We are heading up in September 10-14. We’ll be in going In at entry point 47 and are going to be fishing Meeds, Caribou, Vista, Horseshoe, Allen, Gaskin, Omega, Pillsbury, Henson. These are the lakes we feel like we could manage getting to but don’t have to fish every single one. We want to target smallmouth bass mostly but also some walleye. I’ve look at the DNR for Minnesota some of these lakes list smallies some don’t. Any help with any species in these lakes and any lakes to avoid would be greatly appreciated. This will be our first trip so we are totally new. Thanks guys.

Hello Alex,

First off, welcome to the BWCA forum!

I spend most of my time in the Quetico, so I can't help you much with those lakes, but I am sure there are some knowledgeable fisherman on this site who will be willing to share their vast expertise with you concerning those areas.

Good luck on your trip!

Morning mike,
Thanks for the welcome and being so knowledgeable about all things smallmouth! This forum has already been very helpful in planning our trip and just general information about the bwca. I’m now just trying to narrow down our route to exactly what lakes would be best for what we are looking for and that’s big smallies! Thanks so much for emailing every day with all my questions you’ve been such a big help. Anybody that’s looking to chase smallies I reccomend asking mike for his articles. Very good reads loaded with great information!

Quetico mike: "Morning mike,
Thanks for the welcome and being so knowledgeable about all things smallmouth! This forum has already been very helpful in planning our trip and just general information about the bwca. I’m now just trying to narrow down our route to exactly what lakes would be best for what we are looking for and that’s big smallies! Thanks so much for emailing every day with all my questions you’ve been such a big help. Anybody that’s looking to chase smallies I reccomend asking mike for his articles. Very good reads loaded with great information! "

Hello Batesy130,

Just click on the login button at the top of the page and you won't have to worry about being a guest paddler. There's a little box where you login that says "remember me". Click on that and add a check mark there so you don't have to login each time you come to the page.

You're welcome! I'm glad I could help!

Hopefully someone will chime in and help you out with those lakes. If you are using an outfitter, call them and ask about fishing those lakes.

You might also consider asking about those lakes in the Trip Planning Forum

I was on most of those lakes last fall, but not to fish. (Not on Omega or Henson) The only lake that seemed to have people actively fishing on it was Meeds. A rumor heard was that Vista, Horseshoe, and Allen are no longer as productive as they used to be.

Concentrate on Meeds, Caribou, Gaskin and Horeshoe

I had a tough time connecting with Smallies in late August on smaller lakes which I knew had piles of them. I fished deep and shallow with plastics and was shocked not to pound them. Lots of dinks.

If I had my druthers (druthers is a southern term for preference ;-) I would rely very heavily on live bait and light line. Leeches and crawlers would get the nod in my book and I would focus on rocky points in 15 to 25 ft of water and offshore reefs. Drifting is always good, right near bottom with small hooks and light line (6lb being perfect, 8lb for less than experienced).

Fish during August and September can be fat and happy and chasing something or getting them to eat something to which they are unaccustomed can be more difficult than at other times of the year IMO. I actually am able to do much better on walleye, lakers and pike with crank baits at that time of the year...........smallies seem to be locked in on only a particular food source.

Just to get a perspective on late summer smallmouths I had my best luck on big ones blind trolling a large basin during a travel day in a large lake over 50ft of water. 2 near 4lbs came aboard in short order and I could see more just off the bottom in 50ft of water. Those 2 came off the bottom to hit a crank bait which was maybe diving 25 ft tops. Dopey me, I should of shelved my plans and jigged those fish. Might have ended up being the best smallmouth fishing of my life........but who knows.

Other guys catch them shallower even during late summer so go figure. Good luck.

cowdoc: "Concentrate on Meeds, Caribou, Gaskin and Horeshoe"

Cowdoc -
Is there any moving water coming into or leaving any of these lakes worth concentrating on?

One of the best places to check for smallmouth first is moving water. Try a green pumpkin tube, they work well for me in late August\early September.

First a disclaimer. I am only an average fisherman. On my last trip in early September I had similar result findings to the above posters. We were on a small lake known to be full of bass but we only caught them here and there. When we thought we had a spot because we caught one or two that we be it for that spot 1 or 2 and we had to move. There didn't seem to be any pattern. Some were shallow some were deeper. We caught most of ours on night crawlers. Once we ran out of night crawlers I suddenly found my orange rapala seemed to be the color of choice.

We spent the first week in September 2017 fishing Knife Lake and some surrounding Lakes. Our best success was jigging tubes off of cliffs where the water dropped down 25 to 30 ft deep. The smallmouth bass where more interested in White, yellow, and pumpkin colored tubes.

