty quick.

You will have a great time and have no problem catching as many as you want, here's one we caught on a white twister tail. (Could not resist!)

Thanks everyone :-)
Larry:
If my wife or daughter caught that, We would be swimming if we were in the canoe or I wouldn't have a fishing pole left as they would just plain drop it :-)

This should make for an interesting trip with them.

So, the rest of the story is that this is my brother's fish, he is the bow in the picture and would have nothing to do with it! When he saw it, I was worried he might do something crazy .......

Ok. So I'm Larryb's brother. There is more to this story! I'll admit I was too chicken to get this huge fish off the hook. But no way was I going to do anything crazy or tip the canoe. We all must remember the jealousy of Larryb having his little brother getting the fish of the trip.

Dan

;-)

How did you do on your fishing trip?