BWCA

I am going to BWCA at the end of the month and will be fishing Basswood lake out of a canoe. I have done this several times and have never caught any crappie. I would like to see if I can catch a few to eat but need to know where to fish for them in that type of lake and its been several years since my last trip. I will be setting up camp on the north side of US point. Any advice would be welcome. Thanks!

You will be in some of the best smallmouth water in the world. And while some will castigate me for saying so, they are great eating, when they come out of cold water.

Are you using a guide?It is the best place I have ever been.Take spinner baits chart blades I caught back to back 6 lbs on this.Fishing is great fish grubs,4 inch worms and Ned rig you will stay busy.Take a topwater for night fishing,Nothing beats catching smallmouth under Northern Lights.You can catch some crappie around rice beds but no one really fish for them.

I'll be just West and North of you at the end of the month. Launching from Crane Lake and heading about 12 miles into Canada via boat.

I go to fish for Walleye, Smallmouth and Northern Pike. This year I might try Crappie too. I did some scouting last year, however there are several differences between the shield lakes and Midwest Reserve lakes. The biggest difference is submerged trees, The shield lakes have very little, if any, trees submerged and even less man-made fish cribs. The other major difference is water clarity. On some of those shield lakes you can see 40'-50' to the bottom, around here your lucky to see 5'-6'. Crappie are still Crappie. They are a predator, that also is a food source for bigger fish, like Northern's, Musky, and Walleye. They will still relate to cover, in the shield lakes the cover will more than likely be weed beds and submerged rocks (boulders). Very few trees, laydowns. When I Crappie fish in Northern Wisconsin we target weed beds, especially if they are near drops offs to deeper water. Sonar and a good lake map will be vital to targeting locations. Once you find Crappie, put together a pattern. Are they deep, holding near some type of cover or structure. IF so, note it and look for similar spots on your maps.
Sounds like you make this trip annually? If so, create a few fish cribs while your there this year and mark them on your map. Fish them next year.

Good luck, let us know how you did.

Thanks for all the info. I used to go every year and mainly target smallmouth bass then walleye as second and northern and lake trout to switch up some. The lakes are clear and devoid of wood cover. Weed beds usually produce lots of hammer handles in my experience but I'll try them for crappie this time.
I thought motor boats were limited to the southern side of basswood lake?

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Originally Posted by Clint

You will be in some of the best smallmouth water in the world. And while some will castigate me for saying so, they are great eating, when they come out of cold water.

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This is what we eat a lot of times. The 1 pounders have good filets and taste great but we keep walleye if we catch a few eater sized ones.

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Originally Posted by Dewey

Are you using a guide?It is the best place I have ever been.Take spinner baits chart blades I caught back to back 6 lbs on this.Fishing is great fish grubs,4 inch worms and Ned rig you will stay busy.Take a topwater for night fishing,Nothing beats catching smallmouth under Northern Lights.You can catch some crappie around rice beds but no one really fish for them.

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I'm taking a large tackle bag with all kids of lures. I'll bring two spinning outfits and one bait caster and will be targeting smallmouth bass mostly but want to other fish also. I hope we get to see the northern lights.

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Originally Posted by Hanr3

I'll be just West and North of you at the end of the month. Launching from Crane Lake and heading about 12 miles into Canada via boat.

I go to fish for Walleye, Smallmouth and Northern Pike. This year I might try Crappie too. I did some scouting last year, however there are several differences between the shield lakes and Midwest Reserve lakes. The biggest difference is submerged trees, The shield lakes have very little, if any, trees submerged and even less man-made fish cribs. The other major difference is water clarity. On some of those shield lakes you can see 40'-50' to the bottom, around here your lucky to see 5'-6'. Crappie are still Crappie. They are a predator, that also is a food source for bigger fish, like Northern's, Musky, and Walleye. They will still relate to cover, in the shield lakes the cover will more than likely be weed beds and submerged rocks (boulders). Very few trees, laydowns. When I Crappie fish in Northern Wisconsin we target weed beds, especially if they are near drops offs to deeper water. Sonar and a good lake map will be vital to targeting locations. Once you find Crappie, put together a pattern. Are they deep, holding near some type of cover or structure. IF so, note it and look for similar spots on your maps.
Sounds like you make this trip annually? If so, create a few fish cribs while your there this year and mark them on your map. Fish them next year.

Good luck, let us know how you did.

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Thanks. I like the fish crib idea and these lakes are very clear and devoid of cover other than rocks. I'll try the weedbeds with crappie baits. I am excited about going. Two more weeks.

A trip to the BWCA is on my bucket list ...... hope to get it done one of these years.