Day 0
In time I finished work and grabbed my daughter from kindergarten. My wife also worked on time. After a brief goodbye and some recent additions to my equipment, I went to the airport in Detroit.
I had the usual luck on the flight ... it was packed, and I was sitting next to another big man who looked like me. I never sit next to a small little thing that takes up only half the space, and I always find myself in the same way as I, the way I have to be tall and bulky, to be in these sardine boxes called planes. I landed at 9:30 pm local time in Minneapolis and waited for my luggage. Much to the surprise, both pieces of luggage did it here. Unfortunately, due to the slow loading time and the additional waiting time before the flight took off, the rest of my crew waited for me for an additional hour.
The rest of the crew picked me up in the boot zone with a jump-down, and we headed towards Eli. I think it was about 4 hours, or a bit more, with stops we made and deer we had to dodge. You have to look at them, they are fat. We finally arrived at Eli at 2:30 am and decided to sleep for a couple of hours before we met with the outfitters.
1 day
We met the guys from Wilderness Outfiters at a local joint breakfast (I don't remember the name, but they had great food) at 6 in the morning. After breakfast, we went back to the equipment and packed our equipment. We had two canoes, six packs and two sucker tubes. All that we needed was in those packages, including our food, fishing equipment, tents, clothing, kitchen utensils, etc.
We went to the chainsaw sisters around 7:30 am and climbed canoes around 8am. The water was high enough so that we could canoe along the Pickett channel without much difficulty. I was in a canoe with our guide Jeff. In the first few minutes he overcame the main strokes of the canoe and their effects, and we tried them in this slow moving winding creek.
Lake Wise was our first open water to cross, and it didn't take long. However, I did not understand that the nastiest portico of the trip was at the other end ... "Stairway to heaven." I was told by others in the group that it was disgusting, but I underestimated it. The porting path was slimy with mud. The first half of the porting was basically a gravel path on a hill, and the second half was incredibly nasty downhill, which consisted of water, a smooth rock, like steps, if the steps were taken by a mad man. I frowned, puffed and lifted one side, and the other began, but I could not slip through with the weight of the double pack. One of the others returned and helped, removing the top wad from my back, and this allowed me to finish the portico without falling and not having fought on the rock. After what seemed eternal, but in fact it was just a few minutes, I got to the end of the port and got to Lake Sandpit.
Paddle through the Sandbox was not. While the lake is not so large, it is quite beautiful, and there are supposedly decent Walleye and Smallmouth in the lake, but this can be said about a large number of lakes in the BWCA. In short, we reached the ports between Sandpit and Tin Mai Mike. This transfer is longer than the first portico, but it is a little easier, because the slope of the ascents and descents is not so great. You still have to watch your feet, but you don’t want you to die if you fall.
After we completed the Sandpit transfer, we found ourselves rolling around Tin Can Mike. On some maps, this lake is known as Lake Murphy, but no one seems to know why. Tin Can Mike is very similar to Sandpit, only more. Again, it seems to have good Walleye and Smallmouth populations, but we didn’t stop there. A trip to Lake Tin-Mike will lead you to Horse Lake. I don’t remember very much about the train route between Tin Can Mike and Horse Lake, so it couldn’t be hard.
Now that we are in Equine Lake, our goal is a river. Fortunately for us on this day there is not much wind, because our guide said that this lake can become quite nasty when the wind bursts. We climbed halfway to the lake and turned east into the Horse River. Soon after, we arrived at our first river port. At that moment the guide made us leave the canoe, and he took them through very short rapids one by one, and we climbed to the other side. There were several short rapids to negotiate before the next river port, and this was unprecedented because we did not hurry and chose a good line through each. The next river port was rather long than the first river port, but still no more than a couple of hundred yards. Returning to the river, we went and waved before reaching the final river ports before the fall. This is another medium transfer, in which nothing special is described, except for beautiful landscapes, as always. Now we are on the last stretch of the river in front of the Lower Falls.
There are two different portals that I know if it falls in the lower part of the larch, one on the American side and one on the Canadian side. Canadian porttage is a little better in the long run, because it positions you downstream from a recession and makes it easier to start. After we lowered the lower pastures, we are now in Curve Lake. The porting ended for us because our destination is the Skull and Crossbones.
A place for riding turtles and crossed bones is located about 4 miles from a place in Curve Lake. It is located on the south side, near the current south of the bay on Wednesday. The paddle in this place is quite nice, because you miss some of the pictograms located on a high stone wall. As we approached our destination, the weather began to deteriorate as we saw the thunder begin to roll. We started the paddle a little faster when we heard the crash of cracking in the distance, and we got to the campsite before it started to rain. We took out equipment for the rain and raised a tarp over the area near the fireplace and kept our equipment where we dug tents. After the monsoon passed, we finished the settlement and decided to go fishing a bit.
