bwca smallies

[GSP4ME]

going to be heading to the bwca the first week of August. any tips on the small mouth. ideas on tackle and depth, types of structure?

thanks

[rwwong]

I haven't been to the bwca in years.....but I would guess if you find rock and crayfish, you'll find the bronzebacks. Cranks, tubes, senkos, poppers/dog walkers.

[mainbutter]

Rocks, rocks, and rocks.

Senkos work wonders if they are shy, otherwise if you're not going to pack tons of soft plastics in, topwaters, inline spinners, small spinnerbaits, and small crankbaits are all in my box for smallies. I'd have a hard time finding a 1.5''-3'' lure that I WOULDN'T call a "good smallie lure".

Again, fish the rocks. Rock piles away from shore, deep rock piles, shallow rock piles, a big rock sloping hill going down into the water from shore, big boulders just by the shore.. that's what I'd hit to get an idea of where they are and what they're doing.

If you're a fly fisherman, smallies are a dream fish to chase. Slow sinking streamers to work like jerkbaits and heavy sinking streamers to work like crayfish should be your #1 and #2 when you're not working poppers.

[bassfshin24]

I would say topwater, spinnerbaits, and white zoom flukes. The white super fluke has always been my #1 boundary water lure.

[JBMasterAngler]

There's no reason to use anything other than a 3" powergrub with small overhead spinner. Smallies big and small can't resist it, and with the single hook you don't have to mess with unhooking trebles out of the fishes' mouth (or your hand). The overhead spinner makes for a good leader if you happen upon a pike or 2, which you will.

Skitter props or poppers are a great surface bait, and flat raps are the absolute best sub surface lure.

[nofishfisherman]

Where in the BWCA are you going? East or west side?

Smallies are usually easy to find. Any rock structure will hold fish. Rocky points seem to always been the honey hole for me.

Color of lure can be dictated by where in the BWCA you are going. The west side of the BWCA tends to have stained water and the east side tends to be more clear water. Take that into consideration when planning lures.

For me on the east side lakes seemed to have the best luck with anything white. A jig and leech can also be very effective. Just toss it out from shore while hanging out in camp.

[nofishfisherman]

One more quick tip. If you are using treble hooks consider pinching down the barbs on them. You'll still catch plenty of fish but if you get unlucky and end up catching your hand it will make pulling the hooks out MUCH easier. Wouldn't be a whole lot of fun pulling a barbed hook out of your hand in the BWCA.

Smallies seem to have a way of shaking a lure loose at the worst time, like right when you are reaching down to grab it.

[GSP4ME]

going out of the west side. jasper creek outfitters

[Stick in Mud]

I just got out from a trip to the Cummings Lake area last week. We caught something like 150 fish in three evenings of fishing. Every one we caught was on a topwater between 7:30 and sunset. IF it's calm out, that's about all I throw these days, especially at low-light periods. Depending on where you're going over there, you can also catch some nice largemouth on the west side.

During the day, you probably won't have a great bite for them on top...then it's senkos, grubs, beetle spins, shad raps, tubes, and/or flukes. If I had one bait to bring, it'd be a fluke, though.

What lake(s) you headed to? If I know it/them, I'd be happy to share what I know.

[GSP4ME]

I'll know on Saturday. my guy Beans is out on a week long guide trip.n I'll let you know as soon as I know

[GSP4ME]

going to base camp on snowbank and day trip to parent and disappointment lakes, any thoughts

[JBMasterAngler]

Snowbank is a good lake. You can easily catch over 100 smallies (and rock bass). You can use rap alas to weed out some of the smaller fish...no chance in weeding out the rock bass, they hit everything! Big or small.

[Stick in Mud]

LOL, that's one of a few entry points that I haven't been to.

Ensign, just a bit north of there, is a good bass lake....there are some big largies in it.

[GSP4ME]

are there certain colors that work better then others?. I love fishing senkos and will have those along. . can anyone tell me more about the flukes I've heard mentioned? What it's the best method to fish then?

[bassfshin24]

I typically use a white zoom super fluke up in the boundary waters. You texas rig them weightless. Use a 4/0 wide gap hook and you're good to go.

[GSP4ME]

so do any of you ever take leeches into the bwca for the walleye and bass?

[Doonbuggy]

We used 4" dark green senkos and that caught every fish but one which decided to smack a skitter pop (was daytime with good sun). And don't overlook weedy coves. We were surprised that smallmouth were in the weeds with the largies - but that's where the bait was.

DB

[Stick in Mud]

They're still hitting topwaters in the middle of the day, too, if you find some that are dumb enough. I just got out from a short trip, and the popper was working all day long. I am sure I would've caught more with a senko or a fluke, but it's so much more fun to watch them hit a topwater.

[GSP4ME]

thanks guys. I'll defiantly give a report when we get back. little over a week and we will be there. can'twait