Just got back from a 9 day trip up from EP25 through NAK to Cherry to SAK and back out through Knife. Wanted to do more fishing than we did but weather and energy levels meant we only went out in the canoe twice (thrice?), but I did as much shore fishing as I could.

Shore fishing on the southwestern Cherry site yielded nothing but little smallies, with the biggest maybe going 14 inches. Caught most of them on a leech+sinker+slip bobber ("TGO rig") but I did get one on a black curly tail grub in place of the leech while very slowly swimming it, and one on a RaZor ShadZ in Redbone (weightless, 1/0 hook) with a very slow jerkbait cadence (1-2 jerks and long pause). Oh, and I did catch one 8-10 inch laker on a 1/8oz black marabou jig (?!?). We did fish Lake of the Clouds but had no bites - still a beautiful lake on a great day.

Had an absolute blast with smallies on SAK. Water temps on the east end of SAK were between 60-63F with 60F in shaded bays and 63F in sunny bays and on parts of the main lake. Everything was clearly prespawn. Saw fish on beds but it seemed like they were still willing to chase, though I couldn't verify it when in the canoe casting toward shore. Caught most on a popper with some coming on a Megabass V9 spinnerbait in the Bluegill color.

Caught my new personal best smallmouth, 4 pounds on the nose, 20.5 inches, using a Shadow Rap Shad Deep jerkbait in the Tropic Ice color, from shore at our SAK campsite, which was my best fish of the trip. About 5 minutes later my friend caught his new personal best northern pike at 33 inches and ~8.5 pounds, from shore, using a jerkbait, maybe white and red? I don't remember the color. Awesome fish and heart-pounding experience. My friend and I saw it jump almost 2 feet out of the water and shouted "OH CRAP" and I sprinted up the rocky campsite in what felt like Matrix bullet-time to grab the net and camera. Those 10 minutes from my catch to his catch made for an extremely memorable fishing experience.

2 days after breaking my PB, we visited Eddy Falls and went fishing afterwards, mostly banging the bank near points and dropoffs, with plenty of boulders around, and I caught maybe a dozen smallies on a Rebel Pop-R in the silver/black color, with swapped out #6 hooks (Gamakatsu Bronze Round Bend in front, Owner Tournament Trailer Feathered Treble in white/red on the back). I saw 2 bass spit up some silver looking fish, possibly cisco, so I went for silver and stuck it out. It was one of my most fun fishing days in a long time, just an absolute blast. I got only 1-2 blowups, with most fish just sucking the popper off the surface. I would make 2-4 pops with a nice deep bloop and a couple little ones, obviously mixing it up, leaving 1-3 sec in between pops, just to attract fish, and then let it sit for 10-30 seconds, and then the popper would disappear and I set the hook. Caught some really nice fish this way with a couple 2 to 2.5 pounders near the end of the day, off of points and shallow areas between islands. Letting the popper sit undisturbed was really important to the technique - I never got any hits while popping the lure.

With the warmer weather in the forecast for this week, I'd expect water to warm up quickly into the mid-60s, and more fish to start bedding if they weren't already, and I'd expect more fish to lock onto beds, resulting in less chasing. Suspending jerkbaits may be productive as you can pause them near a bed where the fish may lash out at them. Good luck with bottom contact though, considering the high chances of snags - a football jig would probably be best. Fish were hitting moving baits though so I'd continue to throw a spinnerbait and possibly a lipless crank, which my friend used a lot and caught some fish on. I personally had no luck with a lipless and mostly stuck to the spinnerbait, jerkbait, and popper.

We caught no walleye on this trip which was a bit of a surprise and a bummer - would have expected one from the Eddy Falls outflow but we got no hits there. Caught a little ~14" laker while trolling from SAK to west Knife on a deep diving sparkly translucent white crankbait but otherwise no lakers besides the baby one on Cherry. No pike either besides the big one from our campsite, though we had some follows.

