Summer Fishing in the BWCA | Boundary Waters Fishing Trip Beartrap River, Iron Lake, Lac La Croix
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- Опубликовано: 15 сен 2024
- #walleye #BWCAfishing #smallmouthbass
On this trip we set out to do some summer fishing in the BWCA. Tim and I head down one of our new favorite routes: Mudro to Beartrap Lake, Beartrap River, Sundial Lake Primitive Management Area, Iron Lake, Lac La Croix, Agnes Lake and back out Moose River North.
Our route ended up taking us 3 days and 2 nights and ended up being a total of 35 miles paddling and 5 miles portaging (1620 rods), not including any of the day trips we took to chase walleye, smallmouth and pike.
This route is so incredible because it passes through a PMA or Primitive Management Area. The PMAs give you an experience closer to Quetico Provinical Park in Ontario, with no designated campsites or portages and are not maintained by the US forest service due to their remote locations and infrequent travel by visitors.
It was no surprise that we got into some fantastic fishing, gorgeous scenery and didn't see another soul between Gun Lake and Iron Lake. This route is not for the faint of heart and if you are planning to attempt, I would suggest AT LEAST 4 days and 3 nights to complete. It would also be a great candidate for a week long trip, allowing for additional layover days at Sunday Lake, Iron and/or Lac La Croix.
Another fantastic variation of this route would be to come out at the Stuart River entry point, which would allow for a few nights on Stuart Lake, which is almost always free of other travelers.
Enjoy!!
Impressive fish! Giant smallie! Looked like you had a great trip. :) I enjoyed the video. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for watching!!
So fun to see some of the same area's. LLC has always been a favorite.
If I could only fish one BWCA lake on the west side, it would definitely be LLC. It’s a big and sometimes intimidating lake, but the quality of fish are unmatched anywhere else in the BWCA
Seeing all the lily pads makes my bass senses tingle! Great video, and I'll definitely have to check out the locations you've visited!
Good! Always gotta be thinking like a fish!
Sweet melly your buddy has! I've been to Leadville a few times and love having one of those hoodies in the BWCA
Melly? I am not familiar
Great video as always! You guys can really cover some ground! I stayed on Sunday lake 7/13-7/15. Just missed you. Would have been cool to see you all pass through!
Thank you!! Get up early, keep that paddle in the water and be prepared to single-portage and it isn’t too tough to cover 20+ miles in a day. We didn’t have a PMA so couldn’t technically stay on Sunday, but that would have been fun.
It’s like a massage for your ears..
You know what I’m talking about!! Split rock river route on SHT with you was the first time I ever slept near moving water…been loving it ever since
Nice smally caught my record on Pine Lake last spring measured out at 19.5 inches we couldn't believe it a big fat female. Water looks high we stayed at the camp between Thunder and Beartrap right next to the portage saw a nice bull across the lake 2 nights in a row.
Thanks! I measured it against my paddle and it was likely somewhere between 19.5-20.5", not the 22" I originally guessed - they always look bigger than they are when the adrenaline is pumping! I haven't stayed at Thunder or Beartrap, but I'd love to go back. Beartrap is a really cool lake and if you can get that one campsite, you probably wouldn't see anyone else the entire trip. Believe it or not, I still have yet to see a moose in the BW/Quetico...I'm starting to think I am cursed
If you have low water levels on the beartrap River you better plan on lots of bushwack portages
We didn’t deal with low water on our trip, but were still bushwhacking because the portages were so overgrown/unmaintained. So thick I couldn’t see my feet when walking. I fell 3 times total…can’t remember the last time I fell on a portage.
Beartrap river and louse river are pretty similar to eachother from memory. Looked like a pretty badass trip. Plenty of string stretchin to be had!
Haven't done much on that side of the BWCA...Living in Ely these last 4 years most of my exploring has been Sawbill to the Western Boundary...It's time to start branching out more!
@@therealfarwater my cabin is just west of crane lake and i guided out of that area. I know the north west side pretty well. A lot of time on crane, loon, and llc. Louse river route leaving from kawishi lake is a great one, but NOT in bug season. Follow the louse river eastto lugineida lake then head south through polly, helen, then west back to kawishiwi. Lots of amazing fishing and ive only ever seen two people in a dozen trips there. One of which we found a canoen gear scattered about, so we checked with rangers on our way out and they ended up rescuing the guy who took a moose trail vs portage trail onto a black spruce bog where he spent what i can imagine to be an AWEFUL 3DAYS in the worst bugs ever with no shelter, no gear, and no bug spray....
Awesome vid as usual!! Going up for trip number two next week. So I’m mostly bass trout guy what’s a good hair jig size? I got some bigger bucktails for trout but mostly trolled when I’ve fished walleyes. Thanks in advance!
