Good evening, coming up June 6th-9th, we will have a group of 4 taking our yearly fishing trip and venturing for the first time into the BWCA. We are very excited, but have quite a few questions for anyone that would like to chime in. We are going in EP 24, traveling through Newton and Fall Lake, before getting into Pipestone.

We are aiming for Lewis Narrows as a camping area. About how long of a trip would that be, with portages included?

We do not want anyone to give up their sweet spot (unless they want to), but what are some good general fishing tackle to take? We plan to get up as early as possible and fish as late as we can. Is live bait worth trying to take along? What areas within Pipestone/Lewis Narrows would be a good place to start? Is a trip to Jackfish Bay worth it?

Is there anything we should lookout for that time of year? Heavy rain period?

Sorry if I was all over the place, we are just starting to nail down our plan.

Thank you in advance!

Dave

Dave thats a good time to fish as fish are generally scattered and typically not to deep. I have no experience in Pipestone but I know a topo map of the bay is available and it could give you some much needed clues as to where to fish. From what i remember though, the whole bay looked good to me.

I would definitely bring bait and a put my focus on using it. But when in new water first you need to find some fish and that means trolling in my book. I would spend my first day trolling shad raps or Berkeley Frenzy and see where I can connect. Then I would use my live bait in those areas.

The quickest way to fail in the North is to over tackle IMO. Lots of fish but they don't just jump in the boat. Use to heavy of line and it will hurt your success. There are few fish in canoe country which cant be bested on 8lb line and lots of guys go even lighter.

If you fish light line and do decide to troll tie your knots to the split ring where it is only on wire thick. That one little spot, a small gap, and your knot will be much stronger than tying off to a double thickness of wire. Or you can do as I do and ditch the split ring and use a tiny snap. I use Fas snaps in medium. This insures a 100% strength with your knot. I prefer mono and lean towards 8lb Trilene GREEN XT. Makes for excellent connections and will catch pretty much anything that swims. I don't usually use wire leaders unless I am fishing specifically for northern.

Another strong contender however is some sort of light braid and a Knot2Kinky wire leader in about 15lb test. It is hair thin and the walleye will still eat it........but you have to tie the leader yourself using your own components. I like tiny Spro swivels for this work...........and you could tie the wire directly to the lure and just leave the wire on permanently.........there will still be a bit of a gap which will allow for free swinging. If you prefer a snap use a very small cross lock. The idea is to minimize the hardware. The whole Knot2Kinky leader might not be a bad idea since rumor has it that Pipestone has a good population of nice pike. Do not buy and use commercial wire leaders for walleye trolling as they are to thick IMO and will hamper your success.

After you find some fish you can use slip bobbers and bait (leeches) or drift jigs and bait and catch 'em. I like lighter line for this and 6lb is about right so have reels with 2 spools. Use small hooks and make sure you test your knots.

Don't forget about the topwater smallmouth bite which can be a blast (pun intended ;-)

I've only been on Jackfish Bay on prior trips so no real spots to speak of. Some of the areas you'll be in allow boats with motors. I'd make sure to push far enough to get past those areas.

As for what to use, you have a lot of options. Leeches are good at that time, but so are many artificials you'd use elsewhere.

I wrote an article on basic fishing lures for the Boundary Waters. Send me an email at - queticomike@yahoo.com - and request the "Grand Slam Lure" article.

Jackfish Bay has big pike.

If you like to live bait fish then sure take some live bait.

mastertangler: "...If you fish light line and do decide to troll tie your knots to the split ring where it is only on wire thick. That one little spot, a small gap, and your knot will be much stronger than tying off to a double thickness of wire. Or you can do as I do and ditch the split ring and use a tiny snap. I use Fas snaps in medium..."

I assume that you meant 'one wire thick' and I'll say that I have always avoided that spot, figuring that the two wire ends would damage the line more easily there. (In any case, that's another reason that I have also moved to using Fas-snaps.)

DaveBuckeye01: "We are going in EP 24, traveling through Newton and Fall Lake, before getting into Pipestone.

We are aiming for Lewis Narrows as a camping area. About how long of a trip would that be, with portages included?

Is there anything we should lookout for that time of year? Heavy rain period?
"

You will be traveling about 9 miles to get to the narrows. For an average group, I would say it would take 4 hours to get there. But it could be done in less and then again, your group may not be able to resist the temptation to pull out the fishing gear and fish good looking spots along the way.

I don't care to linger where motor boats can be so I would go a couple miles further. See the link below that shows where the motor boat restriction boundaries are at. Any part of Basswood north of the red line is paddle only. This map also shows the basic lake bottom depths which is the starting point to finding fish.

Voyageur Maps

And if you follow my advice, here is a picture of what that area looks like...I did one fishing trip in that area first week of June like you. Caught plenty of walleye = fish. Of course there's plenty of less desirable fish species too;-)

If you want to catch walleye, then leeches are hard to beat. Tip a plain jig head and/or slip bobber. Fish reef edges (drops) and shallow bays (5-15' deep).

