May BWCA Trip Advice

Thinking about doing a 4 day trip with a group of 4 guys sometime in May this coming spring. It has been a long time since I have been in the BWCA and it was always someone else that planned the trip. Realizing now that I probably should have looked into this a bit sooner with lots of permits already gone. Any recommendations on second tier routes/access points that might still be available since I am guessing all the prime ones are scooped up already. Anyone ever put in at Mouse Lake?

I have done MANY MANY trips up there. Are you going through an outfitter or own you own. I have used Canoe Country Outfitters as a base to stay going in and and coming out. They have helped us with permits and some planning ideas. I have always stayed on the Western side out of Ely. What side are you going to? Again checking with an outfitter and telling them your group size, what side you want to paddle, skill level, how many portages you want would be helpful. YES, you better get going on this as the park has been very busy and full since covid. Permits go very fast. Many outfitters buy up BUNCHES and can help out. That would be my best advice

ya first question is are you going thru an outfitter or not? second question is what kind of trip are you looking for…

are you focusing on fishing? walleye or trout? are you going for solitude? putting on miles? base camp close to an EP? do you want a loop or an out and back? preference to the ely side or grand marais?

The past few years the prime permits have gone fast. At this point without knowing if you plan to go through outfitters or on your own I think I would try to narrow it down to would you like to go to the Ely area, Tofte area or Gunflint area and then see what is available for permits. I’m not sure there is a “bad” entry point. I say throw a dart and start planning!

Rick Janssen wrote:

Permits go very fast. Many outfitters buy up BUNCHES and can help out.

This isn’t true although a lot of people seem to think it is. In fact, you must place a trip leader on every permit at the time of booking. Trip leaders and alternate trip leaders cannot be added at a later date, which prevents outfitters from booking extra permits beyond those that are already intended for specific customers.

Many people will have everyone in their group book the same permit to attempt to decrease traffic and competition for sites for their scheduled days. It’s bush league but it’s definitely happening.

To the OP: what is your top species to target? That will change the best routes, especially if you want lake trout.

All I have ever done in the past was base camp trips so that is all I really am familiar with. Still trying to get a consensus from the rest of the group on if we want to paddle in and just set up a base camp or try to do loop with breaking down camp every morning. The priority would be fishing and our primary target would be walleye. We are looking at more of the Ely side access points. I think we are capable of not using an outfitter if that makes our options more open. We should have enough of our own gear without having to rent anything. I looked through the permits website and its looking like we might have to shoot for either the weekend of fishing opener or the following weekend. Was reading another thread and someone mentioned the lake one access and trying to get to Lake Insula.

Check out permits for wood lake – still a decent amount of availability in May right now. Ely side, great walleye fishing, a decent portage to get in but then you can base camp on wood and you could even day trip up into basswood and those surrounding lakes if you’re feeling adventurous

Will take a look at Wood thanks for the tip Gitchi

Lake one entry is the most used entry point in that area. It is a great trip from there to Insula, but I have noticed over the years how busy that area has gotten. Very easy area to get into and base camp, just be prepared for lots of people to share the lakes with. Insula is a good walleye lake, I also have caught lots of fish bellow all the rapids at the portages.

Try looking at BWCA.com, it’s a great way to look at trips and ideas. There are outfitter listing. I like reading other people stories about their trips.

I work at Cliff Wolds Outfitting in Ely, This will be my second season up there. I fished the area almost every day last summer. Shoot me a PM and I will get you pointed in the right direction. The fishing is lights out in May!

Moose to Ensign can be a good base camp, Ensign is great for walleye, but also a “high traffic” area. Wood to moose can make a nice loop, or vise versa. If you have 2 vehicles drop 1 off at the other after getting canoes and gear at your EP. Lake One to lake 2-4 or insula is good for walleye, snowbank to insula works too and throws lake trout options in the mix. Insula and Alice are amazing for big walleye and eaters, but unless you have an experienced paddle/portaging crew or are just in good shape, consider it a 2 day trip in and a 2 day trip out. Since that’s all you named so far, that’s all I got for you, Opportunities are endless… don’t have regrets, just book a different EP each time and figure out which you like best!

Ben Putnam wrote:

Moose to Ensign can be a good base camp

pretty busy area around there. Moose has 27, read that, twenty seven, permits a day! its like the lake minnetonka of the bwca with all the motor boats running around there. It can definitely be a bottle neck for campsites around 1 days travel from that entry point.

Gitchi Gummi wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Ben Putnam wrote:</div>
Moose to Ensign can be a good base camp

pretty busy area around there. Moose has 27, read that, twenty seven, permits a day! its like the lake minnetonka of the bwca with all the motor boats running around there

It is truly like a highway most days. But it does offer a great entry with access to good routes. Taking a tow through moose/newfound/sucker opens some routes like Knife which hasn’t been mentioned.

