Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

BWCA Bucket List Trip
by Micanthropyre

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 06/01/2025
Entry & Exit Point: Moose Lake (EP 25)
Number of Days: 7
Group Size: 4
Day 5 of 7
Thursday, June 05, 2025

It turns out we are super slow at breaking camp, but our plan allowed us to take a pretty leisurely pace. We did want to get down towards the west end of Knife around noon to start looking for a site to ensure we found one, so we travelled out via Bonnie this morning. Once on Knife, the trolling spoon went over the side of the boat and we headed west. After a couple of miles on Knife we paused behind an island to eat a snack and cast around. A few casts in and BAM - fish on. I brought a nice trout to the boat, and finished off my trip-wide BWCA Grand Slam! On the stringer he went, and we headed further west and picked up Campsite 1249, which was a pretty decent site. After dropping off our stuff, it was back out to try and catch the rest of dinner if we could. A nice smallie went on the stringer despite some tougher fishing, and after a while I saw a nice walleye floating right between the boat. I dropped my jig down, and the canoe drifted to obscure the fish but he almost instantly took it and we had our third species on the stringer! It was getting close to time to start up dinner, and a last cast near the campsite yielded me a decent little pike - giving me a BWCA Grand Slam all in one day! Overall I caught only 6 fish all day, but managed to luck in to the slam anyway. We landed the canoes and got to work filleting up the four fish for a nice big meal. A pretty leisurely day, but one that at least for me was incredibly exciting.