BWCA Kahsh, Burt, McIntyre area fishing Boundary Waters Quetico Forum
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cburton103
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05/10/2016 09:15PM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
Hey all, I'm going on my seventh annual BWCA/Q trip about a month from now to a new area. I take a few new guys each year, so I try to make it a nice mix of seeing a variety of lakes and putting them on some fish - I know, they're tough to miss in the Q!

My last two trips have been to the Q instead of the BWCA, and there's no going back now. We have two new guys coming along this trip, and I'd love to make sure we show them some good fishing. I've had some trouble finding much information on the area we're heading to this year.

Our planned route is to get a tow to Prairie Portage, head through North Bay and up to Kahshahpiwi (should we go the route further to the west through Side, or through Yum Yum?), around to Burt/Joyce/Marj, then down towards McIntyre and out through Nest and North Bay. We'll be there June 12-18th, and would like to focus on fishing. Walleye and Smallmouth bass will be our primary targets, but we'd like to pick up some Lakers and maybe target a few big pike as well occasionally.

I'm not going to ask anyone to divulge their honey holes (but I'm all ears if you want to email me at cburton103@yahoo.com!), but which lakes tend to be some of the better fishing lakes along our route? We'd probably like to spend two nights at two different lakes, and then one night each at two other lakes for our six nights. We don't mind a long-ish first and last day. These champs did a 25 mile marathon day from Kawnipi to North Bay a couple years ago.

Thanks so much for any advice you guys have!
 
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cburton103
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05/10/2016 09:36PM  
Also, let me know if you guys think I'd get better answers in the fishing forum and I can repost it over there.
05/12/2016 08:29PM  
I can't tell you much for fishing along the route. We kinda did it....but in reverse in May once, about 10 days after ice out. We caught lakers every day by trolling as we traveled.
Just some thoughts on the route. We went IN thru Isabella and Side from North Bay, but we were headed to Sarah. I would come out that way instead of Point and Nest. Our research showed the Point/Nest portages were "less desirable".
We came out from Kash thru McNiece, Armin, Grey, Shade. Didn't seem too bad. You could cut into Yum Yum if you want. That portage into Kash has various ratings....;)
Kash to Joyce thru the noname is a rugged stretch.
If I was looking for smallies and walleyes, I would hit Suzy and Brent as long as I was that close.
cburton103
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05/16/2016 10:12AM  
Thanks for the tips, cowdoc. We're excited about getting out into some of the rugged parts of Quetico.

We'll try out the route through McNiece/Armin as opposed to taking the portage from Yum Yum into Kahsh. I've heard some nasty, nasty things about the Yum Yum portage!
yungwalleye
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05/17/2016 05:27PM  
Cburton thanks for starting this thread! I'm really interested in hearing about anyone's experience with burt or definitely kahsh. Just not a whole lot of info out there it seems.
cburton103
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05/17/2016 06:24PM  
Yeah, I was surprised my research hasn't revealed much about kahs in particular. I believe I've read that it's a good four species fishery (smallies, walleye, pike and lake trout), but I haven't read much else about it. Burt seems to have a fairly decent amount of information out there, at least. It's kinda exciting in a way to head towards a lot of lakes I know much less about than on my previous trips, however!
05/19/2016 05:59AM  
I layed over on Burt in Sept. 2011. A gorgeous site is there and the fishing was so so for me. I did notice that the smallmouth are very healthy fish. You know, the kind that are shaped like a football? I boated an 18 incher that was a real handful. Must have jumped 5 or 6 times and very powerful. I caught eater walleye there too.

