Happy Spring Everyone,

My kiddos are getting big enough now that we're venturing deeper into the BWCA, last year we base-camped at Ogish and this year we are headed to Insula for 6 days, headed in July 10. We had some decent fishing on Ogish but not great ("there ain't no fish in Ogish..."), and we're hoping to get into some better fishing this summer. We're doing the number chain route in, hoping to camp on the northern end of Insula. Looks like the river route into Alice, falls headed towards Fishdance would be good, and pondered making the hike into Thomas for lakers.

Any advice out there for good spots to fish, fun spots to hang, good day trips out of Insula? Fishdance is on the list. Campsite recommendations are good as well, though I've spent hours looking over the reports on BWCA.com and it seems like the NE side is best. Where is "the Rock"?

We took our niece last year to Ogish, where she caught a few nice Smallies. This year she was visiting us in Decorah for her birthday, and wanted to go fishing...and look what she lit in to. 21" Brown...now that she expects this as the standard for her uncle's guiding service, I could use some sweet spots, if anyone is willing to share.

Get out and enjoy this nice weather!

I stayed in June on one of the islands in the ne area. Walleye at night with light up bobber. Skunked on lakers but found northern in Thomas. Northern on insula with spinners and a few walleye accidentally too. Don't remember much bass though. Beautiful lake. Our site was nice, island camping is fun in calm conditions, could get clusterphobic if wind kept you in camp.

Thanks icefishbaby,

I've always said - "kids can't get lost on an island". This year we're bringing our new pooch. We love island camping.

I think most of my caught walleye are accidents!

Lots of islands on Insula, most of them are shoreline point connected or connected island to island. If you have electronics, find those underwater connected points and drift between them. The walleye should be along those areas somewhere, usually on the front side of the wind affected portion.

"The Rock" should be labeled on a Fisher map. It is usually a spot that people will jump off and swim. Basically, an island with a 25 foot sheer drop into about 18 feet of water. I'm not saying it is "safe" to jump off of, but many people do. Fishing around it can be decent. Have had some hit and miss times fishing for walleye around "the rock."

There is also a rock reef that is to the west of Williamson Island. It is difficult to locate as it is out in the middle of the lake, but if you can find it, I've always caught some fish on it. Lots of small rock bass, some smallies, decent sized pike and a few walleyes. It is tough to fish in a decent wind as it is a small area and you can drift over it quickly. Also, lots of snags on the rocks.

Walleyehunter gives a lot of good info. Make sure you try suggestions. Insula is a good walleye lake. Take leeches at the time of year you are planning on going and worst case scenario, you should be able to drag a 1/4 oz jig tipped with a leech and drift long stretches of Insula making sure to keep in contact with the bottom often. Once you get a strike, throw out a marker buoy and keep trying to make the same drift over that spot. If you catch one, there are probably more there. Just remember, if drifting and trying to stay in contact with the bottom, you may have up to 100 ft of line out depending on the depth you are fishing the wind speed, so the fish you probably hooked, might have been caught 50 feet or more ahead of where the buoy is at. And by fishing early morning or late evenings, you increase your chances of catching walleyes.

Fish the narrows on Insula by campsite 1323, also between most any of islands and mainland. It’s a good fishing lake.

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions. I always hate bringing leeches along, I seem to have as much luck with stickbaits and spinnerbaits as I do with live bait...but maybe I'll bring a leech bag along this time.

scotttimm: decent fishing on Ogish but not great ("there ain't no fish in Ogish...")

Ogish is one of the best of the BWCA lakes for fishing, IMHO. I've caught lakers, walleye, pike, smallies, and whitefish there...

Hey IowaGuy - I'm an Iowa guy too (Decorah). We did catch some fish on Ogish, a few nice smallies, a few northern, and one glorious morning we caught our limit of walleye in about 30 minutes. Fishing wasn't great though. We stayed on a beautiful island, loved the trip...but heard from others that the fish weren't biting that week.