Hey everyone,
First post/first trip: Mid september (next week) doing five day paddle putting in @ Snow bank e.p.#27. Looking for best routes to fish along the way. Considering Snowbnk/Boot/Ensign/Cattyman falls But hows the fishing and wind? (looks to be a LOT of open water across snowbank

Or: Heading into Disappointment and beyond.
We're grateful for any educated tips or routes on fishing spots/weather/scenery.
Thanks!

Welcome aboard Skool22. Great fishing on the Snowbank, Ensign route. Use slip bobbers and leeches.

I would concentrate most of my time (based on 4 trips in that area) on either Ensign or Disappointment. For walleye Ensign has higher numbers but Disappointment walleyes tend to run a bit larger on average. Both provide very good smallmouth and northern pike fishing.

If I was starting on Snowbank Disappointment would be my first choice. And it is an easy choice.

I fished Snowbank last month for the first time, August 6-13. Stayed with Adam and Jeni at Snowbank Lodge and Outfitters. Fished out of one of their camp boats with a 25 HP motor.

The weather was colder and more windy than it should have been for that time of year. We brought our mosquito suits and head nets along, since it's ultra clear water and so we generally prefer to fish after dark when fishing clear water.

But the cold and windy weather actually made the mosquito suits unnecessary. I don't think I got a mosquito bite all week, despite the fact that I never wore my mosquito suit.

And we've generally found that when the mosquitos are biting, so are the walleyes. I think we fished Snowbank under some really unfavorable weather conditions, but despite that, we still ended up doing relatively well on the walleyes, all things considered. We caught most of our daytime fish on size 5 jointed shad raps, purpledescent or silver shad color, trolling island points and rock reefs in 16 to 20 feet of water.

For the after dark bite, we headed out to 75 to 80 feet of water, and trolled purple Smithwick Perfect 10 Rogues and Top 20 Rogues 10 to 20 feet down in that ultra deep water. Did quite well out there in the middle of nowhere, despite the cold, windy unfavorable conditions. (Marked a TON of baitfish out there in the abyss, and I think we would have caught even more fish out there in open water if we would have had more "mosquito bite weather." i.e. calmer, warmer, and more humid).

Caught about 40 daytime walleyes on the jointed Shad Raps, and about 40 suspended open water walleyes on the Smithwicks. We didn't do much early morning fishing. Fished most days from about 3 pm until midnight, and spent some of the earlier portions of the day doing some sightseeing in the Ely area.

Snowbank has a reputation for being a bit rough at times, due to the big, wide open water. We had a lot of fun fishing it from a 16 foot Lund, but I'm not sure I'd be real comfortable out there in a canoe.

Hope that helps,

"Jackpot" John Schroeder

Went from #27 up into Disappointment late august. Plenty of smallmouth and did well with walleyes (bring leeches) make sure to be out at dusk, worked every evening.