BWCA Strangest catch in the BWCA or Q Boundary Waters Fishing Forum
Chat Rooms (0 Chatting)  |  Search  |   Login/Join
* For the benefit of the community, commercial posting is not allowed.
Boundary Waters Quetico Forum
   Fishing Forum
      Strangest catch in the BWCA or Q     
 Forum Sponsor

Author

Text

MidwestMan
distinguished member (242)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
04/18/2023 10:37AM  
Walllee’s recent Sturgeon post inspired me to recollect the strangest catch of all my BWCA and Q trips.

On my second BWCA trip, I somehow landed a minuscule smallmouth (maybe half the length of my pinkie finger). I was using a slip bobber setup with a leech. Not all that strange, but I think it takes the cake for my strangest BWCA or Q catches.

What’s your strangest catch?
 
      Print Top Bottom Previous Next
BWfishingfanatic12
distinguished member (359)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
04/18/2023 11:26AM  
I am not sure that I have any that are too crazy but a couple come to mind.

Trolling a rapala on a 3-way targeting Walleye or Smallmouth we got into a bunch of big whitefish. Like upper teens low 20 inch ones. It was so bizarre to me. We caught 3 or 4 in a row. We thought they were staging Smallies prespawn on the graph.

Another interesting catch was a Walleye on a topwater at dusk. I have heard of others catching Walleye on top but it still seems so bizarre to me that it happened.
 
04/18/2023 11:41AM  
"Yes, this is about the spot. I caught some great walleyes right here last year", I said as we pulled in near a small indent along the rocky Quetico shoreline.

It was late May, 2002. Our usual group of six fishermen were out for the week camping and fishing and relaxing. I had found this small honey-hole the previous year and caught several walleyes of about 25", all catch and release. I lost a fishing rod here and was eager to fish this spot again.

May 2001. I had a strong bite on my rod that was hanging over the side of the boat. The rod tip was bent well over and into the water. I couldn't get to the rod but wasn't worried as the butt was secure under the opposite-side gunnel. Until the walleye started to swim away sideways and my rotating rod popped loose and fell into the lake. Well... it was dark and my fishing and our trip was over. We would be leaving the next morning. Little did I know what tomorrow's adventure would be!! But that is a whole different story. And all of our fishing rods would be lost.

But, we were back at the honey-hole as best I could tell. Allan caught a nice walleye on his first cast with a slip-bobber and leech. Yes, this was the place!

My bobber was slowly sinking. "Hey, Al. Look at this!" I couldn't figure out what was going on as I tightened the line but never felt a thing. So, I never set the hook. But something was there on the line. Slowly, slowly I reeled in. Until from the depths emerged a stick. No... a rod tip. And then my entire rod and reel from the previous year. On my first cast with a single hook I had hooked into an eyelet of my lost rod.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my strangest catch in the Q.

 
CoachWalleye74
distinguished member (131)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
04/18/2023 12:01PM  
A garden round point shovel from 30 ft of water at the mouth where Curtain Falls flows into Iron Lake. Not in the falls, snagged plenty of stuff down there, this was back a ways opening into Iron. It had been there awhile.
 
MidwestMan
distinguished member (242)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
04/18/2023 12:27PM  
bobbernumber3: ""Yes, this is about the spot. I caught some great walleyes right here last year", I said as we pulled in near a small indent along the rocky Quetico shoreline.

It was late May, 2002. Our usual group of six fishermen were out for the week camping and fishing and relaxing. I had found this small honey-hole the previous year and caught several walleyes of about 25", all catch and release. I lost a fishing rod here and was eager to fish this spot again.

May 2001. I had a strong bite on my rod that was hanging over the side of the boat. The rod tip was bent well over and into the water. I couldn't get to the rod but wasn't worried as the butt was secure under the opposite-side gunnel. Until the walleye started to swim away sideways and my rotating rod popped loose and fell into the lake. Well... it was dark and my fishing and our trip was over. We would be leaving the next morning. Little did I know what tomorrow's adventure would be!! But that is a whole different story. And all of our fishing rods would be lost.

But, we were back at the honey-hole as best I could tell. Allan caught a nice walleye on his first cast with a slip-bobber and leech. Yes, this was the place!

My bobber was slowly sinking. "Hey, Al. Look at this!" I couldn't figure out what was going on as I tightened the line but never felt a thing. So, I never set the hook. But something was there on the line. Slowly, slowly I reeled in. Until from the depths emerged a stick. No... a rod tip. And then my entire rod and reel from the previous year. On my first cast with a single hook I had hooked into an eyelet of my lost rod.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my strangest catch in the Q. "

Whoa, that is beyond bizarre! 1-in-a-gajillion. Thanks for sharing, bobber!
 
YetiJedi
distinguished member(1449)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
04/18/2023 09:14PM  
Bobber#3's story about catching a rod he lost the previous year gives me hope!

My strangest BW catch...a turtle. Little guy ate the worm but I think he survived the ordeal.
 
missmolly
distinguished member(7681)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberpower member
  
04/18/2023 09:55PM  
A beaver. Luckily, I single-hooked the critter and they live in rusting water, so I think he survived.
 
04/19/2023 06:46AM  
My sister caught two smallmouth bass on the same cast using a torpedo, the second one was a hog and hit it while the first fish was being reeled in.

