Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

Mudro to Beartrap with the Family
by BWfishingfanatic12

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 08/08/2012
Entry & Exit Point: Mudro Lake (EP 23)
Number of Days: 5
Group Size: 6
Trip Introduction:
Our second trip up to the Boundary waters as a family. My brother and I are in love with fishing in the BW but the family wanted to go for seclusion so we chose to go off the beaten path a bit. We have a family of 6 and were all getting older so its always nice to get together and spend time together and what better place than the boundary waters.
Day 1 of 5
Wednesday, August 08, 2012

We woke up at 3 to try to get an early start and get away from the crowds as soon as we could. We had a 4 hour drive up to Ely from our home in Wisconsin in which I slept almost the whole way. We arrived in Ely at just after 8 and stopped at The Great Outdoors for some last minute supplies, leeches, and fishing permits. Then we stopped at the ranger station and picked up our permit and headed off to the entry point to get on our way. We were paddling out the narrow creek at 9:30. The first portage wasn’t hard but it’s the rockiest one that I’ve ever seen you hardly ever had a spot to step. Then on to the formidable 120 rod up and down rocky portage that lived up to all the hype. The day was calm with very light breeze and temps in the low 80s so it was a beautiful August day! The rest of the portages went fairly smoothly for the most part and we stopped to eat a lunch of sandwiches, grapes, carrots, and granola bars afloat on boot. We were planning on staying on Fairy but we made good time and we hadn’t seen anyone since fourtown. So we kept on and had two sites in mind to stay on gun but they were both taken so we had to settle on our 3rd option on the North shore near the portage. We arrived at our site at around 1:30. We set up camp quick and then went out to collect firewood and pump some water. Then we decided to go for a swim and it felt great as we were all hot and sweaty from portaging. Then Brad and me decided to go out fishing for a bit and see if we could find were the fish were hanging out. We caught a couple bass and northern pike but nothing with too much size. The awesome thing with going up with the family is we have supper ready when we get back to camp which is wonderful. We had a supper of instant cheesy potatoes and ham. After supper I went out fishing with my dad in the narrows at gun. We caught a few bass a couple pike and a perch but 6 fish in 2 hours was pretty poor fishing so it was a little bit of a bummer. Back at camp we had a nice campfire and talked some as a family and everyone headed to be at around 10. I stayed up a bit and watched the stars and a lightning storm off in the distance which was simply amazing. Gods creation is incredible! It rained a little during the night just to make everything wet.