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| Sun Setting on Fourtown Lake |
This year, we headed up to the BWCA earlier than usual. We entered on May 14th and put-in on Fall lake and made a counter clockwise loop to Mudro lake. This route included 14 portages along the way. The weather was spectacular with temps in the 70's during the day and dropping to 40's-50's during the night. The bugs were minimal until the last day.
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| Courtney and Mark on Basswood |
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| Our 6 day counter-clockwise route |
We canoed through Fall lake and camped there for the evening. We were eager to get out of this lake however due to it being a motorized lake and it also being fishing opener. We then paddled through Newton and into Basswood. Basswood was gorgeous and although it too is a motorized lake, we saw no other boats, canoes or motored.
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A loon observes us
We spent a night on Basswood, and then continued on to Tin Can lake and then to Horse lake where we spent 2 nights. Along the way we saw many loons and other water fowl, such as mergansers. |
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| Common Merganser |
We managed to do quite a lot of fishing during our trip and caught A LOT of pike. There were only 2 pike around 30", but they were a ton of fun to catch. Pike were exclusively taking top water lures in shallow bays (sometimes as shallow as 8"). When taking lures, these Pike were explosive and would erupt out of the water. Most pike were caught on a Zara Spook with a walk the dog motion. We also caught many pike while bobber fishing. When we would reel in the bobber to do a worm-check, the Pike would strike at the bobber and often become hooked elsewhere on the body.
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| I managed to catch myself and a Pike |
Unfortunately, during a standard hook removal of a Rapala from a landed Pike, I hooked my finger. After an hour, a needle-nose, and a fillet knife, the hook was removed. I recommend always using pliers or forceps when removing hooks. Lesson learned.
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| A strong afternoon's work |
Walleye were caught on slip bobbers with hook and worm or with a lead-head jig with a grub jigged along the bottom. They were fantastic eating.
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| Author with a nice Smallie |
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| Mark and a nice Pike |
The BWCA also offered great photo opportunities and I truly enjoyed taking hikes in the afternoons and evenings.
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| Great reflections |
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| Fourtown reflection |
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| Trail near camp at Fourtown |
Great shots, Trevor! Too bad about the hooked finger. Did you try to cut it open with the filet knife?
ReplyDeleteAlso, could I pay you to send me some large prints of the Fourtown Reflection, Great Reflections, and Sun Setting on Fourtown Lake?
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! I'll only charge you for the cost of getting the prints made. I am making prints for the photo show soon, so I can get extras of these. Thanks for your interest.
ReplyDeleteBoth of the canoes are actually ours, and we DID cut the hook out with the fillet knife.