# Boundary water trip sign up



## brushbuster (Nov 9, 2009)

Ok the other thread got me fired up to go. I was going to wait until next june, but after doing some research i would like to do a recon trip in Sept. for a week, I hear the pike fishing can be quite good that time. I checked for available permits and there are a few open for snowbank lake. I was hoping for a group of 4 but with this short notice I wouldnt mind if just one guy could go along. I plan on going again next spring. I am totaly outfitted for me and another guy, you dont really need anything other than clothing for the cool fall, fishing gear, lisence and split the gas fare . My north face 3 season tent can easily accomodate 4 guys and two will be more than comfortable. My canoe is quite capable and light. Shoot me a pm if you are interested. I am probably going to get a permit to get locked in, and if no one joins me then i will do a solo. I was thinking of leaving sept 12th on saturday hitting the water on the 13th and leaving minnesotta on the 19 th. that gives us a total of 6 days on the water.
Sign up


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## gillcommander (Oct 19, 2011)

Wow...tempting. If I wasn't saving vacation time for deer hunting I'd be all over this in a flash. Don't forget the smallmouth action could be phenomenal that time if year. Keep this thread updated as to your itinerary...fun to discuss! 

Google "Minnesota DNR lake finder" and type in lake names you are interested in. Great info - fish survey results, lake maps with depths, etc. can help to eliminate lakes you are considering.

I've already got a group of 4 set for June of next year. If you can't put a crew together you can tag along with us! Probably base camping for the week on Disappointment or Ensign all week with the option to move if the fishing is slow.


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## brushbuster (Nov 9, 2009)

gillcommander said:


> Wow...tempting. If I wasn't saving vacation time for deer hunting I'd be all over this in a flash. Don't forget the smallmouth action could be phenomenal that time if year. Keep this thread updated as to your itinerary...fun to discuss!
> 
> Google "Minnesota DNR lake finder" and type in lake names you are interested in. Great info - fish survey results, lake maps with depths, etc. can help to eliminate lakes you are considering.
> 
> I've already got a group of 4 set for June of next year. If you can't put a crew together you can tag along with us! Probably base camping for the week on Disappointment or Ensign all week with the option to move if the fishing is slow.


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## brushbuster (Nov 9, 2009)

I think I am going to have a cut off for the sign up. If you dont sign up by 15th of July you cant go. I am trying to find out if i can add other members to the permit later or if the number needs to be decided when i purchace the permit. I am going to monitor how many permits remain available for the 13th of Sept. and decide from that when to get the permit. Right now 7 out of 8 are available for that date.


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## brushbuster (Nov 9, 2009)

Well, it's confirmed, I just reserved a permit. It turns out it's a 2 person minimum sign up even if only 1 ends up going.
Been going through all my gear making sure everything is in working order. Should be a fun trip.


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## gillcommander (Oct 19, 2011)

I don't think the Fall is nearly as crowded...you shouldn't have any problems picking from available campsites. Hopefully weather cooperates!


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## brushbuster (Nov 9, 2009)

The slot has been filled


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## gillcommander (Oct 19, 2011)

Good for you...now you just have to deal with the anticipation. That dang near ruined me for a few months before actually leaving!


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## brushbuster (Nov 9, 2009)

gillcommander said:


> Good for you...now you just have to deal with the anticipation. That dang near ruined me for a few months before actually leaving!


That's the killer. I've been reading book after book, perusing the internet, packing and unpacking the pack, scouring the maps, and on and on, can't wait till September.


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## brushbuster (Nov 9, 2009)

So the wife decided she wanted to go with me, and the dog. We plan on setting up a base camp back in to thomas lake and do a bunch of day trip loops, we plan on 7 days total on the water. She's a pretty good tripper so it should be alright, we are breaking in a new camping dog that just turned a year old. I hope she can sit in the boat long enough.
.I am still going to be looking for people to go with me in June. I think i would like to shoot for adams lake then, 7-9 day trip.


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## gillcommander (Oct 19, 2011)

Almost September...still heading to Thomas?


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## brushbuster (Nov 9, 2009)

Yup. Can't wait! I am not sure if we are still going to base camp at thomas or drop down and hit insula, then head over to alice and up to Adams and then back west to fraiser, thomas and out at dissaopintment. I took some extra days off of work so i hope to make this loop happen.


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## brushbuster (Nov 9, 2009)

I got it down to 2 packs. One heavy one @ 60pounds and one fairly light @ 25 pounds. I dont know if we will be able to swing single portaging or not.


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## gillcommander (Oct 19, 2011)

Maybe some of the shorter ones...I always say "it's a vacation...don't kill yourself at the portages!" Besides this late in the year you should have plenty of campsite options! 

How many days on the water are you planning? I was just looking that's a big loop! 

I assume you are probably putting in at the Kawishiwi River then up thru the number (1-5) lakes to Insula. I have heard Insula is huge, impressive, and pretty.


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## brushbuster (Nov 9, 2009)

8 days on the water with the option of one more if needed.
Our entry is Snowbank on Saturday the 12th, I changed the start date. Jordan lk is our target lake for the first night then Thomas or kiana for the 2nd night then we hit the north end of insula And then the south end of Alice with fishdance for a 3rd night 4 hour paddle up to Adams for a 5th night. 5 hr paddle to Fraser for the 6 night. Paddle back to jordan for a 7th night and then paddle out to snow bank or spend the night on parent and then out on Sunday. I don't have to be back to work until tuesday.Hopefully we don't get wind bound, that will change everything.


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## gillcommander (Oct 19, 2011)

I would strongly consider Parent for the last night. It's a long paddle from Disappointment to the public landing on Snowbank. It crosses the main basin of the lake so If there is any significant wind at all HANG ON!!


