BWCA EP 47 First time Boundary Waters Trip Planning Forum
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mapsguy1955
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07/29/2020 10:14PM  
Hey... I'm usually a Quetico guy, but since the border is closed we are planning the BWCA. Was looking at EP 47 and wondering about fishing and some solitude in mid-September.

We are taking a week and going in as far as Omega and looping down to Winchell and back out. We have four in the group. We fish artificials only, but hopefully that is ok!

Hoping for scenic lakes and perhaps some trout and walleyes. Are there smallies there? I'm not seeing much talk of them. Any thoughts would be sincerely appreciated. We are thinking three or four campsites for the eight night trip as it doesn't seem that tough on the map and exploring would be nice.
 
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07/30/2020 07:17AM  
We did EP47 a couple of weeks ago. Caribou and Horseshoe were pretty busy but Gaskin was fairly quiet. Everything should be quieter by mid-September but my guess is you would still have traffic on the first few lakes. Either way, I can't imaging the solitude or fishing will be comparable to the Quetico.

FWIW, We caught Walleyes in Horseshoe and Smallies in Gaskin and Winchell mid-July. We caught scattered small Northerns in all three. Everything was caught trolling or throwing artificials.

I know Winchell has Lakers. Strong winds kept us from our plan of going through Hensen, Pillsbury, and up to Meeds.

One lake we went through was pretty intriguing to me was Allen. I was told it is a solid Walleye lake and it might be one you could have to yourself. Just to the south of it is Jump lake that our outfitter said has a good Smallie population. Since seeing that lake I've been thinking about trying to get back there even if just for a long weekend.

Good Luck!

Northwoodsman
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07/30/2020 08:18AM  
I have travelled that area for the past 3 trips ('17, '18, and '19) but I don't fish. It's a beautiful area in the fall. Horseshoe if known for moose and has some decent campsites. Gaskin has some nice larger campsites. Omega has a great site on the point. Winchell is best paddled west to east (prevailing wind). None of the portages are overly difficult. We always stay in the bunkhouse at Rockwood. We leave our vehicle there and paddle right from their landing over to the first portage. The past 3 years we haven't seen much traffic on these lakes in September.
tarnkt
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07/30/2020 08:15PM  
Meeds has been can’t miss for us, walleyes and smallmouth. This has been in mid/late July so I don’t know what it’s like in September. But I can confidently say there are a ton of fish in that lake.

Highly recommended for the last couple nights of your trip. All 3 campsites are great. The portage out to Poplar is not that bad, quicker than exiting through Lizz.
cyclones30
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07/30/2020 10:12PM  
Sounds like the Tumblehome guys say Winchell has big pike and some lakers.
08/02/2020 09:10AM  
Possibly a little out of your way but Vista is a beautiful lake with a great campsite and an okay site but good fishing for both walleyes and smallies. Only problem is if they are taken you probably would want to backtrack to Horseshoe. Don' even consider the third site on Vista down the long skinny arm...one of the worst in the BWCA.
 
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