Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

Knife Lake
by muskieman

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 06/01/2008
Entry & Exit Point: Snowbank Lake (EP 27)
Number of Days: 6
Group Size: 2
Trip Introduction:
After many years of going with my family when i was younger, I finally set up a trip for myself. Joining me on this trip would be my good friend and favorite fishing buddy Marc... We left early from the twin cities the day before our trip would start so that we could walk around and enjoy the town of ely. When we got there we checked in with Canoe Country Outfitters and planned out our trip. After some pizza hut we went down to the Root Beer Lady's museum and bought a couple cases of that delicous rootbeer. We then went right on down the road to the Wolf Center where we were lucky enough to see the new baby wolves. After a quick dinner and a good nights sleep it was time to begin the journey!
Day 1 of 6
Sunday, June 01, 2008 We woke up early to a breakfast of chewy and power bars with some gatorade. After a quick stop at the baitshop for our pound of leeches we finally on our way to snowbank. We arrived at the entry point to a very crowded parking lot, but to our suprise were the only people launching at that time. After loading up the canoe and installing our portable rod holders we set off on the glass like water of an early morning Snowbank Lake. We trolled shad raps and taildancers as we paddled towards the boot lake portage. Much to my suprise as we were cruising out in the middle of the lake far away from any structure my rod yanked back furiously and the drag started to scream. After a very good fight i caught and released my very first lake trout. I would catch and release one more one right before we got to the portage(this one was a little bigger). After 2 very manageable portages we were in boot lake. We trolled across this lake without a single bite and set off on the longest portage of our career. This portage was a beast, fallen trees and a huge hill made this one of the toughest portages we have ever done. With a big sigh of relief we set of into beautiful ensign lake, just when we were about to throw our lures out the wind started to blow pretty good so we decided to just paddle hard and fast to the famed vera lake portages. After another very tough portage we started across vera, I say started because some nasty clouds caught up to us and forced us to pull over at a campsite to wait out the rain. after about 30 mn the rain quit and we pressed onward to the in my opinion the worst portage of the trip. We kept thinking of lake trout and the crystal clear waters of knife lake and eventually made it through the slippery rocks and inclines of that portage. It was starting to get late in the day so we cruised over to an island and grabbed a campsite. We set up camp fished a little from shore and ate a much needed dinner. We were very tired from a long and tough day and went to bed early