Saturday, May 24, 2025

~Temperature was in the high 50s-low 60s during the day. It was overcast with some fog to start the day. The sun came out and took some time to burn off the fog. Quite calm to start the day but the wind began to build fairly quickly in the day but it was in the 8-12 mph range so easily manageable. We arrived at the landing for our canoes around 6:30 am for our 7am tow. We were eager to get started and on our way but we had to wait until close to 8am due to how thick the fog was and safety to operate the towboats. This was a new experience for our crew and went smoothly other than the delay in leaving the docks.

The tow went well as we headed up towards Knife Lake. We enjoyed chatting with the workers on the way up to our drop off. Our crew was able to get unloaded easily and were on our way shortly. We made quick work of a few of the portages and a few miles of paddling and were able to find one of our preferred camps open so that was a good way to start. We got the gear unloaded and then set to work getting camp in order. We broke out the provisions and had some lunch of salami, cheeses, and summer sausage bagels. During and after lunch the rest of us geared up and rigged our fishing rods for battle. Some guys rested for a bit and collected firewood but most of us were eager to get out fishing. I was paired up with my brother for traveling and fishing today so it was nice to catch up with him and spend time together. The early afternoon was slow but more towards the evening the fishing picked up and we were able to boat around 20 walleyes between the two of us. We were mainly fishing slip bobbers and casted jigs today with leeches or swimbait plastics. No giants but all nice 15-21” fish. We caught the most by numbers but the other guys all managed to catch some as well so overall it was a pretty good first night with around 45 walleye being caught by the group in total. Only 3 guys did not catch anything. When we got back to camp we made a quick dinner of mac and cheese and brats for the opening night backwoods meal. We tend to eat our big meal of the day during lunch time with more time to spare and not cutting into prime evening fishing time while making elaborate dinners. For this trip we planned lunches and dinners together as a group with typically eating the biggest meal during the middle of the day. After dinner we all settled in for a relaxing campfire with some adult beverages to relax after our long travel day. We spent time chatting about our families, life, work, adventures, and most importantly our Faith. Both my brother and I were blessed with some great Christian fellowship in our college days, and it was great to be in God’s creation exploring and sharing in the amazing fishing together. Fish caught: 45 walleyes, 1 over 25”.

The guys woke up at different times and breakfasts were on your own for this trip. It was a chilly morning but you can’t beat the calm and peace of those misty morning sunrises up in the Boundary Waters. We all got our breakfasts at various times and then broke off in pairs to get out fishing. It was a beautiful morning to be out fishing but it was very slow. We have never had great luck fishing in the AM for walleye, especially on clear bodies of water. This morning was the same. Out of our 6 guys out fishing we only caught a handful of walleyes in a few hours of fishing time. We tried a variety of techniques including trolling crankbaits, lindy rigging, casting jigs, dragging swimbaits slowly, slip bobbering, etc to little avail. With the slow morning and too much time until the prime time a few of us decided to fish a different smaller lake nearby to take the temperature on the bass fishing and gauge where we were at with the spawn. This turned out to be a good call as we were able to get into pretty consistent pike and bass action on the smaller lake and some shallow bays on Knife lake. Caught around 15 Smallmouth bass and a couple Northern Pike.

We made it back to camp by early afternoon. We made up our big meal of the day and relaxed around camp for a while. Some people napped in hammocks or tents and some guys sat and talked or read. We did have a few slip bobbers out most of the time when we are in camp and did well sporadically but not too much during the day. We all ventured out in the evening to fish and all of us targeted Walleye. It was another slower evening overall for the group only catching about 40 walleyes between the 8 of us. It was a glorious evening in the BWCA and it was amazing to spend it with friends and family in such a beautiful place! We had another campfire and relaxed around the fire while a few guys tended slip bobbers of camp having some pretty consistent walleye action for a few hours even into the dark.

We did get out fishing in the later afternoon and evening for some walleye and had our best collective night of the trip so far catching around 50 walleyes.

The group made the decision to chase after some trout today to switch it up. 5 of us wanted to get out early after the trout and the other 3 stayed in camp. This made the logistics a little difficult but we managed with 3 in one canoe. We had a fun morning catching a couple different species of trout in various lakes in the area. We got started at sunrise to chase after some brook trout. In hindsight we should have been there even earlier but we still caught some and did pretty well. Caught a couple dandies and one of our party fished some with his fly rod which was cool to see him do. (I have always wanted to learn and try but I never have.) We caught around 10 brook trout in a couple hours during the morning before it shut off. Then we hopped over to a different lake and chased some lakers. The wind was rolling at a decent clip by mid morning which allowed for some good drifts to vertically jig lake trout but we were going a little fast to maintain consistent borrow contact with some of our baits. However, we were able to manage about 15 lake trout in a couple hours of fishing time with the 2 canoes.