All in all, I was pretty satisfied with the fishing considering smallmouth are a blast to catch and we fried up a few males (no giant belly is how I judge it in the spring). Would have been nice to catch a few walleyes or lakers for dinner. I suspect they were all on the move chasing bait around. Walleyes were probably hanging around near slightly deeper weed edges in 8-15 feet, but weeds were pretty uncommon in SAK (and Cherry) from what we saw, so I'm not too surprised that we didn't run into them. I didn't mark lots of fish when moving around SAK, but the ones I did were either on bottom in 50 feet, or suspended around 20 feet in 25-50 feet of water, by themselves. No schools of any decent size fish though I think I did spot a school of panfish (perch/crappie?) in a bay.

I hope this helps anyone going in soon! Tight lines.

A plump cake of generous details with a frosting of your pure love of fishing!

missmolly: "A plump cake of generous details with a frosting of your pure love of fishing! "

I sure do love it :) Thanks Miss Molly. When all the variables come together in your favor and you play your cards right, it can be way too much fun. So rewarding when you get it right.

Going through a little GoPro footage... here's some pictures of that 4 pound smallie I caught from shore. Just a straight up chunk!

nice report , ^^^ nice smally , love the markings on that fish !

I was hoping you'd have a photo of your smallie. It looks heavier than four pounds, which is weird for me to write, as I think many fish look lighter than their claimed weight.

Thank you for write up joutdoors! My family & I are heading into SAKL this weekend for an 8 day trip. Can't wait to explore it & the surrounding lakes. That smally is a butterball! Hope we can get into a few of those.

IowaGuy55: "Thank you for write up joutdoors! My family & I are heading into SAKL this weekend for an 8 day trip. Can't wait to explore it & the surrounding lakes. That smally is a butterball! Hope we can get into a few of those. "

Happy to help!! Best of luck!

missmolly: "I was hoping you'd have a photo of your smallie. It looks heavier than four pounds, which is weird for me to write, as I think many fish look lighter than their claimed weight. "

i was thinking the same thing , Usually it's the opposite ;)

shock: "

missmolly: "I was hoping you'd have a photo of your smallie. It looks heavier than four pounds, which is weird for me to write, as I think many fish look lighter than their claimed weight. "

i was thinking the same thing , Usually it's the opposite ;)"

I'm thinking his scale was a little off. This chart says that a typical 20.5 inch smallmouth weighs four pounds, three ounces, but JD's fish looks both deeper and fatter than average.

How were the crowds or lack thereof on your trip? I'd imagine that given the current circumstances, that area might be pretty full. Were campsites scarce?

missmolly: "

shock: "

missmolly: "I was hoping you'd have a photo of your smallie. It looks heavier than four pounds, which is weird for me to write, as I think many fish look lighter than their claimed weight. "

i was thinking the same thing , Usually it's the opposite ;)"

I'm thinking his scale was a little off. This chart says that a typical 20.5 inch smallmouth weighs four pounds, three ounces, but JD's fish looks both deeper and fatter than average. "

I honestly agree that it looks like a 4.5 pounder in the photo, but my scale accurately measures a 5kg/11lb weight that I have within 1oz or so. It is possible it got damaged while in my daypack... I can test it out tomorrow and weigh the same weight and see if it is still accurate.

HighnDry: "How were the crowds or lack thereof on your trip? I'd imagine that given the current circumstances, that area might be pretty full. Were campsites scarce?"

We saw almost no one on the way up through NAK, got the popular(ish) site we wanted, got a site on Cherry and are pretty sure the narrows one was empty as well when we got there (when meeting some folks the next day who said they just got there). SAK was a little busy on the east end with the first 2 campsites on the northeast end being taken by larger groups, but we got the nice bay site that's close to another one that isn't so nice. Saw some groups on SAK far off, but only encountered 2, 1 at Eddy Falls as we were leaving and 1 while fishing. When we got to the west side of Knife on the 13th though, we saw 8 or so canoes around the lake looking for sites and fishing. We stopped for lunch just short of the site we wanted (at my friends' request), only to have 4 canoes pass us over a span of 20 mins, then we went to the site we wanted and found it had just been taken by people unloading their gear, so we turned around to go back to the lunch site we stopped at, only to find a group pulling their canoe up into the site. Needless to say we were upset and we ended up going all the way to Carp and stayed at the site there, which was not how I wanted to spend my final night in the BWCA (and last night in the Knife area for probably the next 2 years) but sometimes crap happens. Just gotta roll with it. Saw probably 6-8 groups the next day on our way out, some going in, some going out. Definitely seemed a lot busier than when we went in on the 6th.