cburton103
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05/23/2016 12:28AM  
Any info on the fishing on kahs? Who thinks the fishing would be better in Brent/Suzy than it would be in Burt/kahs? We're open to heading a bit further west if the fishing is likely to be better. Thanks again for all of the responses!
05/25/2016 09:08AM  
My biggest walleye was caught in Kahshapiwi. Nice lakers, too. They all fatten up on ciscoes...
joewildlife
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05/27/2016 03:30PM  
I think you will do good on all those lakes. Sarah hasn't been great for me, McIntrye and Burt were excellent, and Brent was the best for walleye. Be sure to throw out a crankbait and troll when crossing. I never targeted or cared about lake trout and had only caught a couple incidentally over several trips. Last spring as we were in that area, got to talking to a couple guys coming out and they said they had done well on lakers. I asked how they do it. Seems simple but I hadn't practiced it: I don't fish during a day's travels. I usually wait until we set camp somewhere, then head out to fish. But what the guy suggested was to troll on the way to camp. So we got to Burt, and cast out a deep diving crank when we got out into the lake from the portage. A couple hundred yards later and we had two eatin' sized trout for dinner. We've put that method into practice since and such an intuitive thing has served us well.

The Yum Yum portage doesn't deserve its bad reputation. The portages from Isabella to Sarah are a bigger pita than the Yum Yum. And if I remember, the portage from Grey to Yum Yum lake just plain sucks. Or maybe that was Dell to Grey. Either way, it isn't easy to get to Kahshahpiwi. It was tough even in the fall when it was relatively dry.
joewildlife
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05/27/2016 03:50PM  
I'll add this: I typically catch all kinds of fish around the first of June, been four or five times I guess. I've also done three fall trips and it is hard to come up with anything other than smallies then. Maybe it is just me.

But I can tell you this...in the spring the lakes on a good sized creek or river system will be much better for walleye, than any "dead end" kind of lake.

If the lake has trees down to the waterline all around it, with little rock, then the fishing might not be as good. Personally, I just like the lakes that are a lot more "rough looking". islands, humps, bedrock, rubble, rocks...if it is rough above the surface, it is probably rough under the surface. The lakes that are long and narrow, or in "low country" and fully forested around them...well I just don't catch as many fish there. I was not impressed with the FALL fishing in the Kahs chain. I had the best trip as far as fishing in early June in McIntyre, Burnt, Suzanette, Brent, and lakes thereabout.
cburton103
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05/27/2016 07:53PM  
After the comments here and really digging into the differences between the Brent/Suzanette/Conmee area and the Kahs/Joyce/Burt area, I think we're most likely going to the Brent area. I'll probably check with the outfitter to see what his thoughts are and if he's heard any hot fishing reports from either area. I'm really excited to see the Brent area and hopefully see if it's not quite fished out!
05/31/2016 08:53AM  
Brent is a beautiful lake that will keep you busy and happy.
05/31/2016 08:53AM  
05/31/2016 08:53AM  
cburton103
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06/01/2016 09:49AM  
Arctic - I'm still waiting to find a lake up there I don't like! And congrats on the elusive triple post! Haha
joewildlife
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06/01/2016 11:59AM  
I checked my notes and have to correct myself when it came to William. I stand my statement on the poor campsite...although there WAS another occupied campsite on the north side of the lake that may have been good.

EDIT: I was thinking this post was about William when I replied..but I will still leave it up.

As far as fishing goes, on 6/9/15, my daughter caught a big walleye just minutes after leaving camp to fish in the afternoon, and I caught 3 walleye. We both caught smallmouth and she also caught a pike. Fishing is better than I remembered obviously, but I jotted down in my notes that William has very very dark water (which I do like), and is a flat, no-rock, featureless lake. The campsite was garbage filled but we cleaned it up before we left. I remember camping on the south short to the west end of the lake.

SO, maybe take a day trip there to fish but again, I wouldn't make it a destination lake based on my overall impression. And my overall impression of Brent is excellent. We caught 3 of the biggest walleyes I've ever caught in BWCA/Quetico in Brent.

Joe
cburton103
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06/02/2016 12:20PM  
Thanks for the correction, Joe. As long as the fishing on Brent/Suzanette/Conmee/Burt is anything like advertised while we're there, I have serious doubts we'd make it out to William from the east bay of Brent. It's always good to know the day trip options around, though!
 
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