New to the site and first post. I’ll be going to Basswood the 1st week of June for my 3rd BWCA trip. Spent the last 2 trips looking for crappie and gills, but only found a couple gills. Haven’t seen a post on the subject the past couple years, but most old ones referenced Hoist Bay and Back Bay. Does anyone have any suggestions or experience pan fishing on Basswood? Any tips are greatly appreciated!

Welcome to the board. First Post!!

I too am interested in panfish in the BWCA... don't have any info or tips, but I'll watch for replies.

Welcome!
I too am interested in a response.

I have caught some giant crappies on Pipestone Bay, but it was complete luck. I was on a mid-october trip looking for walleyes and caught them (along with smallmouth bass, walleyes, rock bass and even a few bluegills) in the evening, right before sundown, in about 15' of water along a windblown point. We were vertical jigging right under the boat with a simple jig and minnow, marking fish about 5' off bottom. We caught one after another until we couldn't feel our fingers and had to get back to camp to warm up.

In general, crappies are really tough to find in the BWCA, but they are in many of the lakes. Without a sonar, it might be near impossible to find them. The largest crappie I have ever seen was caught on Agnes Lake trolling a floating rapala in the middle of the day in July.

Where I grew up in central MN, we would search for slow-moving schools of crappies out over deep basins-once we found them, we could park on top of them and catch one after another. In the bwca, I have noticed that they behave different (which is what makes them tough to find and catch). Some I have been able to find actually behave like trout, where they move around in groups of 2-4 and are super aggressive, hitting jigs with wax worms, minnows, or even rapalas like the one my buddy caught on Agnes.

Unless you are looking for them right after ice-out when they will be staging near weed beds to spawn, your best bet is probably to cruise the lake with a sonar and don't start fishing until you mark suspended fish over deeper water.

Captn Tony: "Welcome!
I too am interested in a response."

I’ve tried some down trees on the shoreline because I know crappie relate to wood and structure on other lakes I’ve fished but didn’t have much luck on Basswood. Has anyone had luck in the tall cabbage in hoist bay or on the shorelines of back bay?

PanfishPete: "I’ve tried some down trees on the shoreline because I know crappie relate to wood and structure on other lakes I’ve fished but didn’t have much luck on Basswood. Has anyone had luck in the tall cabbage in hoist bay or on the shorelines of back bay?"

We go every year to Basswood (day use motor) in mid June and while we don't panfish, it is easy to find big bluegills near shallow openings in flat weedy areas (we see them when targeting largemouth). Basically they are located where it is more difficult for large NP to maneuver. Everyone asks about crappies but supposedly the guides working out of Moose Lake won't target them until they school in the fall. I have caught a couple on small jig with Gulp leech thinking I had a walleye. Like everything else in Basswood, they grow well.