My wife caught an old rod once too.
 
04/19/2023 08:58AM  
My brother caught a fish once…no one saw that coming :)
 
Savage Voyageur
distinguished member(14414)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished membermaster membermaster member
  
04/19/2023 09:14AM  
I was fishing on a small lake just north of Ensign called Neglige. I thought I hooked a big one and started reeling it in. With no fight I figured I hooked a big stick. When I got it to shore I had caught an Expaciffaco long sleeved shirt. Then there was the time on Clearwater where I caught two Smallmouth Bass on the came lure.
 
scotttimm
distinguished member(647)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
04/19/2023 10:20AM  
Back in 2017 or so, my son and I were fishing on LLC. His cast at shore slipped and the whopper plopper sailed high up and over a branch, like a good 20 feet in the air over a little cove. Crap. As it hit the water...BAM! Huge smallie. Managed to land the fish, cut the lure from the line, and pulled the line back over the branch. That was fun.
 
Jackfish
Moderator
  
04/19/2023 01:11PM  
I don't know if these two qualify as "strange", but they're certainly non-traditional.

Fishing in Quetico quite a few years ago when live bait was still allowed, we used to fish with slip bobbers a lot. Hard to beat a slip bobber with a leech and watching the bobber go down, down, down...

I'm watching my bobber and it went under pretty quickly. I set the hook and was immediately in for a pretty good fight. Didn't feel like a northern and it had plenty of power so we assumed that I had a dandy walleye on the line. Imagine my disappointment when I finally got it to the surface, only to see that I had caught a good-sized snapping turtle. I cut the line.

The other story was from one of our earliest trips to Quetico. This is probably around 1990 or so. My canoe partner and I had been having pretty good luck with the walleyes that day and had dinner for our group of six hanging over the side of the boat on a chain-type stringer. My partner or I caught another walleye and went to put it on the stringer when the fish thrashed causing us to lose the grip on the stringer and it went overboard straight to the bottom. Our dinner was now 10' or so below the surface.

Fortunately, it was a very calm day and we could catch glimpses of the stringer from time to time. My buddy and I kept trying to hook the stringer but we'd miss it, lose track of it, then have to find it again and keep on trying. This went on for at least a half hour. Finally, with a large one ounce(?) Daredevle with a big treble hook, I hooked one of the loops in the chain stringer and brought the entire stringer of walleyes up to the surface and got them secured onto the boat again. Dinner tasted especially good that night!
 
04/19/2023 02:56PM  
 
Hammertime
distinguished member (275)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
04/19/2023 11:17PM  
I brought in a freshwater clam the size of my hand trolling a rapala on Lac la croix.

Also an old fishing rod and a t shirt, but those have already been covered.
 
bloody stump
distinguished member (108)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
04/20/2023 07:59AM  

Had the same experience with a slip bobber snapper fishing from shore at dark. Was quite the surprise!
 
04/20/2023 12:57PM  
anyone ever catch a bullhead in the BWCA? That would be an extreme rarity.
 
04/21/2023 01:00PM  
We once caught a rock on a Mepps lure. We actually reeled it into the boat from about 10 feet down. It weighed about 5 pounds so we were pretty shocked that we got it off the bottom.

BTW there were no weeds, tangled line or anything to help snag the rock. The treble hook just got caught in a crack and gripped it just enough to pull it up.
 
tumblehome
distinguished member(2911)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
04/21/2023 02:25PM  
A1t2o: "We once caught a rock on a Mepps lure. We actually reeled it into the boat from about 10 feet down. It weighed about 5 pounds so we were pretty shocked that we got it off the bottom.


BTW there were no weeds, tangled line or anything to help snag the rock. The treble hook just got caught in a crack and gripped it just enough to pull it up."


That's pretty funny stuff!.

Tom
 
MidwestMan
distinguished member (242)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
04/22/2023 05:46PM  
missmolly: "A beaver. Luckily, I single-hooked the critter and they live in rusting water, so I think he survived."


That’s a first that I’ve heard of. I bet a ticked off, cornered/trapped beaver would leave some gnarly bite marks if you got too close…
 
eelpout89
member (47)member
  
04/23/2023 08:41AM  
Pinetree: "anyone ever catch a bullhead in the BWCA? That would be an extreme rarity."
. Last year in May on the kawish river a lot of the walleye and pike we cleaned had bullhead fingerlings in their stomachs Thought that was odd since I’ve never caught a bullhead up there.
 
04/24/2023 12:05AM  
eelpout89: "
Pinetree: "anyone ever catch a bullhead in the BWCA? That would be an extreme rarity."
. Last year in May on the kawish river a lot of the walleye and pike we cleaned had bullhead fingerlings in their stomachs Thought that was odd since I’ve never caught a bullhead up there."


There's a small catfish known as a madtom that might have been what they were eating.

My strangest catch was a blue northern on Fourtown. Example

I also netted a northern who had locked onto my brothers eater walleye once on LLC.
 
04/24/2023 08:12AM  
Scupins which look like bullheads are common in some rivers also.
 
grizzlyadams
senior member (64)senior membersenior member
  
04/24/2023 01:20PM  
I once caught a fishing rod, no reel, at the bottom of the rapids coming out of Isabella.
Also on Isabella, I caught a back pack full of ice fishing gear. Full tackle box, fillet knife, and ice fishing reel.
And lastly, on Kabetogama I caught a very nice Cabela's net.
Now, if only I could catch fish...
 
