BWCA - Looking forward to open water

[juniordo1]

Yes, I realize its still January but I can't help myself. My mind always turns to the BWCA this time of year. I didn't get to go last year but this year will be different.

My brother and I went to Ensign every year from 2000 to 2009. We usually go between the opening of fishing and the 2nd weekend in June. We have had temps anywhere between the teens above zero to the 70's. We had a trip where the high was 42 for the week with no fires allowed.

We always catch a tow from Moose to Ensign and camp near the Vera portage. We bring way too much gear and are usually quite comfortable once camp is established. We usually catch a lot of walleyes on Ensign so we have fish to eat. We usually portage to Ashigan and catch big Pike for fun and we usually portage to Trident and Frog. One of our finest (most fun) fishing days was at Frog when we caught the bass post-spawn (released all) and it was a feeding frenzy all day in the pouring rain.

We will probably do the normal portages this year but I was wondering if others had other lake recommendations that were easy to get to and from . Ensign does not have to be our base camp. My brother in law who is too young to have a heart attack had one after the holidays so please exclude those with known killer portages(like Ensign to Vera).

I love to hear stories from Ensign too so if you've got 'em I'd love to hear 'em.

Thanks much in advance!