fishing in boundry waters

[nitrotmaxx]

I'm heading up to the boundry waters in a few months and was just wandering if you guys had any good fishing tips I could try?

[PerchJerker]

Pretty easy to bring in leeches with you and a jig and leech will catch just about anything. Cast and retrieve, vertical fishing while drifting, or floating it under a slip bobber.

You can also troll shad raps, husky jerks, and original rapalas - good way to do some exploring, catch a lot of fish, and see some scenery.

Usually colors like firetiger, chartreuse, white, orange, green etc. will do good in the BW.

Good luck, I hope this helps.

[Walleye Guy]

Get a map of the lakes you plan to visit. I would also recommend bringing a portable depth finder. A gell cell lasts a long time on most depth finders.

I usually bring in leeches and minnows. Yeah I know minnows are a pain to portage and a few of them die. However I have been faced with times where leeches and artificials didn't produce and minnows did. Oxygen bag them for as long as possible and then move them to a flow through minnow bucket. Give them a drink every 15 minutes or so when you are paddling and they will last a while.

Whenever you are paddling make sure you are trolling some type of crankbait behind the canoe. You will be surprised as to the fish you catch. The erractic movement that paddling gives a crankbait triggers fish. I have caught many a fish in places and depths where I was not expecting to catch anything. Remember that most of these fish haven't been overly exposed to lures.

Good luck and make sure you bring the bug dope.

WG

[nitrotmaxx]

What rod/line whould you recomend bringing?

[Walleye Guy]

I would recommend at least two rods and possibly a third. I have seen a few get busted during portages etc. I would have medium/light spinning rod spooled with 6 lb mono or fireline for rigging & jigging walleyes. I would also have a medium spinning rod with 10-12 lb mono for casting crank baits and spinner baits. If you choose to bring a third I would probably have another medium spinning or bait caster.

Good luck.

[Maximum12]

Books you could check out if you haven't already: "A Boundary Waters Fishing Guide" by Michael Furtman, & the two books that make up the "Boudary Waters Canoe Area" both eastern & western editions. The first is good for basic fishing information, the second two I've found indispensable for mapping out trips (& the odd fish tip here & there).

One thing I do before every BWCA trip is go to the DNR HSOforum & print out a map of every lake we may go to, & jot down on each map what species are found in the lake in what density (at least according to the DNR ). The paper weighs nothing & is a huge help in catching fish.

Last, I'll echo some of the advice given above. Bring more than one rod (I broke my St. Croix two years ago at the end of the first portage & was glad I had a spare). Troll while paddling, too, we just started doing this, don't know why we didn't start years ago, & it's been productive. We often bring leeches but aren't smart and/or careful enough to keep minnows alive.

I usually bring rods spooled with 8 lb. fireline, with which I've caught every species of which known to man (except lake trout). Your mileage may vary.