Hello! I am going on my first BWCA lake trout trip next week, and primarily want to target numbers. If the fishing is good, I want to switch to trying to catch some big ones.
I plan on fishing Bat, West Fern-Powell-Peter, Kekekabic and Kek, Little Sag, and Tuscarora.
Any hints on what baits to use, trolling or jigging?
Any good shore spots to fish?
My biggest lake trout to date is 14lbs, and I wouldn't mind getting a PB.

I think you’re gonna have to look outside the BW for a realistic shot at beating 15lbs. I consider 10-12 lb to be a really nice Bwca laker today. Maybe different 30 years ago. It just takes them so long to grow. My 2 cents anyway. Not saying it can’t be done, I’m sure there is a 15 pounder hiding out there somewhere!

As for tactics and baits. This topic gets covered fairly in depth here several times a year. I think you’ll find what you’re looking for just by scrolling through a few pages of most recent threads. Lots of good info here!

Have a great trip and let us know how you do!

Sounds like it's been warmer than usual up there which means your shore fishing spots are getting pretty limited I'd guess.

i agree with GG , a #14 maybe difficult to beat , You said you might go to Kek , good numbers lake but for a trophy your very close to Knife lake ,
Baits ? Plittle would say put on your biggest spoon !

Thanks all!

I’ll be up there 6/6-6/14. Starting on Knife, and moving to Kekekabic probably mid week depending on the weather and fishing. Two guys in a dull yellow Q17. Stop us if you see us and we can discuss what’s working.

Wables: "I’ll be up there 6/6-6/14. Starting on Knife, and moving to Kekekabic probably mid week depending on the weather and fishing. Two guys in a dull yellow Q17. Stop us if you see us and we can discuss what’s working. "

Will be up there entering EP25 on the same day in a MN3! Heading to Cherry so we may not run into you but I'm sure we'll be running into other people. Lotta permits taken for EP25 on Friday and Saturday! Weather is looking nice, still a bit far out, but I've got my fingers crossed. I'm hoping to break my PB laker of 28 inches in the Knife area, and I think it's doable, but it will take a lot of time. Thankfully we have some good electronics coming along and a renewed desire to go out fishing more often than we normally do in search of some biggins. If that fails we'll just smallie fish. :) Based on the weather reports from other folks, I'm thinking the bass bite will be REALLY on for at least a few days of the trip. Hoping for topwater heaven! See you out there!

jdoutdoors: "

Wables: "I’ll be up there 6/6-6/14. Starting on Knife, and moving to Kekekabic probably mid week depending on the weather and fishing. Two guys in a dull yellow Q17. Stop us if you see us and we can discuss what’s working. "

Will be up there entering EP25 on the same day in a MN3! Heading to Cherry so we may not run into you but I'm sure we'll be running into other people. Lotta permits taken for EP25 on Friday and Saturday! Weather is looking nice, still a bit far out, but I've got my fingers crossed. I'm hoping to break my PB laker of 28 inches in the Knife area, and I think it's doable, but it will take a lot of time. Thankfully we have some good electronics coming along and a renewed desire to go out fishing more often than we normally do in search of some biggins. If that fails we'll just smallie fish. :) Based on the weather reports from other folks, I'm thinking the bass bite will be REALLY on for at least a few days of the trip. Hoping for topwater heaven! See you out there!"

I’m not sure what to think of the weather. Highly dependent on which site I look at. Based on Recreation.gov permit data, we might be sharing a campsite! We will likely be targeting Eyes for meals early and late, and looking for Lakers during the day. Are you going through an outfitter? We are getting a LaTourells tow at 6:30 to Indian and probably grabbing the first north arm site we find after thunder point.

Wables: "I’ll be up there 6/6-6/14. Starting on Knife, and moving to Kekekabic probably mid week depending on the weather and fishing. Two guys in a dull yellow Q17. Stop us if you see us and we can discuss what’s working. "

Will do!

Wables: "

jdoutdoors: "

Wables: "I’ll be up there 6/6-6/14. Starting on Knife, and moving to Kekekabic probably mid week depending on the weather and fishing. Two guys in a dull yellow Q17. Stop us if you see us and we can discuss what’s working. "

Will be up there entering EP25 on the same day in a MN3! Heading to Cherry so we may not run into you but I'm sure we'll be running into other people. Lotta permits taken for EP25 on Friday and Saturday! Weather is looking nice, still a bit far out, but I've got my fingers crossed. I'm hoping to break my PB laker of 28 inches in the Knife area, and I think it's doable, but it will take a lot of time. Thankfully we have some good electronics coming along and a renewed desire to go out fishing more often than we normally do in search of some biggins. If that fails we'll just smallie fish. :) Based on the weather reports from other folks, I'm thinking the bass bite will be REALLY on for at least a few days of the trip. Hoping for topwater heaven! See you out there!"

I’m not sure what to think of the weather. Highly dependent on which site I look at. Based on Recreation.gov permit data, we might be sharing a campsite! We will likely be targeting Eyes for meals early and late, and looking for Lakers during the day. Are you going through an outfitter? We are getting a LaTourells tow at 6:30 to Indian and probably grabbing the first north arm site we find after thunder point. "

Going through W&H, getting a tow to the Birch portage as well as early as we can (around 7:15am). If they offered earlier, we'd take it, but unfortunately we will have to get some extra sleep. lol yeah right. Who's able to sleep the night before entry?

We will likely be somewhere on the North Arm as well if we can find something open. I'm hoping most of the EP25 entries for the weekend stay around the Ensign/Ima area and Birch/Knife area. Gotta factor in Snowbank entries too though. Yeah it's gonna be busy.... I checked permits though and another 7 or 8 permits look to have been canceled since I last checked. 4-5 permits open on Fri and Sat now.

I know I'm a bit late on my reply. I've been looking on here for years and finally got around to joining.

There are some big ones out there, not many but they are there. Our group has focused on fishing for big lake trout for the last 15 years or so.

As mentioned earlier, there is a lot of great info on this site about fishing for lakers.

How was your trip ponddigger? Did you have a chance to target any big ones?

GoWhenYouCan: "I know I'm a bit late on my reply. I've been looking on here for years and finally got around to joining.


There are some big ones out there, not many but they are there. Our group has focused on fishing for big lake trout for the last 15 years or so.


As mentioned earlier, there is a lot of great info on this site about fishing for lakers.


How was your trip ponddigger? Did you have a chance to target any big ones? "

I caught a few trout, but nothing huge. I need to work on my trolling setup, because vertical jigging on most lakes doesn't seem to get deep enough or cover water.

Trolling is a great search method. Once you find them, vertical jigging can be very effective for big trout. Use a lure in the 1 to 1 1/4 ounce range to get you down to the bottom.

I did love the chance to catch some lake trout shallower than 80-100 FoW. I think I'll just stick with trying to catch the big lakers near where I live, on Lake Geneva.

Lac LaCroix holds some very big lakers.