04/24/2023 02:22PM  
LOL - That made me chuckle. I hooked and battled a 3' + musky on East Pike Lake. Didn't land that beauty but I got a good look at it next to the boat. Caught a couple blue tinted northern pike on Snowbank one trip, never saw that before. And a poor turtle got a stinger in his tongue and dragged to shore, sure he wasn't happy about that.
 
ForestDuff
distinguished member (200)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
04/27/2023 07:18PM  
Not super strange, just unexpected.
Caught two suckers on a jig and waxie under a windlass tip-up ice fishing for brook trout.
Walked 40ft away and tossed the first one on the ice, I was curious to see if the Bald Eagle sitting in the tree a few hundred yards away would like a pre-open water snack.
That sucker was snatched up 30 seconds later.

Caught a couple large chub minnows once where the creek dumped into West Pike Lake from Clearwater Lake. There were a bunch of suckers spawning in the Cedars in the creek. Still not sure if the Chubs were there feeding on the sucker spawn or were spawning themselves, but I think they hit the Rapala 3/4 their size out of aggression more than anything.
 
missmolly
distinguished member(7681)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberpower member
  
04/28/2023 07:26AM  
grizzlyadams: "I once caught a fishing rod, no reel, at the bottom of the rapids coming out of Isabella.
Also on Isabella, I caught a back pack full of ice fishing gear. Full tackle box, fillet knife, and ice fishing reel.
And lastly, on Kabetogama I caught a very nice Cabela's net.
Now, if only I could catch fish..."


You're thinking about this wrong. Go into business, but don't open a fresh fish market. Open a tackle store!
 
nooneuno
distinguished member(631)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
04/30/2023 10:15AM  
Paddling at the rapids flowing into mudro I had my reel in the bottom of the canoe with the rod tip and lure hanging about 8" above the water when a smally launched out of the water and inhaled my lure. Thinking back I am still dumbfounded over it.
 
04/30/2023 11:02AM  
Does hooking yourself count?
 
Rockriver
senior member (60)senior membersenior member
  
04/30/2023 08:29PM  
I had that happen once as well with a largemouth about a pound. Also, fishing rattle trapz, I reeled the lure up till it hit the eye and pushed my rod tip down to check the depth and got hit. First smallmouth I ever caught. Haven't really caught anything unexpected in the bwca....except maybe a walleye on day 9. Lol

 
04/30/2023 08:46PM  
Once on Parent Lake by Ely in the BWCA fishing smallmouth, I casted out a surface lure and got a hit. Reeled the smallmouth in an I caught it only by snagging the Rapala hanging from its mouth. Hook to hook. Got a free Rapala out of the deal.
 
missmolly
distinguished member(7681)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberpower member
  
05/01/2023 05:23AM  
I change my mind. It wasn't catching a beaver. It was catching a smallmouth...with my hand. I hooked a smallmouth and saw it had another smallmouth accompanying it, which is common. However, when I lifted the hooked smallmouth into my canoe, the other one, about 18", parked beside my canoe. I touched its back. It didn't move. I scooped it up by the belly and it permitted that. So, I caught two smallmouth on one cast, one with a lure and the other with my hand.
 
FishGeek01
senior member (54)senior membersenior member
  
05/04/2023 03:39PM  


Blue Walleye on the Basswood River
 
montanapaddler
member (33)member
  
05/08/2023 05:02PM  
My friends and I were doing a little trolling for lake trout on Peter to break up a travel day and my friend caught a fish! He started reeling it in and I started paddling my canoe in his general direction to see if we could hook a lake trout in the same area and all of a sudden I hear a lot of yelling and his the drag on his reel going absolutely crazy. A bald eagle that had been watching us from a tree swooped in and tried to steal his fish! He kept reeling in and eventually the eagle got tired or bored and dropped the fish so we still got to eat it although it had some really big talon marks!
 
OldGuide2
distinguished member (119)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
05/10/2023 11:07AM  
A friend of mine who guides in the Brainerd area once told me about a client who caught a gull when it swopped down to grab some live bait. It set the reel to zinging pretty good before they were able to cut the line.
 
05/10/2023 11:25AM  
OldGuide2: "A friend of mine who guides in the Brainerd area once told me about a client who caught a gull when it swopped down to grab some live bait. It set the reel to zinging pretty good before they were able to cut the line. "


That happens once in a while, especially like Mille lacs lake.

Caught a snapping turtle once.
 
analyzer
distinguished member(2162)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
05/13/2023 02:07PM  
Jackfish: "I don't know if these two qualify as "strange", but they're certainly non-traditional.

Fishing in Quetico quite a few years ago when live bait was still allowed, we used to fish with slip bobbers a lot. Hard to beat a slip bobber with a leech and watching the bobber go down, down, down...

I'm watching my bobber and it went under pretty quickly. I set the hook and was immediately in for a pretty good fight. Didn't feel like a northern and it had plenty of power so we assumed that I had a dandy walleye on the line. Imagine my disappointment when I finally got it to the surface, only to see that I had caught a good-sized snapping turtle. I cut the line.

