BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
January 05 2025
Entry Point 27 - Snowbank Lake
Number of Permits per Day: 8
Elevation: 1191 feet
Latitude: 47.9716
Longitude: -91.4326
Snowbank Lake - 27
Brule Lake - September 2016
Entry Date:
September 02, 2016
Entry Point:
Brule Lake
Number of Days:
5
Group Size:
2
Disappointment Lake, Ahsub Lake, Jitterbug Lake
We got up early and made Earl Grey with a dash of Bailey's (since it was a bit chilly) and some trail mix for breakfast. Then we packed our fishing gear, stove, kitchen stuff and pans and headed out for a day trip. We fished our way up through most of Disappointment without much luck, but on the SW shore of the big bowl on the north end, I hooked a 24" Northern. So we hauled him in and headed for Ahsub, hoping to find a campsite to cook him up for lunch. But there were no open sites, so we paddled slowly (for the Northern's benefit) through Ahsub and portaged to Jitterbug where we found four canoes and eight people landing to go the other way. Luckily, there was space near the portage to cook and eat the Northern. So we did. Jitterbug didn't look like especially good fishing, so we decided to head back the way we came. We fished Ahsub for a while, but couldn't find the Brook Trout that are stocked there (neither of us really know how to catch stream trout in a cold lake on a cloudy day). So we trolled our way back down through Disappointment, as it was about six o'clock. We were nearly all the way back, literally 50 ft. from the landing point on our island when Josh hooked a 20" Walleye. Beautiful fish. Excellent dinner (we put the larger chunks in the beans and rice--fantastic). We sipped a bit of whiskey, toasted to an excellent day and went to bed.
Map: [Paddling in purple, Portaging in blue, fish marked by red fish]
Disappointment Lake, Parent Lake, Snowbank Lake
This was one of the most ridiculous days i've experienced in the BW. the temperature had risen a bit, but the wind had nearly doubled. the 10-12" waves on Disappointment were a bit disconcerting. we tried a bit of fishing in the morning, hoping the wind would quiet down a little by noon or so, but that didn't work out so well. so we broke camp, packed up, and headed out. the wind was out of the NE and was blowing waves by our island on both sides, which then crossed to the SW of the island, where we needed to head to stay out of most of the waves. it was a bit tricky in our little 15 ft. canoe. but we made it around the little islands and back to the portage. when we reached Parent Lake, the water seemed calm. this was, of course, an illusion. we headed directly for the portage with the wind at our backs. but the waves just kept getting bigger and bigger, topping out at over a foot from trough to crest. i was in the bow, paddling as hard as i could to keep us moving forward and josh was in the stern, draw-stroking as hard as he could to keep us from going broadside. absolutely ridiculous. we ended up going directly east and landing on shore near a campsite. after weighing our options (paddling directly into that wind that had just blown us off course, bushwacking 1/2 a mile to the portage or just jumping out into the freakin' cold water and walking the canoe 1/3 a mile down the shore to the portage). so we jumped out. i'm just happy neither of us twisted an ankle or lost permanent feeling below our knees (it was dang cold). the portage to Snowbank warmed our feet a little, so that was good, but when we got there, we could see huge rollers coming down from the NE corner of the lake, directly across the path we needed to take to get to the landing. as luck would have it, there's an isolated resort near the Parent-Snowbank portage. so we paddled over, and the nice people who own the Wilderness Bay Resort gave us (and our canoe/gear) a ride back on their pontoon boat. altogether a harrowing day. and don't even get me started about the 30 mph crosswinds that tried to blow the canoe off the car between Ely and Duluth...
