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bapabear
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Based on beauty, loons and campsites I can make a case for a couple dozen. I'll go with Disappointment because I was with my son both times when he caught some huge northerns while fishing it. On one when it thrashed into the net it sent a rivet flying into my leg as the net broke. We boated the fish.
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lindylair
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Partly for scenery, partly for fishing and partly for sentimental reasons, I would have to say Vista Lake is one of my favorites. Fairy and South Temperance Lakes are also up there.
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Pinetree
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The one that is the next portage over.
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SaganagaJoe
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quote ozarkpaddler: "Yeah, Joe, you and Sig's piece in "The Singing Wilderness" sum up Sag. I would be tempted to go there every trip if not for all my trip partner's wishes to "Stay off the big lakes." I love the border route from Gunflint east, but I REALLY miss Sag.
Sag's the first place I lead a trip. Sag's the first and only place I've began a solo BWCAW trip. Sag's the place I saw my first otters CLOSE up. I've lunched on her islands, fought her waves, gotten confused in the back bays, and gazed at her grandeur. Sig had it pegged when he said "...islands like battleships..." when gazing out at her. I just may have to change plans for this year?
 "
Do it, and the best part is you don't have to portage if you don't want to!
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Jaywalker
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quote Meado: ".....Truth be told, the responses may help me and my canoeing partner decide another destination to try out. "
It is great that you have a lake that draws you back, but do yourselves a favor and branch out. There are amazing lakes all over, and you are depriving yourself of knowing them by staying in one area. I kind of got in a rut of doing the same trip, and have been glad to start pushing myself to new ones again. I loved Tuscarora too, but have not been back there since 1992 or so. Venture forward - Tuscarora will be there waiting for you.
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SaganagaJoe
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quote maxxbhp: " 
Joe and Terry, this is the north camp on Englishman Island about 5 years apart, same spot. That beer mirror looking shot, 2 hours later I was in a MN II in 2 foot whitecaps and a 30mph south wind, my son was in the bow on his first ever canoe trip. I don't do this because I love Sag, I like the border, but Sag definitely becomes a part of you. "
Know that view very well. Never stayed on that particular site but have paddled by it, base camped on the south side for 5 days. The south camp does have a nice sand beach, great for swimming.
The sunrise pic above was on the south site of Englishman.
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Basspro69
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Its has always been either Clearwater on the east side or Horse on the west side, until the past year. I went to a small Brook Trout Lake that I have never been to and its my new favorite lake !
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DeanL
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My vote goes to Knife. I realize there are some drawbacks like full campsites and windy days but there is way more good than there is bad.
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bfurlow
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I know it's a 'highway' has tons of traffic, motors, cabins, etc, but I love the Moose chain. It was my intro to the boundary waters back in the 90's and every time I go out of there is like visiting an old friend. I have done cabin trips there and canoe trips that started from there. Love every inch of that chain because of all of the memories that have started there.
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Meado
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I've been to a handful of lakes in the BW and it seems that there is always the one lake that keeps calling me back. For me, it has always been Tuscarora Lake. It has always been a quick way to get remote due to the length of the portage to get in. There is nothing like standing at the end of that long portage and seeing Tuscarora out in front on me. I was just curious which lake seems to be the "one" for all the members on the this page that keeps them coming back?? Truth be told, the responses may help me and my canoeing partner decide another destination to try out.
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SaganagaJoe
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Saganaga. Yes, it can be a bear on a windy day. But I have so many precious memories of paddling on that lake. My very first BWCA lake, my first campsite, my first BWCA bass (and first fish of any good size), and many wonderful memories of paddling with Grandpa.