The other story was from one of our earliest trips to Quetico. This is probably around 1990 or so. My canoe partner and I had been having pretty good luck with the walleyes that day and had dinner for our group of six hanging over the side of the boat on a chain-type stringer. My partner or I caught another walleye and went to put it on the stringer when the fish thrashed causing us to lose the grip on the stringer and it went overboard straight to the bottom. Our dinner was now 10' or so below the surface.

Fortunately, it was a very calm day and we could catch glimpses of the stringer from time to time. My buddy and I kept trying to hook the stringer but we'd miss it, lose track of it, then have to find it again and keep on trying. This went on for at least a half hour. Finally, with a large one ounce(?) Daredevle with a big treble hook, I hooked one of the loops in the chain stringer and brought the entire stringer of walleyes up to the surface and got them secured onto the boat again. Dinner tasted especially good that night!"


I've lost two stringers with dinner still on them, and was not as fortunate as you. I casted in the area for a while, but never hooked them again.

There was one year when my dad was taking a nap, that I went for an extended walk on the shoreline (I was in my 20's, not a child). I found a nearly complete walleye skeleton with a metal stringer clip in it's mouth, and about 4 inches of metal stringer. It was clear that the stringer had broken. The tail was missing, but the rest of the walleye was intact. There was no flesh at all. I was surprised at how well the entire skeleton remained. You would think Seaguls, turkey vultures, snapping turtles, etc would have made short work of the fish, and it wouldn't have had an opportunity to decay like that. I left it for someone else to find, but considering the remoteness of the area, it's unlikely anyone else would ever find it. I kind of regret not bringing it home and mounting it on a wood board, "the one that got away". Without a tail, it's hard to know it's exact size, but based on it's head and torso size, I'd say it was in that 8lb - 10lb range. I think if the tail were also intact, I would have kept it. It was pretty cool to look at the full skeleton, head, mouth teeth, rib cage, back bone etc, with no flesh on it. It had been there long enough, it didn't stink, at least not noticeably.
 
blutofish1
distinguished member(1859)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
05/14/2023 08:48AM  
Here's mine. I was pike fishing in North Bay of Basswood.
 
05/23/2023 10:55PM  
bobbernumber3: ""Yes, this is about the spot. I caught some great walleyes right here last year", I said as we pulled in near a small indent along the rocky Quetico shoreline.


It was late May, 2002. Our usual group of six fishermen were out for the week camping and fishing and relaxing. I had found this small honey-hole the previous year and caught several walleyes of about 25", all catch and release. I lost a fishing rod here and was eager to fish this spot again.


May 2001. I had a strong bite on my rod that was hanging over the side of the boat. The rod tip was bent well over and into the water. I couldn't get to the rod but wasn't worried as the butt was secure under the opposite-side gunnel. Until the walleye started to swim away sideways and my rotating rod popped loose and fell into the lake. Well... it was dark and my fishing and our trip was over. We would be leaving the next morning. Little did I know what tomorrow's adventure would be!! But that is a whole different story. And all of our fishing rods would be lost.


But, we were back at the honey-hole as best I could tell. Allan caught a nice walleye on his first cast with a slip-bobber and leech. Yes, this was the place!


My bobber was slowly sinking. "Hey, Al. Look at this!" I couldn't figure out what was going on as I tightened the line but never felt a thing. So, I never set the hook. But something was there on the line. Slowly, slowly I reeled in. Until from the depths emerged a stick. No... a rod tip. And then my entire rod and reel from the previous year. On my first cast with a single hook I had hooked into an eyelet of my lost rod.


And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my strangest catch in the Q.


"

That is a crazy story!
I have a similar story, though. Some 20 years ago I brought my brother-in-law on his 1st trip. We entered at Crab Lake and made our way to Cummings. Lots of wind that day - we capsized 50yrds from shore in Cummings. I lost my map (with lots of notes/memories written from previous years), a rod and maybe a bandana or two. We found the things that floated like Nalgenes. Two days later we strafed the area with heavy empty jigs trying to snag the rod to no avail. After an hour we gave one last pass and I caught... my map! Still have it with the hole where the hook went through.
 
05/24/2023 05:36AM  
trstuck: "I have a similar story, though. Some 20 years ago I brought my brother-in-law on his 1st trip. We entered at Crab Lake and made our way to Cummings. Lots of wind that day - we capsized 50yrds from shore in Cummings. I lost my map (with lots of notes/memories written from previous years), a rod and maybe a bandana or two. We found the things that floated like Nalgenes. Two days later we strafed the area with heavy empty jigs trying to snag the rod to no avail. After an hour we gave one last pass and I caught... my map! Still have it with the hole where the hook went through."


Great story!

I've learned that if you don't look for something lost, you won't find it.

Trout fishing on a small stream, I chased a lost bobber in shallow water and didn't realize that my keys fell out of my pocket. Back at the car an hour later, I realized what had happened. It was dark. But if you don't look, you won't find it. So, I waded back out and downstream with my nose right at the water. it was only a foot deep, but I did find those keys as a slightly different color on the stream bottom. Drove myself home with a lesson learned. Many years ago.
 
myceliaman
distinguished member(931)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
05/24/2023 03:19PM  
A few years back on Little Caribou I had a walleye on the stringer.When a approximately a 10 lb northern decided that walleye was going to be it's dinner not mine. I grab the stringer and we had a tug of war over the walleye. Now I've had fish grab fish in a stringer in the past but this dude was not letting go. End result was me pulling now deceased walleye and the northern into the canoe.. Thus catching a fine pike without a rod/ reel nor a hook.
 
myceliaman
distinguished member(931)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
05/24/2023 03:19PM  
A few years back on Little Caribou I had a walleye on the stringer.When a approximately a 10 lb northern decided that walleye was going to be it's dinner not mine. I grab the stringer and we had a tug of war over the walleye. Now I've had fish grab fish in a stringer in the past but this dude was not letting go. End result was me pulling now deceased walleye and the northern into the canoe.. Thus catching a fine pike without a rod/ reel nor a hook.
 
