My family & I are planning another BW trip this year & are entertaining Basswood (this will be a fishing focused trip). Some in our group are concerned that the lake is also a motor lake. Question: is the lake packed with boaters where are allowed, or do they keep the # within reason? Thanks!

Just packed with boaters.
Loud motors.
Big wakes.
Seek peace elsewhere

You could camp/fish in large areas of the lake that don't allow boats

Thanks for the response. Where does the canoe only portions of the lake start exactly?

IowaGuy55: "Thanks for the response. Where does the canoe only portions of the lake start exactly? "

On the western side (fall lake entry) motors can be anywhere on pipestone bay or jackfish bay, no motors past the northern edge of jackfish.

On the Easter side (moose lake entry) motors can’t go north of north of Washington island.

Those are rough ideas, you have to look at a map to see the exact boundaries.

If you’re worried about boats you can get a tow to the edge of the motor area and proceed via canoe from there. As mentioned above there is a LOT of basswood that is paddle only. They keep the permit numbers for motors reasonably limited, but a good chunk of the traffic is from outfitters towing customers to the motor boundary. They are trying to get from point to point as quickly as possible a d there are a lot of them.

A friend and I camped on Pipestone Bay a few years ago and did not find the motor traffic to be especially bothersome. It would have been mid June. We did see and hear boats in the morning and again in the late afternoon. They are mostly fisherman and from what we saw most were going further north. There were a few boats doing canoe shuttles, again mostly in the morning and late afternoon.

I've camped on Hanson Island and the north end of Pipestone Bay and motor boats weren't an issue.

Captn Tony: "I've camped on Hanson Island and the north end of Pipestone Bay and motor boats weren't an issue."

You get in the travel routes of motors to and from Basswood can get extremely noisey and sometimes dangerous with wakes from boats. Yes everyone has a difference tolerance level for motor boats-you just have to determine yours. Get of the main route of travel it many not be too bad.

i was in that area in 2019...we didn't go to basswood because of the motors but instead chose EP26 Wood Lake over July 4.

We spent a couple days on Wood...its a sporty portage in...caught a ton of fish. We caught really nice smallies on Wood. The biggest I estimated at 6 pounds. The walleye were plentiful, no real big ones but really nice healthy fish. Hooked one big northern but my daughter panicked and pointed the rod tip at the fish instead of setting the hook.

The best campsite for us was the one on the way to the Hula portage. We stayed at the one at the narrows and it was muggy, buggy, and miserable. It was fun though...we had turtles take over the site for egg laying and we all got a kick out of that. I mean...dozens...and they didn't care that we were there.

We spent a few days on Good Lake...the high campsite was like outdoor air conditioning. If I was gonna buy a campsite, it would be that one. The portage from Hula was shorter than on into Wood but it was a hillclimb. The fishing was tougher but the fish we caught were nice...a 5 or 6 pound largemouth and a similar walleye. We caught some eater size smallies but the fishing was not as good Wood.

You can paddle or portage from Good to Basswood. We started paddling to Basswood one day but the boggy bugginess kinda sapped my daughter's enthusiasm when we hit a beaver dam.

If you want solitude, I think this is a good choice. The difficult portages keep the traffic down for sure.

Yeah, as mentioned pull out a paper map and it'll be labeled usually. But yeah the boats can't go north of the narrow pinch point on Jackfish Bay. And they can't go west of what was already described.

Pinetree: "

Captn Tony: "I've camped on Hanson Island and the north end of Pipestone Bay and motor boats weren't an issue."

You get in the travel routes of motors to and from Basswood can get extremely noisey and sometimes dangerous with wakes from boats. Yes everyone has a difference tolerance level for motor boats-you just have to determine yours. Get of the main route of travel it many not be too bad. "

Good comments. While my canoe trips have been via Sawbill or Gunflint, I have been on 13 consecutive DM trips going to Basswood via PP. I have talked with many canoe parties going in and out through LaTourells at EP 25. If you are heavily into fishing, camping in Pipestone, Jackfish or motor free areas in East side near American Point are well worth it. Walleye fishing is outstanding and everywhere in Basswood has good bass and NP. The only heavy motor traffic in Basswood near nice camp sites is East area along south shore of Bayley Bay and west from there toward Wind Bay, Frog Bay and in toward Hoist Bay. A few motors come into play in Back Pipestone Jackfish but I have never heard any fishing oriented canoeists complain about those areas. Just avoid the island sites near Washington or the nice point site in Wind Bay if you don't like motors (and walleye fishing in these areas is tough for canoeists anyway).

To shay

I spent most of my Basswood time on the East side.
Wish I could have spent more time on Pipestone and jackfish.

Leave that big water for boats

Directly Southeast of Basswood is Wind Lake. No motors. Go into the bay to the Northeast of the lake. Giant smallmouth and enough Northern to satisfy any fisherman except if Walleye is what you seek, Wind lake not too good for Walleye. Also be aware of HUGE and i mean HUUUUUUGE snapping turtles in that lake. I gill hooked a Pike that was about 20 inches or so there last year and as I tried to revive him, he slipped out of my hands and sank to bottom. Well, we moved on and about 5 mins later I heard a splash and a snapper had breached the surface with the thing in it's mouth. Crazy. But that bay has some of the best fishing in the area. Caught a 26 inch smallie last year.

26 inch smallie...OH MY. Pictures?

yogi59weedr: "26 inch smallie...OH MY. Pictures?"

The world record......11lb 15 oz was 27 inches.
I suspect a 26 would have been a state record in Minnesota.

A 24 incher could be state record of 8#. A 25 incher would definitely be there, unless thin. A 26inch would be well over, and if healthy should weigh over 10#. You may have caught a new world record, and most definitely shattered the MN record which has stood for 80 years...IF you are telling the truth. ;)

Haha I'm wondering the same thing. Even a miss-hit on the keys...on a number pad that's still like you were aiming for the 2, 3, or 5 making it a 22, 23, or 25. All still very large. A 26? Hmm....

I did get one 22.8-23.0 inches up the Gunflint I measured her. Lets question it if you want but don't chase a newcomer away from this board. he was trying to be very helpful.

I wanted to be sure to thank everyone for the great feedback. Only a few more months to go :-)

Making my 5th trip to basswood later this August. Usually stay in pipestone or jackfish bay . Never have problems with boaters . In all my trips to that side I have only encountered 2 boats. 1 of which was a ranger . I suppose it all depends on the time of year you go out . I'm always out in mid August- early September.