Thank you!! I appreciate the views! I think I was using a 1/4 oz size on this trip, which seemed great for the depths I was fishing it (8-14'). I invested in more in the 3/8oz size because they worked so well. I think the 3/8oz will be perfect for later season when the fish are a little deeper (15-25'). I am going to experiment with snap-jigging them for lake trout in deeper water (30-45') so I wanted something a little heavier that would get to the bottom quicker. I've got a bunch of 3/4 to 2oz bucktails for lakers but I feel that those fall a little too quickly. I want to be able to stay away from snags as they are spendy and super easy to lose. Have fun on your trip!
Great video. Surprised you use that long of rods in a canoe. I usually keep it to 6’6” rods. May have to experiment.
Was up for a trip to Wind last week and talked to you in the store. Walleyes we’re exactly where you said they’d be. Thanks!
Yea, I definitely prefer longer rods for higher performance, even out of a canoe. Sure, they can be cumbersome in the boat or on portages, but I feel the benefits far outweigh the negatives. I also like to stay away from break-apart or multi-piece rods as I feel you lose a lot of sensitivity and performance. The shortest I use is my walleye and heavy jigging rods at 7'1". My casting/lightweight trolling is 7'6" and trolling is 8'. The trolling is the most cumbersome, but the elongated handle above the reel allows me to choke up to cut off at least 18-24" of the overall length when I am landing big fish, which is plenty to land with a Boga or net. Most of the fish I end up losing are lost due to poor hook set, not necessarily the length of the rod. Investing in high quality rods like Shimano, Fenwick, St. Croix and GLoomis, etc. keeps the rods from breaking when dropped or snagged in brush on portages, so the length really doesn't bother me there either. Also, longer rods while trolling allow our boat to cover a larger area of water, rather than just behind the boat like with short rods.
I am glad you had a great trip and found the fish. I am confident that you would have found the walleyes even without my help, but I am glad that I could give you that extra confidence you needed to put fish in the boat. Thanks for saying hello...stop by next time you're in town and say "hi."
Great video! Those walleye did have a cool color. What a great fishing buddy you have. He keeps your canoe in the right spot so you can clean up on the fish lol. I want to fish Lac La Croix one day, only access on the north side is through the reserve. Not sure what permission is required from the natives. I am sure for a cost they would let me launch my kayak. Cheers
It’s incredible! It can be tough to fish since it’s such big water, but it’s a trophy fish factory and gets very little pressure. I know the Canadian side is motorized but not sure how the access works
I've stayed at a campsite right across from Warrior Hill for a week. There were lots of guide motorboats with canoes up on racks bringing people in from the west, even a float plane with canoes strapped to the top of the floats. Shouldn't be hard to find a way in.
@@jakestores Thanks for the info! It's a bummer that boats and planes are allowed on the Canadian side, but the lake is massive so there's plenty of room to share and plenty of fish for all
@@therealfarwater Yeah, it's not a big deal. If I really wanted to be away from motors and people totally I'd just pick something more remote. Lac La Croix has great campsites, good day trip options, good open views, and good fishing. I think I talked to you briefly in Piragis last year but just discovered your channel today. I'm headed back to this same campsite 8/27-9/3. Any report on conditions? I heard water was 10ft up with some campsites totally underwater, fire grates 3ft under, etc. Sounds sketchy from those reports. If memory serves right that would put the pictographs underwater too.
@@jakestores The water has definitely come down since then. On our trip in late June I would say the water was about three or 4 feet higher than average but it is probably come down significantly and I wouldn’t expect any campsites to be underwater or affected by any high water. We have had a ton of rain recently but not enough to bring us back to those flood conditions we saw in the spring
I am heading up to Knife this Thursday, any tips on target lake trout this time of year?
That is exciting! I really don’t have much laker advice for you on Knife this time of year. I’ve only caught them in early spring when they are shallow. With the warm water temps, you’re going to have to go very deep (40+ feet) so heavy weights and trolling or heavy jigging vertical baits are really your only option. I’d bring some heavy bucktail jigs, tube jigs or jigging raps and try to drift jig while smacking bottom and see if you can’t find a few. Might have more luck targeting them early morning when the water is a little cooler and they might come up to hit a deep diving crankbait. Best of luck!
@@therealfarwater thanks for all the tips! I will put them to good use.
Why isn’t Tim fishing?
Because he forgot to buy a fishing license 😂😂
What's your rod, reel and line setup for this video?
Trolling/casting Rod: Gloomis escape 7’6” medium power fast action 3 pc travel rod paired with a shimano Sedona 3000 size reel spooled with 20lbs power pro braid to a 12lbs Berkeley vanish flouro leader.
Jigging rod: Gloomis GLX walleye jigging, 1pc, 7’ medium power extra fast paired with a daiwa verano 2500 sized reel spooled with the same power pro line and vanish leader. When it’s time to replace my braid, I’ll likely go with 20lbs on the trolling and 15lbs on the jigging. That might be a while though, this power pro lasts forever. Still on my original spool(s) from 6 years ago…
Bummer
He was a fantastic guide though!