SouthernExposure
distinguished member (455)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
05/24/2023 07:48PM  
OK, I've hesitated responding to this thread, but this is the absolute truth. I was fishing with a friend from work and her young son on our local reservoir. The banks were lined with houses and many had piers. One pier in particular had produced some very good catches of bluegills in the past so we stopped there for a bit to try them. I cast a live red worm over near the pier and after letting it settle started hopping it slowly across the bottom. Shortly I felt some good weight on it and started reeling it in. I got it to the boat, pulled it up out of the water and just stared, not believing my eyes. There on my hook was an adult toy. I grabbed the pliers, executed a quick catch and release and we promptly pulled anchor and moved to another location.
 
05/24/2023 11:27PM  
myceliaman: "A few years back on Little Caribou I had a walleye on the stringer.When a approximately a 10 lb northern decided that walleye was going to be it's dinner not mine. I grab the stringer and we had a tug of war over the walleye. Now I've had fish grab fish in a stringer in the past but this dude was not letting go. End result was me pulling now deceased walleye and the northern into the canoe.. Thus catching a fine pike without a rod/ reel nor a hook."
LOVE IT !
on a local lake towards sundown , bobber fishing with a double float bobber/sucker minnow. along comes a pike and swallows my whole bobber right off the surface. so i loosened the drag up a lot and slowly brought the pike into the net !! :) :)
in the BW once(toe lake) had a #5 pike on told partner to get the net , then told him not to bother as this pike skyed out of the water and landed right in the middle of the canoe and then the fight started LOL.
 
05/25/2023 01:51PM  
I watched a friend pull a 26 inch walleye from a BWCA, native lake trout lake where no record of walleyes exists. The nearest walleye lake is three portages away, and the connecting streams are way too small and steep for walleyes to get from lake to lake.
 
05/26/2023 05:21PM  
Here's another one I remember:
A friend and I were having a nice day on Grace many years ago where we were catching smallmouth on nearly every other cast. Not huge, but lots of fun! I lost my lure at one point to an average size bass (always check/re-tie your knots!). My buddy's next cast landed him a bass with my lure in it's mouth. He took it out and handed it to me. :-)
 
05/26/2023 08:45PM  
arctic: "I watched a friend pull a 26 inch walleye from a BWCA, native lake trout lake where no record of walleyes exists. The nearest walleye lake is three portages away, and the connecting streams are way too small and steep for walleyes to get from lake to lake."


Some lakes just get enough of a hatch for a few to survive-that 26-inch fish was probably an old timer. Yes, there are some mysteries of life and fish presents.

What amazes me is smallmouth were once not present in the BWCA,but were stocked in some lakes. Over the last three decades, they have somehow gotten into lakes with no real connection to smallmouth lakes or waterfall barriers. How?
 
Hammertime
distinguished member (275)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
05/26/2023 09:32PM  
trstuck: "
I have a similar story, though. Some 20 years ago I brought my brother-in-law on his 1st trip. We entered at Crab Lake and made our way to Cummings. Lots of wind that day - we capsized 50yrds from shore in Cummings. I lost my map (with lots of notes/memories written from previous years), a rod and maybe a bandana or two. "


About 10 years ago my buddy caught a rod in Cummings that looked like it had been in the lake for about 10 years. Black with a cork handle?
 
AluminumBarge
member (48)member
  
05/26/2023 10:48PM  
 
05/26/2023 11:23PM  
AluminumBarge: "A longtime outfitter told me that years ago, the sixties or seventies if I remember right, his father and a couple other outfitters rented a plane and used to drop smallmouth in a number of lakes. They were tired of trying to get the DNR to do it, but since they wouldn’t they took it upon themselves. This is a well known outfitting family and he sounded sincere, so I have no reason to not believe him. And it explains how they became established in lakes without prior populations and no way for them to migrate."


I think it was many years before that by yes outfitter family. Pointe Lake in Quetico(I believe in the 1940s) I think was the first lake in Quetico to get them. Even then many lakes were not stocked. I remember back will say 1990 I saw my first smallmouth bass in lake one. Over time they made it into Alice. It did take a while to get up from Hudson Lake.
There were still many lakes not stocked, but they are now present in.
 
AluminumBarge
member (48)member
  
05/26/2023 11:25PM  
Pinetree: "
arctic: "I watched a friend pull a 26 inch walleye from a BWCA, native lake trout lake where no record of walleyes exists. The nearest walleye lake is three portages away, and the connecting streams are way too small and steep for walleyes to get from lake to lake."



Some lakes just get enough of a hatch for a few to survive-that 26-inch fish was probably an old timer. Yes, there are some mysteries of life and fish presents.


