Anyone ever been here? Been thinking about bashwacking back to tote from Swan. Just interested if anyone else has done the same and what fish are there. It would be fun to explore but some insight into species would be awesome.

Thanks,
Andy

I haven't been there, but, what I have done in the past is check with the local fisheries field office, usually they are more than willing to provide any information they may have or give you ideas based on other lakes in the area. If you do make it to Tote and fish, they are always interested in any sort of report you can provide. In this case I think the field office would be grandmarais.fisheries@state.mn.us

I went with my uncle about 35 years ago. He loved sniffing out fishing spots and didn't mind bushwhacking to do it. If he heard of a remote beaver pond that might hold some Brookies, he'd find his way in there. His thinking on Tote was that if he worked for the DNR fisheries, Tote was good looking lake to secretly drop some fingerling specs. So, we went. It was a day trip in his 15' Grumman. The paddle from Bower Trout to Swan was very pleasant. The bushwhack--not so much. My uncle had a motor bracket bolted onto the stern. I was carrying the canoe and seemed to catch every sapling with that thing. We bumped into a low boggy area that we needed to walk around and then struggled a bit to find the lake. I was getting pretty tired lugging the canoe around and then caught something stout with the bracket, which pulled the yoke off my shoulder and thumped the canoe off my head. We left the canoe there and continued with rods. We tossed some spinners but it was difficult to fish that way, as the lake was shallow and weedy near shore. I remember catching a few bass on the way out.

Fun day. Memorable day. I miss that guy.