EP #52 Brant Lake, 50% Chance Lake Trout & Loonlings
by fishonfishoff
Trip Type:
Paddling Canoe
Entry Date:
09/01/2012
Entry Point:
Brant Lake (EP 52)
Exit Point:
Missing Link Lake (EP 51)
Number of Days:
8
Group Size:
4
Trip Introduction:
This trip started about 15 months ago. Three adults (including myself) took 6 Boy Scouts on a 7 day loop from Mudro through Crooked and back around to Mudro. We had a great time but the decision was made to go back with adults only.
Plans began almost immediately. Over the coming months additional members were recruited and Brant Lake was chosen as the entry point for Sept 2nd. Why? 1) We wanted to try our hands at Lake Trout and Brook Trout. 2) Seeing the burned out areas from 2007 intrigued us. 3) Going over Labor Day would save us a day of vacation plus put us in the BWCA at a time away from the crowds.
Discuss Trip:
View Discussion Thread (7 messages)
Day 1 of 8
Saturday, September 01, 2012
Hours have been spent dehydrating food, researching our trip route (along with the backup route), paring down the equipment for single portaging, etc...
The min-van left our house in Ohio at 2:00 a.m. with the 4 participants in this outdoor adventure. Tom (myself), Tom (Goose), Brian (from Indiana), and Brian (B-Dub from Pennsylvania). Yes this will be the Tom x 2 and Brian x 2 show! We alternated drivers and had on 1 short break at Arby's for this 15 hour trip. Hoiday Gas station in Grand Marais beckoned our call to buy some leeches in case the trout idea was a total fiasco. Then we stopped at the Trail Center on the Gunflint Trail for our last meal in a controlled atmosphere. The food was excellant.
Arriving at Tuscarora we were greeted by Andy who was very friendly. Two Kevlar 18 1/2' canoes were prepared for Sunday's departure. Andy showed us the "spine tingling" movie and even let us take a quiz afterwards.WHAT A NICE GUY! Next he showed us a bunkhouse which was going to be our abode for this evening.
After settling in we returned to the office for advice from Andy. We went over the proposed route and fishing techniques for trout since our experience is charter boats in Lake Michigan using downriggers. When I asked him what our chances of actually catching a Lake Trout, he responded with a 50-50 chance! (This would be our motivation for the week). After questioning him on the low percentage, he remarked that he didn't know how we fished because he had never fished with us before. Laughs came out of everyone in the room!
Our group headed for the bunkhouse to quaff a few brews and dig into some of the GORP which didn't make the cut to be included in our food buckets. The day was long and sleep was easy to come by.
Hours have been spent dehydrating food, researching our trip route (along with the backup route), paring down the equipment for single portaging, etc...
The min-van left our house in Ohio at 2:00 a.m. with the 4 participants in this outdoor adventure. Tom (myself), Tom (Goose), Brian (from Indiana), and Brian (B-Dub from Pennsylvania). Yes this will be the Tom x 2 and Brian x 2 show! We alternated drivers and had on 1 short break at Arby's for this 15 hour trip. Hoiday Gas station in Grand Marais beckoned our call to buy some leeches in case the trout idea was a total fiasco. Then we stopped at the Trail Center on the Gunflint Trail for our last meal in a controlled atmosphere. The food was excellant.
Arriving at Tuscarora we were greeted by Andy who was very friendly. Two Kevlar 18 1/2' canoes were prepared for Sunday's departure. Andy showed us the "spine tingling" movie and even let us take a quiz afterwards.WHAT A NICE GUY! Next he showed us a bunkhouse which was going to be our abode for this evening.
After settling in we returned to the office for advice from Andy. We went over the proposed route and fishing techniques for trout since our experience is charter boats in Lake Michigan using downriggers. When I asked him what our chances of actually catching a Lake Trout, he responded with a 50-50 chance! (This would be our motivation for the week). After questioning him on the low percentage, he remarked that he didn't know how we fished because he had never fished with us before. Laughs came out of everyone in the room!
Our group headed for the bunkhouse to quaff a few brews and dig into some of the GORP which didn't make the cut to be included in our food buckets. The day was long and sleep was easy to come by.
Donate - BWCA.com