What amazes me is smallmouth were once not present in the BWCA,but were stocked in some lakes. Over the last three decades, they have somehow gotten into lakes with no real connection to smallmouth lakes or waterfall barriers. How?"


A longtime outfitter told me that years ago, the sixties or seventies if I remember right, his father and a couple other outfitters rented a plane and used to drop smallmouth in a number of lakes. They were tired of trying to get the DNR to do it, but since they wouldn’t they took it upon themselves. This is a well known outfitting family and he sounded sincere, so I have no reason to not believe him. And it explains how they became established in lakes without prior populations and no way for them to migrate.
 
05/26/2023 11:31PM  
AluminumBarge: "
Pinetree: "
arctic: "I watched a friend pull a 26 inch walleye from a BWCA, native lake trout lake where no record of walleyes exists. The nearest walleye lake is three portages away, and the connecting streams are way too small and steep for walleyes to get from lake to lake."




Some lakes just get enough of a hatch for a few to survive-that 26-inch fish was probably an old timer. Yes, there are some mysteries of life and fish presents.



What amazes me is smallmouth were once not present in the BWCA,but were stocked in some lakes. Over the last three decades, they have somehow gotten into lakes with no real connection to smallmouth lakes or waterfall barriers. How?"



A longtime outfitter told me that years ago, the sixties or seventies if I remember right, his father and a couple other outfitters rented a plane and used to drop smallmouth in a number of lakes. They were tired of trying to get the DNR to do it, but since they wouldn’t they took it upon themselves. This is a well known outfitting family and he sounded sincere, so I have no reason to not believe him. And it explains how they became established in lakes without prior populations and no way for them to migrate."


Yes they talk about in his book.
 
Sparkeh
distinguished member (122)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
05/27/2023 06:22AM  
Pinetree: "
arctic: "I watched a friend pull a 26 inch walleye from a BWCA, native lake trout lake where no record of walleyes exists. The nearest walleye lake is three portages away, and the connecting streams are way too small and steep for walleyes to get from lake to lake."



Some lakes just get enough of a hatch for a few to survive-that 26-inch fish was probably an old timer. Yes, there are some mysteries of life and fish presents.


What amazes me is smallmouth were once not present in the BWCA,but were stocked in some lakes. Over the last three decades, they have somehow gotten into lakes with no real connection to smallmouth lakes or waterfall barriers. How?"


We have a man made pond with natural yellow perch. Must have been birds dropping fish eggs or multiple live fish in.
 
05/27/2023 11:55PM  
Hammertime: "
trstuck: "
I have a similar story, though. Some 20 years ago I brought my brother-in-law on his 1st trip. We entered at Crab Lake and made our way to Cummings. Lots of wind that day - we capsized 50yrds from shore in Cummings. I lost my map (with lots of notes/memories written from previous years), a rod and maybe a bandana or two. "



About 10 years ago my buddy caught a rod in Cummings that looked like it had been in the lake for about 10 years. Black with a cork handle?"

Hmm, it's been so long I have forgotten the color. But the reel would have been a Quantum Hypercast with the trigger/bail opener on the base of the reel. It was lost about 1/4mi E of the site on the peninsula in the main body of the lake.
 
05/28/2023 09:51PM  
Pinetree: "
arctic: "I watched a friend pull a 26 inch walleye from a BWCA, native lake trout lake where no record of walleyes exists. The nearest walleye lake is three portages away, and the connecting streams are way too small and steep for walleyes to get from lake to lake."



Some lakes just get enough of a hatch for a few to survive-that 26-inch fish was probably an old timer. Yes, there are some mysteries of life and fish presents.


What amazes me is smallmouth were once not present in the BWCA,but were stocked in some lakes. Over the last three decades, they have somehow gotten into lakes with no real connection to smallmouth lakes or waterfall barriers. How?"
Smallies only need an inch of water to go from lake to the other , Rog is proof of that.
i had heard some time in the 50's some guys went through the border lakes and dump smallies in all of them they could.
 
05/28/2023 09:59PM  
shock: "
Pinetree: "
arctic: "I watched a friend pull a 26 inch walleye from a BWCA, native lake trout lake where no record of walleyes exists. The nearest walleye lake is three portages away, and the connecting streams are way too small and steep for walleyes to get from lake to lake."




Some lakes just get enough of a hatch for a few to survive-that 26-inch fish was probably an old timer. Yes, there are some mysteries of life and fish presents.



What amazes me is smallmouth were once not present in the BWCA,but were stocked in some lakes. Over the last three decades, they have somehow gotten into lakes with no real connection to smallmouth lakes or waterfall barriers. How?"
Smallies only need an inch of water to go from lake to the other , Rog is proof of that.
i had heard some time in the 50's some guys went through the border lakes and dump smallies in all of them they could. "



I like smallmouth bass, but many of lakes quality of other fish went down. A lake can produce only so many pounds per acre of predator fish.
 
06/07/2023 01:31PM  
It's not a strange fish to catch, and I didn't officially "catch" it. But I got a very large green perch up to the boat on Ashigan that was the most vividly colored fish I've seen. It was bright green with a dark black stripes on it's side and a bright red stripe on it's head. It was as striking as any saltwater fish. It shook the hook as I got it beside the boat. It is the shape of a sunfish, but I have still not found any pictures of any fish that matches it.
On the same lake, my husband caught a huge mass of fishing line with masses of smelly, rotting underwater weeds. We took it back to camp and burned it in the fire enough to make it a non smelly disk to pack out.
 
