# Boundry Waters Pike Hunt



## Jackfish (Apr 15, 2004)

This could go under &#8220;out of state&#8221; section, but it was a straight up pike hunt, so I wanted to share the story the pike/musky folks&#8230;


Hosting an 85lb canoe on you shoulders and hiking through the woods isn&#8217;t a pleasant experience, don&#8217;t let anyone tell you different. But there I found myself, breaking out into a nice sweat before I had even seen water yet, firmly believing that if you don&#8217;t work to find the fish, you don&#8217;t deserve to catch em. 200 rods, 3/5ths of a mile, and I finally see water. We slipped the boats into the water, and all seemed right in the world. I try to make it to the BWCA every year, been going since 91&#8217;, but life got in the way and it had been two turns of the calendar since I was able to wilderness fish. We paddled through a string of lakes and the day wore on, but we pushed through another portage (throwing your boat and a weeks worth of gear on your back and hiking through the woods) that reminded me I was not in the shape I should be for this. We made camp just before nightfall, and I was too tuckered out to care about the rock that was under my sleeping bag&#8230;.

Dawn was perfect. Heavy fog, no more than 15 yards visibility as we paddled to the best bay I have ever found for northern pike. Four years since I saw this specific bay last, high hopes. As the fog burns off the water I make contact, my 1st pike of the trip surges her head out of the water eagerly engulfing my lure. Nothing beats the sound of drag ripping off your real in the absolute silence of the morning. Shortly I have a 38&#8217; boat side, a heck of a way to start the week . Before the last of the fog is gone, 2nd contact. One of those beautiful hits, the kind I wish I had a chance to record. A 40&#8217; pike goes air born, water flying, as it covers the distance of its body before landing&#8230;. Damn nice. After a strong fight, she comes boat side. The final fish of the morning is a sturdy 36&#8217;. I have my daughter in the boat with me, who isn&#8217;t fishing. Strangest words I ever heard&#8230; &#8220;I&#8217;m not in the mood to catch a big fish&#8221;. 

The week was one of the nicest I have had. Weather perfect, mid 70&#8217;s, a number of overcast days, light rains but no bad storms. We stayed at two different campsites, working two different lakes. The pike where very accommodating. Over the week I boated a pair of 40&#8217;s, a 38, 36, 34, 32, 31, and good numbers of smaller fish. My daughter had a great outing, landing her largest pike, a 34 inch, 7.3lb fish, only to beat it shortly after with a 36&#8217; 9.5lb monster. I was extremely proud of her; she fought and handled both fish wonderfully  . My brothers boy, 8, had never caught a pike casting before, and ended the week with a 3.6lb pike to his name, as well as a 2.5lb small mouth. His best day he boated 8 pike and 2 small mouths, darn good for a little dude.

Strangely enough, we tagged into a school of walleye that where willing to hit pike spoons. I&#8217;m not much of a walleye guy, but I do have to admit it&#8217;s pretty hard to top a mess of em fried up over a campfire.

Somehow my brother (OGF name = Pikeman) didn&#8217;t have an once of lady luck with him. He lost his favorite lure on the opening day, and the bigger fish just didn&#8217;t go his way. Being brothers, we are a bit completive with one another, so while I would have loved to see him boat some nice fish, I do have to admit I&#8217;m looking forward to a whole year of giving him some grief!

I love to fish, any variety of it. Casting a 3 weight for trout, lobbing out 8 inch suckers for flatheads, twitching a yum dinger for largemouths&#8230; but I have found nothing I like more that going off into the woods, working your tail off, and sliding a canoe into a nice weedbed off deep water, not a soul in sight, hoping to find yourself tied into a hog of a northern. To me it feels like I&#8217;m part of the environment in a way I just haven&#8217;t found anywhere else. 

Other notes&#8230;.

Cradles are so much nicer for releasing fish than nets&#8230;I was afraid my daughter wouldn&#8217;t be able to use the cradle effectively, so I opted for the net this year. We had to eat one of the nicer pike because of this, which I hate to do . Next trip I&#8217;m taking the cradle instead.

Heard a wolf howl in the evening.