Gitchi Gummi wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Ben Putnam wrote:</div>
Moose to Ensign can be a good base camp

pretty busy area around there. Moose has 27, read that, twenty seven, permits a day! its like the lake minnetonka of the bwca with all the motor boats running around there. It can definitely be a bottle neck for campsites around 1 days travel from that entry point.

I totally agree the corridor is busy as all get out, Ensign is non motorized and as I said high traffic, but also like I mentioned near the end, I was just responding to the entry points he mentioned interest in. If I talked about every entry point and all the awesome places to go and things to catch it would take hours and I would charge a fee to get me to stop talking.

Thanks for all the responses guys. Looks like we are going to have an entry date of may 18th which is a Saturday and then we will come back out the following Tuesday. One of the guys has done the Moose to base camp on Ensign in the past so it sounds like we are leaning that way and then possibly just push further in if we can’t find a good spot. Does look like you have a lot of options going out of Mouse. Little hesitant tho after all the comments on how busy it can be. Looking at the map a bit more does anyone have any feedback on snowbank to disappointment lake? Looking at Wood it does look like there is still one permit for that entry point. It only looks like there is 4 camp sites on that lake and they only allow 2 permits per day so I would assume you would be able to get one of the 4 on that lake, but if not you would be pushing into Good lake, Indiana or Basswood.

Ensign has best walleye numbers for eaters, wood has been slowly establishing a targetable walleye population, it used to be a bass, pike and panfish lake. Good has some nice fish in it but the hour-per-fish ratio is not so great, basswood on that side had some really good weed lines and can produce giant pike, and big panfish, but the walleye may not be there in numbers at that time. If you go to moose schedule a tow to sucker, thank me later. Disappointment can be very hard to find a campsite and snowbank gets big rollers. It’s better to do a loop out of there and head to Ima or beyond for your first night and come out of lake one or do the small lake chain loop to come out of moose. Disappointment if you get a site can be a fun lake. Its quite clear, but contains silver pike like its neighbor snowbank.

3 buddies and I are taking our first trip this May. Entry point is lake 1.

My brother used to work for the forest service clearing all the portages and such so he has given us great advice.

Is it worth investing in a waterproof backpack? Recommendations on size and brands? What other tips for rookies do you guys have?

you dont need a waterproof backpack… you need waterproof bags to put inside of your main pack. Think stuff sack dry bags. What I do is I have one stuff sack dry bag for my clothes, another one for my top quilt, under quilt, and hammock, and one more for other misc gear I dont want getting wet. Not everything needs to be in a dry bag, but the essentials should be.

I bring 3 of these (different sizes) inside my main pack

Evac Compression Dry Bag UL

Gitchi Gummi wrote:

you dont need a waterproof backpack… you need waterproof bags to put inside of your main pack.

<div class=”ido-oembed-wrap”>Evac Compression Dry Bag UL</div>

X2

Heavy duty plastic liners are what I use to proof the inside of my pack, also try to avoid external frame or tall backpacking packs as they don’t stuff easily in a canoe. Personally I use a #4 “Duluth Pack style” cordura pack double lined and nothing has ever gotten wet and they fit like a champ in the canoe as well as on your back while portaging a canoe. Well worth renting one from an outfitter and then buying one after your trip!

Well this trip is a week away now for me! Going to start work on packing a bit this coming weekend if time allows. Debating if I bring 2 or 3 rods. Think it would be nice to have a jiggin rod, bobber rod, and crank bait rod. We are planning on camping on Ensing. Is there a better side of the lake to fish on, or any specific camp sites to look for?

It’s been years since I’ve been out there but this was a great campsite. main lake point with good fishing right off the shore.

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Well the trip is over and we had an awesome time! Weather was good overall with a little rain here and there and some big winds a few days. It calmed down our last full day and we got to explore more of the east side of ensign. It was a lot busier on that end of the lake with many of the campsites being taken. Ended up getting an island camp site on the west side that was really nice. We caught enough walleyes to have fish every night and caught a fair number of smallies and northerns too. It sure was nice to completely disconnect from everything in life and just be out in the wilderness. Can’t wait till the next trip!

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Awesome! That wind was brutal last weekend up on Snowbank for us in the boat, can’t imagine those rollers in a canoe. Guessing you had a solid tailwind on the paddle up from Moose?

Ya we had a nice tailwind on the way in from Moose and then it was calm on our paddle out. That wind was no joke!

Just got out today for our first trip. Spent 3 nights. Launched at lake one and paddled about 16miles into insula on the first day. The wind was pretty bad each day and mostly a headwind, especially on our way out.

Fishing was pretty good for everything in general, plenty of action/numbers. Not as many walleyes as we were hoping but got enough and some good sizes too. We ended up catching more walleyes last night on lake Two which was surprising because we had heard insula has great walleye fishing. Overall a great first experience.