To the south of our camp there are two currents, separated by a pool with an island in the middle. We began to drift in the current whirlwinds and repelled for Walleyes. No one caught a huge, but we grabbed our four, to dine. By that time it was dark, and we went back to the camp, had dinner and collapsed into our sleeping bags.
Day 2
Day 2 bought more rain and wind. We decided to catch the currents south of the camp and right next to the camp that day, because the bay was filled with foam on Wednesday. While we were fishing in the bay opposite the camp, we saw that two canoes would start in the bay of the environment, a few minutes later they returned after seeing the waves in the bay. By the end of the day the sun came out more, and the wind lit up a bit, but it was still quite windy. We didn't catch a single huge Walleye, but we grabbed another dinner.
Day 3
Day 3 saw better weather, and our tent had a talisman. He sees that the local spider likes to sit outside our tent every morning. He was about two inches across and had interesting patterns on the back. On that day, we approached the third stream and fished after some minnows fell in waterfalls near the camp. Everyone caught Walleye and Northern Pike, but there were no trophies that day either. Again, we had enough for dinner.
Day 4
The day gave more wind, so we decided to fish around the camp. More ships broke down with more food, and a pair of northern pike and Smallmouth appeared. The bass was 22 "and 21", respectively, and rather short. That night we fried fish, and we didn’t grill them, it was VERY good. I would suggest that someone name Walleye. I would even think about leaving the butter together at home and just bring a grill, sprinkle some butter and some spices.
Day 5
We decided to return to the third stream that day, coming with rain or shine. The day began with a cloudy rain. We got to the American current, and the wind soared in a rage. Trying to soar against the wind through the current was quite intense, because it gave rise to several unpleasant white caps, where he met the current in the sudah. We volunteered for the third current and waited for the wind to rise, but this never happened. We went back downstream and found a place for lunch. After taking a siesta and observing the weather, we retreated to the fourth stream to get out of the wind and fish. We drifted around the area just above the fourth stream and caught enough fish for dinner. Then we tried to catch points across the bay of the environment in Tablerok, but there was nothing on the line but soldering with a hammer.
Day 6
On this day we camped and went back. A nice walk along the River Horses until we get to the small rapids that we drove downstream. We made the boat get stuck both times, but were able to get off the rocks. We ported around the first rapids before the introduction of Horse Lake. As soon as we reached the lake, we had lunch and decided to go fishing a little before we left the BWCA. We saw a few people practicing fishing reefs for Walleye, but decided that at the beginning of the season there were too many to be there. We focused on points and islands on the leeward side of the lake. Probably we were probably five Walleye for a couple of hours, which we had to save, and send them back, as we did not take out the fish. Then we finished the paddle.
As soon as we got to Chainsaw Sister, we went to a bar and spent a couple of cold hours while we waited for our trip. These were the best bees that I have had for a long time. Our trip raised us and brought us back to the outfitters. Once we received the keys to the bunker house and waited a long time for a shower. After that we went to Cranberries and made hamburgers and beer for dinner, then he went to bed.
Day 7
That morning we had another good breakfast at some other cafe (I still don’t remember the name) and stayed with the outfitter. In the middle of all the noise of the night, when we managed to lock the keys in the truck, we had to wait for a locksmith. Well, you know how this happens. When we all calmed down and tuned in, we returned to civilization. I was landed in Minneapolis at the airport, and the rest of the crew continued their journey.
Conclusion
What to say about my first trip to BWCA? I like it. I turned and started again. Silence, fishing, scenery, she has everything. Despite the fact that we have not caught a single Walleye trophy, and no one we talked to this year, I know they are there. This place also has the Smallmouth Killer fishing and a huge 20 # + northern pike. Enough water to catch different water every trip for a lifetime if you want to ride in the back country.
I would also like to say that our excavator was very good. Manor gear provided excellent equipment, canoes and their guides on top. Jeff is especially good, even when the fish does not bite the best, he has a sense of humor and enough stories to fill a slow time. The owner is fishing, trapping and hunting the area, since he was a little boy and probably knows a lot and more about the area. Their bunker was clean, and they were in the process of updating it. While the bunk beds were a bit creaky, they were comfortable, and the shower room was beautiful and clean.
As for fishing gear, you can probably catch all the fish you want with 1/4 and 3/8 ounces with tips or minnows. You can also fish on the bodies of the larvae, but the live bait seems to have improved slightly. You may also want to throw in some lindy lines, if the fishing gets a little tougher, so you can slow down the presentation. Others have a lot of results that slaughter machines for reels made with grains of sand or leaching are pulled out. Instead of bringing sand, I would recommend bringing a net and catch you. It gives you less wear, and they work just as well.
I will have to say that I was not quite prepared for the trip physically. Next time I will start long walks with a backpack full of weights. This will help me in the transfer. I still do not understand what a good idea for rowing, except to just go out and ride somewhere.