Does anyone have any help with the specific lakes he will be fishing? I'm sure someone other than Cowdoc have fished these lakes before.

Batesy - are you using an outfitter?

Hey mike, yes we’re going through Rockwood. They said caribou and gaskin would be the best bet for big small mouth. The other lakes all have them just not in numbers yet... we had planned on camping at horseshoe but might switch to one of the better small mouth lakes just to increase our chances. A trophy walleye would be welcomed but there’s something about fighting a smallie! Thanks for the advice guys

Batesy - our group basecamped on horseshoe last year and fished a few surrounding lakes. between 8 people, we came away with about 15 fish TOTAL on Horseshoe in 4 days as we threw everything in our arsenal. I believe there are fish in Horseshoe as other people have posted their success stories on previous threads, just throwing out my experience. We probably should have listened to Rockwood's recommendation on the smallie bite in Gaskin and went that route, but the allure of walleyes sent us over to Horseshoe. Well that turned into one 8 inch eye in those 4 days. No fish were consumed on that whole trip. At least we saw a moose.

Also, one of the owner's at Rockwood did not impress me... he came off very snarky and unpleasant... one of the main reasons we are heading back to the Ely area this year. The other people working for him were much more helpful. I wish we would have only dealt with them. Maybe he was having a bad day.

QueticoMike: "

cowdoc: "Concentrate on Meeds, Caribou, Gaskin and Horeshoe"

Cowdoc -
Is there any moving water coming into or leaving any of these lakes worth concentrating on?


One of the best places to check for smallmouth first is moving water. Try a green pumpkin tube, they work well for me in late August\early September."

Not much. There is a stream from Meeds to Caribou. Not enough current flow to make a difference. I've never done good there. Mostly on Caribou, I've concentrated on the north shore and bays when there was a southwest wind blowing into them. Meeds fishing is just about anywhere you can find the drop-off and fish the break. Once, we stayed at the far west campsite and did great fishing right off the east side of the site. There is also a small stream from Caribou to Horseshoe but it also lacks the current to make a fishy spot. I've never done great on Horseshoe but it seems many have. Gaskin is more complex, but has nice fish. I like the bay that leads to the portage to Winchell. There is a nice weed bar in the middle and some steep drop offs on the east wall leading into the bay. Also some decent rock bars around the islands just north and east of there. I've also had good luck in the west end between the islands when the west wind blows and makes current...walleyes in the eddies and smallies back in the south bay can really stack up with that west wind. There is also a small weed bed just before you get to the nice campsite in that SW corner.....nice drop off with weeds had equalled fish there. Most of this has been summer fishing. Sept. always seems tough for me unless it has stayed warm and doesn't feel like fall yet......then it seems to get tricky.

West end smallies from Gaskin



Gaskin bay to Winchell


Caribou north shore

More Gaskin

Good info and nice fish pictures! Thanks for sharing!

Hey cowdoc, I’m not sure about running water in the lakes. I’ve looked at google maps and it seems that horseshoe lake has a river system coming in or running out. Looks like there is a campsite right on the river.

Awesome thanks for the help man!

QueticoMike: "

cowdoc: "Concentrate on Meeds, Caribou, Gaskin and Horeshoe"

Cowdoc -
Is there any moving water coming into or leaving any of these lakes worth concentrating on?


One of the best places to check for smallmouth first is moving water. Try a green pumpkin tube, they work well for me in late August\early September."

I've heard that there is an article in the Boundary Waters Journal that talks about this... :)

The northern branch of the Brule River starts on the far eastern side of Horseshoe Lake. And by that I mean the far eastern side of the "T" shaped part of Horseshoe which you take to get to Vista. There is no perceivable current anywhere in there. For what it is worth, the Brule River flows out of the BWCAW to Lake Superior.

1st post
Hi guys, Im going on this trip with batesy. After reading everyone post and Mikes articles I got to thinking we should change areas. After a couple days of looking on google maps and talking it over with batesy we came up with moving it from ep47 to ep32 the south kawishiwi river. The main reason for the move was the lack of moving water in the lakes we wanted to go and from Mikes articles that sounds like what you want to look for.

So we our going with Way to go outfitters and they already got our permit. Has anyone ever used them before? Also has anyone fished this area in the past?

Thanks

Welcome to the BWCA forum! Good luck on your trip!

The only moving water on the South Kawishiwi River is at the various sets of rapids. Otherwise the river is more like a series of pools with no perceivable flow. If you go into Little Gabbro, Gabbro, and Bald Eagle Lakes, there are currents in the narrows connecting each of those lakes. The water there flows from Bald Eagle west to Little Gabbro, and then north into the South Kawishiwi.