Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

Moose River North to Lac La Croix
by billsta

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 06/12/2011
Entry & Exit Point: Moose/Portage River (north) (EP 16)
Number of Days: 7
Group Size: 3
Day 4 of 7
Wednesday, June 15, 2011 We’re up at 6:15AM, coffee and oatmeal for breakfast, then on the water by 8:30AM. We head up the Boulder River and are into fish the first place we stop. Caleb catches a nice walleye in the 3 to 4 pound range and we catch a few a bit smaller. When it slows down, we head further upriver. I'm trolling a jig and twister tail and in a half hour catch two nice walleye, a half dozen northern (the largest about 30") and a really nice smallmouth. We head back to camp for lunch. The skies become overcast and it gets very windy. It drizzles intermittently. We hang in camp in the afternoon, mostly because of the wind. Jamie heads to the tent and Caleb and I find a path to the north side of the point and fish the bay from shore. It's very weedy, but within 10 minutes or so we catch four small pike, then we head back to our site Jamie gets up and fishes from shore in camp, catching an eater size walleye right away, then decides to start dinner. Our evening meal is Chili-Mac (Mountain House), which is very good. Since we need to be on the road back to Chicago early on Saturday, we are spending our final night on Nina Moose Lake. We’re a bit concerned about finding an open campsite there on Friday, so we decide to head there on Thursday instead. We get everything ready to go, except tents and sleeping stuff, so we can head out fairly quickly in the morning. Although we’re not in a big hurry, we are shooting to be on the water by 8 to 9AM. Highlights: Morning fishing Lowlights: Wind keeps us off the water in the afternoon, knowing we’re headed toward our exit point on Thursday