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BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog

April 23 2024

Entry Point 26 - Wood Lake

Wood Lake entry point allows overnight paddle only. This entry point is supported by Kawishiwi Ranger Station near the city of Ely, MN. The distance from ranger station to entry point is 13 miles. Access to Wood Lake is a 180-rod portage. This area was affected by blowdown in 1999.

Number of Permits per Day: 2
Elevation: 1361 feet
Latitude: 47.9691
Longitude: -91.6001
Wood Lake - 26

Knife Lake Smallies

by DrizzyDrew
Trip Report

Entry Date: June 23, 2019
Entry Point: Moose Lake
Number of Days: 6
Group Size: 4

Trip Introduction:
Myself and 3 good buddies spent a week on Knife Lake in search of BIG smallies.

Report


Our trip started out wet, verrrrry wet. Early Sunday morning we took a tow from Latourelle's up to Indian portage and paddled/portaged to Knife lake in a steady, cold rain. From Indian portage the trip took us 2.5 hours to the entrance of Knife Lake. There were several campsites in the South Arm that I was targeting for us, given the proximity to several fishing areas I wanted to hit. However, we ended up base camping at a site just west of Thunder Point as the rain mercifully stopped for a short period and we were able to set up camp before it started raining again. [paragraph break] The first two days were very rainy and cold. We spent most of our time trying to stay dry and fishing main lake structure without great success. The 3rd, 4th and 5th days were AFRICA hot with clear skies and strong winds. We traveled to the South Arm and fished several bays and whacked a bunch of fat, prespawn smallies. Biggest for us was right at 20 inches and full of eggs. We had 3 others between 18 and 19 inches. 

On prior trips, we've gone up in August and I was surprised at how shallow they were this year in late June. I had initially assumed they'd be post spawn or moving into their summer spots. All my fish were caught on ned rigs and a topwater popper. It was real cool watching them slam top water!