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i have a bwca itch I can't wait to scratch... I've been doing the gunflint thing for 25 years and am going to venture to the other side, my son and i are excited about a light pack adventure (we usually base camp). We are debating between insula and crooked.

Good fishing is my first priority.

A scenic memorable adventurous trip the next.

Which would you recommend?

Will I be able to find fish without a graph?

I'm bringing leeches, slip bobbers, lindy type rigs, and floating rapalas, what would be your next two best lures to bring?

Any help or suggestions are appreciated, and yes i have read the old posts from years past regarding how to get to insula. I'm just wondering which one is likely to be better fishing, even if they are not comparable in the work to get there.

Also, is there a bwca map on line I can look at to plan my route?

Thanks

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What time of year? (month basically) Preferred species of fish? How many days do you have for your trip?

Let me know and I'll give you some ideas.

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email or call and I will be happy to assist you. I spend a lot of time in both areas and have extensively fished both.

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We're going up July 2 through 9th or 10th, i have a permit for lake one, but reading all of the crooked feedback has me think ing along that line... i need help deciding an intinerary.

We like bass and walleyes, I haven't caught a 5lb walleye in 5 years, the lake i normally fish seems to be making a transistion to a small mouth factory. Thanks for your help.

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If your permit is for Lake one you will have to enter via lake one. I have not checked on availablity on entry points to get into Crooked, but I would be suprised if there are any available unless you are flexible on your entry dae. Feel free to conatct me and I can help you with trip planning.

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Looks like July 2 is a Saturday, so it will be tough to get a permit to travel to Crooked & cancel your Lake 1. Voyageur North will be able to help you with that if needs be. If you truly pack light, maybe a Angleworm or Stuart entry. grin.gif

Here is a post regarding Insula from awhile back... If you go, I hope it fits.... Please report back!

Monster Pike Welcome to FM, & have fun!

As a BWCAW Guide emeritus of 13 wonderful seasons I have gone out of that route more times than I can remember. I ALWAYS put my groups heads down & get through lakes 1-4 & Hudson before putting any time into serious fishing. The reason for this is that insula is so (Contact US Regarding This Word) good! Amongst my friends we always lower our voices just to say the name of that lake, there are some HUGE pike in there & the walleyes are thick also.

Lakes 1-4 hold northern, walleye, smallies same as insula but these lakes are never any deeper than 18 ft. so they don't get very big, also the water is real stained & people are everywhere. For a first timer you could be on insula in 1.5 days.

Fishing on insula, the easiest way to get on Walleyes is to pick a likely campsite with the correct walleye structure such as fist to head size rubble with access to deeper water. The Island sites are good, I've done well on the northern most Island site- easy to find. Set up some slip bobber rigs with leeches ( leaches are hearty & easy to carry in the "leechlocker" on BWCA trips )off of your campsite at different depths. Then set up camp. Bring a few lighted bobbers also for fun night fishing from the shore. Often bobberfishing will produce dinner, leaving the precious morning & evening bites to fish for the biggies.

From the canoe I usually bottom bounce livebait rigs or plugs at the depth of any fish landed with the bobbers at camp ( natural perch #9 is a personal fav. ) For the livebait rigs spinners only seem to help the fishing. Moving at 2 person paddling speed is way too fast so 1 person or 2 very light paddles is plenty of speed. I'd guess 1 mph to be plenty of speed. Just creep around those likely islands & shorelines, when you get a fish turn around & do it again & again. Often windlines on points will be holding good fish. The Kawishawi river is also excellent walleye fishing.

Pike in June are pretty shallow hit all the lily pads & weed clusters you can find in warm bays & just plain troll a plug or spoon while paddling around. From in camp use dead smelt or salted ciscoes ( a big crawler will work in a pinch )under a bobber or suspended off the bottom.

Essential reading is -A BWCA Fishing Guide- by Micheal Furtman. Read it & do what it says to be successful.

Have a fun/ great trip. Lets hope for a good June this year!

Sorry for the ramble- CLoma

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Thanks, so Voyageur North, would you like to rent me a lightweight canoe, fishing is more important than speed, so i suppose it doesn't have to be kevlar, some sort of middle of the road weight would be fine. There's just two of us in one vehicle... do you offer parking and transport?

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Good Call!

They have the best bait in Ely- as far as I can tel) Like I said, please report back

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ok, i can get a mudro permit for June 29, so would i have more fun and better fishing with 1,2,3,4 hudson, insula, or mudro-tin can-horse river, crooked etc.

Do they make a loop out of friday bay, papoose, chippewa, gun, fourtown, etc back to mudro?

Which trip would you recommend?

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You can do the loop from mudro to wednesday bay and then over to friday bay and south through the wagosh portage and back to mudro. I would want a week to fish all the areas (even lakes like HOrse and Gun hold respectuful amounts of fish.)

AS far as mudro to crooked or LK1 to Insula in late june, it all depends on what you want. For me, that time of the year is smallie time. I prefer Crooked to Insula for that reason, but you can't go wrong either way. Maybe a few less people on Crooked once you get past (north and west) of the Table Rock campsite. Alice is worth the effort if you find INsula not to your liking, thou that is rare.

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Mudro permit. Take it and go into fourtown. The northeast bay is great for northern and Small mouth. Over where Boot lake trickles in it can be fantastic for Smallies. Otherwise take an easy paddle north up to Moose Camp (no portages) good northern populations up there. Around the islands in the bay over by Boot lake in Fourtown was also good. Any where water is entering the lake except maybe the large falls from Horse lake is really good. We have gone to this lake 5 years in a row. Pretty comfy campsites with a 1/2 day in trip. It can get populated at times. But that's because it is good. Many years back my father got two walleyes over 14 lbs in two seperate days. Monsters caught out on a point in the southern end of the lake. Don't be afraid to Basecamp this lake.

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Thanks Zap and Mudcutter, I just picked up my mudro permit, we're definitely going to crooked, i'll save a couple days for Fourtown as well.

Is there that big a difference between a 65 lb aluminum canoe and a 46 lb kevlar. would you spend the extra rental money?

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Is there a diff in a 65lb alum canoe and a 45lb or so Kev canoe??? You bet. With a substanial pack on 40-60lb I can't pick up a alum canoe by myself. I need someone to help get it up for me. But with a 40-50lb canoe I can do it. I guess it depends on how many portages you have. The Alum will have a keel which makes it more sturdy for fishing/kids unloaded and would be what I would want for kids etc. But the keel free canoes are much faster, thou unloaded you have to be somewhat be cautious. Once you get the hang of them, they are a joy, but with kids, I would go with the keel. ALso-- 20lbs is 20lbs. On a long portage those 20lbs make your shoulders feel either like the packers def or the vikes offense!!!!!

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I have never fished Crooked lake, however I have been through insula several times. I can tell you that it's probably not the best fishing lake, but if you go a little farther, you will reach Alice lake. Alice is an excellent walley lake, and home to some rather large northern pike too. If you made base camp on alice, you could go up to thomas for the day and do some lake trout fishing as well.

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