Oh boy did we have a great time up on Lac La Croix last year for spring fishing opener! Those of you who were out for fishing opener remember the unseasonably high temps (highs in the 80s and overnight lows in the 50s), terrible black flies and the first forest fire of the season (Bezhik) starting near Big Moose Lake - clearly visible from where we were paddling on LLC.

This is now my 7th spring opener trip with friends, and never have I seen temps this high, water levels this low, or bugs this bad so early in the season. Despite the difficult conditions for fishing, we managed to get into some huge lake trout and complete the BWCA grand slam. Enjoy part 1 of our trip report from LLC!



BWCA Grand Slam and Monster Lake Trout Part 1

Where are you heading this opener?

We're headed to Knife Lake this fishing opener! We wanted to be able to target all four species, so we chose a good grand slam lake. Hoping to spend more time up by Thunder Point/Little Knife area to avoid the crowds but we'll see depending on how much time we'll have. Should be a good year for targeting them shallow as we are going to see a later than average ice out.

Exceptional fish. How old do you think that was?

Good luck Eric! I’ll be targeting Brookies and maybe a day of
Lakers if I’m lucky!

Just watched that video last night, really good, that LT was ridiculous.

A true trophy LT. How many LT did you end up catching in Lac La Croix

Well done Eric, well done. Is there a warm up happening up there this week?

airmorse: "Exceptional fish. How old do you think that was?"

There really aren't any easy to find conversions for length to age of lake trout because their growth varies greatly depending on the body of water. I am guessing, based on only anecdotal evidence, that the lake trout we caught that were in the 37-40" class were at least 30 years old, but it is hard to say.

ghostrider179: "A true trophy LT. How many LT did you end up catching in Lac La Croix"

You'll find out in the next two videos! Jk, we only ended up catching 5, but all but one were well over 30", with the largest going 38 and 39 (likely longer if we would have had an accurate way to measure). The weather really prevented us from running into numbers of fish, but the big girls were certainly hungry.

Lawnchair107: "Well done Eric, well done. Is there a warm up happening up there this week?"

Thanks! It's definitely not spring up here yet - were currently getting hit by a little bit of snow and I think we've only had two/three days get into the 40s in the last two weeks. I doubt we've lost more than an inch or so of ice on lakes in that time. It will be well into May until the ice is out on the larger lakes...my guess is still looking good at May 6th.

Watched your video while going through youtube looking for Lake Trout info! Then again after you posted, we were up last year but early June and it was like 95 degrees, ridiculous and ruined the fishing! Anyhow Will be on Knife this year as well, May 19-28, what dates are you going? Great videos, have enjoyed many of them.

Bowmaster1982: "Watched your video while going through youtube looking for Lake Trout info! Then again after you posted, we were up last year but early June and it was like 95 degrees, ridiculous and ruined the fishing! Anyhow Will be on Knife this year as well, May 19-28, what dates are you going? Great videos, have enjoyed many of them."

Glad you found the channel, tons of great info in there for catching lake trout, hopefully it helps. I'll be on knife for fishing opener weekend, likely the 13-18 but haven't figured out an exit date yet with my buddies-lots of schedules to coordinate. With the late ice out, you should be able to find them relatively shallow. Personally, I'd start close to shore in 25-50' of water trolling a tail dancer, deep down husky jerk or 2-3oz of lead weight and a big flashy spoon somewhere in the 20-35' range. I haven't had much lake trout success on knife, but I've heard shades of purple can be lights out. I'm sure I'll start with my old reliable Dr. Spoon in Chrome/Blue or a Tail Dancer in Blue Flash as those have been my best lake trout baits on almost all bodies of water. Once I find the fish though, you know I'm going to switch to vertical jigging because that is my favorite way to fish them. Good luck and I hope you have cooler days and nights (and water temps) for your trip than we did last year!

Appreciate the tips! We got into them on Agnes on a group trip back in 2017, first week of June and they were super shallow, we caught several from shore fishing! Really didn't matter what we threw they were biting, no monsters but lots of quality fish. Been hooked ever since and they are a primary component of choosing our routes now. Can't wait to get back to Quetico, but hoping Knife can deliver some this year for us as well.

I watched the 2nd vid on you tube the other day. Those two that you and Joe caught are real donkeys