We’re getting a tow from Voyageur Canoe Outfitters in Grand Marias, MN to Cache Bay. Are there any good hiking trails in this area of the park in Canada?

If anyone happens to have scuba gear and wants to look for it. We searched for a good hour and could never find it. It's out in the middle in the grassy stuff. He was taking a picture of a really nice beaver dam on the south shore of the lake and it fell in, never to be seen again.

Probably a long shot, but would make for a great story. Black iPhone.

https://preview.redd.it/ykype702p6pd1.jpg?width=642&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c7a154d2b5bf1967dc37e9f49326617f55aa9803

Does anyone know what the conditions are on Beartrap River heading south from Sunday Lake to Beartrap Lake? On the BWCA website with the topographic maps it isn't clear to me whether the whole section is navigable by canoe or if we're going to have to portage some/most of it. I see someone has added two places of interest as markers for a portage that isn't shown on any official bwca maps. Thanks for any information!

Day one of seven. Williams and Hall on Moose

Walleye are SHALLOW. Caught our limit every day in 4-12 feet of water. Lake trout were scarce, but every other fish was feeding.

Walleye were biting everything. Spoons, spinners, xraps, feather jigs, giant jointed surface rapalas (shocked), andany firetiger crank. Just don’t try over 15 feet, no luck there minus suspended fish over deep holes while looking for lakers.

Firetiger and silver/blue did the best. A few on pink or fluorescent green, but FT and silver/blue cleaned up.

Best fishing was where rivers hit the lakes or narrower passages between the main lake and bays. If you have weeds or Lilly pads fish them. For every 2 hammer handles we caught a nice walleye.

Bass were going absolutely nuts for 5-10 foot cranks. Caught a bass at 45 feet in 80 feet of water, as well as several large pike and a few walleye. Shocked to pull up a 10 in bass on a 6 inch spoon that deep

Northern were everywhere. Stopped throwing smaller lures and just massive ones to avoid as many small pike. Several over 30 inches, also my first completely blue pike (3 of them, no silvers this time sadly).

Boulder river was insane

So my group for the past two years has put in at 25 in Moose and goes to Wind. We usually stay there for the week on our little island. Anyway, now there’s a fire and Wind is closed. So we gatta change things up. We are going Saturday. I’d like to find a spot where fishing is good. we want to target lakers this year. Also looking for good hiking and exploring. Any recommendations? We will probably venture towards sandbank or knife

As title states, first time fishing and camping at BWCA I absolutely love fishing and am super pumped. Any tips and tricks on what to use during that time for fishing as well as necessary things ill need that I could potentially look over when packing!

Fall fishing trip was a success on Basswood and Snowbank lakes this year. Caught new personal record smallmouth (21.5”) and pike (40”). Conditions were less than ideal due to 80’ temps and no wind but we still managed to limit out on walleye.

Checking into our site soon, Lost Lake K19 on Kabetogama. Originally we planned to bring our kayaks, but are now wondering about canoe rentals.

Does anyone know if this site includes a canoe rental? Or if Ash River visitor center rents out?

Putting in on Sunday. How are the bugs? Any leeches to be had?

Sounds like it is currently a small fire they are actively working to suppress.

I've got myself and a friend looking to head out into the BWCA come late September. Neither of us have canoes, so we would have to rent from an outfitter - no worries there. The worry lies in "how do you get that to the entry point?" as neither of us have canoe trailers either. We were considering getting shuttled in from an outfitter, or is there another way?

I've always went with friends who had canoes and the ability to transport them - but this time it's just one friend and I who don't have canoes.

Any advice would be helpful from folks who have 'been there and done that', we'll either be traveling in a truck or an SUV.

My daughters and I backpack and car camp, but are beginning our journey into canoe camping. I'm trying to pick the best canoe based on our sizes and how we would use it. We are relatively new paddlers and are not likely to (intentionally) paddle rocky rivers. Mostly to be used on small to medium lakes, and we prefer stability over speed if we had to choose. I'm 140 lbs max, my 12 year old is currently 90 lbs and probably won't hit my weight until she hits age 40😆, and my almost 10 year old is about 65 lbs. Max height for all of us will be about 5'6" so not very tall. We have a variety of UL equipment, so I don't anticipate our packs being the heaviest you've ever seen. We're a light crew altogether. The kind man answering my questions today at Piragis suggested that the NS Northwind 18 might be a bit big for us because we'll sit higher in the water making it easier to be blown by the wind. He suggested a Northwind 17, Seliga or Spirit II. I'm not interested in the bucket seats of the Spirit II. If I plan to use for a decade to come as the girls age, can the Northwind17 really seat 3 smallish women or is that not reasonable? If not reasonable and it's best to get the Northwind 18 for the 3 of us, how would the Northwind 18 hold up for a tandem ride for me and my 240lb partner?

I plan to buy used from an outfitter. Are there any other outfitters that you suggest I look into that sell at a better value than Piragis?

Any other canoes that really should be on our radar?

To those who respond: Thank you for sharing your experience and thoughtfulness! I appreciate your support getting myself and my daughters out in the BWCA!

