We finally arrived at Voyageur North at 4 am. We tried to rest in the parking lot before they opened, but we were so excited to start our trip, sleep was not in the forefront. Our minds were set on portaging to our destination and fishing as much as we could after setting up camp. We were the first group to go inside Voyageur North. We signed paperwork, got our bait, watched the BWCA video, and were off to EP 26. We followed our canoe tow to EP 26. It was surprisingly cold this year, as last year during this time it was not. Another thing that surprised us was the lack of mosquitoes, which we did not complain about at all. Our previous year, we were demolished by mosquitoes throughout our EP 4 trip, which made us think the mosquitoes were the actual state bird for MN instead of the “Loon”. :)

Once our gear was unloaded from our vehicles, we headed down the portage to Wood Lake. The portage was not as bad as expected since we cheated and watched YouTube videos on the portage to Wood Lake prior to the trip. This gave us some extra preparation before entering the BW. We took the easy route and double portaged all our gear. Our plan this year was to have a super laid-back trip and camp directly on Wood Lake. We wanted to setup a base camp and take day trips to other lakes which would include fishing our butts off. Once we hit the water, we paddled to every campsite that could accommodate our group of 6. To make a long story short, every campsite on Wood lake was occupied by other BW paddlers. While on the water, we set out for plan b, which was to camp on Good Lake. We then paddled the Rock Bottom Fishing Team to the portage from Wood to Hula. This portage was super easy, but we still double portaged to keep ourselves in good shape to fish, since we still had time to spare. We dropped into Hula and paddled the small lake to the Good lake portage.

The terrain on the Good lake portage was rough. Lots of rocks, so we had to watch our ankles. The worst thing was the elevation spikes on certain parts of the trail, but once you hit the down hills, it’s much easier on your lungs and gives you a chance to catch your breath while carrying the gear. After the portage, we loaded up into our canoes once more and paddled to the campsite to the right on Good. The portage was rough for some of us as we don’t all hike and backpack that much throughout the year. With that being said, we were ready to set up camp, hang out for a minute, and head out for an evening of fishing in this fantastic fishery. We set up camp on Good, and loved the site. Some team members have been to other sites in the BW, and some are better than others, but this one will work just fine and has its pros and cons. Since we got to camp around noon, we decided to turn our unthawed steaks into lunch and eat fish for dinner. So we started up a campfire and got to cooking our steaks. The steaks were delicious, and we joked around while cooking them. One of our team members had a 3 lb. Rib Eye that we joked about during the cooking process.

After we got our bellies full, we hit the water. We explored all of Good lake, and Good lake did not let us down by any means. The first afternoon/evening two of our group members caught their PB smallies. We also caught a bunch of PB blue gill that we decided to have for dinner. Once we got back to camp after a long evening of exploration and fishing, we settled around the campfire and enjoyed the northern lights. Almost all of our nights in the BW hit grueling temperatures of mid to high 30s. After the campfire got us warm, we then nestled up in our tents a got some rest. This first night we all heard stomping sounds around our tents, which creeped us out. We later decided it was just a jack rabbit ;).

We awoke from our cold slumber Thursday morning bright and early. Our plan was to eat protein pancakes for breakfast and then hit Indiana lake. We whipped up a bunch of protein pancakes using Kodiak Pancake mix. They were superb; this is due to us adding chocolate chips to them. After we ate, we hit the portage to Indiana lake just to the right of our campsite containing only our fishing gear, phones for pictures, and go pros. The portage to Indiana was tough due to the elevation spikes and rocky terrain but we pushed through. We then reached Indiana and I tell you what, it was a beautiful lake. The only problem was, it was very windy. The windy conditions made it difficult to fish at times but we still landed some significant catches of largies. Even though it was windy, once again another lake in the BW did not disappoint from a fishing perspective. One of our team members caught one of his PB largies on Indiana and was quite enthused with what the BW was producing for our team. After fishing Indiana, we went back to our base camp on good and had some lunch. We then fished Good the remainder of the evening. During that afternoon I hit my PB smallie which came from the shoreline of our campsite on Good lake. This was a spectacular experience for me since I was fishing from shore sitting in my camp chair, with a leech on a slip bobber. The rest of our group paddled Good and fished Good the remainder of the evening catching northern and smallies with whacky rigs. After fishing Good we cooked up more blue gills for dinner (our favorite) and watched the northern lights appear before we took on some more rest in our tents. This night was also very cold, one of the coldest nights by far, but we still managed to get some sleep.

After awakening from our cold night of slumber, we decided to hit it off on Good lake and explore the entire lake, fishing for whatever we could catch. We caught lots of smallies on whacky rigs once again. We also decided that 4 out of the 6 team members would paddle to Hoist Bay. After fishing both sides of Good lake, we set forth towards Hoist Bay. The paddle to Hoist Bay was awesome. Good creek's scenery was spectacular. We saw so much wildlife including loons, cranes, and several bald eagles flying around the bay. It was absolutely beautiful and did not disappoint. We slayed smallies, largies, perch, and blue gill by the pilons in Hoist Bay. It was indeed amazing. After catching our fair share of Blue gills, we loaded up our stringers and set forth back to base camp to enjoy a wonderful blue gill fish fry for the night. We deep fried the blue gill in our jet boil and frying pan using cajun shore lunch. And filled our bellies before another night of sleeping in the cold.

The next morning, 4 of our team members stayed at the base camp for a relaxing day of solitude. As the other 2 members set off for another day at Hoist Bay, they woke up at 5AM and were paddling by 6 AM. Once again, Hoist Bay did not disappoint; the other 2 team members caught their share of smallies and northern. That same day we had a connection on Wood lake that stated a campsite was open on Wood. So we decided to pack our things up on Good lake at 2:45PM and make our 2-1/2 hour journey back to Wood Lake. We said our goodbyes to Good lake and thanked the lake for the excellent fishing experience. We arrived back at Wood for one last night within the BW before our departure. We cooked the rest of our packaged food and enjoyed more of the wildlife on Wood that night. There was a snapping turtle at our camp enjoying the crawfish in the water. There were thousands of them; now we know why the snapping turtles get so big within the BW. :)

On the day of our departure, we woke up at 5AM and took down our belongings and packed up camp. We then paddled back to the portage at Wood and portaged back to our vehicles. Once in the car, I played "Over Now" by Alice and Chains, hence the trip being over with, we all had a good laugh at that and enjoyed the drive back to Voyageur North. Once at Voyageur North we took our showers and drank our beers during the shower. This shower was much needed after all the portaging we did. We then departed and endured the grueling 7.5 hour drive back home to our families. Thanks to the BW and Voyageur North for another fantastic time in the BWCA!

Please enjoy the pictures of our trip below!!!