Hi everybody, I am trying to plan my 4th fishing trip in the BWCA this coming spring around the middle or end of May. I would ideally be fishing for Lake Trout (first time) and take a couple day trips or a loop for walleye, northern, and bass if it is possible. Are there any entry points with these fishing options? I am going to have some time so I could get pretty deep into the wilderness, and would prefer to be away from other canoe traffic if possible. I pretty much want the best fishing and don't care as much about the scenery around the lakes, although it is always spectacular up there it seems. Last year I went on a trip through entry 4 to Crab lake, and went all the way up to Glenmore lake. We could have went further, but we didn't need considering we found the eyes in Glenmore. I retraced our route including some fishing and we ended up covering 40 miles paddling and portaging and fishing. Anyway, I'm looking for entry points to research a trip route. Are there any areas that have Lake Trout, Northerns, Walleye, and Bass all in a reasonable trip? Any input would be helpful. Thanks in advance!

PS: I'm not asking for secret lakes either, but I wouldn't mind some lake suggestions ;)

**This was also posted in the fishing forum

Welcome to the site!

Take a tow or paddle up moose and head East to Knife. You'll see a few other groups but the fishing is excellent. We went last year over Memorial weekend starting from Snowbank. Spent a couple nights on Knife before looping south \through Kec, Frasier, Thomas. Only saw two groups paddle by while on Knife. Thomas gave up a handful of nice lakers, a bunch of eyes and some good sized pike in the few hours we fished it. It was almost full campsite wise. A tow would save you a few hours.

Heading North from the Sout Arm of Knife would def get you away from the crowds that time of year.

Thanks for the response! As of now I am thinking we will take EP 25 and head Moose towards Knife and South arm Knife lake. Then head back through Kek, Fraser, and Thomas lakes and finish our loop through Ensign back into Moose. Or something similar to that depending on the time. About how many days would this take if we didn't take a tow and just paddled? (I just want a ballpark for planning reasons) This way we can go through a lot of good fishing lakes and see some scenery. This would be my first trip going for Lake Trout as well, any tips on how to catch them in Mid-Late May?

**also posted in the fishing forum

We had five nights to loop from Snowbank and back. looking back it would have been nice to have had another two nights. Breaking camp and setting up again really takes up some time.

It looks like a loop to SAK, south though Kec to Thomas and out Ensign would be about 50miles single portaging. It is a long haul to SAK from Moose, 20 miles. 6 of those are the paddle up moose!

Spent two nights on knife, one on Kec, one on Thomas and the last on Disappointment. We never made it over to SAK as fishing was just fine for us on the western side.

As far as lakers that time of year, we had luck with little cleos and purple taildancers trolling around shorelines. Picked up walleyes on the raps as well. Pretty straight forward.

What was your route exactly? 50 miles of single portaging is a long trip! I don't know if we would be able to have that much time off to be able to make that trip. Your trip sounds a little bit shorter and more manageable. I don't have the greatest map of the area yet, but I have a general one from a website with canoe trip routes. I am using this as a guide but I would like to know your route if you don't mind.

http://www.highadventurecanoetrips.com/route3map.html

http://www.highadventurecanoetrips.com/route3map2.html

Longest days of traveling were Snowbank to Knife and from Kec to thomas. We could have made it from Thomas back to snowbank if we had to, instead we spent or last night on disappointment. It was a pretty easy section lots of short portages.

The section from Snowbank to Knife had some pretty good portages, Ensign to Vera comes to mind. Awesome area though.

Thank you for the better picture of your route. I like that loop and it is much shorter than my initial idea! Thanks for all the help! I'm getting excited for the trip!

Head in Moose River North entry. Agnes for Walleye, Northern and Bass and Oyster for Lake Trout. You could also do a "loop" from Moose River N to LIS or vice versa. Shell has good fishing (Walleye, Northern and Bass) as well.

Ima is another great lake (Snowbank entry). We were there last Spring and caught Lake Trout, Northern and Walleye right from our campsite in late May.

love the SAK , we didnt get tows and would enter seagull , experience paddlers 8.5 hours double portage to eddy falls. excellent fishing early may in SAK/knife.

The best fishing lake in the Boundary Waters is Basswood, hands down. I am partial to Jackfish Bay. There is a deep hole that has Trout in it but the main lake is where all the Lake Trout are. Jackfish Bay is arguably the best smallmouth lake in all of North America. Guys have had 100 fish days there with most going over 5 lbs. Last time I was there our group caught an 8 lb'er that would probably have broken the state record. My dad also caught a 30 lb Pike there many years ago. The Walleye fishing is also phenomenal with tons of eaters and some going as large as 15 lbs. If you're there in the Spring, Back Bay and Hoist will have some monster Pike. 2 Pike over 44 lbs have come from this body of water. You could argue that makes it the best 'Pike' lake in North America also. There are only a few lakes in Northern Manitoba that are better. The only other Lake in the Boundary Waters that could compare is Saganaga but it is mostly known for Walleye. My Grandpa caught a 17'er there and my Grandma even caught a 14 Walleye from the Seagull river. If you're interested you could message me for more specifics about Jackfish, although if you look at a topo map it's hardly a secret where to go.

I agree with manountain that Basswood is the best fishing lake in the BW, but I think he might want to recalibrate his fishing scale :-)

What do you mean? LOL. My dad caught a 30 lb Pike there in the 50's when his family owned a lodge on Pipestone called Wegen's Cabins or something like that. For years he thought it was a Muskie until he found out there are no Muskies in there. Almost 3
years ago he caught a Bass pushing 25 inches. It wasn't weighed. How big do you think that is?

I stand corrected. It was over 32 lbs and it was weighed on an accurate scale long after it had died.