Map: [Paddling/Walking in the water in red, Portaging in blue, Motorized boat in yellow]
At this point of the trip, we just anticipated some major wind for the day. This lake was living up to it's reputation. Given that fact, we got up early and ate a quick breakfast. Our plans for the day were to head west and chase the elusive brook trout found in Wench Lake. Jarod has been with me on all my trout adventures over the years, and after hearing about the steep portage we knew we had to go see if it rivaled the portages to Vale and Gadwall, that we had fished a few years earlier. We made our way across a fairly calm Brule Lake, quickly passing Fishbox Island.[paragraph break] 
[paragraph break] As we approached the western side of the lake, we realized our directional bearings were off a little. We had veered further south and saw the portage to South Temperance Lake. We quickly headed north and soon there was no doubt where Wench Lake was located. I have seen so many cool photos of the shoreline where the Wench Lake portage is located. It truly is one of the coolest sights I have ever seen in the BWCA.[paragraph break] 
[paragraph break] We pulled up on the shore, only to see that the portage looks like it is very seldom-used. The path was easy to follow, but there were trees down the entire way up to the lake. We slowly made our way up the trail, occasionally having to tag team the canoe to get it over or under fallen trees. What a gorgeous little lake! We were excited to see if we could lure any brook trout out of the depths. We figured we would have a nice quiet day, with the lake to ourselves. As we finished our first drift down the lake, we heard voices. Here came three canoes filled with seven people. I couldn't believe it. The lake is small, but the other party did a great job of giving us our space. We fished very exploratory on the first pass, working small baits at different depths to see if we could locate any trout. I missed a quick strike near shore, so on our pass back toward the portage, we decided to work the shoreline, casting small spoons and spinners. A short way back down the lake I hooked up and landed our first trout![paragraph break] 
[paragraph break] It wasn't a huge fish, but there is something awful special about catching these trout out of Boundary Waters lakes. The other group out fishing pulled up on the western shoreline and climbed up to have some lunch. We took the opportunity to work back down the northern edge of the lake, again working the shoreline. Soon, I caught trout #2. They weren't coming fast and furious, but it was fun to catch a few. The other group wrapped up their meal and paddled down the lake. They headed back down the portage and we were once again alone on the lake. We decided to break for lunch on the southern shore. Jarod had missed a fish that followed his lure up to the canoe multiple times. We decided after lunch, we would see if we could coax it into a better strike. It was nice to get out of the canoe and stretch on the rocky shoreline.[paragraph break] 
[paragraph break] After lunch we tried in vain to get Jarod a trout. No luck on this day. We were glad we made the journey to this beautiful little lake. We headed toward the portage and I snapped a photo of our two little trout. They weren't very big, but they would be delicious![paragraph break] 
[paragraph break] The wind had picked up greatly during the day, but it was hard to judge how hard it was actually blowing on this little lake. Before we headed down the portage, I snapped a photo of this amazing lake. Even if you don't trout fish, this lake is worth a visit. Just a little gem off the beaten path.[paragraph break] 
[paragraph break] As we got back on to Brule, it was very apparent that again, the wind had increased to gale force while we had been enjoying our time on a small lake. Today we had about a two mile run, straight east to our campsite. The waves were again, out of the south, and were crashing hard into the side of the canoe. We stayed off the big lake for a little while, fishing some bays on the way. We soon ran out of cover and faced the big lake. Today's waves were in the 3-4 foot category. We saw Fishbox Island off in the distance and it was our first goal. We slowly made our way, with me barking out when I was going to turn us, so we would quarter the really big waves. Other than that, all focus and concentration was just watching the waves, and anticipating the really big ones. We got to Fishbox Island with very little water in the canoe. We took a few minutes to rest and get crazy enough to go back out in this. We could see our island and it wasn't too far. We pushed on and made it to camp without incident. We got out of the canoe and both of us knew we had just done a really, really stupid thing, crossing the lake in those waves. Fortunately we were dry and safe! We had dinner and did a little fishing. As the sun set, we could see what was coming. It looked like it would be a wet night.[paragraph break] 
After just getting hammered with a rain storm over night, we decided we would be sticking pretty close to camp today. We lingered in the tent a long time that morning, as we had received a substantial amount of rain over night. When we finally got up, all of the little paths and trails around camp were full of water. Some of them were nearly two inches deep. We had a little breakfast and then decided to just take the canoe out and work the waters around the island. After a couple hours of no fish, we went to shore to have some lunch. Another new item on the menu this trip was some foil pack chicken. We made up some butter noodles and I sauteed the chicken with some seasoning in the fry pan. Then we mixed it all up and made some good northwoods hotdish.[paragraph break] 
[paragraph break] This combination of chicken and noodles was delicious. It was also a welcome meal, since we had no fish hanging on the stringer. After lunch we trekked around the island. The wind was blowing pretty good and it was still misting from time-to-time. I am glad we had been so adventurous the previous days, as being far from camp would not have been fun today. We rigged up our slip bobbers and used up the last of our nightcrawlers and leeches. We scratched up just enough fish for dinner, with a few small smallmouth bass.[paragraph break] 
[paragraph break] After dinner we started packing up camp. We knew we wanted to hit the water early the next morning to avoid that southern wind. We ended up having plenty of time after packing to enjoy the sunset and some hot chocolate.[paragraph break] 
[paragraph break] As the sun set, we noticed a lot of lightning on the horizon. It appeared we were in for another batch of rain over night. The rain was very minimal, but the lightning and thunder was some of the most intense I have ever experienced in the BWCA. There were times where the thunder was so loud and strong it shook the ground we were sleeping on! At least it didn't rain very much during the night.
We rose from the tent at sunrise and got to work. Jarod packed up the tent as I started moving the rest of our gear to the canoe. There was no wind yet, but we knew how quickly that could change. We were soon in the canoe, paddling south towards the entry point. It is funny that even though we stayed up in the north central part of the lake, we were easily able to keep our bearings on the way back to the entry point. It had been such a struggle on the way out, but we soon landed the canoe on the shoreline of the entry point. We packed up the car grabbed a final batch of photos and headed back to Grand Marais.[paragraph break] 
[paragraph break] We had quite a day yet in front of us. From here we were grabbing some breakfast and heading to Ely. We were going back in the BWCA the next day, with two others, which I will soon complete a trip report on. This trip was fun and filled with adventure. We visited many cool little lakes, while enduring the wind on big Brule Lake. I keep telling myself I am going to stop planning trips on big water, but I am glad I came here and saw some of the great sights that Brule had to offer. Thanks for reading!