We headed back for lunch around 12:30 as we did not want the rest of the crew to start worrying about us and we had not left them with really any directions for the meal or what the rest of the day would look like. The group relaxed around camp a little bit and we had our big meal of the day of teriyaki chicken stir fry. I premake and prep all of the meals for our group. The dehydrated vegetables are a little chewy but pretty good overall. A few guys napped and I read my Bible for a little while and took a half hour hammock nap. I took Jarred in my bow for the evening of fishing and we did pretty well. Between the 2 of us we caught around 15 walleye. A little slower night for the entire group only catching about 35 walleye total. A couple nicer fish caught tonight with a couple in the mid 20” range with a 24 and 25” one caught tonight. The bite was really good when it was cloudy and a little breezy but when it calmed down the bite shut off. The bite was weird like that all week the prime time was not that prime. The best bite whether it was 2pm or 8 pm was when it was cloudy or a little bit of ripple on the water. Clouds and wind always help the walleye fishing so that was not strange but the prime time hours did not seem to uptake the fish catching rate and no sort of flurry at that time like “normal” walleye fishing. However, with the trout earlier in the day we did not mind too much. Beautiful day and it was fun to try some different tactics, chase varied species, and improve our methods today. More time around the fire with some hot drinks and some story telling. In the group we have 5 guys that work for the DNR and most of all the guys are avid outdoorsmen so some really good stories from the jobs and crazy stories of some folks.

Most of the guys hung out around camp for the morning as our AM walleye forays had been fruitless so far. A few boats went out for an hour or two but with minimal success. We had our big fish fry for the trip today during our lunch hour. More lounging around camp, organizing fishing gear, collecting firewood. Most of the crew was headed out fishing around 3pm or so. I had Alex in my bow for the night tonight and we had a real good night overall. We caught 21 walleye between the 2 of us with a couple in the low to mid 20s and the biggest one of the trip at 27” on a slip bobber. The rest of the crew managed some success as well and we made it over 50 for the night cumulatively as a group.  

We made it back to camp and talked with the rest of the guys and talked through the next couple days and explored how people were doing and what they were thinking for the next couple days. They guys were enjoying themselves but we did make the decision to start heading back towards the entry point. So with that being said we wanted to make the most of the day and get all the fishing in that we could before heading out tomorrow.

With this being the last day we spread out over the big water of Knife to chase a variety of species. A few chased Pike and bass in the shallows, a couple canoes chased after lake trout. My canoe (Alex and I) went for bass. Him and I did well but the rest struggled overall. A few pike and Smallies for the group but no trout. My brother and his canoe partner claimed to have a huge pike on for a few minutes before it broke them off. They guessed low 40s. I believe they had a big one on but it is so tough to estimate or guess size of big pike. Alex and I however boated 18 Smallmouth bass with the biggest 6 all going over 20". Biggest one at 22". We wanted to keep fishing but we needed to head back to camp for some food and for one last evening walleye fishing.

Four of the guys stayed back and just fished from camp for the full evening and they ended up catching 25 walleye on slip bobbers. The other 4 of us went out to the humps and high profile spots we had found for one last evening. Unfortunately it was on the slower side with the 4 of us only combining for 19 walleyes.

The paddle out was long but relatively uneventful. Moose Lake was much bigger then it seemed during the tow and in hindsight we wish we would have had the tow both ways. It was very convenient but if it ends up getting banned I am okay with that too.

Another successful BWCA trip. Was by far the best weather trip I have had as far as nice sleeping weather, lack of wind, and no rain at all the whole trip. I actually think fishing would have been better with some crappier weather but that is really splitting hairs for the trip. Really wonderful trip with some great friends and my brother. We were a little disappointed we did not catch a few more big walleyes as when my brother and I had gone to this area in 2019 we had caught at least 20 walleye over 25" and this trip we only caught 5 at 25" or bigger and there were 8 of us fishing. But again that is really splitting hairs.

Total Fish Count for the Entire Trip (approx. but conservative estimates) Walleye: 310 Walleye (biggest 27”)- most caught on slip bobbers, jig and leech, or jig and swimbait. Smallmouth Bass: 55 Smallmouth Bass (biggest 22”) - 9 over 20”. Swim bait, wacky worm, ned rig, topwater (just a couple) Brook Trout: 15 or so (biggest 19”) fly rod, spinners, small jigs Lake Trout: 40 lake trout (biggest 22”) white bucktail jigs, whit flukes, spoons Northern Pike: 10 or so. Don’t think anyone targeted pike much on this tip (mostly smaller ones. Biggest was maybe 30”)