Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Fishing Forum :: Any luck around moose lake and basswood lake
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Beemer01 |
Basswood could take a book in and of itself to describe the fishing. Legendary big water fishing, and from my experience it is still a very good fishery. Where do you plan to camp? Base camp or loop? |
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shortystop |
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Beemer01 |
What I would do, and this is just me, is to head East over to Knife Lake probably following the Knife River route. Five days is plenty for this. Once you're on Knife and the fishing is good for every species here, (check the maps section for noted good campsites and honey holes) you can also hop over to Bonnie and Spoon (Spoon is noted for a population of large and irritated Northerns). You can also climb Thunder Point for great views. Just some thoughts. |
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Pirate |
Also; while sparse, there's some nice size Walleye in Wind. Don't forget to drag a spinner behind you on the way up (check out the "Favorite Trolling Lures" post). |
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Pirate |
More humping/less paddling, less humping/more paddling; six of one, half a dozen of the other. |
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shortystop |
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shortystop |
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Beemer01 |
Well First, welcome to the Northcountry. Second start a new thread over on the fishing area and promise, we'll bury you with information on how to catch fish up there, species by species. Some differences compared to Southern fishing, our water is gin clear to 20' in this area, so the choice of lures, bait and presentation style are different. Also, in May it would not be unusual to get snowed/sleeted on, so your gear should reflect this. You can also have bluebird days with sunny skies and temps in the high 60s. The water however will be an icy 47 degrees or colder on big water like Basswood, a bit warmer on shallower lakes. This is viewed as a fairly dangerous time of year - if you fall in or capsize even with a PFD you can be in serious trouble in a matter of minutes. This means that you need to paddle close to shore on big water and be very wary of wind and chop especially if you are not very experienced paddlers. Are you self outfitting or using a commercial service? |
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shortystop |
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shortystop |
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Pirate |
Probably the worst area on the east end is around Washington Island. When the wind is whistling out of the northwest that area can be hairy for a boat! |
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Beemer01 |
Always remember, you guys have to carry everything over hill and dale. This means steep, rocky and muddy - often on the same portage. A good book to buy your dad for an early Father's day is BWCA Fishing by Michael Furtman. You can buy it from Piragis.com up in Ely, among other vendors. |
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Bannock |
BMW, I agree about the Michael Furtman book. I was going to post the Amazon link for it, but I went there and found this, “A Boundary Waters Fishing Guide”. It says it’s being released April 2008. I know the copy I have has a different cover, so now I’m wondering if it is a new edition or a completely different book. I’m guessing a new edition. So, shorty, it looks like you’ll have to find a copy on ebay or a used book store, or wait till April to get it. Still, it is worth getting. BTW – the last time I was on Wood lake (years ago) there was a slot limit on northerns. All northerns between (I’m guessing) 20” and 30” had to be returned. So, you could only keep little ones or big ones. My son and his friend did catch a lot of northerns but they were all about 24” and had to be returned. |
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shortystop |
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shortystop |
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Pirate |
The BW ain't Disneyland, especially in spring (don't let me deter you, just prepare, be safe & keep alert). Trust me; the last thing you want to do in May up here is swamp your canoe (yes, that's the voice of experience). In summer it's most likely going to be an inconvenience, in May its got the potential be a (very) fine line between life & death. If you do swamp, the closer you are to shore, the better your chances of being able to tell your buddies a war story. My simple logic states that its ALWAYS better to laugh about something later than to become a statistic at the moment. Also, more than once I've woken up to inches of snow on the tent during opening day of fishing when there wasn't any on the ground the day before. This situation is not very conducive to a good attitude when you forget your warm clothes in the truck (also the voice of experience). With a little preparation and caution you will have the time of your life! |
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Beemer01 |
Traditional Rapalas - gold and black -3-4" sizes Daredevle Spoons - Red and White - Standard size Diving Rapalas - assorted colors 3-4" 1/4 oz. Jig rigged with yellow twistertails. Bucktail spinner baits for Northerns (Note, when targeting these guys ALWAYS use a steel leader to avoid biteoffs) Those will get you Bass, Northerns and Walleyes. If you want May Lakers - and they can be caught on some of the deeper lakes (>90' deep) - fish them shallow at 8-15' down - I've had success with silver and blue Rapalas, rigged with a 1/2 oz weight 8' in front of the lure to get it to the proper depth and then slowly trolling it behind the canoe. A compact fish finder will help this quest. Others will add to / subtract from this list. |
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Beemer01 |
What kind of canoe do you have? |
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Beemer01 |
Some of us here might suggest saving your collective backs and renting a Kevlar canoe instead. Few more bucks but you'll thank me on the first portage. |
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shortystop |
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TomT |
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