Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

camping /fishing advice


wmn luv me walleye fearme

Recommended Posts

going up for my first trip to kap next thursday. We will be going out of Ash river and was planning on camping somewhere between round bear island and Namakan. Just thought I would post and ask for some general advice.

In mid september is Kab or Namakan usually better? How is the fishing in the area's between them that time of year? I've done the boundary waters thing many times but these campsites look pretty built up. Are the bear lockers usually big enough for a cooler too? Will be nice to bring a lot of decent food and beer instead of eating some dried crap. Any general advice on crappies / walleyes? Hoping they've moved off of there summer depths and come in a little but I guess wont know until I try. Any good camp site suggestions or are they all pretty good. Sorry about all the questions, at work and have time to kill so figured i'd give them a shot. As usuall for me on a trip like this we started out with 6 people now just down to 2 or 3 of us.

thanks a lot

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey,

I've been up to Kab/Nam once (back in June with my wife) and I'm heading up this Thursday the 6th out of Ash River with the guys. I can't offer much advice on the fishing as I'm still learning this lake system myself. We did do quite well on Smallies back in June on topwater baits and tubes in and around the rock islands. As far as the camp sites go they are very much like the BWCA. The exception would be that most sites have a picnic table and a bear locker. The bear lockers are pretty good sized and you should be able to fit a couple of standard sized coolers in them. Again, I've only been there once so I haven't had a chance to see all the camp sites. But the ones I did see all seemed to be more than sufficient for a great camping experience.

I hope you have a great trip. We'll have to compare notes when we get back! smile.gif

Steve

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We will be up that weekend as well. I was up there this past labor day weekend. We did ok not much for smallies but I am not an expert on the areas yet as this is only my 3 time up. The walleye bite was not bad and pike was ok as well. The walleye were small in the shallows. Maybe this weekend the bigger walleye will be a little shallower. The camp sites are nice and the lockers are definately large enough for coolers. good luck we will be camping around namakan by the narrows into sand point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How'd you do stevie? Looks like its going to be a little chilly so hopefully it brings them in a little shallower this weekend. Good luck fishing madfisher. Is there any closer place to buy bait then orr if I'm going out of the ash river area?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey,

The fishing was tough. Not much for smallies and the walleyes were hard to find. We had no luck in shallow water (less than 20ft). We had one day of good walleye fishing. Those fish came off of a big, slow tappering point that went out to 65ft. The walleyes seemed to be in 25-45ft. We caught all the fish on jigs with either crawlers or minnows. It rained most of the time as well. frown.gif But I'd head back in a heartbeat!! What a beautiful place! It was much quiter this trip than it was back in June. June was too busy! And as far as bait goes, there are two more places outside of Orr that I saw. One is right at the turn for 129. The other was a few miles prior to the turn for 129.

Good luck and have a great trip!!

Steve

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Three miles North of 129, at 122, where the big saddeled walleye sits, is one of the bettter stocked bait and tackle shops. They usually have current fishing info or trends. guts

Link to comment
Share on other sites

easy to find walleye fear me guy. just listen for the boat cranking Rod Stewart and Michael Bolton CD's out there. Thank goodness for everyone on the lake that it's now too cold to wear the bright yellow banana hammock while fishing. shocked.gif

Good luck up there Clancy.

If they dont bite well there, you know where to start looking south of Kab.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

thanks for the baitshop info, surprised to hear you didn't catch to many smallies ( since my walleye fishing usually pretty crappy thats what I was shooting for)Hopefully I can figure out what they're biting on. I;m guessing the michael bolton/ rod stewart guys probably dont do to much camping in 40 degrees ted but you never know.

later

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My wife and I are going to Namakan next week. Only been there once. Last year at the same time. Did not have much luck. I need all the help/ tips I can get?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My advice is don't be afraid to fish deep. If you can't find 'em shallow on wind swept points etc, watch your depth finder for arcs out on deep points or sunken islands. Drop a heavy jig with a minnow or crawler on them. Hopefully you'll get a few to go. Thanks what worked for us a week ago...

Good Luck!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

pretty rough fishing for us, caught a couple here and there but the only decent stretch we had was pulling leadcore in 30 feet of water (picked up 6 between 18-23 in a couple hours) outside of that not much working for us. Good campsite but awfully glad there was sand as well as the dock. Water is so low the dock doesnt have a whole lot of purpose at this point

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guts is out of town. I think Gateway Store is open until 8pm Sun -Thurs and until 9 pm Fri and Sat. The number is 218-875-2088 if you need more info. I don't know the hours of Cold Spring Store or the other place (Jim's, I think) on the Ash Trail.

ODL

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for getting back to me. Were trying to head out before 4:00 tomorrow. Staying on the ash river, going to fish Nanakam mostly. Any tips on depth, structure, rigs, etc. thanks again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Only been on Nam a couple of times this year as I fish Kab mostly now that the price of gas is so high. Maybe Dockboy or Johhny Namakan will see this and chime in. I am a Minnow and silver spinner guy myself and when I go I like to fish around Sheen, Fox, twin alligator, and also mica bay (real good structure there).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Your best bet would be jigs and minnows a few guys are pulling plugs and doing quite well, but the old stand by jig and minnow will work fine. Depth I usually fish pretty deep this time of the year 23-40 look for current areas and deep holes outside of a shallow bay. Virginia and Crane Lake got some pretty good rain fall in the last couple of weeks this water will help the current areas out. Good luck

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.


  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
    • jim curlee
      I had a guy hit me with a lightly used 1969 BAR, he wanted $1650 with an older Leupold scope. More than I think they are worth, I made an offer, he declined end of story.   You know if you look at the old brochures, a grade II BAR sold for $250 in the late 60s, $1650 would be a good return on your investment.    Why would anybody want a 50 year old gun, they are heavy, have wood stocks, and blued metal.  I guess mainly to keep their gun safes glued to the floor. lol   You can probably buy a stainless rifle that you never have to clean, with a synthetic stock you never have to refinish, is as light as a feather, and for half as much money, perfect.   I'm too old for a youth gun, although I've shrunk enough that it would probably fit. lol   No Ruger 10/44s.   Jim      
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.