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## brushbuster (Nov 9, 2009)

Got back home last night. The Boundary waters is an awesome place and i can't wait to get back there in the spring. I am glad i did this trip as it turned out to be a good precursor for next spring. I learned a lot on what to bring and what not to bring. I brought a lot of stuff, primarily items to accommodate the wife and the dog. Next year though i will have it down to single portages, whereas this trip i did most of the portages 3-4 times,whew,lol. I didnt get a chance to do a whole lot of fishing unfortunately. when i did fish i usually caught 2-3 walleye for dinner, lots of hammerhandles, I did't get into any lakers which is what i was really hoping to do. I found that jigging with crawlers( no leeches available) was the best way to get walleye in the boat and the little pike hammered my crankbaits.The conditions were hot durring the day and windy.We were wind bound one day and one night, a little scarry a few times but we managed to stay upright. I managed to get up early before the wife and do my fishing.Trolling with the dog and wife in the canoe was next to impossible so i did'nt do any when the boat was full. Fighting the wind in a canoe by myself was a another challenge. I found it best to sit in the bow and face the stern when i went on my solo excursions. Usually i put a few large rocks in the stern while i paddled from the bow seat and that helped immensely in the wind.
Navigating wasn't all that difficult as long as i took my time and located my landmarks. The fisher map i had was relatively accurate. I did miss one portage though. I got preoccupied looking for submerged boulders in the shallows and missed the portage, I wound up in a narrow chute of rapids before i realized it and had to quickly abort that course and backtracked back to the portage that i missed.
Overall, it was a great trip, with great scenery and i learned a few things along the way. i wound up doing a base camp at Thomas lake for 3 nights and hatchet lake for 2 nights with a single stay at ima and dissapointment for a toatal od 7 nights in. The wife just couldnt handle the loop i was wanting to take.Maybe one day i will take that trip.
I am still looking for one to three guys for next year so if anyone is interested in joining me let me know. I am planning on an early spring trip late may to early june.
A few pics to follow
Thomas lake sunset
a walleye for lunch
A portage through the rocks at Ima lake


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## brushbuster (Nov 9, 2009)

Dissapointment lake sunset
a breakfast for royalty
My camping pal
My pack mule


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## brushbuster (Nov 9, 2009)

Woops, here is the rest of the pics


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## gillcommander (Oct 19, 2011)

Heck ya....looks like a good trip!! Sounds like you are just like me and can't wait to get back next year!

Did you get a chance to fish on Hatchett at all? I have seen reports where the walleye fishing can be really good at times plus it is a small lake so it wouldn't be that hard to figure out I would think.

Did you make it thru Insula at all?

Hopefully traveling across Snowbank wasn't too miserable.


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## brushbuster (Nov 9, 2009)

Hatchet lake was by far my favorite lake. We picked the southern campsite, which was pretty secluded, we didnt see a single soul pass by. I caught lots of walleye in this lake and the wind was pretty much non existant. I did a day trip up to fraser and that was as far as I got. I really liked that lake as well, very beautiful with all the rock outcroppings. Dissapointment was a pretty lake also but finding a campsite there was rough. The good weather brought lots of people to it. The portages were always jammed up. Next year I hope to make it up past fraser to a little lake called sagus.Thomas was a beautiful lake and has great fishing and I did catch a few small eyes there, but the wind was terrrible. We rode some whitecaps in on our first time in ,right to an empty campsite,fortunately, that was pretty close to the thomas/ fraser channel.
The trip across Snowbank was actually quite pleasant for us, calm and sunny on both trips across. 
Nope never made it to Insula. So many lakes and so little time. I will just have to add it to my list of next trips. I have a feeling the boundary waters will be an anual event for me.


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## gillcommander (Oct 19, 2011)

I am intrigued with trying Hatchett but in all honesty the long trip there makes it less than ideal for me. I don't want to spend my entire week traveling and portaging but would instead choose to be fishing. I imagine you spend quite a bit of time going over good fishing lakes to get there.

If I do go next Spring I may hit the east side and hit a lake there that I have good information on is just full of walleye and gets little to no pressure at all since it is practically a dead end lake. Plus it is easy to get to. I was going to go with my son but his girlfriend and him are expecting a new baby in March so a trip 3 months later may not go over well with the new mother. Maybe I can round up some other paddlers.


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## brushbuster (Nov 9, 2009)

We made it from hatchet to the north end of Dissapointment in 6 hrs and the next day took us 3 hours to get to EP 27.A person could make it there in a day from EP 27 on Snowbank . Once you are there you could spend all the time you wanted there, with some simple day trips into Ima or Thomas. Also, there is a little lake near by that was pretty good for walleyes no camping on it and it was pretty small but i did hit a few there. As far as missing good fishing lakes. i didnt hear much good info from the guys fishing ashub, and no one tried fishing jitterbug, adventure or cattyman. I talked to one fella at the mouth of hatchet who said Jordan was terrible for fishing.So I dont think your missing out on much other than fishing on Dissapointment. When i go back I will probably head straight for hatchet, spend a couple nights there and fish my way up to sagus and spend a few nights there and then head down to insula spend a night there and head out to lake one from there.
Our trip was pretty inexpensive. I just spent money on gas and campground fees for 2 nights. i brought my pick up camper and slept in the back on the way up and way back while the wifee drove. My fishing liscense was probably the next biggest expense. We did splurge though on our night out and had prime rib and a few dark brews at the Grand Ely Lodge.


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## gillcommander (Oct 19, 2011)

It is a pretty cheap trip...gas is about your biggest expense. 

6 hours isn't too bad especially if you can get an early start. I've been trying to get info on Sagus. Walleye reports look to be good.


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