From my 2014 trip journal:
"I sat in the chair we brought, pulled out my copy of The Singing Wilderness, by Sigurd Olson, and began to read. Instinctively, I turned to my favorite chapter and read these words:
“Until the day when I discovered it, my life had been dominated by the search for a perfect wilderness lake. Always before me was the ideal, a place not only remote, not only of great beauty, but possessed of an intangible quality and spirit that typified to me all of the unbroken north beyond all roads. Time and again I thought I had found it, but always there was something wrong, some vague, unreasoned lack of shape or size, some totally unexplainable aspect involved with the threat of accessibility. Above all, I wanted vistas that controlled not only moonrises and sunsets, but the northern lights and the white mists of the river mouths at dawn…Then one golden day I came to Saganaga.”
I closed the book and began to admire the view before me. The afternoon sun was high in the sky. Its light brought out the sandy brown of the ground, the deep green of the shrubs and needles, and the smoky red of the bark gracing the Norway pines. From our vantage point on the southern side of the island, I beheld a panoramic view of Red Rock Bay, studded by islands. I stood up and, looking to the east, identified Long and Gold Islands. To the north, I could see the Canadian shoreline. The lake was calm as a sheet of glass, the water’s surface indistinguishable from the sky.
Sitting back in my chair, I took a deep breath. The alpine smells again filled my nostrils, pure oxygen straight from the source. I closed my eyes and listened. Birds chirped and sang to each other from the trees, and a squirrel chattered in his burrow. The ubiquitous whiny hum of the mosquitoes made me grateful for the bug spray and head net I had on. Not a single sound of civilization broke the music of the singing wilderness, not a plane, not a motor, not a human voice. This was the silence I had been longing for and dreaming of. This was ecstasy. This was peace.
   
Thanks for the opportunity to relive some memories.
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boonie
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I like Tuscarora for the same reason. Fourtown is a pretty lake and Omega is nice too. Little Saganaga is a beautiful lake and I really like Adams. Snipe is a cool little lake. Horseshoe is nice . . . when it's not too busy. There are a lot of smaller lakes that are nice just because not many go there, so if you don't mind portaging, just keep going beyond the first day or so of travel.
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ozarkpaddler
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Yeah, Joe, you and Sig's piece in "The Singing Wilderness" sum up Sag. I would be tempted to go there every trip if not for all my trip partner's wishes to "Stay off the big lakes." I love the border route from Gunflint east, but I REALLY miss Sag.
Sag's the first place I lead a trip. Sag's the first and only place I've began a solo BWCAW trip. Sag's the place I saw my first otters CLOSE up. I've lunched on her islands, fought her waves, gotten confused in the back bays, and gazed at her grandeur. Sig had it pegged when he said "...islands like battleships..." when gazing out at her. I just may have to change plans for this year?
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Spartan2
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Cherokee.
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HighnDry
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+1 to the lakes above! Here is another that struck me as picturesque:
Thomas.
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Meado
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SaganagaJoe--What a fantastic picture you painted with that reply. Well done!
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fishonfishoff
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"All of them". But if I had to pick just one, I would say............................................................................."All of them"
FOFO
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HangLoose
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My favorite lake is outlined with White Pine, old growth Red Pine, and a small stand of young Jack Pine. There is a small secluded bay with a mother moose and her two young twins frolicking about the shallow waters. A bald eagle nests in a tall White Pine. There is a pack of wolves that resides nearby. There is fantastic lake trout fishing in this lake. The loons melodies echo from each of the lakes bays. I am the only one camped on this lake. This lake is my little slice of heaven.
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BigTim
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The ones with the happiest walleyes and the fewest humans! Found many! But if you nailed me down, I have to admit - lakes that display moose, otters, virgin pines, and eagles are hands down the finest.
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walllee
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Mine is Poohbah in Quetico. For some reason I feel more of a "wilderness" feeling when I'm there then anyplace else I have been in canoe country.
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brantlars
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Gabi 
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QueticoMike
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I'm not telling :)
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maxxbhp
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Joe and Terry, this is the north camp on Englishman Island about 5 years apart, same spot. That beer mirror looking shot, 2 hours later I was in a MN II in 2 foot whitecaps and a 30mph south wind, my son was in the bow on his first ever canoe trip. I don't do this because I love Sag, I like the border, but Sag definitely becomes a part of you.
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