My brother opted for a Kevlar canoe, I didn&#8217;t. Anyone taking a canoe trip, don&#8217;t make the same mistake I did.

Some of the pics are below&#8230; tight lines to all&#8230;.


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## twistertail (Apr 10, 2004)

You sum up the widerness fishing experience perfectly! Where did you enter and what lakes did you fish? Do you get the BW Journal, great mag to read all year while planning your next trip. And yes the kevlar canoes are worth every penny.


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## bkr43050 (Apr 5, 2004)

Awesome story! I still want to make that trip some day. It sounds like a great trip no matter how many fish bite.


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## esox62 (May 19, 2006)

man..beautiful..ive seen a few fishin shows on that area...cant imagine it. would love to do that someday. musta been a great trip!! great photos, thanks for sharing your trip...


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## Jackfish (Apr 15, 2004)

twistertail said:


> Where did you enter and what lakes did you fish? Do you get the BW Journal, great mag to read all year while planning your next trip.


Entered through Little Gabro to Gabro, to Bald Eagle. Spent half the week there and the other half on my secret bay, in one of the "circle lakes" just north of Bald Eagle. BWCA journal is a great mag, let my subscription lapse a few years back, but after going this year I'm probably signing back up, some nice articles.

esox & bkr, you both mentioned you would like to take that trip sometime... if you can avoid renting your gear from an outfitter (take your own, hit up a buddy for his, etc) it's a darn cheap trip. You can get all the high tech expensive stuff, and some of it's darn nice; however the $50 wal mart tent made about 8 trips before we upgraded. Every trip we upgrade a few pieces of gear, getting to the point where we have some nice stuff now, but it's not required to enjoy it. We didn't even use an outfitter this year, just got a permit & license, took all our own gear. a 16 hour drive cost a bit more than it used to, but all in all way cheaper than most vacations. Using an outfitter the price can get high, fast.


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## twistertail (Apr 10, 2004)

Jackfish is right, very cheap trip. My last trip was less than $300 total per person for everything including gas and food for the whole week. We do the same thing, take our own gear, but we do rent the light weight kevlar canoes and I think its worth it. We also stay at one of the outfitters bunk house which is really cheap if you want to stay a night up there on the day you arrive or leave. If you guys want more info and some great stories and pictures subscribe to the Boundary Waters Journal http://www.boundarywatersjournal.com/


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## KATKING (Jun 10, 2006)

Sounds like a great trip! Congrats on the fun


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## bkr43050 (Apr 5, 2004)

All 3 of my boys are about old enough now to do this trip. I may have to start thinking seriously about making a trip in the next couple of years. I know my wife would not be interested at all so it would be just a boys trip. If I decide to get serious about this I am sure I will be asking a lot more questions.


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## MuskieMan35 (Mar 5, 2008)

Ruffin it is the only way to go! Great story & pics man- thx for sharing!


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## Steel Cranium (Aug 22, 2005)

bkr43050 said:


> If I decide to get serious about this I am sure I will be asking a lot more questions.


A few tips:

Make your plans and determine where you want to go early. The good routes fill up early, near the beginning of the year. Get your permit early.

A good plan for newbies is to plan an entry paddle (4 to 6 hours) and base camp with other lakes within reach of day trips. Travelling each day may be tough for first timers. We like to use Agnes (echo trail) for this type of trip - two good camps on points - east side of the lake. Oyster lake (pike/lake trout) and LaCroix are easy day trips. You can also get a tow to Basswood lake where day trips to the basswood river are productive - especially in the spring. Pike in length exceeding our canoe paddles were viewed (follows) in basswood.

Even if you don't use an outfitter, plan to stay at a bunkhouse or motel the day before you go it. Nice to get a very early start before the wind sets in (which if often does). We normally like to get out early as well, so the lodging afterward isn't as important.
Learn how to hang a bear bag for your food.

Bring some good coffee. Gets the day started the right way.

Don't pack too heavy, including food. Dehydrated soup and ramen noodles can go a long way. Since you're up in the wilds, pants/shirt can last two days each. I like to use the lightweight zip off fishing pants and long sleeve shorts (like Columbia) that can be quickly hand washed and hung.

Don't bring an axe. A saw is good enough for cutting firewood. Too many accidents can happen with an axe, harder to chop off a limb with a saw.

