I am going to the BW for the first time with my 18 year old son, who we never seem to get to spend enough time with. Frankly I couldn't be more excited. Both of us love to fish (both fly and conventional), but I have some very significant challenges to over come. I am disabled and on a limited budget. My son is in great shape and I can still paddle some from the rear. We have a Wenonah spirit II, so a our efficiency is descent with a moderate load.

My questions are what is the best motorized entry point that has a short portage/rivers to lakes that have great fishing. I am hoping that I will be able to paddle to the non-motorized lakes every day, but I have to be realistic. My desease will restrict our activity to a motorized lake during our 1-2 week stay. I don't know how many more of these I will be able to do before it is no longer feasible, so it is really important to me that I make the absolute best of the ones I have left.

I realize that this is a extremely broad question, but I am starting at zero. I would be extremely greatful for any good information on great fishing of any type on non motorized lakes just off of a motorized lake. I would appreciate it very much if anyone could even point me in the right direction to others who may know more about what I am looking for. Thanks for any help you can give me.
Mark

Just a suggestion. Snowbank lake is a good lake with Disapointment and Parent lakes near by to the east. The fishing is decent in all three of those lakes. There are also options for travel/touring to the north and northwest. It's located east of Ely... and starting from "zero"... Ely is a good place to start.

I would also suggest that you pick your entry date and reserve your permit sooner as opposed to later.

Hope this helps

Hex

Here is another option.

Saganaga Lake-Sag is motorized all the way to American Point and you can camp on it with your motorized boat. It is big so lots of fishing options and lots of campsites. You can go over to Red Rock Lake with an easy short portage into it and be non-motorized.

Saganaga is known for good fishing and Red Rock is good also. You can use the motor over to the portage into Red Rock and canoe in Red Rock (no motor). Red Rock usually does not get a ton of traffic as everyone heads west past American point instead of turning south before it.

Good luck and hope you find a route that works and you have a great time.

Thanks so much for the input. I wouldn't have known where to start quite frankly. Now at least I can gather some lake/surronding area data and make that quick decision that I need too for the campsite. I will keep you both posted as to the result of the selection and trip success.

Thanks, Mark

I should have added that Red Rock is not the only paddle only option. It is relativeley easy to get past Red Rock with portages into Alpine and Sea Gull and Jasper. Those portages are not too bad. The additional portages along the border routes of lakes (Sag over to Ottertrack) are a little tougher. It sounds like you might be base camping and doing day trips for fishing so the Red Rock-Alpine would get you away from the motors and the fishing on Sag is also good should taht prove too much on a couple of days. Good Luck and hope to hear what you do and a report on how it went afterwards.

Have fun and hope the fishing is as good as you want it to be.

Yep, there are not many overnight motor permits left anywhere, so get moving! :-)

Snowbank is a good idea, and if you want to camp on one of the islands that are outside of the BWCA (but on Snowbank), you can get some day use permits instead which would be much easier to get.

Snowbank itself has quality fishing and the lakes surrounding it (which are paddle only) can get you some real fishing enjoyment! Disappointment is one of my favorites for walleye & smallies, northerns too though my least favorite.