06/07/2023 01:59PM  
Freeleo1: "It's not a strange fish to catch, and I didn't officially "catch" it. But I got a very large green perch up to the boat on Ashigan that was the most vividly colored fish I've seen. It was bright green with a dark black stripes on it's side and a bright red stripe on it's head. It was as striking as any saltwater fish. It shook the hook as I got it beside the boat. It is the shape of a sunfish, but I have still not found any pictures of any fish that matches it.
On the same lake, my husband caught a huge mass of fishing line with masses of smelly, rotting underwater weeds. We took it back to camp and burned it in the fire enough to make it a non smelly disk to pack out. "


Its a yellow perch and certain organs within the fish make it green for some reason.
 
06/07/2023 03:13PM  
Pinetree: "
arctic: "I watched a friend pull a 26 inch walleye from a BWCA, native lake trout lake where no record of walleyes exists. The nearest walleye lake is three portages away, and the connecting streams are way too small and steep for walleyes to get from lake to lake."



Some lakes just get enough of a hatch for a few to survive-that 26-inch fish was probably an old timer. Yes, there are some mysteries of life and fish presents.


What amazes me is smallmouth were once not present in the BWCA,but were stocked in some lakes. Over the last three decades, they have somehow gotten into lakes with no real connection to smallmouth lakes or waterfall barriers. How?"


I bet anglers transport some.

That kind of illegal activity has wrecked plenty of brook tout lakes, Rog Lake by Seagull being one of them...
 
06/07/2023 03:25PM  
arctic: "
Pinetree: "
arctic: "I watched a friend pull a 26 inch walleye from a BWCA, native lake trout lake where no record of walleyes exists. The nearest walleye lake is three portages away, and the connecting streams are way too small and steep for walleyes to get from lake to lake."




Some lakes just get enough of a hatch for a few to survive-that 26-inch fish was probably an old timer. Yes, there are some mysteries of life and fish presents.



What amazes me is smallmouth were once not present in the BWCA,but were stocked in some lakes. Over the last three decades, they have somehow gotten into lakes with no real connection to smallmouth lakes or waterfall barriers. How?"



I bet anglers transport some.


That kind of illegal activity has wrecked plenty of brook tout lakes, Rog Lake by Seagull being one of them...
"


Agree and skull lake by Ely and many more stream trout lakes and in some way has affected all lakes. Yes, Rog was once one of the better brook trout lakes up there.
 
06/07/2023 05:05PM  
Pinetree: "
Freeleo1: "It's not a strange fish to catch, and I didn't officially "catch" it. But I got a very large green perch up to the boat on Ashigan that was the most vividly colored fish I've seen. It was bright green with a dark black stripes on it's side and a bright red stripe on it's head. It was as striking as any saltwater fish. It shook the hook as I got it beside the boat. It is the shape of a sunfish, but I have still not found any pictures of any fish that matches it.
On the same lake, my husband caught a huge mass of fishing line with masses of smelly, rotting underwater weeds. We took it back to camp and burned it in the fire enough to make it a non smelly disk to pack out. "



Its a yellow perch and certain organs within the fish make it green for some reason. "

Yes, it looks like that is close. Maybe it looked darker since it was still in the water. It was a really big one judging by the specifications on MNR website. I'd guess at least a pound or more. I'm always amazed that every lake has a different mix of fish. It seems like there should be Walleye in every lake, but there are many lakes where they are not mentioned. Ashigan only seems to have Smallies, green sunfish and yellow perch.
 
06/07/2023 05:16PM  
A POUND PERCH IS A BIG ONE
 
PAR
member (13)member
  
06/08/2023 10:20AM  
Was trolling with my best friend back in 2019 (cant remember the lake) and I caught a bass about 30 yards behind the canoe. We saw it jump and it fought for a couple seconds and then it snagged. My pole bent and the front of the canoe pretty much got pulled around.

I was bummed because I was losing our competition 34 to 39. We turned around and the line wasnt moving at all. In my head I'm like "Shoot! Once again I got snagged on some hidden log and he's going to rib me about it forever".

We pull up beside a submerged weed bed and as I continue to reel in the taut line all of a sudden there's a huge splash! Turns out my smallmouth bass (pretty good size too) was the lunch of a 39" pike! And that pike absolutely refused to let go. It took awhile to pry the jaws of the pike off the bass due to its size, obstinance and the little bit of room I had in the canoe's bow. It was awesome as that had never happened to me before.

Needless to say, 4 years later he still argues that I should have only gotten 1 point for that catch even though he still won the totals for that trip lol
 
MidwestMan
distinguished member (242)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
06/08/2023 06:36PM  
PAR: "Was trolling with my best friend back in 2019 (cant remember the lake) and I caught a bass about 30 yards behind the canoe. We saw it jump and it fought for a couple seconds and then it snagged. My pole bent and the front of the canoe pretty much got pulled around.


I was bummed because I was losing our competition 34 to 39. We turned around and the line wasnt moving at all. In my head I'm like "Shoot! Once again I got snagged on some hidden log and he's going to rib me about it forever".