jdoutdoors: "

missmolly: "

shock: "

missmolly: "I was hoping you'd have a photo of your smallie. It looks heavier than four pounds, which is weird for me to write, as I think many fish look lighter than their claimed weight. "

i was thinking the same thing , Usually it's the opposite ;)"

I'm thinking his scale was a little off. This chart says that a typical 20.5 inch smallmouth weighs four pounds, three ounces, but JD's fish looks both deeper and fatter than average. "

I honestly agree that it looks like a 4.5 pounder in the photo, but my scale accurately measures a 5kg/11lb weight that I have within 1oz or so. It is possible it got damaged while in my daypack... I can test it out tomorrow and weigh the same weight and see if it is still accurate."

This is a rare moment, when two strangers are arguing your fish looks bigger than you claimed! It usually goes the other way.

If your scale is still accurate, I will then argue that your fish sucked on a helium balloon right before you caught him. Humans suck helium from time to time, so perhaps fish do too.

missmolly: "

jdoutdoors: "

missmolly: "

shock: "

missmolly: "I was hoping you'd have a photo of your smallie. It looks heavier than four pounds, which is weird for me to write, as I think many fish look lighter than their claimed weight. "

i was thinking the same thing , Usually it's the opposite ;)"

I'm thinking his scale was a little off. This chart says that a typical 20.5 inch smallmouth weighs four pounds, three ounces, but JD's fish looks both deeper and fatter than average. "

I honestly agree that it looks like a 4.5 pounder in the photo, but my scale accurately measures a 5kg/11lb weight that I have within 1oz or so. It is possible it got damaged while in my daypack... I can test it out tomorrow and weigh the same weight and see if it is still accurate."

This is a rare moment, when two strangers are arguing your fish looks bigger than you claimed! It usually goes the other way.


If your scale is still accurate, I will then argue that your fish sucked on a helium balloon right before you caught him. Humans suck helium from time to time, so perhaps fish do too."

Ha! I was thinking the same... it's almost always the other way around. I tested the scale today and my 5kg weight measured at 11.1lbs. I don't know if my weight is EXACTLY 5kg (11.0231lbs) but it seems darn close! So, I'm inclined to think my fish was pretty close to 4lbs but darn if it doesn't seem to have a bigger gut than that! I'll have to try and break this PB again in the fall, hoping for a 5er... we'll see. :)

"TASTE GREAT - LESS FILLING" OOPS wrong argument .
most digital scales are very accurate these days , i've checked mine against certified scales at bait shop and always within an ounce maybe 2oz.
yes a lot of nice smallies in the SAK. (not to high jack your thread)
this one was 21" and #4-15 from the SAK.
did you get a chance to stop by toe lake ? some beautiful smallies in there as well , 2nd & 3rd pic.

Didn't make it to Toe but it was on the potential day trip list! If we'd had less wind we may have given it a shot, but the smallie fishing in SAK was good enough for me, and we were still hoping for a walleye or laker as well. Your Toe smallies are some nice fish for sure though! I was honestly surprised at the average size on SAK, probably 15" taking the occasional squeaker into account. On Cherry we had nothing but little guys the whole time so it was nice to get into some good ones. :)

^^^

Okay, JD, if the scale works and bass don't have access to helium, I'm now wondering if you're slightly over two feet tall, making that bass seem proportionately huge. ;-)

missmolly: "Okay, JD, if the scale works and bass don't have access to helium, I'm now wondering if you're slightly over two feet tall, making that bass seem proportionately huge. ;-)"