Bring quality gloves for paddling.

Make a 'quetico anchor' using a rope (60' or so) and a basketball net. Tie one end of the net shut, run the anchor rope thru the other side of the net (the part that connects to the rim). When you reach a lake for fishing, fill the net with rocks.

Bring a small depth finder if possible. Good to find the breakpoints for food fish (walleye, perch, panfish).

We bring a large tarp and bungee cords to provide a roof for eating during rainy (snowy) weather, putting the tarp between trees. I have only been up there in May, so we usually have at least one day of bad weather.

Locate the 'chainsaw sisters' tavern and visit on the way out. Hard to explain without seeing it in person. We seem to meet a northeast Ohio group there every trip.


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## Eugene (Jun 23, 2004)

Your story is awesome, Jackfish. I bought a big tripping boat (unfortunately clocking ca. 85 lbs) with the intent to pack a trip into the Boundary Waters years ago. Mine gets a huge amount of use, but it hasn't made that big trip yet.


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## PIKEMAN (Apr 14, 2004)

Jackfish did put on an impressive pike fishing demonstration for me this year in the BWCA. Normally the "big fish" title changes multiple times throughout the week. This year, Steve opened the week with a 40" pike, and my best pike for the entire week was MAYBE 24".... it was a pretty sad showing for me.

While I will have to suffer a year of wise cracks from Jackfish, this was a very memorable trip for me as I took along my 8 year old son for the 1st time. Before the trip, he was most worried about bears and wolves. After seeing the teeth on Steve's northern, his fears changed to swimming in the water.... because the giant fish might bite him! Unfortunately his fears were later intensified when I did make him go for a swim, and an absolutely HUGE snapping turtle popped it's head up not 10 yds away from us. We got a good look at the turtle (from shore)... and it was massive. The little guy ended up having a great time in the northern woods with me, his uncle, and his cousin.

A few memorable highlights from the trip:


Of the 10 largest fish caught, I caught none of them, but each of the kids filled in a spot or two. 
I was worried that my son may not have the patience to catch fish casting only artificials. He proved me wrong and caught multiple bass, walleye, and pike during the trip.
My little niece said she wanted to "push herself" during the trip to see how she would do. I triple portaged a 1/2 mile trail (up/back three times) with her and loaded her down good with a full sized backpack. She never stopped or complained; the darn kid is growing up too fast. I've done this same portage with grown men that told me that they would NEVER do it again.
Jackfish (Steve) cooked up one of the best fresh walleye dinners we have had in 17 years of trips to this park.

Canoes - The Kevlar canoe certainly makes the portages a lot easier, and it is very fast on the water. We have done this trip in a Coleman molded canoe too though, and it was still a blast. Steve's Old Town beast also provided for an excellent workout at all portages.... you won't get soft if you take one of these along.

Steel Cranium - I've taken a full sized axe for years, but your warnings are valid. While I enjoy splitting wood, I've had a bit of practice at it. Five or six years back one of our buddies along for the trip darn near broke his tibia when the axe skipped and hit him in the leg. This could have been ugly as we were pretty deep in the park at the time. Fortunately he just ended up hobbling for the next few days and had a very large black & blue mark on his shin.

.... Only 11 1/2 more months of ribbing from Jackfish until I get a change to redeem myself!


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## Steel Cranium (Aug 22, 2005)

PIKEMAN said:


> I've taken a full sized axe for years, but your warnings are valid. While I enjoy splitting wood, I've had a bit of practice at it. Five or six years back one of our buddies along for the trip darn near broke his tibia when the axe skipped and hit him in the leg. This could have been ugly as we were pretty deep in the park at the time. Fortunately he just ended up hobbling for the next few days and had a very large black & blue mark on his shin.


I took an axe my first few trips but went with a crew where the 'leader' said "no axe". He takes quite a few first timers up there and sees the use of the axe an easy way to warrant an early trip out for a hospital visit. We did just as well with a saw that trip so I don't see the need for carrying in a much heavier axe. I also bring cutters that will break the largest hook we will be using in case the barb has to be cut for removal from the skin. Packing a few high-power pain meds helps too.


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