I moved to Minneapolis about a year ago from Wisconsin, where my dad and I did a lot of bass fishing from a canoe growing up. I’m thinking about planning a trip for his birthday which is in the fall, so I’m thinking early/mid September, when the fishing starts to pick back up? I think 2-3 full days of fishing with time for travel/set up/take down on the outside would be ideal.

I know specific questions are probably easier to address, but I’ve doen some research, and there are so many options I’m not sure how to start planning without knowing where we’d want to go first, so any advice to get me pointed to places to look into would be really appreciated!

Neither of us are very experienced campers, but we’re not averse to it either (just generally spent trips in cabins or trailers). I’d expect we’d want to establish a base camp and would love some options to fish different places/portage from one to another. We should be able to handle carrying our canoe for short distances, but he’s not as young as he once was, so I’d prefer to keep carrying time to 10-15 minutes.

Less busy areas would be great, but I’m sure we’d be able to find some isolated areas once we get on the water, so we don’t need to be off the map.

I appreciate any advice more experienced people may have! Thanks!

You could head up to Sawbill Lake. There you could just camp in the National Forest campground and do day-trips. Or if you wanted to try out an over night in the BWCA, you could head west to Alton Lake. Or north to the Burnt, Smoke, and Flame lakes. From there you could fish all 3 of those lakes. Either of these options would be very easy portages and give you a good sample of a BWCA trip.

A couple options come to mind, with good smallmouth fishing a prerequisite:

Enter at Slim lake out of Ely. There is a portage of about 100 rods but it is about as easy as a portage can get, nice flat trail. There are 3 campsites on Slim, all pretty good. The middle one is the best. Very good smallie fishing. Also a shot at some walleye. There are daytrips to be had on the smaller lakes beyond as well (Rice, Hook and Keneu) as well as a few more campsites. Very easy trip.

Homer Lake entry point. Canoe across Homer and actually enter the BWCA about 3/4 of the way across. There are a couple sites outside of the BWCA on Homer and one inside. But I would take the two north portages over to Vern Lake, both very short and easy, the worst thing is you could encounter a little mud on the first one. Two campsites on Vern, both good. The one on the north shore is a very nice site and right across the lake from the mouth of the Vern River which would be a really nice daytrip adventure for you. Excellent fishing for walleyes and smallmouth in both the lake and the river.

Here is a trip report from that area:

Homer to Vern, smallie heaven

A third option involves 4 portages but all pretty short and easy. Enter at Lizz Lake(gorgeous lake) after crossing Poplar. Portage into Caribou and then west to Meeds Lake. There is a pretty little river like paddle between two short portages and then you are into Meeds. Three campsites to choose from. The second island site is very nice and we caught a lot of fish from shore. Very good fishing for smallies and some walleyes too. Wouldn't be all bad to stay on Caribou either, a little busier but some nice campsites and good fishing. Then you could daytrip to Meeds.

For fishing, scenery, daytrip options and ease of entry, Homer might be your best bet although the others would be good too. Have fun.

What I have found is that the time you are going is not prime for fishing, at least I have not had much of luck then. That being said, its's a great time of year. cooler weather, no bugs and fewer crowds.

If your top priority is catching smallmouth, the best time to go is late June, early July. The best method I have found is leaches on a slip bobber. A good trip would be to hook up with one of the outfitters that can tow the canoe up to one of the border lakes, fish there for a couple days, then have them pick you up at an assigned time. You can also rent from them a sat phone in case of emergencies, etc. Pick a nice campsite, paddle into one of the many coves and look for a rocky shoreline (bowling ball size rocks) and other structure. My son and his friends went last year to Knife Lake in the first week of July and the fish they caught were unbelievable. Don't forget to hit the lily pads for northern pike, they caught a bunch of them as well.