Anyone bring a snorkel mask/breather to the BWCA? Trip in mid June and thought it may be fun.

I recall a post here some years back by someone saying they bring one to look for lost lures.

Nope, not me. The water is usually too cold for me to swim like that. But I imagine one could find plenty of lures.

P.S. Should I even mention filtering or not?!?

Frenchy19: "I recall a post here some years back by someone saying they bring one to look for lost lures."

That might have been me. I bring mask and snorkel and sometimes a shorty wet suit. I'll often go in after a lure that got hung up while trolling and I like to snorkel around empty campsites to recover lures that other campers have lost. Sometimes I find camp gear that got dropped in the lake too. It is also fun to snorkel below a set of rapids to see what fish are there. I've seen bass, walleyes, and northern pike that way, sometimes fairly large ones. Then I fish that area knowing there are good fish there.

I have never snorkeled in clear water lakes, only in the stained lakes. That limits how far down I would need to dive as, for instance, Insula has good visibility to 8 feet but by 12 feet the light is getting pretty dim. At 15 it is too dark for me to see.

Some lakes are more stained and I suspect that visibility would be pretty limited. The Gabbro chain seems that way.

I like bringing a mask and snorkel for “treasure hunting.” Usually I only bother bringing it if the weather is going to be warm and I plan on doing some swimming.

I think it’s also worth doing a little research on the water clarity of the lakes you plan to visit to know if it’s worth bringing the mask and snorkel. I usually check the lake reports on the DNR Lake Finder page. Also asking people on this forum is a good resource.

The picture below is only about half of what I found from just one campsite!

My partner back in the 80s would always bring a snorkel, mask and fins. He said it was incredible under water. He saw tons of fish.

I've brought snorkel, mask and on a few occasions "travel fins" to get deeper on some of the really clear Quetico water I was visiting. Smallmouth will follow along on occasion out of boredom or curiosity.

I bring a low volume mask and a roll up snorkel with. As others have mentioned it's pretty fun and sometimes rewarding to look for lures and gear around campsites. You're also likely to find a good number of trinkets in rapids that people often try to run with canoes or under waterfalls where people like to swim. Fish like to hang out in both of these spots as well. Sometimes in places you would never guess would have fish.

I feel like you could probably find a lot of trinkets and maybe artifacts around portages as well but I try to avoid these to stay out of the way and be courteous.

the above suggestion is a great one. a roll up snorkel would take up very little room in your pack and using a smaller volume mask certainly helps too.

i love the idea of doing this. i have snokeled and dived in many places but not on a backcountry trip yet. maybe i could get my favorite lure back this year?

another post above mentioned small mouth following along. this is very common when diving some lakes near home. they are very curious and surprisingly not that timid. we often have them approach us. probably wondering who we are and what we are doing down there. lol

my only caution would be to always be careful if diving under the surface (as opposed to staying on the surface) especially in areas that see a lot of fishing activity. with lost lures etc often comes stray fishing line.

and for what its worth.....pls do not use those masks with the snorkel built in. get a properly fitted mask and snorkel and learn how to use it.

keth0601: "I bring a low volume mask and a roll up snorkel with. As others have mentioned it's pretty fun and sometimes rewarding to look for lures and gear around campsites. You're also likely to find a good number of trinkets in rapids that people often try to run with canoes or under waterfalls where people like to swim. Fish like to hang out in both of these spots as well. Sometimes in places you would never guess would have fish.


I feel like you could probably find a lot of trinkets and maybe artifacts around portages as well but I try to avoid these to stay out of the way and be courteous."

Trinkets in rapids? You mean like the Nikon SLR camera I found? Or the two anchors and 4 fishing rods with reels? You do have to be very careful snorkeling in the area with lots of current and sometimes you just stay away if the water level is high.

I bring my good swim goggles. About a once ounce penalty; although I usually increase that with several extra lures on the way out.