Ha!! I am only average height but you may notice that, yes, my arms are extended a good bit, to get the fish closer to the camera. I have had some experiences where people held the camera too far away and wanted to make sure I got the fish to fill a decent part of the frame. Still, compared to the size of my hands (which are also average sized) it was a good sized fish. The scale seems accurate but if anything is less accurate, it is probably the length. We didn't lay her on the ground to measure as I don't like to rub off the fish's slime layer, so we measured her while I lipped her. She was probably a little shorter than 20.5" but not by too much.

I keep looking at the pictures... what a great fish. Gonna be hard to top it for a while!

jdoutdoors: "

missmolly: "Okay, JD, if the scale works and bass don't have access to helium, I'm now wondering if you're slightly over two feet tall, making that bass seem proportionately huge. ;-)"

Ha!! I am only average height but you may notice that, yes, my arms are extended a good bit, to get the fish closer to the camera. I have had some experiences where people held the camera too far away and wanted to make sure I got the fish to fill a decent part of the frame. Still, compared to the size of my hands (which are also average sized) it was a good sized fish. The scale seems accurate but if anything is less accurate, it is probably the length. We didn't lay her on the ground to measure as I don't like to rub off the fish's slime layer, so we measured her while I lipped her. She was probably a little shorter than 20.5" but not by too much.


I keep looking at the pictures... what a great fish. Gonna be hard to top it for a while!"

What a great fish indeed!

I got to Knife Lake on the 10th, I believe. The "rainy Wednesday, why are you so stupid to travel today?" day. I came in from the border, the bay with campsite 1464 at the North end. This was probably 12:30 to 1:00. There are 5 sites in that bay, and all were taken, so I had to portage into SAK, and found a site there. There were a lot of people! But, the real reason I am posting was that I saw a guy with a huge smallie on his stringer, and I asked him if I could measure it. He let me, and it measured 19 inches on the nose, and was exactly 4 lbs on my scale. That thing didn't even look like a smallmouth anymore. It was so thick, but didn't appear to be full of eggs. I have caught a 19.5" smallmouth, and it wasn't even close to this one, so just like people, length and weight are not directly related.

gymcoachdon: "I got to Knife Lake on the 10th, I believe. The "rainy Wednesday, why are you so stupid to travel today?" day. I came in from the border, the bay with campsite 1464 at the North end. This was probably 12:30 to 1:00. There are 5 sites in that bay, and all were taken, so I had to portage into SAK, and found a site there. There were a lot of people! But, the real reason I am posting was that I saw a guy with a huge smallie on his stringer, and I asked him if I could measure it. He let me, and it measured 19 inches on the nose, and was exactly 4 lbs on my scale. That thing didn't even look like a smallmouth anymore. It was so thick, but didn't appear to be full of eggs. I have caught a 19.5" smallmouth, and it wasn't even close to this one, so just like people, length and weight are not directly related."

most of the smallies we've caught in the SAK that were 19" were 4 pounds on the nose, basically footballs.

jdoutdoors: "Didn't make it to Toe but it was on the potential day trip list!"

Went to Toe a few years back. Found memories as it was one of the times I outfished my son. Nothing huge but caught around a dozen northerns. I really liked the lake as well. There is a cool palisade on the western shore.

CoachBigD: "

jdoutdoors: "Didn't make it to Toe but it was on the potential day trip list!"

Went to Toe a few years back. Found memories as it was one of the times I outfished my son. Nothing huge but caught around a dozen northerns. I really liked the lake as well. There is a cool palisade on the western shore."

YES Toe lake is a beautiful little lake , with only 1 campsite , a person/group can have it all to themselves , yes a lot of pike , not big but a friend of mine did pull a 38" out of TOE(kind of skinny). a#5-#8 is not out of the question. and cabbage weed right out in front of camp , pretty much a no brainer.