BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
April 17 2025
Entry Point 60 - Duncan Lake
Number of Permits per Day: 2
Elevation: 1432 feet
Latitude: 48.0709
Longitude: -90.4517
Duncan Lake - 60
Gunflint Trail Memorial Day Trip
Entry Date:
May 27, 2010
Entry Point:
Saganaga Lake
Number of Days:
5
Group Size:
2
On Wednesday, I drove from my house in southern Wisconsin to my dad's house in northern Wisconsin.
Our plan for Thursday was to drive to Grand Marais, hang out, and catch a tow on Friday morning. Our plans changed...
We left about 8am and made good time. Using the GPS, we realized that we would get to Seagull Outfitters around 3pm. It was a very pretty day. So we figured that we would try to go in a day early. I called Deb and she agreed that it was a good idea. Deb had Katelyn reserve us a new permit and we were all set.
We bought fishing licenses at Bucks and we bought a few other things around GM but otherwise just kept making good time.
We arrived at Seagull outfitters around 2:20. Deb's staff quickly processed us, got us some leeches, and put us on the tow boat.
The tow was nice. Our driver was Danielle, Seagull's first female tow boat drive. She was fast, efficient, and friendly. At 4:00, we were dropped off at Red Rock and we were officially in the BW...
We paddled through Red Rock. I was surpised that nearly all the camp sites were full. We wanted a fairly popular site on Alpine. I didn't hold much hope that the site would be empty...
We made fairly quick work of our one portage (from Red Rock to Alpine). It wa a short portage and I tried to carry nearly all the gear. I think I triple portaged it. But I had actually worked out a bit this spring. So, the portage seemed especially easy.
Once on Alpine, we were very pleasantly surprised to find the site we wanted open. So we took it and set up camp.
We relaxed, had steaks and crashed about 10pm. Sea Gull Lake, Saganaga Lake, Red Rock Lake, Alpine Lake
We got up around 6am. It was beautiful, cool morning. We had coffe, pancakes and thick sliced bacon for breakfast. Tt was great.
We wanted to fish. We headed about 200 yards away from the site to a fairly large island. We found a spot with good action. We quickly caught about 10 nice smallies and 2 small pike.
Last winter, I had become excited about Zulu baits. There was an article in the BWJ that explained how good they are for the BW. I could hardly wait to try them. Nearly all the fish so far were caught on the Zulu's. It is hard to match the excitement of topwater smallies...
We went back to camp for lunch. We had an "All American Burger Wrap" from packitgourmet. It had potential to be great. But I added about 1/2 of the water called for on the package. It was pretty dry... I will try it again though...
We went back out fishing and caught a few more on the Zulus. The wind started picking up so we headed back to camp.
I wanted to fish off of a point at the campsite. But my dad was already relaxing in another spot. So I didn't want to be antisocial. I tried fishing with leeches and slip bobbers from his spot...
Immediately, I caught a 27" pike that we invited to dinner. On the next cast, we got a 33" pike. For the next 15 minutes, we couldn't get the leeches back in the water fast enough. We wound up catching 3 pike and at least 4 walleye. The largest walleye was 24'.
Then the fish shut off and we relaxed.
We had fried fish and Cache Lake bread for dinner.
We relaxed with a nice cigar and a little port after dinner.
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We got up around 7am. We had Garlic bread and the rest of the bacon for breakfast.
One of my goals for this trip was to troll Alpine and Jasper for lake trout. I caught 1 last year and wanted to catch more this year.
We paddled and trolled all the way from the north end of Alpine to the Jasper portage at the south end. It was pretty hot and sunny. We didn't feel like doing the portage. So, we fished a bit around the incomign water. We didn't get a single hit.
We found the closest campsite and relaxed in the shade. We had summer sausage, cheeze, and gorp for lunch.
After the break, we decided to troll back to camp.
I brought my portable depth finder with us. I wanted to troll in about 20-30 feet of water. We were trolling a blue taildancer (about 10-15 feet down) and a purple deep taildancer (about 15-20 feet down). There are three deep holes on Alpine that get about 60-65 feet deep. As we trolled near the south hole, I got a strike on the purple deep taildancer. The fish put up a good fight. It was a 24 lake trout. We took some pictures and invited the fish to join us for dinner.
We trolled the rest of the way home without catching anything.
We cooked the fish over an open fire. We left the skin on and just cooked it skin-side-down. We call this "Fish on the half shell". The trout had orange flesh like a salmon. It was absolutely the best fish I have ever had!
We relax with another cigar and some more port. 
We woke to a very nice, clear morning. We had a fruit smoothie for a quick breakfast.
We packed up quickly and headed out to the tow boat.
The portage to Red Rock was even easier now that we eliminated some of our stuff. We fished a bit in Red Rock and checked out our campsite from last year.
We got to the portage to Saganaga around 10:45. Danielle arrived about the same time. She made quick work loading our stuff and we were on our way back out.
We took a quick shower at Seagull and thanked Deb for her very professional outfit. We had a nice burger at the Trail Center Lodge. The budger was char broiled and especially good.
Then, we started driving. I dropped my dad off and got home around midnight. It was a long day but worth it for another day on the water...
We woke to a very nice, clear morning. We had a fruit smoothie for a quick breakfast.
We packed up quickly and headed out to the tow boat.
The portage to Red Rock was even easier now that we eliminated some of our stuff. We fished a bit in Red Rock and checked out our campsite from last year.
We got to the portage to Saganaga around 10:45. Danielle arrived about the same time. She made quick work loading our stuff and we were on our way back out.
We took a quick shower at Seagull and thanked Deb for her very professional outfit. We had a nice burger at the Trail Center Lodge. The budger was char broiled and especially good.
Then, we started driving. I dropped my dad off and got home around midnight. It was a long day but worth it for another day on the water...