Is the Daniels/Duncan area going to be a zoo on January 1st? I've never fished the opener and am thinking about finding a place to go for a day or two.

Been going to Daniels for opener for 5 years. Last year was the busiest year by far - at least 3 groups winter camping (including us) and probably 2 or 3 groups day tripping that were fishing. A few groups of snowshoers hitting the BRT as well. I think Duncan gets a lot more day trippers than that, but not sure on overnighters. I'm definitely a little concerned it will be even worse this year - we saw about 5 times the amount of people we typically see during our stay.

Duncan was a zoo last year on the opener, there were 35-40 people fishing and I would say 4 of the campsites were being used.

Its sad that lake trout fishing in the BWCA is two weeks earlier than outside the BWCA. Duncan and other lakes just inside get hammered and over fished.
The MN DNR and others were going to change it so they all opened up at the same time, well the bill to change it the wording got changed somehow and nothing happened on starting date but season ending date is the same statewide.

Yes, Duncan gets hammered and not the lake it once was.

Tough to see the pressure, Facebook, YouTube and the need to brag(words of affirmation). Ely area is no different to pressure within the bwca or not. I can remember fishing trout openers on snowbank 10 years ago, maybe 5 groups. Now, I’ve seen close to 40-50 houses out there and also on Burntside. Not upset about people fishing, I am just hoping our fish populations stay stable and are able to reproduce at a healthy rate.

Salamandersoup: "Tough to see the pressure, Facebook, YouTube and the need to brag(words of affirmation)..."

Sadly, true.

And, welcome to bwca.com, Ss! There must be a story behind that username...

Salamandersoup: "Tough to see the pressure, Facebook, YouTube and the need to brag(words of affirmation). Ely area is no different to pressure within the bwca or not. I can remember fishing trout openers on snowbank 10 years ago, maybe 5 groups. Now, I’ve seen close to 40-50 houses out there and also on Burntside. Not upset about people fishing, I am just hoping our fish populations stay stable and are able to reproduce at a healthy rate. "

Yes remember going across Snowbank to wintwr camp further in. There would be a couple of fish houses and maybe someone on the island camping.