We pull up beside a submerged weed bed and as I continue to reel in the taut line all of a sudden there's a huge splash! Turns out my smallmouth bass (pretty good size too) was the lunch of a 39" pike! And that pike absolutely refused to let go. It took awhile to pry the jaws of the pike off the bass due to its size, obstinance and the little bit of room I had in the canoe's bow. It was awesome as that had never happened to me before.


Needless to say, 4 years later he still argues that I should have only gotten 1 point for that catch even though he still won the totals for that trip lol"


That’s worth 2 points IMO!
 
FlushAndGiggle
  
06/11/2023 05:49PM  
Buddy, if you think that's small ...
 
Hammertime
distinguished member (275)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
06/11/2023 11:26PM  
Freeleo1: "
Pinetree: "
Freeleo1: "It's not a strange fish to catch, and I didn't officially "catch" it. But I got a very large green perch up to the boat on Ashigan that was the most vividly colored fish I've seen. It was bright green with a dark black stripes on it's side and a bright red stripe on it's head. It was as striking as any saltwater fish. It shook the hook as I got it beside the boat. It is the shape of a sunfish, but I have still not found any pictures of any fish that matches it.
On the same lake, my husband caught a huge mass of fishing line with masses of smelly, rotting underwater weeds. We took it back to camp and burned it in the fire enough to make it a non smelly disk to pack out. "




Its a yellow perch and certain organs within the fish make it green for some reason. "

Yes, it looks like that is close. Maybe it looked darker since it was still in the water. It was a really big one judging by the specifications on MNR website. I'd guess at least a pound or more. I'm always amazed that every lake has a different mix of fish. It seems like there should be Walleye in every lake, but there are many lakes where they are not mentioned. Ashigan only seems to have Smallies, green sunfish and yellow perch. "


If I had to bet on it I would say you hooked up with a monster green sunfish, but I guess we’ll never know. I think it’s awesome that there are still some mysteries out there.

Thanks for sharing!
 
06/12/2023 01:29AM  
Hammertime: "
Freeleo1: "
Pinetree: "
Freeleo1: "It's not a strange fish to catch, and I didn't officially "catch" it. But I got a very large green perch up to the boat on Ashigan that was the most vividly colored fish I've seen. It was bright green with a dark black stripes on it's side and a bright red stripe on it's head. It was as striking as any saltwater fish. It shook the hook as I got it beside the boat. It is the shape of a sunfish, but I have still not found any pictures of any fish that matches it.
On the same lake, my husband caught a huge mass of fishing line with masses of smelly, rotting underwater weeds. We took it back to camp and burned it in the fire enough to make it a non smelly disk to pack out. "




Its a yellow perch and certain organs within the fish make it green for some reason. "

Yes, it looks like that is close. Maybe it looked darker since it was still in the water. It was a really big one judging by the specifications on MNR website. I'd guess at least a pound or more. I'm always amazed that every lake has a different mix of fish. It seems like there should be Walleye in every lake, but there are many lakes where they are not mentioned. Ashigan only seems to have Smallies, green sunfish and yellow perch. "



If I had to bet on it I would say you hooked up with a monster green sunfish, but I guess we’ll never know. I think it’s awesome that there are still some mysteries out there.


Thanks for sharing!"
I bet your right, I didn't read it close enough, talking about an orange spot by the head. Was it flat in shape like a panfish or elongated like a perch?
 
smjudd
  
06/28/2023 03:05PM  
We've had (2) strange catches in the BWCA... neither being fish!
On one of our Kawishiwi trips we were fishing walleye down a channel on a day with spotty showers, towards the end of our trip (believe this was Lake Polly). Fishing was good until my husband snagged a pair of someone's old underpants!!! No kidding! Not a catch any of us want to repeat.
On a separate trip, we were up in the Snow Bank area, and were day tripping. We had just come off a portage back into Ima and were fishing a narrow when I got a hold of something. Thought it might be the bottom of the lake and very well could have been given how shallow we were. Turned out to be someone's goodie bag --- mesh bag that had a couple cans of A&W Cream Soda and a fresh bottle of Fireball. We couldn't stomach drinking the Fireball so we did dump that out later & dispose of the bottle. One of our fearless kids was so excited to have a soda we let him tear into that. Surprisingly chilled he said after the first swig... ! I guess that was a win. We cleaned up someone else's trash (though I'm guessing that was an accidental loss of goods) and the boy enjoyed his soda.
 
bottomtothetap
distinguished member(1021)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
07/01/2023 09:41AM  
A feeding frenzy of mooneyes on Boulder Bay, LLC. They were non stop for about 20 minutes then quit, just like that. I had not even heard of this fish before then and they looked quite strange. I guess rather unusual to see any in the BWCA as well.
 
nabor617
  
07/03/2023 08:14AM  
About a decade ago, 4 of us were fishing a lake near some falls. I was with my friend in one canoe and my dad was in another canoe with my brother. Dad had just lost his crank bait to a really good sized pike when it snapped him off. Hey, it happens. We fish for another 2 hours making a gradual loop back to where this happened when my buddy sets the hook on a nice fish. As I'm getting ready to land it, I see another lure in its mouth.

Dad was nearby so I asked him what he was using. Sure enough, same fish. We ended up eating the pike and dad got his lure back. Pretty fun story.
 
      Print Top Bottom Previous Next