Things to look out for...excellent time of year for fishing and air temps can vary greatly. Bring warm clothes if you hit a cool/rainy day and swim trunks for hotter weather. In can be either or both.

Lewis narrows can be a good walleye spot it self. It also might see the most boat traffic on Basswood. Base of Pipestone Falls good for walleye and pike. Caribou point area also good for walleye. Jackfish Bay on the far west end around the islands = big pike. I would bring live bait. If walleyes are not biting go for pike. Suckers with a bobber can big in some giant northerns . Might want to stop in to The Great Outdoors to get some more specific advise and bait. Good luck

Thank you for all the advice! The biggest obvious difference between this trip and all our others is not having the ability to go into town if we need more/different tackle. Also, being from Southern Ohio we have pretty limited experience with Pike, so we want to be prepared and limit our fish loss. I like the idea of having two reels spooled up and ready to use.

What is the standard fishing times for each specie? I have read early morning (6-9ish) for walleye, then switch to targeting small mouth through the day. Are Pike more active in the later afternoon or do you switch back to walleye?

For jig heads, what size do you typically go with? 1/4 oz? We typically fish panfish (crappie/blue gill) so I am sure we will need to upgrade our jig heads.

I was checking out my Navionics app today and the lake was not as deep as I expecting. How much do you guys find an island and work your way out to the middle vs. hit the banks and work out?

Thanks again!

Dave

That time of the year, and the late spring it looks like we're having, most species shouldn't be more than 10-20' deep.

As far as time of day, yes walleye tend to be best in the first and last hours of the day. Switching to more of a SMB/northern approach during the day is common.

Many different jig sizes will work, 1/4 will be fine and most things either side of that depending on wind, current, etc.

...

Lots of traffic on this thread! I too am going through EP24 but going out 23 May and returning Monday. It will be my first trip up to BWCA, aiming to reach the base of Pipestone Falls day one (will be putzing around seeking fish) . Then enter North end of Jackfish Bay day 2 at the least.

Plan on bringing a couple walleye rods, one for slip and another for drag. Bro-in-law and I have a pair of Native Slayer Propels (we are going without the pedals) and a pair of 3600 boxes with a 3700 box for raps and big spoons.

We went on the Bigfork River last year, 62 mile trip from Big Falls to Loman (Rainy to Black) in 4 days. Landed a 53" sturgeon, broke off on a large Musky (saw the stripes) and a lot of smallmouth. Was a blast, but you can't establish camp and go out fishing because current was too strong. So we are looking for a different type of trip. We pack light and move swift when we want to. Would like to make it to Basswood Falls, but likely returning how we came.

Would love to land Lakers or Brookies, but never targeted before! North end of Basswood producing in deep water for Lakers? Brookies at shore around that time? Of course that will be after some eyes or pike have been a meal.

Thank you all in advance for help. I will post after our trip.

Thanks again for the help, is it best to pick up a map from the outfitter or can we order them online ahead of time?

Also, have any of you used the tow service? If so, is it worth it and does it drastically cut down on the time it takes to get to our location? Is it something we have to set up in advance or can we do it when we arrive? With the variability of the weather we would like to keep this option open in case it’s raining.

Thanks again!

Dave

You can get maps on MN DNR. Use the Lakefinder tool and search for Basswood. There are contour maps there. I got mine laminated at Kinko's. You can use the tow service from Packsack Outfitters on Fall Lake. It will save you a lot of time. Going through the Narrows by canoe to get to Jackfish is quite a haul. If you are interested in my tip of going to the south end of Jackfish you could skip the north end of Pipestone and Jackfish and take the 'canoe only portage' to Jackfish. It's on the west side of Pipestone where that little shallow bay is. A stream there connects Pipestone to Jackfish and will bring you out right by the fishing structures I mentioned in my earlier post. The first hump is just south of the portage. If the water is high you can canoe right over the top of the beaver dam and you won't even have to get out. Btw, you'll need a portable depth finder to find those structures.

http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/lakefind/data/lakemaps/b3001010.pdf

DaveBuckeye01: "Thanks again for the help, is it best to pick up a map from the outfitter or can we order them online ahead of time?


Also, have any of you used the tow service? If so, is it worth it and does it drastically cut down on the time it takes to get to our location? Is it something we have to set up in advance or can we do it when we arrive? With the variability of the weather we would like to keep this option open in case it’s raining.


Thanks again!


Dave "

With only 3-4 days, I would use the tow. PackSack Outfitters. They are great. Bring some of your crappie stuff; it will work too. I would suggest at least a "flashlight style" depthfinder (Marcum Brand? makes one) to a new lake to help find humps, reefs etc. I like to troll to locate fish, then drop jig etc.