I'm headed to Crab Lake this week for my fist outing in the BWCA. Could someone please sanity check my lighterpack? This is just my base weight list so doesn't include food, fuel, etc. or the clothing I'll be wearing when I set off.
I plan to pack my boots and wear my Keen sandals while canoeing and portaging, but am uncertain if this is the best way to do it. I have never been in a canoe before and welcome any advice!

https://lighterpack.com/r/0vq0hx

EDIT: Thank you so much to everyone who helped me figure this out! It’s a bit different from backpacking but my LighterPack is now complete and my backpack is fully packed. I hope to be able to use my backpack, but am packed in a way I can quickly transfer everything to a portage pack and even get it all to balance. I’ll find out when I do my orientation the day before entry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-G7dmfe5Exs&t=6s

Bought a Minn3 almost 20 years ago when we had two small boys. Unfortunately, we used it sparingly due to Little League and summer teaching. Now that we are older and semi-retired we are trying to decide whether to keep the Minn3 and use it as a tandem or sell it for a used Minn2.

My biggest question is the stability of the Minn3 when loaded and used as a tandem vs. the Minn2. Most of our trips would be 4-5 days. For us a long trip would be a week so a big Granite Gear bag a Duluth Pack #4 and a small day pack are about all we carry.

If it matters the Minn3 has a 2004 production date, has been garage stored, and the hull is in really good shape.

Lots of questions here...

Any clue how the fishing will be on these lakes near the end of Sept?

Plan is to camp Caribou... will the sites be too busy because they are close to an entry point?

How is the portage from Clearwater to Caribou for a few first-timers?

How does getting a permit work- just buy one and go wherever?

Any helpful tips?

I see a lot of information about taking multiple day trips on the boundary waters which I'm not trying to do. I just want to spend a little time out on the water to relax and be done. Do people do this?

Hi folks,

Heading up to EP 37 Kawishiwi and up to Polly and Malberg soon. Anyone have anything to report on fishing and general conditions?

Thank you and paddle on 🤘

Just returned from a week long trip up to Fish Straight Narrows via EP 16.

Upgraded my water filter to a platypus gravity filter. No more pumping water. I will however bring the pump along next time for those day trips away from base camp.

Upgraded my satellite communicator to the Garmin Enreach model with all the bells and whistles. Also purchased the BWCA maps that to my surprise included all the campsites. That was a big surprise and a great feature. I also liked the water depths, and weather forecasts.

Standing by for all the traditional Fischer map users downvotes.

Should I bring a mosquito hat? Never had an issue in September but would like to confirm, haven’t been there since the spring but heard it was bad this year

Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/BWCA/comments/1etnj9y/torn_meniscus_entering_on_brule_in_10_days/

I just wanted to thank everyone who offered tips and suggestions, we had an awesome trip and my wife managed to not injure herself any further which is great.

We spent the night before at Crescent Lake campground, slept in the back of our Outback. It was pretty warm and muggy, I really need to make some mesh window covers for that thing. We ended up cracking the windows and dealing with the few skeeters that found their way in as needed. We put in on Brule very early on Monday the 26th, it was very foggy and the water was like glass which made for a very magical paddle. After finding the first couple sites I was interested in occupied we went back to the site on the eastern end of the large island just to the northeast of the put in. Turned out to be pretty good luck the other sites were occupied, this one was great.

Had an interesting experience Monday night, my wife woke me up wanting me to check out these bright flashes of light in the sky to the south. It was constant, randomly timed flashes no more than a few seconds between each flash and lasted for about an hour. It was like a very intense electrical storm, but it was eerie because it was completely silent, no thunder at all. Or wind, or any other noise for that matter, really weird. I never saw actual lightning because it was overcast, so the whole southern sky just lit up. Just one of those cool, strange things that happen in the park.

We day tripped Tuesday to see the Vernon portage falls (wife did great, just had a light day pack and took it slow with walking sticks) the falls were very cool and well worth the effort. Wednesday we did some fishing on Echo and Thursday went over to check out Lily. The wind was out of the East and started picking up Thursday making for a sporty paddle back to the site. We were heading directly into it and paddling our Champlain which can take quite a bit of rough water so no real issue, just some exercise. We had planned to stay in camp Friday which turned out great because the wind switched to the west and had some fetch, it was raising whitecaps and really ripping past the campsite by early afternoon. Made it seem as though we were watching a river run by. We packed up early Saturday and got out before the wind picked up.

Anyway, thanks again for the help!

Any ideas on water and air temps mid September? Going in through Snowbank, planning on hanging out on Ensign. Will be looking for Walleye, Pike and some Grouse.

That’s a hefty drop. I’ve been planning all year for 65-80’. I’ve had terrible luck during cold fronts in the passed, but I figure it being the whole time and prolonged should yield results day 3-4 of the front. Advice for walleye patterns?

I assume rocks and boulders in strong sunlight, windswept areas, etc. will this cause a big migration in depth?

Just made it out of the woods. Here is the highlight of our trip right over the petroglyphs

I want to present the idea of a BWCA trip to my close family. While getting the information, I was mostly overwhelmed by the number of recommended outfitters and all the trip information provided. How can I decide where are good spots to go and which outfitters to choose? We will easily have a 9-person group with ages possibly from 15 - 45. I was also curious if it's possible to do two groups if we have more than 9 people, and if we can stay near each other on the trip. Thanks for any help!

my bed at home doesn't feel quite as comfortable anymore

Can you add the BWCA permit to your state issued drivers license when you get a drivers license and can you buy a lifelong permit